The 30 Most Disappointing Show Seasons in TV History

Netflix’s “Bloodline, centered on a close knit family that discovers dark secrets about its past after a family tragedy. According to Rotten Tomatoes, creators Todd Kessler and Daniel Zelman had a plan for the show to go on for five or six seasons, but after Netflix announced that it would be canceled after just three, they were forced to wrap everything up in a rushed and ultimately unsatisfying manner.

“The Flash” represented the end of the “Arrowverse” and unfortunately went out on a low note after nearly a decade on the air. In its final season, the storyline was broken up into chapters, each having a separate storyline that culminated into a chaotic, disjointed season finale.

Starring Jodie Whitaker as the Doctor, season 12 of “Doctor Who” was generally regarded among its most loyal devotees to be poorly written and poorly acted, with an ambitious season arc that never really took off. It further alienated fans by revealing in the season finale that The Doctor is actually something called “The Timeless Child,” who can regenerate itself after dying and had been around since long before the first Doctor.

“Falcon Crest” was one of TV’s most popular primetime soap operas for its nine seasons, but its final season was a major disappointment. New studio management made some wildly unpopular decisions, including sidelining star Jane Wyman for most of the season, shakeups among the cast and crew, and an excessive focus on sex and white-collar crime.

“Sliders” was one of the 90s most exciting sci-fi dramas, but its fifth and final season was disappointing for one major reason: its star, Jerry O’Connell, left the show before the season. The show had also lost actor John Rhys-Davies by this time, and in order to explain O’Connell’s departure the storyline was tied up into knots that it never recovered from.

The ninth and final season of the original run of “Roseanne” was a mess both in front of and behind the camera. It introduced fantasy sequences and other departures from the show’s usually grounded tone and style, characters were inconsistent, and its ending – in which Roseanne reveals that her husband Dan actually died from a heart attack and that the season had been the fictional creation of Roseanne’s character – confused and alienated fans.

Season 9 of “Scrubs” tried to revamp the flagging show by moving the action to a new hospital, introducing a new group of medical students as main cast members, and focusing more on romantic relationships and soap opera-style drama than the quirky comedy it was known for. Audiences didn’t know what to make of it, and the show was cancelled.

By the time “Mad TV” hit season 10, the cultural and comedic landscape of 1995 (when it premiered) had changed completely, leaving the sketch comedy show feeling dated. Several key cast members had also departed by then, and it failed to draw much enthusiasm when newer shows like “Chappelle’s Show” leaving it in the dust.

A comedy-drama set at a fictional Ivy League university, “Dear White People” held a mirror to modern American society and examined the experience of Black people living in white spaces. For its fourth season, for no obvious reason, it decided to abandon much of what made it popular and become a full-on ’90s jukebox musical; for example, an emotional breakup scene was set to NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye.” This proved to be its final season.

After a public spot with show creator Chuck Lorre, “Two and a Half Men” co-star Charlie Sheen left before season 9 and was replaced by Ashton Kutcher, which resulted in the loss of much of the show’s comedic charm and witty edge. The show’s writers struggled to keep it consistent with this major casting change, and even though the show continued on for a few more seasons, season 9 was a major turning point that it never really recovered from.

At its prime, “Billions,” a show about the battles between hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) and prosecutor Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti), was as good as Peak TV got. But after Lewis left before the sixth season, the writers were left with few good options. They made some head-scratching narrative choices, and alienated their audience in the process. Lewis returned for the seventh (and final) season, but the damage was done.

2021’s Season 41 or “Survivor” (yes, the show really has been on the air for that long) started promisingly enough, with lots of strong personalities in the cast. However, the editing and some other odd choices by the producers turned off many longtime fans. The ultimate winner received comparatively little screen time, one immunity challenge was nullified and one elimination was left up to random chance, and the competition was shortened to 26 days from 39.

Dubbed “American Horror Story Season 11: NYC,” this season focused on a serial killer targeting the gay community in 1980s New York. Even though it’s a promising premise, it was largely panned for an inability to tie disparate plot lines together into a coherent story, poor pacing, and a lack of character development.

Yes, even the sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea and his friends can have a bad season every once in a while. Season 6 doesn’t have many memorable episodes, the introduction of new writers led to inconsistent characterization and a reliance on gross-out humor, and the characters overall suffered from what’s known as “Flanderization” (based on the character of Flanders in “The Simpsons”), where they become exaggerated to the point of caricature over time.

“Saved by the Bell: The New Class” was never exactly well-reviewed, being a sad spinoff of the original and all, but season 3 was especially bad. Most of the original cast left the show before the season started, and their replacements were still finding their footing. “The New Class” also lacked much of the originality and charm of the source material, and that was really starting to show by then.

