ABC / CBS / Netflix / FOX
TV audiences are a fickle lot. One minute we’re obsessed with a new TV show and the next we’ve moved on to The Next Big Thing and our old favourite is left to languish.
Often, it’s not even the show’s fault – the early buzz around the series and its concept just fades, with a one-time smash fading into obscurity in an increasingly competitive market.
Here are a few notable TV hits that, for one reason or another, found success to be particularly fleeting.
1. Empire
FOX
Remember how obsessed we all were with Empire when it launched back in 2015? It was the hottest show to come out of the US that year, with E4 considered to have bagged itself a winner when it picked up the hip-hop drama to air in Britain.
Actual movie star Terrence Howard was the big name lead. No-nonsense mistress of sass Cookie Lyon (Taraji P Henson) was everyone’s favourite new TV character. And the songs – ‘Keep Your Money’, ‘Drip Drop’, ‘You’re So Beautiful’ and, of course, ‘No Apologies’ – were genuinely brilliant, with season one’s soundtrack outselling even Madonna’s latest album.
But the mass buzz and critical love for Empire faded as quickly as it had built. The average rating for its fourth season was just 7.4 million, almost 10 million less than its debut run.
After significant wins in its early years, the awards love has dried up somewhat too, and while season one’s soundtrack peaked at No. 18 in the UK Albums chart, season two’s equivalent charted at 139.
The series is by no means a flop – FOX has ordered a fifth season to launch this autumn – but there’s no question that this Empire is crumbling.
2. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Netflix
Eric Liebowitz
Launching back in 2015, back when there were just a handful of Netflix original series, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt stood out as the streaming service’s first original sitcom.
House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black had already proven that Netflix had the stuff when it came to ‘prestige’ drama, but the super-cute Kimmy Schmidt – Tina Fey’s first major project post-30 Rock – helped solidify its reputation as a TV force to be reckoned with.
But by the time the second season arrived a year later, the television landscape and Netflix itself were looking very different – and a lot more crowded.
Grace and Frankie and Master of None had both launched to positive buzz, with a whole lot more joining those two and Kimmy on the service in the years that followed. (Netflix has premiered a total of 25 new comedies since Kimmy Schmidt first dropped.)
Still just as well-liked – the series continues to pull in strong reviews – but now fighting for press and viewer attention, it’s perhaps no surprise that Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt will bow out for good next year with a final batch of episodes.
3. UnREAL
Lifetime
James Dittiger
UnREAL had to overcome some early hurdles, mostly apprehension over its network – Lifetime didn’t exactly have the same rep as an HBO or a Showtime – and its premise (“It’s basically a drama about what happens behind-the-scenes on The Bachelor… but it’s really good, honest!”).
But those who did tune in ended up seriously hooked, won over by the show’s surprisingly dark tone, wicked humour and compelling relationships, particularly the dynamic between scheming TV producer Quinn (Constance Zimmer) and her conflicted protege Rachel (Shiri Appleby).
But an underwhelming second season was enough to totally scupper UnREAL. In record time, it went from being the prettiest girl in the room to the TV show that critics couldn’t wait to send home packing. From “one of the most interesting dramas in recent memory” to “slow, muddled, and disappointing” in the space of 12 months.
The series has since been restored to some of its former glory, but its reputation never get recovered from its sophomore slump – the fourth and final season won’t even launch on Lifetime, with streamer Hulu getting a first look instead.
4. Glee
Fox
Glee was briefly the biggest show in the world. In 2010, as the show’s second season aired to an audience of over 10 million viewers in the US and many millions more across the globe, you couldn’t move for copycat Glee clubs, tie-in albums, spin-off novels, games, stationery… the series even had its own clothing line.
The cover versions performed by McKinley High’s biggest talents stormed the charts, with over 36 million copies of Glee cast single releases purchased digitally and over 11 million albums purchased worldwide through October 2011.
There was a concert film – Glee: The 3D Concert Movie – released in cinemas and the young cast became global superstars.
But later format changes, including introducing a new generation of students while also following some McKinley graduates as they sought success in New York City, proved unpopular with ‘Gleeks’ and, just a few years later, the show’s US audience had dwindled to a little over 3 million.
