🔗 Share this article That Drifting Excrement Was Far Too Meaningful! It's the Television Disappointments of the Past Year. As we reflect on the television landscape of the recent year, a selection of series stand out not for their brilliance, but for their spectacular failures. Ranging from awkward sequels to bafflingly bad docuseries, here are the productions that left us utterly bewildered or just reaching for the remote. The 'Sex and the City' Sequel How to start with this love/hate follow-up? Burdened with woeful scripts, painful character development (we demand better for Miranda!), and a mere 71 seconds of fan-favourite Samantha, the series fought to find its footing. For a moment, as the final series started, it looked like it had finally found its groove. Then came an installment centered on Seema’s natural deodorant. No wonder the showrunner declared this would be the last series. It ended on a bum note; the lingering shot of Miranda’s toilet flooded with poo was simply too on-the-nose. Yet, fans undeniably found joy dissecting every single “wtf?” moment. And as Carrie – a single woman once more – danced around her palatial townhouse to Barry White, who couldn't release a small sob? The Kim Kardashian Drama ‘Is Kim Kardashian an actress? Of course she can’t.’ But that was practically the least of this drama's problems. The subject of a very rare no-star review, it was hard to know where to start enumerating the flaws. The laughably wooden dialogue? The mind-numbing glorification of affluence and materialism? The almost wilful parade of cliches? Acting so bad they felt borderline malicious? Let’s just say “all of the above” and forget about this series again. However, a new season has been commissioned, so we’re probably going to have to. The Charlie Sheen Documentary Considering the legal troubles, abuse claims and fatherly shortcomings, it’s fair to say Charlie Sheen has been a bad boy. Not you’d really have gleaned it from this multi-part documentary which smirked its way at Sheen’s various episodes of self-destructive excess while failing to tell us a single thing we weren't already aware of. Rather, it felt as if this loose cannon was being indulged, so any sympathy this show might induce should be reserved for the people who have had to suffer proximity with this charming but flippant egotist. The Supercomputer Drama Of course we knew it was ridiculous from the outset: a thriller about a AI known as Charlie Big Potatoes that could either solve global crises – or destroy all of humanity. We stuck with it out of sheer admiration for its stars … but by the end, it felt like even they had stopped bothering. One scarcely reacted when his character died, and the other ended up hacking Charlie with an axe … in painfully slow-motion. That's what you call giving up the ghost. MobLand Shady characters convening in deserted boxing gyms? A certain band's Firestarter jackhammering away in club scenes? The late 90s called and demands its gangland drama back. In truth, that is unfair on the gangland dramas of the late 90s. Many seem a bit old-fashioned now, but at least they didn’t suffer the embarrassment of having to accommodate baffling accents. But there were plenty of other problems. Primarily that it was just profoundly boring; a dispute over narcotics territory between various London picaresques which seemed rather simplistic. With Love, Meghan Given the degree to which she grinds the gears of certain ostentatiously angry commentators, it’s temptingly easy to admire the Duchess of Sussex’s televised ventures into quaint homemaking as deliberate provocations. But then you view them and are compelled to admit that in this case, they may have a point. It’s like watching a homeware magazine come to life; a poster for wine o’clock with delusions of grandeur; a parade of snoozing dogs, humming beehives, sentimental platitudes and pointless crafting “hacks” you’ll forget instantly. All supported by vast, mostly undeserved wealth. Ugh. The Beckham Documentary There are obviously interesting things to be said about regarding Victoria Beckham and her journey with career, self-image, self-worth. But for some reason, this three-part series chose not to explore them. Instead, the experience was akin to reading a marketing catalogue. She obviously has good reason to resent what she describes as her “stern” image. But sadly, she failed to do herself any helps with this guarded letdown of a series. The Inheritance It had the potential to be the next cultural phenomenon – except even camper, with a glamorous star playing dead and a sharp-tongued personality managing her inheritance. What more could you want? As players competed, there was plenty of backstabbing and squabbling. But the rules quickly became bewildering: it’s still too confusing to detail what precisely was happening. Even more disappointingly, we only saw glimpses of the star via filmed videos. The show ended up smelling of a production that was straining desperately to live up to something way beyond it. Too Much How does one succeed a show that captured a generation? The pressure was enormous for this starry romantic comedy about Jessica, a hopeful New Yorker who lands in London with a broken heart. The lead actress took her biggest role by the horns and was a delight to watch, reveling in Austen levels of romantic ideals. But it was all very slick and, ironically, was insufficient. Plus, the sheer amount of famous cameos involved felt icky. The Sketch Show Return Not even good enough to be ‘uneven’. Given the smart inclusion of talented emerging comics, expectations were high. But unhappily, most of it fell flat. A recurring sketch was a one-note joke milked to a husk but repeated in every episode. One star seemed too willing to slip into a familiar irate mode. The behind-the-scenes sketches, meanwhile, simply inspired the thought that they should probably have remained in there a bit longer. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox This dramatisation of the story of Amanda Knox was executive produced by Amanda Knox and pretty much exclusively presented the viewpoint of Amanda Knox. So, while there probably is an compelling drama to be made about the tragic 2007 murder, this isn’t it. The material needed to be handled sensitively. Instead, the series laboured awkwardly to find the right tone, lumbering from oddly jaunty, slightly stylised farce to inevitably, real-life horror. Twisted? Arguably. A complete mess? Absolutely. Prime Target We love the star … but did we believe him playing the greatest maths genius in history, a man so smart he’s on the verge of a discovery that could ruin society? No! This globe-trotting thriller about government agencies targeting – and killing off – intellectuals honestly got more farcical by the second. Formulaic nonsense. The Bonnie Blue Documentary This uncritical portrait followed the content creator renowned for sexual escapades as she undertook her most extreme challenge yet. What on earth would possess her? What we wanted was way more examination of her actual psyche, plus those of the men in the queue. They could at least have interviewed the legendary mum who appeared to haul her son out of the queue. What we got was horrific imagery and absolutely no critical analysis of her notoriety whatsoever. It's staggering to consider, the filmmaker has a young daughter too.