The 2024–2025 season delivered a slew of high-caliber hits as well as a string of disappointingseries. For every successful show that had us glued to the screen, there was another that failed to maintain our attention. While many series delivered compelling stories and performances that left audiences wanting more, others were stagnant, uninspired, and simply underwhelming.
Some of these series began with a compelling premise, only to fumble it as the story went on. Others were doomed from day one; panned by critics and promptly canceled. Series likeSuits LAtried to clumsily capitalize on the success of their predecessor, only to fail at delivering a quality spin-off, while series likeRescue: HI-Surfwere mired by formulaic story telling and shallow writing. This list includes some of the biggest disappointments of the 2024-2025 season.
8’Sausage Party: Foodtopia' (2024–)
Created by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Et al.
Sausage Party: Foodtopiapicks up whereSausage Party(2016) left off. After standing up to the human race in the original film,Sausage Fest: Foodtopiafollows Frank (Seth Rogen), Barry (Michael Cera), Brenda (Kristen Wiig) and Sammy (Edward Norton) as they try and establish a new food society aptly named “Foodtopia”.
Sausage Party: Foodtopiaclumsily tries to implement the same tired jokes of the original film. There’s an exhausting amount of puns andcrude humor that loses its luster long before audiences reach the final episode. Despite an ensemble cast of phenomenal performers who do their best with undeniably uninspired material,Sausage Party: Foodtopiais arotten series that fails to connectwith audiences. Although the humor falls flat, some audiences might still enjoy the overall silliness of the series. Regardless, we can give Rogen a pass on this one given his extraordinary work onThe Studio, one ofApple+TV’s best new series.
Sausage Party: Foodtopia
7’Cruel Intentions' (2024–)
Created by Phoebe Fisher and Sarah Goodman
Cruel Intentionsis a television adaptation of the popular 90s film of the same name which originally featuredRyan Phillippe,Reese WitherspoonandSarah Michelle Gellar.It follows manipulative step-siblings Lucien Belmont (Zac Burgess) and Caroline Merteuil (SarahCatherine Hook), who attempt to seduce the Vice President’s daughter in an attempt to maintain their social status following a hazing incident.
Cruel Intentionsfails to be anything more than anotherfailed attempt at a reboot of an old story. This is the type of mistake producers have been making for years now. Instead of pushing new, fresh stories, Hollywood keeps rehashing old ones in the hopes of a guaranteed profit. With itsunderwhelming performances and uninspired writing,Cruel Intentionsdesperately tried to capitalize on a scandalous storyline that just doesn’t resonate with contemporary audiences in the way its predecessor did. From this perspective,Cruel Intentionsis no different from any of the other tired reboots we’ve seen in recent years, and given its tepid reception, it’s no wonder why the series was canceled after only one disappointing season. Despite being part of this middling series, Hook was able to make up for it with a stellar performance as a member of theunforgettably dysfunctional Ratliff familyin the most recent season ofMike White’sWhite Lotus.
Cruel Intentions
6’Before' (2024)
Created by Sarah Thorp
Beforeis a psychological drama thriller that tells the story of child psychiatrist Eli (Billy Crystal), who encounters a mysterious and troubled boy (Jacobi Jupe) after Eli’s wife commits suicide. As the two become acquainted and their bond deepens, Eli discovers that the boy may hold some connection to Eli’s past.
Given howundeniably phenomenal Crystal usually is, it pains me to say that this is a painfully boring series. Crystal, a typically engaging and charismatic performer,struggles to give Eli any life at all.But it’s not necessarily his fault. The somberly written character preempts any attempt at this, rendering Crystal’s endeavor futile. The sluggish pacing ofBeforedoesn’t do the series any favors either; this protracted show meanders and stretches for far longer than it should, and itsclichéd writing and repetitive storytellingundermine a potentially interesting premise.Beforemight’ve worked great as a film, but unfortunately this sorrowful series overstays its welcome.
5’Rescue: HI-Surf' (2024)
Created by Matt Kester
Rescue: HI-Surfis an action drama series that follows the dedicated and heroic lives of lifeguards assigned to watch over the North Shore of O’ahu, Hawaii. Each episode features lifeguards saving people’s lives under the challenging and life-threatening conditions of Hawaii’s Seven Mile Miracle. Originally picked up by HBO, the series ultimately found a home on the Fox network before it was ultimately canceled following its weak first season.
