The 12 Biggest TV Disappointments Of 2024

2024 has been a strange year for television as the first full annual cycle following the dual Hollywood strikes of 2023. There have been some incredible highs, including several fantastic new shows like "Shōgun" and "English Teacher," as well as consistent quality from ongoing series like "Fargo" and "Abbott Elementary." On the other hand, 2024 has also seen quite a few major disappointments for viewers and fans, including shocking cancellations, unmet expectations for new shows and performances, and several reality TV fails. 

Here at Looper, we've gathered up the most egregious offenders in a year-end review of the biggest small-screen letdowns of 2024. We looked at critic and audience reception for many of this year's shows, as well as overall reactions to big TV moments and upsetting decisions from Hollywood executives. Some shows crossed new lines in their content and failed to offer satisfying endings, while others didn't live up to their buzz. We narrowed down the year's TV low points to a list of 13. 

Jenn Tran's season of "The Bachelorette" came on the heels of one of the best (if not the best) seasons of "The Bachelor" of all time. Joey Graziadei managed to finish his season without inciting rage from the fandom or the public at large, restoring many people's faith in the idea that there may actually be some stand-up guys out there. Fans were hopeful that this meant the show would find some great suitors for Jenn, but her group of men was widely considered to be mediocre at best and harmful at worst (looking at you, Sam McKinney). 

Jenn's final pick, Devin Strader, seemed like the best choice at the time (after all, he made it clear that he was all in) but he actually ended their relationship shortly following filming. At "After the Final Rose," Jenn confronted Devin about his behavior and was met with a detached, disgruntled attitude from a man who had, only a month prior, professed to love her. It was especially heartbreaking to see Jenn weeping as she was forced to watch her proposal to Devin while sharing a couch with him, and everything Jenn went through with Devin made it clear that producers behind "The Bachelorette" weren't interested in preserving her mental wellbeing.

"Our Flag Means Death" premiered its 1st season in March 22 and was met with a lively, supportive viewer response and positive reviews from critics. It had a decent viewership and boasted the heavy involvement of beloved actor-director Taika Waititi (who co-starred as Blackbeard). The longer the show remained available on streaming, the more fans it picked up, and it easily became an iconic LGBTQIA+ story, leading to the development of an active online fan community. 

It's easy to understand why those fans were so devastated when the show was officially cancelled in the spring following its late-2023 2nd season. David Zaslav and Warner Brothers Discovery have taken a lot of criticism for their bizarre choices, including rebranding their streaming service as Max and shelving the completed Batgirl movie to get a tax breaks. Cancelling "Our Flag Means Death" and failing to provide viewers with adequate narrative closure was certainly one of their biggest errors and easily one of the biggest industry disappointments of 2024.

There are quite a few programs that rely on shock value to get their point across — shows like "Game of Thrones," "The Walking Dead," and even animated series like "Invincible." "The Boys" has always fallen into this category — from exploding genitals to impaled marine life, they've explored all kinds of shocking moments. On Season 4, which premiered in June, "The Boys" features an up-close shot of a lobotomy, as well as yet another weird, supe sex thing which we'll refer to as "self love," but these were actually pretty par for the course. It was Tek Knight's (Derek Wilson) sex dungeon and Hughie's (Jack Quaid) experience inside of it that went too far. 

On Episode 6, Hughie goes undercover as a Spider-Man-esque supe named Webweaver in order to infiltrate a dangerous meeting of alt-right radicals. As Webweaver, Hughie is sexually assaulted by Tek Knight and Vought CEO Ashley (Colby Minifie). While it isn't as bad as it could have been, it is still traumatizing, as evidenced by his emotional breakdown later on the show. For some reason, the show's writers thought this scene was "hilarious" and clearly put no thought into the seriousness of what they were putting on screen, as reported by Forbes. It was awful, and it was handled in a way that disrespected Hughie's character. 

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

The first few episodes of Apple TV+'s "Sugar" stayed true to its noir facade, focusing on a slow burn in a missing persons case while featuring beautiful cinematography and an introspective voiceover of Colin Farrell reading bits from his character's journal. Farrell plays John Sugar, a mysterious, L.A.-based P.I. with a bodily resistance to drunkenness and a singular focus on solving missing persons cases. He's a part of some mystery group of people who seem to be erudite and organized, and inexplicably displays super strength and durability on multiple occasions throughout the show's first half. The big "Sugar" twist is revealed on Episode 6 right before the credits roll; turns out Sugar is actually an alien! 

