As we near the end of 2014, we're doing what what we do best at the end of each year and looking back at the last 365 days in TV. We've already named the best shows of the year, and we're still counting down the best of what the medium had to offer with our annual Top 100 Everything list. But just like with most things in life, television exists on a spectrum. There's good TV and there's bad TV. (And then there's Under the Dome.) Thus, it's time to interrupt our ongoing Best of 2014 lovefest to discuss this year's most unfortunate disappointments. Below, we've listed the 11 missteps that left us shaking our heads this year; you might agree with our choices or you might not, but that's what the comments are for! What fell short for YOU this year? Editors' Note: In related news, some TV.com users have spent the better part of December celebrating the very worst TV of 2013 with the 2nd annual user-created Blowie Awards. You can join the fun here. 11. Extant wasted its potential by focusing on the wrong storyline It's not like we ever expected great things from Extant, but the Steven Spielberg-produced summer drama could have been—and should have been—much better than it turned out to be. The brainchild of a first-time TV writer, the show ultimately fell victim to obvious sci-fi tropes, but its greatest sin is that it failed to capitalize on the potential of its artificial intelligence arc. Instead of placing so much importance on Halle Berry's alien baby and a mother's unconditional love, Extant should've focused its attention on robokid Ethan and explored the question of what qualifies as humanity; the tale of two parents loving their android like a real human son would've been far more compelling, and it certainly would've had a greater emotional impact. Ethan was the story worth exploring on a deeper level, especially since he eventually sacrificed himself to save the world. Now that the series has been renewed for Season 2, we don't know where it'll go next, but we don't have high hopes. 10. ABC kills Trophy Wife to make room for series that are already canceled It always hurts to lose a beloved show to the mighty axe of cancellation, but ABC cutting down Trophy Wife is one blow that still hurts. The series' silly title certainly didn't help bring in viewers, but the network didn't do much to help the low-rated but hilarious comedy find its place, either. And to make matters worse, the shows that replaced Trophy Wife this fall—the romantic comedy Manhattan Love Story and the My Fair Lady adaptation Selfie—didn't even make it to a full season (and rightfully so in the case of the former). Sigh. At least we'll always have those fond memories of Bert to remind us of what was good. 9. Mulaney fails to deliver the laughs John Mulaney is a funny man. Nasim Pedrad is a funny lady. Martin Short is Martin freaking Short. So why wasn't Mulaney a funny show? Based on the talent behind the scenes and in front of the camera, we expected much more, and when it didn't make us laugh we were left with an empty feeling in our hearts and a year's supply of unused adult diapers. What a shame that Pedrad left Saturday Night Live for this; now all she has to show for it is a half-assed cancellation from Fox. 8. Doctor Who's Season 8 unevenness is a problem not even the Time Lord can fix At this point, it might be easier to just accept that Doctor Who is never going to be great, mind-blowing television; to be honest, doing so would probably make the entire viewing experience more enjoyable for everyone. But with a new actor taking on the role of the Doctor in Season 8, expectations were always going to be high. And to be clear, Doctor Who's recent issues are no fault of Peter Capaldi's—they're the fault of the writing itself. Sure, there were definite highs—"Listen" proved that Steven Moffat can still produce high-quality standalone stories that keep time travel exciting even after 51 years—but then there was "Robot of Sherwood." The show was simply far too uneven on a week-to-week basis. While it still deserves props for attempting large character arcs for both the Doctor and Clara, not to mention the Master's brilliant return, it wasn't enough to erase most of "Kill the Moon" from the collective conscience. 7. Go home, Justified, you're drunk Look, this one hurts. At its best, Justified is one of the most excellent and underrated shows on television, and we'd be hard-pressed to name a show with better written dialogue. But not even Boyd using a pack of cigarettes to blow someone up was cool enough to save the sad and disappointing fifth season. The criminal exploits of the despicable Crowe family were a boring follow-up to the exciting Drew Thompson mystery of Season 4, and heck, even the slight stumble the show took in Season 3, with Robert Quarles and Ellstin Limehouse, sounds favorable in comparison to sending Boyd off to Mexico. Throw in Ava's stint in jail, and Justified Season 5 resembled someone who spent a little too much time on a barstool at Boyd's bar. You can do so much better, show. Here's hoping the final season ends up on a different list next year. 6. True Blood's series finale was a bloody mess Even if we set aside the fact that the vampires of True Blood have always been a metaphor for the LGBT community, Bill's suicide—with the help of his "true love" Sookie, no less—sends a very powerful anti-acceptance message, and the series time-jumping series finale was a major letdown. Sookie moved on with someone else, of course, but there was no closure for Lafayette, Jessica and Hoyt got married in a super-rushed wedding that monopolized the episodes, and Eric and Pam—arguably the show's two most interesting characters—barely had any screentime. The entire thing left a sour taste in our mouths. 