Worst TV shows?

[The Yak Emperor]

I'm not afraid to admit that I'm someone who still has terrestrial television and frequently has it on in the background. Thusly, I've come across some really shocking programmes in my time. For me personally, The Last Leg is just the pits of panel shows, a bunch of quasi-famous know-nothings posturing about popular political issues. Another is The Wheel, Michael McIntyre's game show, which might just be the most airheaded thing ever put on television. 

[burrunjor]

Isn't that the same as most panel shows LOL. 

For me the worst tv show was probably the X-Factor. I admit I did watch it, and in some ways it was good as it did allow outsiders from the industry a chance to get their foot in the door, such as lovable charmer Olly Murs, the CUTEST human being ever to exist anywhere Stacey Solomon, and the sexiest woman ever to have lived anywhere Misha B. 

However sadly it also encouraged bullying on a national level, would single some people out for shallow petty reasons, not offer them any protection when the vile media went after them, and brought them out week after week to humiliate them. 

Some people's entire lives were destroyed by the bullying and pushed almost to suicide and are still dealing with the trauma the show inflicted on them decades later. The most infamous example is of course Katie Waissel who was bullied for months on end in the most personal ways. What she went through exposed a really, really ugly side to the British public, though they did get the shitting on they deserved a few years later when the Savile stuff came out. All their obnoxious shit of "Katie just isn't the type of person the British public can take to their hearts, so that's why we call her an ugly, unf*ckable slut and humiliate her every week." Yeah well the guy you treated as royalty when he died he was such a national treasure turned out to be a monster. Apparently morons who love who the corrupt media tell them to aren't the best judge of character LOL,

The X-Factor didn't need to be that horrible. It could have just been a fun talent show, but it was awful, and to be honest I think the British public are a bit embarrassed at how they reacted during it, hence why it's not only never been revived, but nobody ever mentions it anymore, which is kind of insane. It was hugely popular in its heyday, probably the most popular show in the UK in fact. You'd think there'd be lots of nostalgia for it at least, but nope. NOTHING. To me the only shows that happens with are ones like the Black and White Minstrils show LOL, that we like to pretend didn't happen. 

  

[rushy]

The 100 was pretty bad

[iank]

Pretty much and and every revival/reboot of a beloved show, as they're not only shit in their own right but invariably shit all over the origial to boot.

[Spark Doll King]

Any emotional bear-baiting shows like Jerry Springer or Jeremy Kyle. It's all rather vile stuff from the people, to the subject matter, to to blatant attempts to force emotional responses. Not to mention the horrific stuff that happened to some people because of these shows.

Big Brother style shows. Stick a load of people's, or wannabes, into a house for months and watch them do bugger all at best or devolve to the worse kind of human behaviour. The whole things made worse when the producers actively encourage toxic behaviour like forcing two strangers to pretend to be a couple, which as I recall was very uncomfortable for the women, and really upset everyone else. Worse deliberately trying to find people who would expose themselves or have sex live, with no compensation, a rather creepy interview process, oh and on live TV!

[The Yak Emperor]

May 1, 2024 20:41:01 GMT burrunjor said:

Isn't that the same as most panel shows LOL. 

For me the worst tv show was probably the X-Factor. I admit I did watch it, and in some ways it was good as it did allow outsiders from the industry a chance to get their foot in the door, such as lovable charmer Olly Murs, the CUTEST human being ever to exist anywhere Stacey Solomon, and the sexiest woman ever to have lived anywhere Misha B. 

However sadly it also encouraged bullying on a national level, would single some people out for shallow petty reasons, not offer them any protection when the vile media went after them, and brought them out week after week to humiliate them. 

Some people's entire lives were destroyed by the bullying and pushed almost to suicide and are still dealing with the trauma the show inflicted on them decades later. The most infamous example is of course Katie Waissel who was bullied for months on end in the most personal ways. What she went through exposed a really, really ugly side to the British public, though they did get the shitting on they deserved a few years later when the Savile stuff came out. All their obnoxious shit of "Katie just isn't the type of person the British public can take to their hearts, so that's why we call her an ugly, unf*ckable slut and humiliate her every week." Yeah well the guy you treated as royalty when he died he was such a national treasure turned out to be a monster. Apparently morons who love who the corrupt media tell them to aren't the best judge of character LOL,

The X-Factor didn't need to be that horrible. It could have just been a fun talent show, but it was awful, and to be honest I think the British public are a bit embarrassed at how they reacted during it, hence why it's not only never been revived, but nobody ever mentions it anymore, which is kind of insane. It was hugely popular in its heyday, probably the most popular show in the UK in fact. You'd think there'd be lots of nostalgia for it at least, but nope. NOTHING. To me the only shows that happens with are ones like the Black and White Minstrils show LOL, that we like to pretend didn't happen. 

