The Most Disappointing Shows of the Season

The 2011-2012 television season was hyped like none before it. Numerous ambitious projects abounded. Some were extremely original (The River) while others were mostly retreads of other successful shows (The Playboy Club). Some were huge hits (Two Broke Girls), while others were cancelled almost immediately (remember Free Agents?). At this juncture in time, it’s time to expound on what went wrong and why. Instead of focusing on the flat-out terrible (Work It), all of these shows looked pretty good beforehand. 1)      Pan Am – What didn’t this show do wrong? The premise was enticing, and it premiered strongly, but it was only downhill from there. It tried to do too much. It wanted to be a family-friendly reflection on American history, a nostalgic romance, a CIA thriller, and a social critique on race and politics in America. It’s impossible to do this on network TV, and it paid the price. 2)       Once Upon a Time – This show failed in its attempt to be something it’s not. In every sense, this show is family hour. It’s about fairy tales and morals. However, it was marketed as a more fantastical version of Lost. Newflash, ABC—simply hiring a few writers from Lost does not a sequel make. The show may be doing well, but I lost interest weeks ago. You can only watch the same close calls in a small New England town so many times. 3)      Two Broke Girls – This sitcom looked to be the shining star on CBS’ line-up. Amidst a field of low-brow, laughtracked sitcoms, I had high hopes to Kat Dennings’ first foray into network TV. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. Like its brother show, Two and a Half Men, it has great ratings, but at what expense? Accusations of racial stereotyping, sexism, and all around bad comedy. Until CBS learns that you need more than a few sex jokes to make me laugh, I won’t be tuning in.