Fuller House
There is no justice in the world, a fact made apparent every time great, high-concept TV shows quickly get the boot, while the worst shows imaginable just stick around forever, like houseguests who won't take the hint even after you stop restocking the toilet paper in the spare bathroom. Well, we may not be able to influence which shows get cancelled, but we can definitely complain about the ones that don't.
So here's a look at some shows that really deserved to be cancelled this season, instead of the shows we liked.
This one's on all of us. The ill-conceived revival of the inexplicably beloved 90's schlockfest Full House was roundly dismembered by critics, and generally disliked by fans. Despite how bad the debut season of Fuller House was, though, Netflix has already renewed it for a second season for one simple fact: people watched it. Maybe they were rubbernecking a train wreck, but they still watched it, and that's the bottom line.
Arrow
Networks are like puppies: if you want to train them right, you can't reward them for bad behavior. Do yourself a favor and skip season two, so we don't have to endure season three.
Arrow is one lucky duck at this point. Thanks to the fact that it exists in the same shared universe as fellow CW hits The Flash, Supergirl, and DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow is able to skate by unscathed after turning in its dopiest, most melodramatic cheesefest yet. Propped up by the better shows that surround it, Arrow just keeps plugging away with some of the most unrealistic action sequences since The A-Team, backed up with so much emo gnashing of teeth, Fall Out Boy thinks they're overdoing it.
Dr. Ken
While the CW is coming up with new, alternative universes for its heroes to explore, maybe it can create one for us where Arrow got cancelled.
We've loved Ken Jeong ever since he jumped out of that car trunk in The Hangover and waggled his hilarious manhood in our faces. Plus, the fact that he's actually a real-life medical doctor gives this show some added street cred. So we really want to like it, except for one problem: it's bad. And offensive. And offensively bad.
Fear the Walking Dead
Naturally, of course, it was renewed, which is no real surprise—after all, Two and a Half Men proved over and over that sitcoms don't have to be funny to get renewed. Still, Dr. Ken deserved to be cancelled, if only to free up Jeong to do other, better projects instead. Pretty please?
For years, fans of The Walking Dead have urged non-fans to give its spinoff Fear the Walking Dead, a try even if they aren't horror fans, because the series isn't really about zombies—it's about human nature! Well, that's cool in theory, except that the humans on the show are mind-numbingly boring. While we all have an emotional investment in Rick and Carol and Glenn, there's no such attachment to the unrelentingly dull characters on Fear.
Supernatural
At this point, we're definitely Team Zombie. Cancel this bald-faced cash grab so we have one less reminder of how tedious being alive can be.
Supernatural creator Eric Kripke had a specific plan for how the show was going to go: five solid seasons telling one good story, then a natural end. So it's probably a surprise to him that the show was somehow just renewed for its 12th season. Actually, it seems like it was a surprise to everyone, from the fans to the stars themselves. Supernatural had a good run, but that good run ended quite a while ago.
Vinyl
Now it's just playing out a tired string of rehashed material. Enough is enough.
HBO's much-ballyhooed drama about the '70s music industry didn't exactly live up to the hype. In fact, Vinyl was a complete mess. Rather than pull the plug, though, HBO has decided to double down on their own personal disaster area, by renewing the series for a second season and bringing in a new showrunner with a new vision for the series.
Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders
We're actually going to stick with our old vision for the show: not watching it. It's hard to believe HBO cancelled Deadwood, but brought this stinker back.
It's kind of like Doctors Without Borders, only instead of healing wounds, it inflicts them on the viewing public. That was our takeaway from season one of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. Sure, the show is just getting started, so maybe it will find its legs.
Wayward Pines
Then again, maybe not: America's collective television critics gave it a miserable 28 Metacritic score, significantly lower than the score for Lifetime's ironic remake of Mother, May I Sleep with Danger? So … let's not, okay, CBS?
Wayward Pines desperately wants to be Twin Peaks, so hopefully it will emulate Twin Peaks in one key way—by getting cancelled. Wayward Pines executive producer M. Night Shyamalan has stated that he envisions the series running for three seasons, but that's at least one more season than the rest of us are envisioning. Weird just for the sake of being weird went out with Lost.
These days, if fans are going to invest in a show's mythology, they want it to mean something. Wayward Pines does not seem likely to pay off on its promises, so it'd be preferable to cut the cord now, than dive any deeper.