This fills in a lot of blanks, and, by the time it's revealed, is probably the only feasible explanation for Sugar's eccentricity. However you feel about the alien twist, the problem with the show is that it immediately seems to fall apart afterward, as if the writers were so focused on the reveal they forgot to plan out the season's end. What was once an homage to noir becomes an over-complicated sci-fi action show with ineffectual stakes. Sugar's alien friend, Henry (Jason Butler Harner), whom we've seen on-screen a few times, is actually a mastermind psychopath who kidnapped and murdered Sugar's sister back on their home planet, and getting from point A to point B feels rushed and unearned, to say the least.

Forbes' Erik Kain said, in his review of Season 1 of Max's "Velma," that "the only thing 'Velma' has managed to do well — and this is actually quite the achievement — is unite the entire internet for one brief moment. Conservatives, liberals, Scooby fans and non-fans alike all agree: 'Velma' is a steaming pile of Scooby doo-doo." The show was panned by critics and audiences alike, stuffed to the gills with stale references and unlikeable characters, among many other flaws. 

It's a travesty that "Velma" was allowed to air a 2nd season this year, especially when so many great shows were cancelled in 2023. One theory is that "Velma" most likely had already produced 20 episodes when executives decided to split the show into two seasons, but it's not like they couldn't have cancelled Season 2 after seeing the Season 1 reception. Warner Brothers Discovery isn't afraid to cancel finished products. As for the quality of Season 2, most critics seem to agree that, while it is marginally better than the first, it is far from decent.

Not since "The OC" offed Marissa Cooper has there been a more significant outrage from teen TV audiences over the death of a fictional character than the one that followed JJ's murder on "Outer Banks." JJ (Rudy Pankow), a teenage treasure hunter, finally succeeds in finding Blackbeard's Blue Crown on the Season 4 finale, only to give it up to his biological father. Said father, Chandler Groff (J. Anthony Crane), forces JJ to choose between keeping the crown or saving the life of his girlfriend, Kiara (Madison Bailey), and of course, JJ— a fan favorite— chooses to prioritize his love. 

Unfortunately, Chandler Groff is sort of like if Dan Scott from "One Tree Hill" was even more unlikeable, and decides to stab JJ anyway. JJ's death is so disappointing that co-showrunner Shannon Burke herself called it "gratuitous" when speaking about the decision with Entertainment Weekly. John B. (Chase Stokes) the show's main character, eulogizes JJ at the end of the episode, saying "I like to think it's not so much how many years you get, but what you do with them. And JJ packed it in. A whole life in those 20 years." It's clear the show was trying to honor JJ's death with John's line, but all it really did was remind audiences that they just watched a 20-year-old boy get stabbed by his father.

Over the past 12 years that Disney has owned Lucasfilm, they've gone through an enormous amount of Star Wars content and a lot of trial-and-error. They've debuted numerous shows on Disney+, and a lot of the criticism they've received can be amounted to a toxic fandom that doesn't seem to ever be truly satisfied and admonishment for over-saturating audiences with Star Wars-related content. 

"The Acolyte," Disney's newest foray into Star Wars television, was relatively well-received by critics, with a 78% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. It was also appreciated by fans of the wider Star Wars lore as a project far-removed from the Skywalker Saga, even though it attracted a particularly caustic reaction from many others. The news of the show's cancellation, reported this summer not long after the 1st season finished airing, was met with a strong response, and felt like a premature decision to many. Forbes reported that "The Acolyte" was cancelled because it cost too much money and simply didn't make up for it in viewership, but it was a shame to see an original idea in the Star Wars universe tossed out so quickly.

"The Perfect Couple" generated a lot of buzz before it came out thanks to its impressive cast and the popularity of its source material (the show is based on a bestseller of the same name written by Elin Hilderbrand), but by the end of its six episodes, several viewers and critics found themselves deflated by a lackluster finale. The show follows many members of a wealthy family as they gather in Nantucket for the wedding of son Benji (Billy Howle) and his free-spirited fiancée Amelia (Eve Hewson). The morning of the wedding, Amelia discovers the dead body of her maid of honor, Merritt Monaco (Meghann Fahy), and that's where one question really kicks everything off: Who killed Merritt?

Jenna Lamia, who wrote and ran the show, probably should have realized that she chose the wrong story to adapt to screen when she decided its ending needed to be changed. "In a book, you can be inside a character's head in a way that you can't in a television show," Lamia explained to Tudum. The book ends with a reveal that Merritt's death was an accident, but the show decided to pin it all on Dakota Fanning's Abby, the oft-ignored wife of eldest son Thomas (Jack Reynor), for financial reasons. Because of Fanning's star-status, the character's immediate prominence in the story, and the world's most boring motive (money), it's just not an exciting reveal, and is therefore a huge letdown.

