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Looking back, we reflect on the TV offerings of the past year, a selection of series stand out not for their brilliance, but for their spectacular failures. Ranging from cringe-inducing sequels to confusingly bad docuseries, here are the productions that had us utterly bewildered or simply reaching for the remote.

And Just Like That

How to start with this love/hate follow-up? Burdened with dreadful writing, painful character development (we demand better for Miranda!), and a mere 71 seconds of beloved Samantha, the show struggled to find its footing. Briefly, as the third season began, it looked like it had finally hit its stride. Then came an episode centered on Seema’s natural deodorant. Little surprise the showrunner announced this would be the last season. It concluded on a low point; the lingering shot of Miranda’s loo flooded with poo was simply too on-the-nose. Yet, fans undeniably had a hoot dissecting every single “what on earth?” moment. And as Carrie – a single woman once more – twirled around her palatial townhouse to Barry White, who didn’t let out a little sob?

The Kim Kardashian Drama

‘Can Kim Kardashian act? The answer is a resounding no.’

But that was practically the least of this show's issues. The subject of a exceedingly uncommon zero star review, it was difficult to know where to start enumerating the problems. The laughably leaden writing? The mind-numbing veneration of affluence and consumption? The seemingly deliberate procession of cliches? Performances so bad they felt borderline spiteful? Let’s just say “each and every one” and never speak of this series again. Except, a new season has been ordered, so we’re probably going to have to.

The Charlie Sheen Documentary

Considering the legal troubles, domestic violence claims and parental failures, it’s fair to say Charlie Sheen has been a bad boy. Not you’d really have known it from this three-part docuseries which chuckled along at Sheen’s various episodes of self-destructive excess while struggling to tell us a single thing we weren't already aware of. Rather, it felt as if this volatile personality was being pandered to, so any sympathy this show might induce should be reserved for the people who have had to endure close contact with this charming but flippant narcissist.

The Supercomputer Drama

Of course we understood it was preposterous from the outset: a drama about a AI known as Charlie Big Potatoes that could either save the world – or annihilate all of humanity. We persevered out of pure love for its leads … but by the end, it felt like even they had stopped bothering. One barely cared when his character died, and the other ultimately slicing Charlie with an axe … in super slow-motion. That's what you call giving up the ghost.

The Gangster Drama

Dodgy characters convening in empty boxing gyms? A certain band's Firestarter jackhammering away in club scenes? The late 90s called and wants its crime drama back.

In truth, that is unfair on the crime shows of the late 90s. Many look a bit dated now, but at least they didn’t suffer the ignominy of having to accommodate baffling dialects. But there were many other problems. Primarily that it was just profoundly boring; a dispute over drug-selling territory between various cockney picaresques which felt rather simplistic.

With Love, Meghan

Given the extent to which she provokes the ire of certain ostentatiously angry commentators, it’s almost tempting to applaud the Duchess of Sussex’s televised ventures into quaint homemaking as intentional provocations. But then you watch them and are compelled to admit that in this case, they may have a point. It’s like watching a homeware catalogue come to life; a poster for evening drinks with ideas of grandeur; a parade of sleeping dogs, buzzing beehives, Hallmark sayings and pointless crafting “tips” you’ll not remember instantly. All underpinned by vast, mostly undeserved wealth. Ugh.

Victoria Beckham

There are clearly interesting things to be said about regarding Victoria Beckham and her journey with vocation, self-image, self-acceptance. But for whatever reason, this documentary series opted not to say them. Rather, the experience was akin to consuming a marketing catalogue. She obviously has every right to resent what she describes as her “miserable cow” image. But sadly, she didn’t do herself any helps with this guarded non-event of a series.

The Game Show

It had the potential to be the next cultural phenomenon – except even more extravagant, with a glamorous star as a deceased benefactor and a sharp-tongued personality overseeing her estate. What more could you want? As contestants battled it out, there was plenty of backstabbing and squabbling. But the rules quickly became incomprehensible: it’s still too confusing to explain what exactly was happening. Even more disappointingly, we only saw brief appearances of the star via prerecorded videos. The series ended up smelling of a production that was trying way too hard to emulate something far greater than it.

Too Much

How do you follow a show that captured a generation? The expectation was enormous for this starry romcom about Jessica, a hopeful New Yorker who lands in London with a broken heart. The star seized the opportunity by the horns and was joyous to watch, reveling in Jane Austen levels of romantic notions. But it was all very glossy and, ironically, was not enough. Plus, the sheer amount of celebrity friends involved felt icky.

Mitchell & Webb Are Not Helping

Not even good enough to be ‘patchy’.

Given the shrewd inclusion of gifted emerging comics, hopes were high. But unhappily, most of it fell flat. A particular sketch was a single joke stretched to a dry pulp but repeated in every episode. One star seemed too ready to slip into a well-known irate mode. The behind-the-scenes sketches, in contrast, simply provoked the idea that they should probably have remained in there a while longer.

The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox

This retelling of the story of Amanda Knox was executive produced by Amanda Knox and pretty much exclusively showcased the viewpoint of Amanda Knox. So, while there undoubtedly is an compelling drama to be made about the tragic 2007 murder, this isn’t it. The material needed to be treated sensitively. Rather, the series laboured awkwardly to find the right tone, lurching from oddly breezy, somewhat stylised farce to inevitably, real-life horror. Complex? Perhaps. A total mess? Absolutely.

Prime Target

We admire the lead actor … but did we buy him playing the most brilliant maths genius since, a man so intelligent he’s on the brink of a breakthrough that could ruin society? Nope! This globe-trotting thriller about secret services spying on – and killing off – intellectuals frankly got more absurd by the second. Formulaic nonsense.

1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story

This hagiography followed the content creator notorious for explicit escapades as she prepared for her biggest challenge yet. What on earth would possess her? What we craved was far greater interrogation of her true psychology, plus those of the men in the line. They could at least have spoken to the now-famous mum who appeared to drag her son out of the queue. What we got was horrific shots and absolutely no interrogation of her infamy whatsoever. And to think, the filmmaker has a young daughter too.