Dare to stream: the worst Netflix original shows
Girlboss promised a juicy true rags-to-riches story but failed to deliver. Photo: Netflix
With a promise to double its already large catalogue of original content in 2017, Netflix is churning out TV shows faster than its massive base of subscribers can binge-watch them.
But for every Stranger Things or House of Cards, there’s a show that fails to hit the very high bar the streaming service has set for itself.
Lacklustre reboots and soulless superheroes feature on this list of the worst of the worst.
Girlboss
Released in April this year, Girlboss follows the rags to riches to rags again story of Sophia Amoruso, the founder of online retail empire Nasty Gal.
Amoruso, who recently filed for bankruptcy after making millions selling vintage clothes on eBay, has a fascinating backstory, but she makes a complicated protagonist.
Brash, hopeless and perpetually on the back foot, Amoruso is foul-mouthed and rude at the best of times, making it hard to like her.
Users on Rotten Tomatoes appear to agree – the show has a measly score of just 30 per cent. For comparison, true-crime hit Making a Murderer gets 97 per cent.
Warning: trailer contains crude language and adult themes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-U2G280kmI
Fuller House
Offering all the cheese without any of the charm of the original, the Netflix reboot of beloved 90s series Full House was a critical flop.
Despite managing to convince most of the original cast to come back – bar the Olsen twins – something wasn’t quite right in the world of the Tanner family, 20 years on.
“Fuller House begins as a sitcom family reunion,” New York Times critic James Poniewozik wrote. “It becomes a self-conscious, dated and maudlin reminder of the ceaseless march of time and your inevitable demise.”
Regardless, audiences didn’t seem to care and the show scored itself a second season, which aired in December 2016, and then a third season, set to hit screens this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXuGLswn2l0
Haters Back Off
Internet personality Miranda Sings is the alter ego of American comedian and YouTube star Colleen Ballinger.
Ballinger’s loud, painfully clueless character won thousands of fans online with her terrible singing performances, eventually scoring her very own TV show on Netflix, Haters Back Off.
But what was charming, offbeat and hilarious in small YouTube doses was uncomfortable, irritating and overwhelming in half-hour episodes.
The Ranch
Ashton Kutcher plays a semi-pro footballer who must return to the ranch he grew up on to help his father and brother.
Full of half-baked jokes reminiscent of Two and a Half Men, The Ranch isn’t bad, just mediocre and that, in Netflix world, is somehow even worse.
Warning: trailer contains coarse language.
Iron Fist
There was plenty of anticipation ahead of the March premiere of Iron Fist, given its Marvel-meets-Netflix predecessors like Daredevil and Jessica Jones were excellent.
Unfortunately, despite the power of his impermeable fist, lead character Danny Rand was nowhere near strong enough to carry his own series and critics and audiences dismissed the show as child’s play.
Cooked
Following the success of Chef’s Table, which offered a delectable insight into the kitchens of the world’s greatest, Cooked could not be more of a foodie failure.
Hosted by food writer Michael Pollan, the show takes itself far too seriously, exploring the origins of food’s most basic elements in a dull, overly complicated manner that takes all the joy out of eating.