5 TV Shows to Swear Off in the New Year

Sadly, Christmas is now behind us, and it’s time to focus on the New Year. And what better way to do it than to think about managing your time. And what better way to think about managing your time than to start picking off good-for-nothing TV shows that might have started off good but have seriously lost their way.

(Dis)honorable Mention: The Office…this is the last season, and that means there’s only a dozen episodes left of the Dunder Mifflin gang before we say goodbye to them forever, and not a moment too soon. I welcomed Steve Carell’s childish, attention-hogging manager leaving because I’d grown seriously tired of him, but his absence has exposed some real problems in the core of the show. Most of the characters aren’t likable, the setting is depressing, and the “jokes” have been repeated so often (we get it, Dwight’s a freak) they now carry a stench of desperation behind each punchline. I’ll ride out the end of this show, but I’m grateful this is the finale. [And why are they asking us to root for Erin/anonymous-intern over Erin/Andy? Oh Office, what happened to you?]

5. Once Upon a Time…I get no pleasure in this, but this isn’t a show that’s going anywhere. It repeats itself, the characters are nearly retarded, nobody ever dies, and the stakes are pretty much non-existent (because, again, nobody ever dies). It’s a little like watching a children’s Saturday morning cartoon show, and that’s fine, but how long do you have to indulge it?

4. Revolution…I know this is NBC’s big hit of the Fall, and I know this thing has monster ratings that won’t be stopped anytime soon (although remember Heroes was big for a year too), but I haven’t really enjoyed a single episode. In fact, I missed about three episodes and it’s telling that I still knew exactly what was going on. An interesting premise? I guess, but it’s not an interesting show. The dialogue is uninspired, the characters have one dimension at the most, and it’s depressing to watch good actors like Giancarlo Esposito (so great as Gus Fring on Breaking Bad) slum it in roles like this.

3. Nashville…Speaking of “promising new shows going nowhere,” you have Nashville. I’ve not been seriously knocked-out by a single episode of this show, and it’s time to pull the plug, or at least my viewership. It would be interesting if they wanted to act like there were more than 12 people in all of Nashville, but since they refuse to really explore the city and they strand us with a selfish lead character in Rayna———not to mention sideline the most fun character, Juliette, with a Tebow-like sap of a boyfriend———then it’s time to say goodbye.

2. Up All Night…Is it a family comedy or a workplace comedy? That was the dilemma of season-one, where the baby angle was regularly shed to follow around Maya Rudolph’s wacky boss and Will Arnett got to pretty much stand around. In season two, this show is just a laugh-less mess. The central couple has become inadvertently unlikable and the only original angle of the show (Arnett’s a stay-at-home dad) has been abandoned while he teams up with Applegate’s charisma-deprived brother to start a business. NOW, the show is going from a single-camera comedy to a soundstage one with a laugh track (like How I Met Your Mother or Friends) and that will really kill it. Thanks, but no thanks on more episodes for this once-promising show.

1. Revenge…There’s been a lot of grousing about The Initiative villains this year, but the real problem is that the “anti-heroine” at the center of the show refuses to get her hands dirty. We’re asked to be kept in suspense with a show where no one important ever dies, and the “badass” chick at the center isn’t a badass at all. It just feels repetitive and the stakes have never been lower. There are a lot better ways to spend your sunday nights than watching a bunch of morons in a CGI-ed Hamptons get played by a Disney Princess.