Anyone who watched the first two seasons of “Scream: The TV Series” most likely agreed that it went off the rails in season 3. First, it decided to abandon its serialized storyline in favor of an anthology format with an entirely new cast. Lower production values and subpar writing also turned critics and viewers off. And it didn’t even include the signature “Ghostface” mask.

Most “Fairly OddParents” superfans agree that the show should have probably ended after the eighth season. Quality started to go downhill in season 9, with no memorable episodes.

Like season six before it, “Spongebob” season 7 was also a major disappointment, with fatigue really starting to set in. There were no memorable episodes to speak of, and the show’s characterization and writing continued to decline.

Many fans hoped that Netflix’s “The Witcher” would be the next “Game of Thrones” when it premiered and throughout its exciting first season, but that excitement completely died out during season three. Not only did Henry Cavill’s Geralt (the show’s main character) have a disappointingly low amount of screentime, other beloved characters were killed off, the writing and storyline were uninspired, much of the source material was abandoned, and the CGI was lackluster.

After the departure of Charlie Sheen before season 9, “Two and a Half Men” continued to shuffle along with Ashton Kutcher in the lead role, shedding ratings and audience goodwill along the way. It was finally put out of its misery after a final season that was widely panned.

A take on “Thor” set in modern-day Norway, Netflix’s Ragnarok saw the gods take on a local corporation of bad guy “giants.” Season three (and the whole series) ended on a wildly disappointing and abrupt note, however, as (spoiler) it was revealed in the last episode that the entire series actually took place inside the main character’s head. Psych!

Netflix’s “The Gift” follows an Istanbul painter’s personal journey as she discovers an archaeological site’s mysterious connection to her past, but by the time the planned final season rolled around it had become cliched and contrived, with lots of strange visions, symbolic pine cones, and way too much effort needed to tie everything up in a satisfying way.

“Killing Eve” started as a taut, oftentimes funny cat-and-mouse spy thriller between a psychopathic assassin played by Jodie Comer and a British intelligence investigator played by Sandra Oh. The first two seasons were critically acclaimed and the show was regarded as one of the best on TV (making a star of Comer), but by the time the fourth season rolled around it was just spinning its wheels. The season was nearly universally panned, with the (spoiler) sudden and unearned death of Comer’s character at the very end of the final episode earning it a spot on some “worst ending ever” lists.

Oh, “Game of Thrones”. Has a show ever gone from having complete ownership of the cultural zeitgeist to a forgotten footnote faster? The rushed, disjointed, and underwhelming final season killed pretty much all of the goodwill that the show had earned over the years, with Daenerys swooping in on her dragons to destroy King’s Landing and the show’s reputation in one fell sweep. As opposed to a satisfying moment of catharsis, viewers were left muttering to themselves, “Bran? Really?”

And we’re back to “The Fairly OddParents,” which was finally canceled after a disappointing tenth season. Unoriginal and uninspired, the show had simply run its course.

The basic formula of “Mythbusters” — special effects experts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, along with their crew of charismatic assistants, use the scientific method to confirm or debunk everything from the viability of movie scenes to old wives’ tales — was sheer genius, and the chemistry between the cast made every episode a joy to watch. Until the last few seasons, however. The three assistants left the show before the 2015 season, and Hyneman and Savage followed the following year. Two new hosts were brought in to replace them, but the magic and chemistry were gone by then, and the show was allowed to fizzle out.

If “Mad TV” was starting to feel dated and irrelevant by season 10, by season 14 it was a dinosaur. Longtime cast members Jordan Peele and Michael McDonald left before the season, leaving the show running on fumes. The timeslot was moved to midnight from 11, and instead of being performed live in front of a studio audience, all of the sketches were now pre-recorded. This season was (mercifully) the show’s last.

With its retro set and affable gang of celebrity panelists, the Alec Baldwin-hosted revival of classic ’70s game show “Match Game” was a breath of fresh air when it premiered in 2016. By the fourth season, however, the formula had began to feel a little played out, and the retro novelty had worn off. It was canceled after its fifth season.

The final season if “House of Cards” was also the first one without its main character, Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, who was fired from the show after sexual misconduct allegations. The show struggled to pivot to focusing on Robin Wright’s character, Claire, and it never recovered from losing the dynamic between its two leads. The storyline was uninspired, and the season being shortened from the usual 13 episodes to eight made it feel rushed, with lots of plot threads remaining unresolved.

The beloved British car show “Top Gear” completely went off the track (so to speak) before its 23rd season. Longstanding hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May left the show, and their replacements, a new lineup that included actors Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc, failed to capture the trio’s chemistry. A revamped studio and new format also sapped much of the show’s charm, and the season lacked the humor and charisma of the previous seasons. Longtime fans couldn’t help but be disappointed, and it was a sad end for such a long-running and beloved franchise.