2024 had a lot of great sci-fi and fantasy TV shows, but sadly, a few that let viewers down!
Over the past 12 months, fans got to enjoy a lot of genre TV, from returning hits like The Rings of Power and House of the Dragon to great new shows like Fallout. There were also a few duds here and there, many of which came and went without much buzz. Not all of these shows were bad, some many were disappointing. Some were parts of franchies that came up short and others were new efforts that landed with a thud.
Here at the end of the year, we're remembering the 10 biggest sci-fi/fantasy TV shows that let people down. Not every show can be a winner. Just ask fans of these series:
1. The Umbrella Academy season 4
When fans learned that there would only be six episodes for the final season of this Netflix superhero drama, they knew something was up. How could this wildly inventive series about a family of dysfunctional, reality-hopping superheroes possibly wrap things up in so little time? The answer was “not very well.” The plotlines were way too rushed and undid some of the great character work from previous seasons, including a romance between Five and Lila that no fan wanted to see happen.
Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally were brought on board for this final season but were largely wasted. The story made little sense and it was obvious that the writers didn’t have the time to flesh things out as they wanted. The finale was a tremendous letdown that rendered much of the show meaningless. Rather than a celebration of the wild funny path that had come before, we got one of the poorest series finales ever and a massive disappointment for its many fans.
2. Time Bandits
This should have worked. Taika Waititi tackling the beloved Terry Gilliam fantasy film should have been a blast with top-notch production and storytelling. What we got was a mess, thanks in no small part to the bad casting. Lisa Kudrow is a fine actress but was completely unsuited for the role of the leader of a band of time-traveling thieves, and too much was made of them being idiots bumbling around with no clue as to their destiny.
The kid tagging along with the gang wasn’t as compelling as it could have been. The plot took too many weird turns, the storytelling didn't land and the main villain was underwhelming. Throw in one actress leaving mid-season and it’s little wonder that Apple TV+ decided to cut their losses and cancel the show after just one year.
3. Grotesquerie
Ryan Murphy used to be able to create some fun TV shows. Nowadays, he seems inclined to produce series that only waste great casts. The latest was this ludicrous FX crime series.
Grotesquerie is hard to describe. Niecy Nash’s cop wasn’t just hard-edged, she was totally unsympathetic and not someone the audience could get behind. Her quest to find a serial killer with the help of a nun took some pretty weird turns.
What really made this show awful was the ridiculous plot twist that rendered the first half of the season meaningless. The remaining episodes were worse, an impossible-to-follow mishmash of plots that added up to what may be one of Murphy’s worst shows ever.
4. Orphan Black: Echoes
Making a new Orphan Black without original series star Tatiana Maslany was always an idea doomed to failure. It was Maslany's Emmy-winning performance as multiple clones that made the show work so brilliantly. As talented as Krysten Ritter is, she can’t match that, yet even Maslany would have been hard-pressed to elevate a show with writing and pacing this poor.
The plot turns were goofy and the attempts to link it to the original series didn’t work (see the laughable old-age makeup for some returning characters). It’s no surprise this got the axe as it was a pale copy of one of the best genre shows of the last decade.
5. The Spiderwick Chronicles
Fans of this YA novel series were let down when it was announced Disney+ would be dropping episodes of this TV adaptation on the Ruko Channel rather than Disney+. But when we watched the show, it was obvious Disney made the right call. Christian Slater is good as the ogre Mulgarath, but the series made too many mistakes in writing and pacing, not to mention some rather unforgivable deviations from the source material.
Downplaying the fantasy element for modern-day teen struggles may have sounded good to the producers, but it robbed the show of the very reason fans were tuning in. It just looked cheap and not compelling. Just as with the big screen version in 2008, The Spiderwick Chronicles couldn't summon any magic on TV.
6. Avatar: The Last Airbender
Yes, this live-action version of the beloved Nickelodean cartoon is far better than the horrible 2010 movie. Yet for fans of the original fantasy epic, Netflix's remake seemed lacking. It wasn’t all bad, and in some ways, the storytelling improved on a couple of the show’s flaws. But for every addition there was a subtraction. Netflix's attempt to cram 20 episodes of animated storytelling into eight live-action installments resulted in an ungainly beast.
The performances were often good and the FX solid. It was fun to see how the people behind the show adapted bits fans loved, like the Cabbage Merchant being played by the same actor who voiced him in the original series. Avatar: The Last Airbender was good enough to earn a renewal for the next two years, which will allow it to adapt the whole of the source show. But most will agree it’s best to stick to the original as the live-action version isn't on the same level.
7. Uzumaki
No anime series had as much hype behind it as Uzumaki, an adaptation of the classic horror manga by Junji Ito. The tale of a cursed town has been one of the most popular and acclaimed manga for over 20 years, and the first episode of the anime adaptation had promise.
Sadly, it went downhill for this Max series from there thanks to the degrading quality of the animation, with some segments looking like they were unfinished. It also made some strange decisions in the storytelling and arcs. Uzumaki proves that adapting an acclaimed manga isn’t as easy as it sounds.
8. Constellation
Apple TV+ is home to some good sci-fi shows. Also, Apple has basically bottomless pockets, so it takes a lot for a show to be bad enough to get canceled with just one season. Constellation was that bad.
The tale of an astronaut (Noomi Rapace) coming home from space to find the world isn’t the same as when she left it had some promise in the early going. Sadly, that dissipates quickly. There are way too many mysteries layered into the narrative and way too little a focus on coherent, compelling storytelling.
Constellation got worse as it went along; it was convoluted and hard to follow without being that entertaining. Worse was how it seemed to think it was a far better show than it really was. It’s no surprise that, despite a cliffhanger, Apple decided to pull the plug.
9. Dark Matter
This was another case of an Apple TV+ show that started off well but fell apart by the end. The setup was great: a scientist is kidnapped by his alternate reality counterpart who takes over his life while the original tries to get home. Joel Edgerton was good in the dual role and Jennifer Connely winning as his wife. The early episodes are a nice character study.
Sadly, the latter half of the season suffered before a finale that tried to pack too much at once. Readers of the book by Blake Crouch felt it missed some of the character and dramatic beats that made the source material work well.
Dark Matter will get a second season, yet it still feels like a letdown given the wasted promise of the early episodes.
Honorable Mention: Star Wars: The Acolyte
The Acolyte was not a bad show, despite its naysayers. It explored a new era in Star Wars lore, showing the Jedi at the peak of their strength with a compelling cast. The users of the Dark side of the Force had some redeeming qualities and the Jedi some weaknesses. Sure, the show had its problems, but the potential was there, particularly as end of season 1 teased a bigger role for the mysterious Darth Sidious.
The real disappointment is the segment of the Star Wars fandom who tore into the show for the wrong reasons. Rather than being about its actual shortcomings, they attacked the actors involved, and some were truly toxic. Disney canceled the show after one season even though it had an audience and room to improve.
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