Krysten Ritter's experience playing a badass like Jessica Jones in the fantasy-sci-fi realm of storytelling made her the perfect choice to succeed Tatiana Maslany as the star of the Orphan Black universe with "Orphan Black: Echoes," and yet, the show just didn't do well at all. It initially follows a woman named Lucy (Ritter), who has spent the past two years of her life living with no memory of what happened before she woke up. Anyone familiar with the original "Orphan Black" series knows that it gets a lot more complicated from there, and unfortunately, that seems to be the show's undoing.

"While this saga has compelling themes," writes Variety, "its magic gets dimmed in the perplexing plot points and unnecessary exposition that perforate its 10-episode first season." "Orphan Black" was a forerunner in the sci-fi mystery renaissance that TV has been home to, which now includes current shows like "Dark Matter" and "Silo." Nowadays, the market is flooded, so it's not a surprise that "Orphan Black: Echoes" isn't good enough to make the grade with subpar plotting. It also probably didn't benefit from the hype automatically generated by a title starting with "Orphan Black" — the original "Orphan Black" was just too good to give this spinoff room to grow from mediocrity. AMC agrees; the show was cancelled shortly after Season 1 finished airing.

"Palm Royale" seemed like one of the first shows that Apple TV+ actually went out of its way to advertise on their streaming service. It makes sense they'd want to crow about it, especially with a cast composed of acting giants like Kristen Wiig, Allison Janney, and Laura Dern, and a gorgeous aesthetic based on sun-soaked, vintage resort vibes. Unfortunately the show's selling points seem to start and end there. 

USA Today writes in their review that, "despite everyone's best efforts, 'Palm Royale' reads like an expensive screensaver: just something pretty to look at while you're not watching the good stuff," which is harsh, but accurate. Huffpost writes that the show "is a blur of delightful period costumes and idyllic sets. But the outcome is hazy at best, proving that a prestige cast and a potentially prestige premise do not make a prestige TV show." The show garnered decent viewership and therefore received a prompt 2nd season renewal from Apple TV+, but many critics were ambivalent at best and regretfully letdown at worst.

"Death and Other Details" seemed like a promising option for winter entertainment. The show was billed as yet another whodunnit drama exploring the lives of an ultra-wealthy family and the people who live in their orbit; this one starring the great Mandy Patinkin as a thoughtful, crime-solving detective. The majority of the show takes place on a beautiful cruise-sized yacht, one meticulously constructed to be reminiscent of 1920s and '30s style and design. It makes for an interesting backdrop to the investigation of a gruesome on-board murder, but the show fails to find substance beyond its style. 

Patinkin plays Rufus Cotesworth, a famous private detective looking to solve that one cold case he never forgot when he stumbles upon a whole new mystery. The show has some good ingredients. Angela Zhou's Teddy and Hugo Diego Garcia's Jules are a little more interesting than the rest of the overstuffed cast, and the show doesn't slack in its service to the big twist. That said, there's a lot more about the show that feels slightly off, including Cotesworth's weird accent — every time he addresses the reader of his book in a voiceover, it sounds like he's writing to someone named Rita — and a script that feels like it was edited by one too many people one too many times. Unsurprisingly, Hulu chose not to renew "Death and Other Details" for a 2nd season.

"The Umbrella Academy" has always been a show with high stakes and complex plots. The super-powered students and siblings of the Umbrella Academy have fought off numerous apocalypses in their four seasons of screen time. Between all of them, they've visited a near-infinite number of realities and experienced just about every way their lives could have ended up. They've fought with each other and loved each other, had existential crises, and come to terms with their twisted upbringings. All of these experiences have led to a series finale that isn't all bad, but that also leaves its fans with many unanswered questions (what happened to all those other children born on October 1, 1989, anyway?) and the feeling that quite a bit was left on the cutting room floor. 

It doesn't help that the episode before the finale, Season 4, Episode 5, contains the entirety of Lila and Five's love story subplot, something that might have had more room to breathe had it not unfolded over a few minutes of montage in the series' penultimate episode. "The Umbrella Academy" has maintained a loyal following throughout its run, and it's a shame that the resolution of four full seasons of story (something relatively extraordinary on TV these days, let alone Netflix) feels so rushed.