The Big Picture
- Despite reality television being the biggest subgenre, not all shows have a lasting impact.
- Some shows are canceled early due to low ratings or not connecting with the audience.
- Other shows that have been canceled have scandals attached to them.
Reality TV is one of America's favorite pastimes. There's no better way to unwind from a long day's work than to turn on the television and watch family drama, catfights, and tumultuous breakups. While there's a long list of favorite and long-standing reality shows, not all of them have been so successful. Let's take a look at 10 shows that didn't make it past their first season.
The Hasselhoffs
David Hasselhoff is a national treasure and television producers knew it. After the success of shows like The Osbornes where viewers get to tune into their daily chaotic lives, A&E decided that David Hasselhoff and his family would make for quality television. The release date of The Hasselhoffs showcased a two-episode feature. After audiences watched the first episode, 30% of those people didn't keep watching for the second episode. A&E canceled the show after those two episodes.
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Anchorwoman
A tiny Texas news station is desperate to increase its ratings in Anchorwoman, so it tried to take the "sex sells" route. Lauren Jones, ex-WWE dive, is brought in with zero prior news experience to try and prove that she can run the news and increase the ratings. However, the two-episode season premiere did the exact opposite of that. The show was canceled the next morning after it was released.
Breaking Boston
The Wahlberg's are a Boston treasure and that was reiterated by the success of the show, The Wahlburger's. Because of the success of that show, A&E allowed Mark Wahlberg to produce a show called Breaking Boston. The show followed four working-class women in Boston who were aiming to make a better life for themselves. The show was yanked from television after just one week. The first episode produced such low views that they didn't see a need to continue on.
Secret Talents of the Stars
Celebrities already have fame and riches, so why would they need a reality show to earn more? Secret Talents of the Stars was meant to be a 7-week competition series in which the celebrities showcased a talent that they aren't known for. The audience would vote for their favorite and the winner would be crowned at the end. However, the show had such low ratings that it was canceled after its first episode. A true shame we will never know the secret talents these celebrities possess.
Megan Wants A Millionaire
While most of these shows on the list were canceled because of ratings, Megan Wants a Millionaire was canceled because of a murder accusation. Model Megan Hauserman was trying to find love among a group of millionaires, and she developed a connection with Ryan Jenkins. However, Jenkins was accused of murdering his wife and went on the run after her body was discovered. He later died by suicide. The show was canceled after three episodes.
All My Babies' Mamas
Will Smith, LL Cool J, and Ludacris are among the rappers who have done a great job of diversifying their talents and branching out from their niche. Because of this, rapper Shawty Lo wanted to do the same thing, so he headed to reality TV. His pitch for the show All My Babies' Mamas was pretty dehumanizing and stigmatizing. Having 11 children by ten different women, he wanted the show to be about that. Before the show even aired on Oxygen, it was canceled due to a petition about the harmful perceptions it would cause.
The Will
Another competition series bites the dust and not even the creator of The Bachelor is impervious to bad show pitches. The Will follows friends and family members of a multi-millionaire who is trying to decide who he should leave his enormous fortune and assets to. While it had potential success because of how well The Bachelor has done and takes a similar formula, the series never made it through the first season to even announce who won the prize. The Will ended up being the lowest-ranked show for CBS.
Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos is a long-standing, mindless show that families tune in to when there's nothing else on, or they want a quick laugh. However, Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos is not at all family-friendly. The show's contents depicted videos of sexual situations and other sexually explicit content that the audience was meant to react to like they do while watching AFHV. In the middle of its first broadcast, the owner of the broadcast called technicians to turn the episode off and they obliged. The premiere of the show only lasted half an episode. It's not really a surprise to hear the show got canceled so quickly, but you have to wonder how it got approved in the first place.
Who's Your Daddy
The name in itself is enough to make anyone cringe. Who's Your Daddy was, not surprisingly, canceled after just one episode. The premise of the show is to take adults who don't know their biological father and have them try and pick who they think it is out of a line-up. The line-up would consist of eight men and the contestants would participate in challenges to help them better identify who their father might be. If they guessed their father correctly, they would win about $10,000. If they guessed incorrectly, the individual who was posing as their father would get them to walk away with the money. The premise of the show already seems questionable, but after receiving complaints from adoption rights advocates, the show was pulled after its pilot episode.
My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss
The realm of reality shows featuring terrible bosses and crappy jobs is seemingly endless, except for My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss. Taking the blueprint of The Apprentice, MBFOB was a Chicago-based show that consisted of a number of challenges where the ultimate prize was said to be a job at IOCOR. The twist? The job didn't actually exist and their "boss" ended up being a chimpanzee in a suit. The tasks were ridiculous, such as selling soup on a hot day and selling cosmetic surgeries for dead people, and were entirely used as laugh-cam footage for the audience. The show was canceled after five episodes. Sure, it was mindless and everyone loves to laugh at ridiculous things, but it didn't quite develop enough of a following to continue on.