By the time the series finale aired in 2015, it felt as if, rather than giving one last glorious encore, Glee was being quietly ushered out of the stage doors.
5. Bloodline
Jeff Daly/Netflix
Like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (and this is pretty much the only way in which the two shows are similar) Bloodline arrived as part of Netflix’s first wave of programming. Back then, there was a lot less competition and, when it came to drama, the streaming service could seemingly do no wrong.
So the hype for Bloodline felt justified. A murky murder-mystery thriller set in the Florida Keys, from the creators of the uneven but mostly excellent Damages, and starring Kyle Chandler in his first regular TV role since Friday Night Lights? What’s not to be excited about?
But while the series’ bleak tone and glacial pacing meant it was rewarding for those who stuck with it, it proved too much of a slog for many.
Yahoo! TV called the first season of Bloodline a “twisty mood piece … well worth your time” while The Hollywood Reporter raved, “Chalk up another forceful punch [for Netflix] with Bloodline, a riveting, superbly cast slow-burn family drama.”
But by the end, it was being dismissed as “frustrating” (Entertainment Weekly) with unlikeable characters (Vulture). “There was some momentum to start the season,” grumbled Collider. “But in the end almost nothing made sense, or mattered.”
Ouch.
6. Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD
ABC
The great injustice when it comes to Agents of SHIELD is that it got markedly better as it went on, after a chunk of its audience had already stopped watching.
Again, it comes down to changing circumstances and factors outside of the show’s own control. When it premiered in 2013, the small-screen spin-off for Clark Gregg’s breakout character Agent Coulson was the first television series to be set within the MCU. Expectations were high for the early episodes, with fans expecting significant crossover with Marvel’s movies.
That didn’t happen. But while Agents of SHIELD eventually carved out its own niche – still loosely connected to the films but also standing alone – and developed a colourful and compelling cast of characters, for many it had come too late.
What’s more, by the time the series found its feet, it was being overshadowed by the headline-grabbing Agent Carter and the more trendy Marvel series on Netflix: Daredevil, Jessica Jones and their ilk.
It might not be fair, but the hard truth is that the sheen had already come off of SHIELD by the time it really got good.
7. Wayward Pines
Fox
Again, the star wattage of Wayward Pines was palpable. Matt Dillon, Carla Gugino, Toby Jones, Juliette Lewis and Terrence Howard (him again!) in a Twin Peaks / The Prisoner-inspired mystery thriller from M Night Shyamalan? We’re sold!
Deliberately odd, the 2015 series ended up appealing to a small but passionate fanbase, and critics were on board, too. “Creepy and strange in the best way possible, Wayward Pines is a welcome return to form for M. Night Shyamalan,” reads the Rotten Tomatoes verdict on the first season.
But by the time a follow-up arrived 12 months later, interest appeared to have waned considerably. It took FOX another two years to announce they’d formally cancelled Wayward Pines. Before that 2018 announcement, the series had just sort of hung in the ether – neither renewed for a third season, nor officially axed.
Why the drop-off? A lack of connection with a predominantly new cast could be to blame. It had taken so long for season one to make it to air that a few actors – notably Howard and Lewis – had committed to other series in the interim, while Matt Dillon was also missing from the sequel.
8. Elementary
CBS
Landing amid a heap of publicity in 2012 (not all of it positive, with obvious comparisons being made to the BBC’s own Holmes-in-the-modern-day series Sherlock) Elementary proved its worth as a perfectly watchable if rather ordinary crime procedural, the Sherlock character (and Jonny Lee Miller’s energetic performance) being the only thing setting it apart from its rivals.
It’s about to embark on its seventh(!) season, so by no stretch of the imagination can the show be considered a failure. But with the ‘Sherlock rip-off’ controversy having long since faded, there’s very little buzz around the series these days. It’s just sort of… there, pootling along pleasantly enough.
It gets positive enough notices, but never makes headlines. As the Guardian put it, “Give Elementary a go. Dip in and out. Revel in the workaday mundanity of it.”
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