  

I remember one woman who was on, quite slow and clearly not all there. She was a horrible singer but the producers bombarded her inbox every year and encouraged her to come back, under the pretence that the judges liked her and would like to reconsider their "No" decision, so people would laugh at her. This went on for about half a decade until her family got involved and shut the whole thing down. I think it's awful what they did to someone who was so clearly vulnerable and defenceless, calling her up like a circus act each year for the public to mock, building up her hopes just to knock them down almost immediately before rinsing and repeating the whole process again. Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh are wicked to the core, but I feel like Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue should've known better. 

[burrunjor]

May 1, 2024 22:40:35 GMT The Yak Emperor said:

May 1, 2024 20:41:01 GMT burrunjor said:

Isn't that the same as most panel shows LOL. 

For me the worst tv show was probably the X-Factor. I admit I did watch it, and in some ways it was good as it did allow outsiders from the industry a chance to get their foot in the door, such as lovable charmer Olly Murs, the CUTEST human being ever to exist anywhere Stacey Solomon, and the sexiest woman ever to have lived anywhere Misha B. 

However sadly it also encouraged bullying on a national level, would single some people out for shallow petty reasons, not offer them any protection when the vile media went after them, and brought them out week after week to humiliate them. 

Some people's entire lives were destroyed by the bullying and pushed almost to suicide and are still dealing with the trauma the show inflicted on them decades later. The most infamous example is of course Katie Waissel who was bullied for months on end in the most personal ways. What she went through exposed a really, really ugly side to the British public, though they did get the shitting on they deserved a few years later when the Savile stuff came out. All their obnoxious shit of "Katie just isn't the type of person the British public can take to their hearts, so that's why we call her an ugly, unf*ckable slut and humiliate her every week." Yeah well the guy you treated as royalty when he died he was such a national treasure turned out to be a monster. Apparently morons who love who the corrupt media tell them to aren't the best judge of character LOL,

The X-Factor didn't need to be that horrible. It could have just been a fun talent show, but it was awful, and to be honest I think the British public are a bit embarrassed at how they reacted during it, hence why it's not only never been revived, but nobody ever mentions it anymore, which is kind of insane. It was hugely popular in its heyday, probably the most popular show in the UK in fact. You'd think there'd be lots of nostalgia for it at least, but nope. NOTHING. To me the only shows that happens with are ones like the Black and White Minstrils show LOL, that we like to pretend didn't happen. 

  

I remember one woman who was on, quite slow and clearly not all there. She was a horrible singer but the producers bombarded her inbox every year and encouraged her to come back, under the pretence that the judges liked her and would like to reconsider their "No" decision, so people would laugh at her. This went on for about half a decade until her family got involved and shut the whole thing down. I think it's awful what they did to someone who was so clearly vulnerable and defenceless, calling her up like a circus act each year for the public to mock, building up her hopes just to knock them down almost immediately before rinsing and repeating the whole process again. Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh are wicked to the core, but I feel like Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue should've known better. 

That's absolutely horrific. Sounds like the plot of The Joker to be honest. I reckon Katie Waissel was cheering when Arthur shot Bob DeNiro's character LOL. I do remember a Pink impersonator getting a similar treatment where they actually cut her video to make her look mad. I think they forced her to perform like about 6 times and eventually she got angry, but they cut out the first 5 times, and of course the memers in their usual cowardly, jump on the bandwagon fashion were hideous to her after it aired, and the bullying very nearly drove her to end it all. She later won a court case I believe against them.

Cheryl Cole is every bit as bad meanwhile. (Sorry Maxil LOL.) She basically admitted to putting Katie through because she thought her anxiety would make more entertaining tv. Katie f*cked up at boot camp because of her existing anxiety and Cheryl put her through hoping she'd have a similar panic on stage which she did and got mercilessly mocked for by the public. (Can you imagine that happening today? A nation mocking a woman for having panic attacks? )

That said the fact that Katie was put through over another contestant that was popular was what created the backlash to Katie, which to be fair I'm don't think Cheryl knew would happen, considering she suffered from that backlash too. 

