- Warning: Some spoilers lie ahead.
- Some shows should have come to an end in 2019, but they didn't.
- For example, "13 Reasons Why" failed to shake off the controversy that's surrounded it since the first season, and the "Riverdale" plot continues to get more and more absurd.
- Below are nine shows that should have been canceled in 2019 based on critic reviews, viewership, and editorial opinion.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
There really can be too much of a good thing.
While some shows get off on the wrong foot, others explode in popularity just to fizzle out in subsequent seasons.
2019 marked the end of some beloved series, including "The Big Bang Theory" on CBS and HBO's "Game of Thrones."
It also marked the end of some not-so-beloved series, like CBS' "The Code," which was canceled just one day after the first season's finale, and Netflix's "Chambers," which one reviewer described as a "Bloated Netflix Dud."
However, some shows were allowed to continue when really they'd run their course, including "13 Reasons Why" and "Riverdale."
Below are nine shows that should have been canceled in 2019 based on critic reviews, viewership, and editorial opinion, along with the season that aired this year.
Warning: Some minor spoilers below.
'13 Reasons Why' (Netflix) — season 3
Season three of Netflix's "13 Reasons Why" is narrated by a new character: Ani Achola, played by Grace Saif.
Fans of the show didn't fail to notice that despite being a new kid at the school, Ani seemed to know everything about each of the characters.
So bad was the abuse that Saif got on social media from fans who accused her of ruining the show that she deleted all images from Instagram and made her Twitter account private.
Despite retrospectively editing Hannah Baker's controversial suicide scene this year, "13 Reasons Why" has struggled to shake off the questionable morals of the show.
It's been renewed for a fourth and final season.
'Turn Up Charlie' (Netflix) — season 1
Idris Elba's Netflix passion project "Turn Up Charlie," which combined his two loves of acting and DJing was, regrettably, not funny or good.
Charlie's (Elba) will-they-won't-they forbidden romance with American DJ Sara (Piper Perabo) is the most compelling element of the series, but it drags and ends with an unceremonious fizzle.
Elba brings his typical charm and swagger to the series with a fresh breath of self-deprecation, but it's not enough to save the fact that there just aren't many laughs.
'Riverdale' (The CW) — season 4
"Riverdale" started the season with a touching memorial to Luke Perry, who played Fred Andrews (Archie's dad) in the series.
While the show was right to mourn Perry befittingly, the rest of the season so far has continued on a ludicrous storyline that spiraled out of control after season one.
Producers have still yet to give a timeline as to where the group of teenagers are at in their academic life (let's not forget in real life the young adult actors are much older than that of their characters).
Even Polly Cooper's twins don't appear to have aged at all since they were born at the beginning of season two — the children are still being carried around covered in blankets.
"Riverdale" viewing figures are in decline, but Digital Spy reports that its loyal core fanbase means it's unlikely to be axed in the near future.
'The Bachelor' and 'The Bachelorette' (ABC) — seasons 23 and 15
"The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" are two previously loved "reality" shows that have failed to change with the times. Not only are both models of the show created only with straight contestants in mind, but there's a serious lack of visible diversity. We've yet to see a contestant that doesn't look like they stepped out of a swimsuit catalog, and almost every winning couple has been white.
The last season of "The Bachelorette" was a complete disaster, too, after Hannah, The Bachelorette, found out that the man she chose actually had a girlfriend when he came on the show. They called it quits, marking the perfect time for the show to do the same.
'American Gods' (Starz) — season 2
The ratings for "American Gods" fell through the floor in season two.
According to TV Series Finale, viewership was down more than 50% from season one to season two.
The second season was hampered by delays after the original executive producers and showrunners Michael Green and Bryan Fuller quit.
Actors Gillian Anderson and Kristin Chenoweth — both with big followings — left soon after.
Rolling Stone's Allan Sepinwall cited the notable departures as the driving factors behind the show's downfall: "Fuller and Green's vision of 'American Gods' was far from perfect throughout, but it could be stunning in isolated moments or episodes, where the new season offers very little to believe in."
Nevertheless, it was announced in March that Starz had renewed "American Gods" for a third season.
'Carnival Row' (Amazon Prime) — season 1
Amazon's new fantasy TV series "Carnival Row" is hated by critics but a hit with audiences, Business Insider's Travis Clark wrote in September.
Clark pointed out that the show starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne had a 53% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, but an 88% audience score.
The New York Times said the show "reanimates bits and pieces from different branches of the fantasy genre into a glum and lumbering beast that only occasionally sparks into life."
Meanwhile, Vanity Fair titled its review: "Carnival Row, or, What Happens When You Try to Become the Next Game of Thrones," citing "bad lighting, endless plot, incomprehensible details — but none of the good ones" as comparisons between the two fantasy series.
"Carnival Row" was renewed for a second series before the first was even released, and producers will take confidence from their viewership figures — it was included on TV Time's "Shows on the Rise" list, based on data from the television-tracking app's millions of global users.
'The Morning Show' (Apple TV+) — season 1
Apple TV+'s flagship show starring Jennifer Aniston and Rees Witherspoon was panned by critics despite its massive $300 million budget.
IndieWire's Ben Travers said there was "very little to just enjoy" about the first three episodes.
The Hollywood Reporter's Daniel Fienberg called the show's pilot "brutally dull" and its second episode "meandering" but wrote that there were "distinct hints in the third hour of a more satisfying and confident" series.
Variety's Daniel D'Addario criticized the characters, writing that there's "not a human worth caring about in sight."
Recently, executive producers behind the show blamed its reviews on Apple-bashing critics.
"When those reviews came in, I didn't know what show they were watching. And I just kind of thought they were nuts," director Mimi Leder said at Recode's Code Media conference. "I just felt there were a lot of Apple haters and wanting Apple to fail," she said.
A second season is already in the works.
'American Horror Story' (FX) — season 9
"American Horror Story" tried to cash in on the 80s trend with its ninth season set in 1984.
However, poor performances from the cast and a sketchy plotline that blurs the line between supernatural and real crime make this one of the worst seasons in the show's history.
IndieWire's Ben Travers wrote that the franchise has struggled to break away from the anthology format that made it so famous, but is now so widely used.
"... it's hard to imagine the series going anywhere truly shocking," he wrote.
"Instead, it's just spinning its wheels in a different decade."
Read more:
The 20 most-watched shows on Netflix in 2019, so far
The 57 best Netflix original TV shows this year so far, ranked
5 of the best and 5 of the worst Netflix original thrillers of the year