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.

9 of 11 photo by Kit Karzen/Netflix

34 #1 (tie): Cooking With Paris (Netflix)

(tie) Metacritic's Official Worst TV Show of 2021.

If this latest (and worst) example of the pandemic-prevalent genre of celebrity cooking shows proves anything, it's that Paris Hilton is not Selena Gomez or Amy Schumer. And while watching Hilton attempt to whip up gourmet meals like cereal or unicorn-themed cannoli with the help of friends such as Kim Kardashian West and Demi Lovato sounds like it could in theory be fun, we assure you it's not. How much of an impression does it make? As The Independent's Ed Cumming puts it, "Watching Cooking with Paris is almost indistinguishable from not watching it."

“An over-produced miss. ... She seems to be trying to channel her clueless, perpetually bored Simple Life persona, but now that we know that that was just a character, it feels forced.” —Jordan Julian, The Daily Beast

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