5. A lady-less late-night lineup 2014 was the Year of Late-Night TV Shake-Ups, and yet we're heading into 2015 without a female presence in the landscape. How is that possible in the 21st century? Jimmy Fallon crushed it in his first year as host of The Tonight Show, and Seth Meyers has found a good rhythm at Late Night, but after Chesea Lately signed off, David Letterman announced his retirement from the Late Show and Stephen Colbert stepped up to replace him, and Craig Ferguson said sayonara to the The Late Late Show, it's a bummer that there won't be any estrogen entering the fray. Maybe no ladies wanted the gigs, maybe they realized they've got better stuff to do, like collaborating on a plan for world domination, but if that's the case, would they please announce as much so we're not left wondering why it still feels like 1982 up in here? 4. The Strain drained us of our initial enthusiasm Sometimes, the most disappointing shows are the ones that have the furthest to fall. And since we anointed FX's vampire drama our most anticipated new show of the summer, the thud it made when it hit the ground was esepcially loud. The Strain had some great things going for it: a scientific look at vampires, turning those bloodsuckers into actual monsters instead of sexy teens, and a fantastic leading man in Corey Stoll. But the series never took advantage of its strengths, instead spending too much time on bland personal stories in a lame attempt to develop its characters. And eventually, the scientific focus backfired a bit, serving to underscore inconsistencies with the spread of the plague. Was New York City in a state of total f'ing chaos, as was sometimes implied? Or was it business as usual, just with slower internet? And does the main villain—who's supposed to represent pure evil and is intent on bleeding mankind dry—need to look like something that belongs on a cereal box? For fans of cable-quality horror, The Strain was a pretty big bust. 3. Sleepy Hollow falls victim to the dreaded sophomore slump There's a difference between a series not living up to expectations and watching something you know can be great slide downhill into mediocrity. The latter is monumentally more painful, and even though Sleepy Hollow's sophomore season hasn't been truly awful, the show certainly hasn't maintained the potential it displayed in its first season. Though Season 2 started out strong, with a quick pace and interesting new characters (O Kindred, Kindred, wherefore art thou, Kindred?), but the increased episode count eventually led to a string of standalone filler installments that were more clunky than compelling. Whether the problematic episodes were a product of a network executives hoping to bring in new viewers, we'll never know, but Sleepy Hollow obviously works best when there's no time for detours. 2. The new fall shows are mostly a stinking pile of hot garbage The sad state of the new fall shows is the only repeat from last year's list, and despite registering fairly low last year, it rocketed straight toward the top in 2014. From Gotham's weak debut (yes, it's gotten much better, but that changes little for a series that was supposed to be the Next Big Thing), to the face-palm inducing (and now canceled) Bad Judge to the flat Manhattan Love Story, to the unmitigated disaster that was Utopia to the uninspired NCIS: New Orleans to—well, you get the idea—it's as if the fall season was content to start out needing CPR. Sure, there were a few highlights, but for every exciting moment of The Flash, let us not forget that NBC ordered a full season of MomCop. Every time we laugh at a joke on Black-ish, recall that The McCarthys is still on the air. As we look ahead to 2015, we'll be wishing on the bright star that is Jane the Virgin that the third time will be the charm and that, by next fall, the networks will figure out how to launch a fall season again. 1. How I Met Your Mother's series finale erased years' worth of character development for no reason After nine years and a strong lead-up to the one-hour final episode, to say our expectations were high is an understatement. When a show lives for nine years, its characters become family and their relationships become personal. But while we all know that satisfying series finales are immensely difficult to execute, How I Met Your Mother's felt more like an addendum rather than the destination the show had been traveling toward. The sting of Robin and Ted ending up together has lessened with time, but it doesn't change the fact that How I Met Your Mother's writers refused to admit that the show and its characters had changed over the course of the series and used the show's non-linear structure to cheat their way to the ending they wanted. All of this could've been resolved if they'd spent less time on a doomed-to-fail marriage and more time on what transpired between said marriage and the reunion that lit a thousand fires. Plus, Marshall and Lily were sidelined for most of the hour, and no one puts Marshall in a corner. What shows disappointed YOU the most in 2014?



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