The Worst New TV Shows of 2021

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – December 24, 2021

What were the biggest television duds of the past year? Above are the lowest-scoring first-year primetime TV series (including limited series and specials) debuting in the United States between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021. Shows are ranked by Metascore (an average of grades from top professional critics on a 0-100 scale) prior to rounding based on scores from December 21, 2021, and must have at least 4 reviews from professional critics to qualify.

7 of 11 photo by David Brown/Paramount+

38 #4: Guilty Party (Paramount+)

Kate Beckinsale (a late replacement for Isla Fisher) stars in a darkly comedic Funny or Die-produced series as a discredited journalist who hopes to revive her career by uncovering evidence that a young mother (Jules Latimer) now serving a life sentence for murder was wrongfully convicted. But the Paramount+ series wasn't able to successfully thread the needle between comedy and drama like creator Rebecca Addelman's previous series, Dead to Me.

“The series is positively overflowing with themes and characters and story elements that it keeps hurtling at the wall, in hopes that something will stick. After watching the three half-hour episodes sent to critics (of a 10-episode season), I’m still waiting to see if anything does.” —Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter

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