Time to start my Top 180 TV shows! That's up from 150 shows last year. As you can tell, I watch way too much television. Almost all of the shows on the list aired in the year 2014. So lets begin with the list! Here we start off with 8 comedies, 1 reality and 1 drama:
The Top 180 TV Shows: 180-171
180) "Halt and Catch Fire" AMC
Leading off my Best of 2014 is Halt and Catch Fire. A few years back I was a huge fan of Pushing Daisies so I instantly decided to try out this show for Lee Pace (I have a weird thing about supporting other people named Lee, but more on that another time). Boy was I disappointed. Taking place during the rise of the personal computer during the 1980, the show follows a group of individuals who aspire to make the computer something greater than anyone could ever expect. The show suffered from slow pacing, boring conversation and I eventually stopped watching due to it being such a drag on my day. I’m honestly shocked it got a second season renewal after poor ratings plagued the show from the start. But I know some people who fully enjoyed the show, so I guess they’ll be happy!
179) "Betas" Amazon Instant Video
This comedy from Amazon’s first original pilot season is about a group of technological geeks who aspire to make an app in a competitive world. Sounds an awful lot like another show which may or may not appear on my list this year… more on that later (or will it?
) Anyway, the show was entertaining but I eventually forgot to finish watching the complete season. Amazon decided not to order more episodes so I too may just leave it be for now.
178) "Mulaney" FOX
A show starring Martin Short, John Mulaney and Nasim Pedrad, what could go wrong? So so so much. This show about … well… its not really about anything. Its a group of friends and associates who um… do stuff? This show has no real focus and the humor falls flat often. The show was picked up originally for 6 episodes, picked up 10 for more, then was forced to stop production after the 13th episode. The ratings are poor and shutting down production is a de facto cancellation. For some reason I keep watching episodes when they pop up on my DVR because I think deep down I’m hoping the show could surprise me. But I’m not holding my breath.
177) "Backpackers" CW
This CW show started off on their digital site CW Seed as short mini episodes. They combined episodes to make them fit on TV and aired them this past summer Well not for long really. The show is about 2 buddies that go backpacking through Europe before one of them settles down to get married to his girlfriend. Combining episodes made the show feel a little disjointed, and it didn’t help that the episodes were hardly watched. The show was pulled quickly off the schedule. So long Backpackers!
176) "Mystery Girls" ABC Family
Mystery Girls is about two actresses who team up together to solve crimes and mysteries like their characters did once on an old popular tv show. The show in real life brought back former 90210 actresses Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling. The show felt pretty phoned in from the start, and the ratings reflected the shows quality. The best way to describe the show is over the top. I understand going for the over the to out there craziness, but it was too much. The show didn’t get a second season order, so the Mystery Girls won’t be solving any more cases.
175) "Saint George" FX
George Lopez returned to TV in this show about a mixed family and all the craziness that goes on in George’s life. From the start, you could tell this show was not going to be anything too great. I watched all 10 episodes. The show was structured like Anger Management’s 10-90 syndication model. A network order 10 episodes, and if it reaches a certain ratings level, it automatically gets a back 90 order. The ratings were soft, the show was pretty mediocre at best, and it didn’t get more episodes ordered.
174) "Sirens" USA
Sirens is a remake of the British series also called Sirens. The British version only had 1 season and was on my list of shows to watch a few years back but never got around to. I instantly knew to watch this show to see if it held up to the reviews I read about the original. This show is no prize winner. The show follows a group of EMS workers in Chicago and the weird scenes they have to tend to when called. The cast is an interesting group of characters, but they often fell flat. The shows humor didn’t work for me. I often went entire episodes without much of even a smirk. Season 2 is starting up early next year and I’m not sure if I’m going to watch it again.
173) "Partners" FX
Partners is another 10-90 syndication model show on FX that starred more well known comedians. This time Kelsey Grammer and Martin Lawrence team up together to work at a Law firm and take on cases and clients that the other normally wouldn’t handle due to unfortunate circumstances in both of their lives. One lost his powerful job, the other to much of a pushover and not aspiring to be all he can be. The show was quickly burned off the air in 5 weeks, doubling up episodes. I haven’t heard much about the back 90 but I am almost certain it will not go further than what aired this year.
172) "Kirstie" TV Land
The return of Kirstie Alley to a comedy show co starring Rhea Perlman and Michael Richards seemed like a home run to me on paper. In action, the show never took full advantage of the talent the cast had. Kirstie is about an award winning Broadway actress who finds out that the son she put up for adoption, wants to be a part of her life. At first, she is hesitant, but soon realizes being a mom is just what she needs to help her fulfill a gap in her life. This show was another example of going too over the top to the point of being overdone and not very enjoyable. The show wasn’t renewed and I’m sure TV Land was very disappointed in the show and the potential it once had.
171) "Midnight Feast" FYI
Midnight Feast is a cooking competition show about cooking late night meals in Chelsea Market in New York City hosted by a chef I admire from other cooking competition shows, Spike Mendelsohn. The twist on the show is, they have a running tally of food costs they pay for with their own money. In the end, the chef who is chosen as the winner gets a prize of their amount spent on food multiplied by a number I forget off the top of my head, while the loser pays their entire bill. The risk is spending a lot of money on ingredients could give you a big payout or a big receipt. The problem I had with the show was it felt very long for an hour. It would have been better suited as a half hour show. The show also disappeared off of FYI’s schedule after 3 weeks and I haven’t been able to find much info on the remaining three episodes but I will assume the show will not be back.
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I forgot how much time this stuff takes to put together! The Top 180 TV Shows: 170-161 will be up next!