‘Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life’: The very worst Netflix Originals ever
In the age of the streaming wars, it can feel like there is just too much content out there for fans to consume. It can be a little paralyzing sometimes to the point where you prefer to return to a familiar favorite rather than something new. As the main player in the streaming wars, however, Netflix is pumping out original content with a rapid rate of speed.
Some of these series, like Stranger Things or Anne with an E, are absolutely fantastic and deserve all the recognition that they receive. Others, however, are horrible. They’re either too boring or make no sense or leave you so disgusted a few episodes in that you wonder why television was ever invented in the first place.
In the age of streaming and overcrowding of great TV, you need to know what bad shows to avoid. It’s time to get real and talk about the worst Netflix Originals out there.
10. Haters Back Off (2016 – 17)
We’re ranking Haters Back Off low on the list because we think it may intentionally be bad. The character of Miranda Sings, created by YouTuber Colleen Ballinger, is meant to be a parody of a self-absorbed, no talent, overconfident YouTuber.
Miranda Sings is a critique and a satire. She’s meant to be cringey and difficult to watch. Even so, Haters Back Off is a hard sit. Miranda Sings is fine in small doses, but get an entire series centered around her? The joke wears thin really quick.
9. Girlboss (2017)
Based on Sophia Amoruso’s autobiography of the same name, the charmless Girlboss is a smug affair from the get-go. Britt Robertson (Tomorrowland) is wasted in the series. It also, like so many, has hot young people living in shabby apartments and talking about making it big.
Based on the square footage and the fact that it’s set in San Francisco, we’ll say that they already have. The true miracle of Girlboss is that Amoruso didn’t sue.
8. Richie Rich (2015)
Yes, tell the world the story about the world’s richest kid as most children are telling “eat the rich” jokes. That’ll be a great idea. Now, all shows aimed for the younger demographic can’t be She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, but children also aren’t as stupid as Richie Rich seems to think they are. Thankfully, Richie Rich couldn’t buy his way into a second season.
7. The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale (2018)
Does Joel McHale want to take over hosting The Soup for E! again? It’s being rebranded with a different host, but this 2018 series feels more like a sad attempt at trying to capture McHale’s heyday on The Soup. The format of a weekly comedy show tackling pop culture topics of the week itself doesn’t work for Netflix.
Add in some questionable segments, awkward cameos, and a need to shoehorn in Paul Feig into everyone episode (no offense to Mr. Feig but we’re confused about that), The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale needed a swift end.
6. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (2016)
If this were a list about good shows that should never have gotten a follow-up series, then Gilmore Girls will top the list. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life pretty much confirms that Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory (Alexis Bledel) are horrible people.
From Lorelai not being able to say anything nice about her late father to Rory’s lack of drive and bad relationship decisions, the entire miniseries just feels mean-spirited in the worst way.
5. The Good Cop (2018)
Given all the recent news and criticism about the police, we have to wonder about the decision making of Netflix’s The Good Cop. Tony Danza’s character is a corrupt ex-NYPD member. Josh Groban plays his by the book son. Together, they make an odd couple investigative team. What follows is a very uneasy, definitely in poor taste slog with awkward jokes and, you know, a corrupt cop.
No thanks.
4. Between (2015 – 16)
The greatest sin of Netflix’s Between is how utterly boring it is. The series takes place in a small town where a disease as somehow killed every adult over the age of 22. The town is under quarantine and the inhabitants have to stay in fear of spreading the disease to the wider world. Sounds like an interesting premise? Yeah, Netflix did the basic of idea of teen and kid world better with The Society.
Between is just…boring. That’s the greatest sin of the series, which has been described as “ho-hum”. It’s not campy bad. It’s not bad bad. It just exists. Currently, the series is a weird limbo state. Netflix has never officially renewed or canceled it. So if it is so dull that the company forgot about it? That says something.
3. Fuller House (2016 – 20)
The fact that Fuller House had five seasons and Anne with an E was canceled proves that the world is a cold and cruel place. Clamping onto the 80s and 90s nostalgia, Fuller House is a sequel series to Full House, which hasn’t aged all that well in hindsight. The show is just as toothless as its predecessor and the jokes will make you cringe. No wonder the Olsen twins were smart enough to stay away.
2. Real Rob (2015 – 16)
Rob Schneider! He’s just like us. Not. YouTuber Arin Hanon of the Game Grumps called it “a show with no demographic”, and he’s not wrong. Real Rob is one of the most arduous series to sit through. There’s no camp value. The humor is terrible. It’s just pure 100% awful because it’s a show made for no one except, perhaps, Rob Schneider.
1. Insatiable (2018 – )
Insatiable got a second season. We have no idea why it got a second, but this is truly the darkest timeline. Insatiable is a fatphobic mess of series. It stars Debby Ryan as Patty, a bullied student for her weight who becomes thin after breaking her jaw (thus not being able to eat). She then takes revenge on those around her.
Insatiable is simultaneously mean and boring with nothing all that interesting or necessary to say. With 250,000 signatures on a petition to cancel the show back in Aug. 2018, we’re not the only ones who think that it needs to be put out of its misery.
