The 13 Most Ridiculous TV Shows to Ever Get Green-Lit

This fall, ABC will air a new show featuring the cavemen from those GEICO commercials. For those of you that haven't seen those ads, their premise is basically this:

1) There's these cavemen, see.

2) But they live in the present day.

3) Instead of being primitive and stupid, they're actually quite intelligent and erudite.

4) They get upset and prissy when people think they're primitive and stupid.

If your first thought after reading that is: "That's the stupidest idea for a show I've heard all day," then you're 100 percent correct. (We'd also give full credit for "It can't be any worse than The King of Queens.") But if you read that and thought, "That's the stupidest idea for a show ever," you're actually wrong. There have been at least 13 shows stupider than that one-probably more if we were considering Mexican TV.

We're not, so here for your amusement are the 13 stupidest non-Mexican TV shows.

#13. Automan--ABC (1983-1984)

Automan was a show about a programmer who made a computer program to help him solve the many crimes that plagued his life. What made this computer program so special was that, when fed enough power, it would manifest itself in the real world. It would also be wearing a seatbelt and have immaculate blow-dried hair. Automan is chiefly remembered for being the only show in existence to make Knight Rider look plausible and well thought-out.

#12. Beauty and the Beast--CBS (1987-1990)

You'll probably remember Beauty and the Beast as that early '90s Disney cartoon about the dancing candlestick and the gay clock, and the adventures they had selling merchandise imprinted with images of themselves. But it turns out that wasn't the original Beauty and the Beast at all. The original was a 1987 live-action television show set in modern day New York. It featured a hideous man-beast in a relationship with a beautiful woman while they worked together solving crimes. Memorable story arcs include the time they got in the fight about who used up the last of the conditioner, and the time the Beast got upset after being left alone in the house all day and flung his feces all over the walls and ceiling.

#11. Bosom Buddies--ABC (1980-1982)

Also known as "That show where Tom Hanks dressed up as a woman so he could stay in an ladies-only apartment building." Between this show and Three's Company, it becomes readily apparent that if you were unfortunate enough to be a landlord in the '70s and '80s, your life must have been one neverending maze of deceit and betrayal.

#10. Cover Up--CBS (1984-1985)

Dani Reynolds is a fashion photographer whose life gets turned upside down when she finds out two things:

1) that her undercover CIA agent husband was killed on a secret mission, and

2) that her husband was an undercover CIA agent.

The CIA-evidently being short-staffed that day-decide to offer her husband's old job to her. So she hires Mac Harper, a former green beret (now male model) to travel around the world and help her while they fight international crime.

If you've noticed a common thread here of unusual teams fighting crime, congratulations. You have all the skills necessary to be a producer for a major television network, the most highly paid group of mouth-breathers imaginable.

58 Comments

monamayfair

actually, beauty and the beast was a 17th century fairy tale, later adapted into a film by Jean Cocteau in 1946, then obviously used for that travesty of a TV show, before being made into a cartoon :D

Posted on 5/4/2008 2:56:54 AM

donnie thorson

tvs supposed to be unrrealistic thats why i like it you want real life watch the news(not me)

Posted on 3/26/2008 10:33:01 AM

Ranger

Misfits of Science?! Holy crap...I thought I was the only one that saw that show. I was laid up in the hospital in a steel back brace when that was on. Courteney gave me wood back then (that, and the story of her and her sexual relationship with her first cousin while living in NY when she was modelling)...but I lost said wood just as quickly the day I heard she chose the least talented guy in Hollywood to marry and push around. Way to go Court...dumbass!

Posted on 2/26/2008 2:46:16 PM

I like the movies and TV

watch full movies at http://www.tvokay.com it is free for you streaming and download....cheeck it out

Posted on 2/11/2008 10:23:34 PM

baconbit

RobotShark, the guy who played the plant guy in Quarks DID NOT commit suicide. He feel asleep in his trailer, the heater emitted carbon monoxide, it poisoned him, and he died. He did NOT do the "old car in the garage" trick. I'm sure you saw "carbon monoxide poisoning" as his death on IMDB and jumped to the conclusion that he had committed suicide. Don't do that. Thanks.

Posted on 2/3/2008 6:20:59 PM

Amber Taylor

No Alf? i'm bothered by that...

Posted on 2/1/2008 8:15:13 PM

wal9958

watch full movies anime tv and cartoons at http://www.tvokay.wordpress.com it is free for you to stream and download......check it out

Posted on 1/20/2008 11:18:20 PM

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Posted on 1/17/2008 5:14:46 AM

Michael

What about the absolute worst show of all time? Galactica 1980? Then there was Buck Rogers In The 25th Century.

Posted on 1/16/2008 4:31:18 PM

Aero D

One show I hoped would make the list, yet didn't was "Down to Earth." It's about a 1920's flapper who gets killed in a car wreck, only to get sent back to earth as a would-be angel trying to earn her wings. How she is supposed to do this is by playing a Mr. Belvedere type housekeeper keeping her slightly ignorant family in line.

Posted on 1/9/2008 10:13:01 AM

laya

Misfits of Science was a TV show? Was there also a movie? I watched it on VHS when I was a little kid... The title stuck in my mind, that and the guy who could shrink or grow when he scratched the back of his neck... thought I'd like to watch it again now that I'm old enough to make an intelligent assessment about it but couldn't find it in video stores.

Posted on 1/7/2008 8:55:21 PM

kermit

where is Small Wonder? The little girl who is a robot? A much worse idea than Out of this World, with a worse excecution to boot!

Posted on 1/7/2008 8:29:28 PM

robotshark

Just looked up Quark on IMDB - The guy who played the Plant killed himself the year the series was cancelled with the ol' car-in-the-garage trick.

Posted on 1/6/2008 9:42:47 PM

Mcpooh

I actually liked Outta this world!

Posted on 1/6/2008 3:08:56 PM

Lib Lad

You forgot Homeboys in Outerspace.

Posted on 1/6/2008 1:18:53 PM

luistupid

dear lu - that was the joke, you idiot

Posted on 1/6/2008 8:17:56 AM

hah, you fucking douche, the original beauty beast was a fairy tale written ages ago.

Posted on 1/6/2008 1:12:11 AM

Ankh

I can't believe that you left Maniac Mansion off the list! (Look it up)

Posted on 1/5/2008 6:53:00 PM

aSpeedbump

You've solved a mystery for me... I finally know the name of the absurd series; Quark. Even as an eleven year old in 1977 I found the show ridiculous.

Posted on 1/5/2008 6:00:13 PM

Ukari B.

The #1 did have a writing staff: two idoits who took advice from magic number 8 balls.

Posted on 1/4/2008 3:06:32 PM

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The 13 Most Ridiculous TV Shows to Ever Get Green-Lit

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