Surf was definitelynotup inRescue: HI-Surf.This series was a poor attempt at aBaywatchin Hawaii that featuredflat performances, underwhelming action scenes, and cheesy writingthat does nothing to elevate the narrative. The best thingRescue: HI-Surfhad going for it was stunning cinematography that featured the beautiful deep blue waters of Hawaii and its surrounding landscapes. Still, jaw-dropping cinematography does not a good series; plenty of scenes inRescue: HI-Surfwould have made for an excellent screensaver though.
Rescue: HI-Surf
4’Suits LA' (2025)
Created by Aaron Korsh
Suits LAis a spinoff ofSuits, a legal drama series set in New York about a successful lawyer who hires a young college dropout with photographic memory to work at his firm. InSuits LA, former federal prosecutor Ted Black (Stephen Amell) reinvents himself as a successful attorney serving a litany of powerful clients in the City of Angels. Ted and his associates navigate intersecting personal and professional challenges throughout the series.
Suits LAwas an attempt at capitalizing on the success ofSuits, which recentlyenjoyed an enormous resurgence in popularityafter becoming available for streaming on Netflix. Though the series tried to replicate the magic of its predecessor, it faced abrutal mid-season slumpthat it was unable to recover from even with thereturn of beloved characters from the original series.Suits LArushed its storyand didn’t take the time to layer and define its characters in a meaningful way. The consequence of this was a series that made it challenging for audiences to connect with both the story and the characters.
3’Orphan Black: Echoes' (2024)
Created by Anna Fishko
Image via AMC+
Orphan Black: Echoesis a science fiction thriller that takes place in 2052, thirty-seven years after the events of the original series. It follows Kira (Krysten Ritter) and her wife as they try and help an amnesiac woman.Orphan Black: Echoeswas canceled after only one season.
Orphan Black: Echoesfails to capture the thrill and excitement of the original series. Despite incredible talent like Ritter andKeeley Hawesdoing their best to carry the show on their shoulders, the dialogue of the series is too clichéd and unserious for anyone to save.Orphan Black: Echoesalso struggled with awful pacing and poor editing. The series drags on and fails to build any excitement or momentum during its uneventful run. Ultimately, the series is little more than asoulless clone of the original. The main characters of the series assist a woman with remembering, although they might have better luckassisting audiences with forgetting the series altogether.
Orphan Black: Echoes
2’The Recruit' (2022–2025)
Created by Alexi Hawley
The Recruitis a spy adventure series that follows a newly recruited CIA agent, Owen Hendricks (Noah Centineo), whose life gets flipped upside down when he encounters a European asset who threatens to expose her relationship to the agency. WhileThe Recruitwas highly praised for its first season, the second season failed to resonate with audiences.
The first season ofThe Recruitfeatureddecent writing and layered characterizationthat paired well with the thrilling premise of the series. Instead of leaning into its strengths, the second season ofThe Recruitfeatured trite writing and a complete abandon of any realism. Respectfully, thisisa television series, so it’s not unreasonable to have elements and plot points that are improbable, butThe Recruitpushed this too far for audiencesin its second season. For example, Owen, a recent college graduate and newly hired CIA operative who’s as green as they come, flawlessly outmaneuvers the Russian military. Really? The sloppily put-together second season ultimately failed to keep audiences on board.
The Recruit
1’Universal Basic Guys' (2024–)
Created by Adam Malamut and Craig Malamut
Universal Basic Guysis a comedy series that follows a couple of guys in Jersey who get let go from their jobs after AI robots are hired as labor. Fortunately for our heroes, they get rolled into a program that offers a “universal basic income”, giving our heroes some free disposable income to play with.Universal Basic Guysjust concluded its second season and will be returning for a third season on Fox.
Universal Basic Guyshas its funny moments, and its premise (given the current state of AI) feels extremely prescient. There’s also some great voice acting from the cast. But despite decent performances and legitimate social commentary, the show ultimately falls flat. The jokes are exhaustingly crass and thehumor feels uncomfortably forced, and in spite of the cast of decent voice actors, the charactersare simply not particularly likable. HowUniversal Basic Guyswasrenewed for another seasonseems to be as good a question as any, and it’s hard evidence that quality does not necessarily translate into longevity.
