Every TV Show I Gave Up On This Year
Reclaiming my time
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For years, when I wasn’t enjoying a TV show, I’d keep watching either because it felt like it had potential to rope me in later into the season or simply for the sake of finishing it. To close the loop, etc. I did fall out on a few shows that truly lost the plot over the years — “Glee,” “Empire,” “Riverdale” — but usually I stuck it out. Even when it seemed like everyone else I knew had given up on a show, I kept at it — looking at you, “Pretty Little Liars.” Maybe that’s why I’m absolutely one of those people who annoyingly tells people to stick with a show because it gets good after x number of episodes.
RELATED: Every TV Show I Dropped in 2022
But then, over the past couple of years, the sheer amount of series being released forced me to start reclaiming my time. If I didn’t like something, I just cut the shit and stopped watching it — moved on to something else on the never-ending list of shows I want to watch.
And how freeing it’s been! In 2023, I gave up on 13 shows, meaning I straight up quit watching them mid-season, or I realized I just didn’t have any desire to watch a newly-released season of a show I’d watched previously.
Keep reading for my list, complete with explanations of why I dropped them. All tea, no shade.
How I Met Your Father (Hulu)
I watched the first season of this Hilary Duff-starring “How I Met Your Mother” — a result of my lifetime loyalty to the Duffster, but I just couldn’t do it for its second season. It’s not just that it essentially feels like a network sitcom — I have plenty of tolerance for those in the right form (see: “Abbott Elementary”) — it’s more that it feels like such a CBS sitcom, which have some of my least favorite humor. Hilary deserves better than this, and the frustrating part is that she had a better opportunity that slipped away before she signed onto “How I Met Your Father”: She had filmed the pilot for the grown-up “Lizzie McGuire” reboot before Disney pulled the plug on it. What could’ve been!
Extraordinary (Hulu)
Back in January, it felt as though a lot of people online were talking about this little British show about a world in which everyone develops a superpower once they turn 18. The protagonist of the story, naturally, does not, though. I only watched the first episode before deciding that it simply wasn’t for me — though it still has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, so clearly a lot of people really loved it.
Dear Edward (Apple TV+)
From the man behind beloved series like “Friday Night Lights” and “Parenthood,” this series about those left behind by a tragic plane crash seemed like it would be another hit. I got over halfway through the first season, which debuted earlier this year, before giving up on it — it was just such depressing subject matter with very little levity to balance it out. Not even Connie Britton could save this one for me.
High Desert (Apple TV+)
Another Apple TV miss. This quirky series stars Patricia Arquette in a kind convoluted story about a woman who works at, like, a country western theme park and decides to become a private investigator. I got through one episode before calling it quits.
Yellowjackets (Showtime)
It’s wild how quickly the energy around a hot show can change. The first season of “Yellowjackets” was such a cultural moment. It was one of those debut seasons that more and more people watched as it went on, to the point where the finale felt like something that everyone watched. Even in the lead-up to season 2, the marketing blitz had me excited for it to come back, but then it made the grave error of airing at the same time as the final season of “Succession” (like, literally the same time slot on Sunday nights), which took a lot of air out of its sails. And then I heard from people who were watching it that it just wasn’t hitting the same, so I didn’t make it past the second episode of its second season.
Jared From Subway (Max)
Earlier this year, HBO Max content combined with that of Discovery+ to form MAX, which resulted in a lot of false-start watches. By that I mean, I would click on a title or see people talking about an alluring new docu-series on the platform before realizing pretty quickly into the first episode that the show was more “Discovery+” than “HBO.” The quality just wasn’t there, and this series about Jared from Subway was the first show this became evident of for me. From then on, we’d have to be a little more discerning when it came to what to watch on MAX.
Black Mirror (Netflix)
Remember when “Black Mirror” was, like, the most innovative series out there and proved to be can’t-miss TV every time a new season dropped? 2023 felt like the first year where none of that was true. The new batch of episodes we got this year just fell flat for me and told me that maybe this series has run its course because, perhaps, society has caught up to it?
Elite (Netflix)
When this Spanish show about a tony private school in Spain that seems to attract murder and feature an above-average number of sexually active students was good, it was so good. But a season or two ago it started to go the way of many teen shows of the past, where it dreamed up kookier and more far-fetched plots to maintain an element of surprise but lost its luster in the process. I love me some Manu Rios, but I had to say goodbye to this one this year.
American Horror Story: Delicate (Hulu/FX)
I was never an “American Horror Story” watcher, but I tapped into this season for one Kimberly Noel Kardashian for two episodes. I actually found her publicist character to be hilariously camp, but I couldn’t put up with the weirdness around Emma Roberts and Cara Delevingne’s storylines to keep watching. Sorry, Kim!
Wilderness (Prime)
It was the trailer for this series, which featured a great needle drop of “Look What You Made Me Do” by Taylor Swift, that got me to check it out — and it also features Ashley Benson, who I’ve loved since her time on “Pretty Little Liars.” But, unfortunately for all involved, this show was just… not good, and I turned it off before the end of the first episode.
Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test (FOX)
The cast of this reality mashup show was super promising: Tom Sandoval, JoJo Siwa, Tara Reid, Tyler Cameron, Nick Viall and more all competing in military-grade challenges in tough conditions. But something about the pace of this series prevents me from being fully invested, so I dropped off after a few episodes.
Greatest Show Never Made (Prime)
I loved the premise of this one: During the early 2000s reality TV boom, a bunch of people signed up for a mysterious reality experiment that turned out to be a giant bust that never aired — until now. But the treatment of this found footage was a little too quirky for me and I could barely get through one episode.
House of Villains (E!)
Another reality mashup series that had a lot going for it, starting with its absolutely iconic cast: Tiffany “New York” Pollard, Omarosa, Johnny Bananas, Jax Taylor and more legendary reality TV villains all living and competing under one roof is what dreams are made of. This show started strong with some great drama, but they weren’t even voting one person out per episode and it felt as though they were stretching the show out too long. It lost steam, and I lost patience, so I dropped it.
I gave up "And Just Like That"... just like that. Couldn't watch Season 2, so I read the occasional recap and followed what people were saying on Twitter without the pain of actually watching.