If you’ve listened to the Worst of 2012 Firewall & Iceberg Podcast that posted on Monday afternoon, you’ve heard several of these rants already and you also probably heard the rules that I set for my “Worst” lists.
The most important rule is that in order for a show to make my “Worst” list, I have to actually watch it. There’s no point in me telling you that “Dance Moms” is awful, because what do I know? I’ve watched 10 minutes of “Dance Moms.” That’s not enough.
It’s also not enough for me to have hated a pilot. The “Beauty and the Beast” pilot was the worst hour of TV that I watched in 2012, but five minutes into the second episode, I gave up. I understand that some of my colleagues don’t play by these rules, but I’ve seen too many shows start off with awful pilots and then improve. “Neighbors” and “Chicago Fire” both were listed among my Worst New Shows of 2012. I kept watching “Neighbors” enough to see that it’s an average and inoffensive comedy, not good enough for me to keep watching after four-ish episodes, but probably not bad enough to include in this gallery. And I actually found myself somewhat liking “Chicago Fire” after the first handful of episodes. It’s not great, but it has a season pass on my DVR and I watch episodes while I’m folding laundry or building galleries like this one.
Sometimes networks help me keep their shows in this gallery. If “Work It” had aired a full season, there’s no chance I’d have watched it for long enough to justify its inclusion, but because ABC pulled the cross-dressing alleged comedy after the two episodes I watched, it has a place of dishonor here. CBS did roughly the same with “Partners,” pulling the Monday dud just as it became too unbearable for me to watch.
Most of these are shows that I watch because I used to like them or shows that I regularly watch because they’re simply too central to the ongoing dialogue in the industry that I cover for me to quit on them. And some of them are shows that I made sufficient commitment to that I figured I might as well see them to the end.
There are three shows making repeat appearances from my Worst of 2011 Gallery. But there’s only one show that’s made my Worst Of… lists three years running.
Anyway… The gallery is below. Check it out!