The Best TV Shows That Never Were (2004 TV Special) User Reviews

The worst TV show that actually was

[giant_fish · 17 January 2005]

A cavalcade of pilots that never made it, this is one of the most cynical, exploitative and revealing pieces of network TV you're ever likely to see. The networks should have the the common decency to bury creative efforts that somehow failed, instead of editing them for silly bits and adding an utterly inane and obnoxious commentary track.

P.S. The American pilot episode for the popular British show Red Dwarf is in this show, listed as a failure. The original Red Dwarf was one of the biggest hits on British TV ever, running for six seasons, which shows there was nothing wrong with the premise, rather the utilization by the network in the US version. It is a terrible thing to stomp on someone's creativity in this manner.

A great idea for a TV show...but the execution was just awful!

[planktonrules · 1/10 · 18 October 2016]

The idea of seeing clips and hearing about TV show pilots that never made it is exciting and worth seeing...except in this case. Instead of talking about just a few show ideas, "The Best TV Shows That Never Were" takes on LOTS of pilots...and in the most inept of ways. The narrator is one of the most annoying in history (his style, tone and narration are hellishly bad and grating), the show makes fun of shows which aren't around to defend themselves (and the show seems to ONLY want to mock 'dumb' shows...which is ironic considering how bad this is) and the production is too much. Instead of showing the clips, the show often has wacky sound effects, unnecessary and intrusive music and it's just god-awful. Painful to watch and about as funny as cancer...and incredibly smug. Don't waste your time with this mess of a TV special.

By the way, this show currently has an IMDb rating of 8.3...an impossibly high score. The only review for the show other than mine hates it every bit as much as I did...so why this weird disaparity in the score?!