The X-Factor was just an exercise in guilt free bullying. It's a dark aspect of humanity that we just love being able to dogpile on someone. Why I'm not sure, but I'd say it's one of the three evils responsible for all the world's problems alongside greed and tribalism. Our conscience stops us in most situations from doing that, but as soon as we get told "this person is okay to bully because they're a witch/a minority we don't like/the higher ups have said this person is a loser, or nasty." The floodgates open and people you thought were decent can indulge in the most hideous behavior.

Again much like The Black and White Minstrels Show a lot of people don't want to admit they took part in it. To be honest I actually think that the X-Factor was worse than the Black and White Minstrels Show. That was racist don't get me wrong LOL, but it was more just ignorant, thoughtless racism. The X-Factor meanwhile encouraged active cruelty and bullying and stigmatized mental health concerns just as much. 

Expect to see The X-Factor pop up in shows the Alpha generation make in twenty years saying "THIS is actually what was deemed acceptable in the 2010s."

[Ludders II]

Reality tv. Simon Cowell shite. Soaps.
Terrestrial tv is only good for cherry picking. And over the last 20 odd years, there are so few cherries that I'd metaphorically starve if it wasn't for dvds and wotnot.

[The Yak Emperor]

God bless my nan. She doesn't even have wi-fi, so has to have the TV on all day for entertainment. The degree to which there is just nothing interesting on at all is staggering.

[Cherry Pepsi Maxil]

Never really got into that Mrs Brown's Boys show.

[The Yak Emperor]

I'll always have a soft spot for Mrs. Brown. Yes, it is trash TV, but it also feels like the last gasp of traditional British music hall entertainment; there are elements of cabaret, vaudeville and variety performance tucked in there rather tacitly. It's easy to rag on in the same way a caravan holiday is easy to rag on. It isn't doing any harm and notwithstanding its threadbare grottiness, it endeavours only to entertain; there is nothing malicious about it whatsoever, despite its obvious shortcomings. Brendan O'Carroll's been doing it since the early 90s, so it is definitely a passion project rather than a bright idea that got greenlit for way too many seasons.

[mott1]

May 1, 2024 20:08:32 GMT The Yak Emperor said:

I'm not afraid to admit that I'm someone who still has terrestrial television and frequently has it on in the background. Thusly, I've come across some really shocking programmes in my time. For me personally, The Last Leg is just the pits of panel shows, a bunch of quasi-famous know-nothings posturing about popular political issues. Another is The Wheel, Michael McIntyre's game show, which might just be the most airheaded thing ever put on television. 

The Last Leg, initially, seemed the closest thing to a topical satire on British TV (certainly after the much-criticised Mash Report had gone), and could have been the nearest to a Chris Morris-style show in a long time. Yes it was unashamedly left-leaning, but so was Spitting Image, and that ran for years in its heyday. But the horribly clunky recorded segments show the narrowness of the three main performer's skills (well, Widdicombe and Brooker anyway), increasingly repetitive guest stars (oh look, it's Tenc*nt, Greg Davies and that Aisling Bea person who kept popping up all the time!) and general smugness meant I lost my initial interest in it.

It also arguably began the over-exposure of the ever-declining John Cleese, who routinely moans about everyone talking about Fawlty Towers and wokeness whilst, er, trying to promote his Fawlty Towers stage show with woke 'cuts' to the language used!

[The Yak Emperor]

I like Aisling Bea, she's not side-splittingly funny but she at least seems like she wants to be there and I do get the occasional chuckle from her stuff. A bit like Richard Ayoade in that regard. 

[mott1]

May 2, 2024 9:05:03 GMT Ludders II said:

Reality tv. Simon Cowell shite. Soaps.
Terrestrial tv is only good for cherry picking. And over the last 20 odd years, there are so few cherries that I'd metaphorically starve if it wasn't for dvds and wotnot.

I have to agree. What happened to the soaps? Doubling the amount of weekly episodes (notably Corrie) and replacing the experienced older actors with ropey, quota-filling youngsters ruined them completely: there was a time when they were genuinely witty.

Shows like Emmerdale and Eastenders remove the will to live, making us wonder how we even thought they were up to scratch originally. Hollyoaks went up its own right-on rectum a few years back, Home And Away is just ‘one for the mums’ and Neighbours seems to have risen from the dead!