10 Step Foolproof Guide To Making An Awful TV Show

6. Copy A Better Show

Can't come up with your own idea? Why not pick one from the thousands of TV series which have gone before? It's not the same as a remake because those are at least advertised as updated versions of an old premise, whereas these will probably be marketed as "the new X", where X was a far better show. TV series which are groundbreaking at the time usually spawn an entire genre of copycat shows; examples include Friends (lots of shows about 20-somethings hanging out together), CSI (the epidemic of procedurals) and most recently Modern Family (quirky non-nuclear family shows). The most memorable offender of recent years is Flashforward (2009), a Lost wannabe which even repeated the iconic image of the polar bear on the island by substituting a kangaroo in Los Angeles. The two were so similar that fans launched theories that they were set in the same universe, which is probably the kindest way of looking at it.