10 TV Shows That Were Doomed From The Start

Grapes that should have withered on the vine, been picked and then thrown into a well with a lion.

By Jack Morrell /

Warner Bros.

Sometimes a great idea is conceived, carefully nurtured, blossoms and becomes a treatment, then a pilot, then a freshman season, and finally television history, a ratings smash and an award-munching critical juggernaut. Far more often, unfortunately, that great idea is derailed somewhere along the way and never sees the light of day.

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And then there are the other ones. The palsied, genetically stunted misfit siblings to those creative gems: the televisual abortions that somehow avoid all the pitfalls of television production that normally break the ankles of hopeful pilots looking to break the big time.

Some TV shows are just such a terrible, terrible idea that they should have been put down before they came within a hundred miles of a television set. Tragically, several have proven to be reasonably financially successful, which a) proves that there€™s no accounting for taste and b) gives unwanted encouragement to the people in charge, letting them believe that they€™re on the right track.

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I don€™'t care how many people watched them, bought the boxsets or cosplayed the lead characters on their wedding days: they'€™re not on the right track. They left the right track a long time ago, and are now lost in the haunted swamp of crapulence where no one will ever find the bodies.

Here they are, one last time before those stinking waters take them. May god have mercy upon their souls...

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