When something is so bad it’s good, it’s actually just good, right? Well, it’s more like several factors that are really hard to ignore make a show pretty bad, but taking our eyes off it proves more difficult than initially imagined. Most of these so-bad-they’re-good movies and shows have a sort of charm and appeal that makes audiences come back for more, even when they were heavily disappointed before. Like that ex whose number you can’t get yourself to block.
The essential so-bad-it’s-good shows may have defined a generation but are terrible in hindsight or just started to decline over time with more and more episodes, but we couldn’t stop watching. Whether it’s one or the other, we don’t always jump ship when it gets tough. People sometimes just want to see a show reach its (un)natural conclusion, and these have proven to fit the bill.
10
‘American Horror Story’ (2011–)
Created by Ryan Murphy
While we know American Horror Story (AHS) was once a good, award-winning series, a case could be made that it hasn’t followed its own path but rather diverged into a sensationalist, pop-culture-y series with shock value instead. Despite the decline in quality in later seasons, AHS is still sort of good and people still give it attention, just maybe not as much credibility as before. People mostly return to it because of curiosity about what Ryan Murphy concocted next, though it’s suspected it’ll turn into “what will Kim Kardashian do this season?”
AHS is an anthology series, following different stories in each season. Some are based on folklore and others on myths, such as season 3, Coven, which is firmly based in witchcraft and voodoo in New Orleans, and season 6, Roanoke, which was based on the disappearance of the Roanoke Colony during the 1580s. The latest season, Delicate, was based on the novel by Danielle Valentine and stars Emma Roberts as a pregnant actress vying for an Oscar, her estranged husband, Dexter (Matt Czuchry), and her sharp-tongued publicist, Siobhan (Kardashian). The season was received with mixed emotions, and even if it’s bad, it’s kind of good because AHS left a lasting legacy that won’t be easily tarnished.
9
‘Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman’ (1993–1998)
Created by Beth Sullivan
There was a time when you could turn on Hallmark or CBS and just see endless reruns of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Inevitably, you’d sit down to see what the fuss was about and, really, like most Hallmark series, it dragged you in and let you stay, without judgment. It’s a feel-good show that didn’t stay all that feel-good until the end, taking some narrative risks, which we can only praise, since the showrunners weren’t afraid to step out of their comfort zone. According to sources, the show’s biggest demographic was women 40 and up, and to be fair, even us girlies in our 30s are fans.
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman follows the titular Dr. Michaela Quinn (Jane Seymour), who moves from Boston, where she graduated in medicine, to a small town in the Wild West during the latter half of the 1800s. Every episode is a different case for the fierce Dr. Quinn, though there are running plots with some of her patients. She also gets a few love interests over time. The show isn’t great; it’s cheesy and inconsistent, but it’s pretty fun to watch. As we’re missing many feel-good shows, this could be a reminder that they were a big thing once.
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
- Release Date
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1993 – 1997
- Network
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CBS
- Directors
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Chuck Bowman, James Keach, Gwen Arner, Alan J. Levi, Terrence O’Hara, Bethany Rooney, Jerry Jameson, Victor Lobl, Bobby Roth, Gabrielle Beaumont, Carl Binder, Steve Dubin, Harry Harris, Lorraine Senna, Michele Lee, Reza Badiyi, Richard T. Heffron
- Writers
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Josef Anderson, Toni Graphia, Andrew Lipsitz, Chris Abbott, Melissa Rosenberg, William Schmidt
8
‘Walker, Texas Ranger’ (1993–2001)
Created by Albert S. Ruddy, Leslie Greif, Paul Haggis, and Christopher Canaan
Walker, Texas Ranger is another highly beloved series that made Chuck Norris a household name. For many people, it’s an essential show, so saying it’s so bad that it’s kind of good might rub some the wrong way—it’s OK, it’s not actually bad; it’s good. We’ll get the hang of it. Walker, Texas Ranger is another feel-good, vintage (oh God) series that had a consistent audience while it was airing; wider audiences later watched it as reruns on CBS, when it gained even more popularity. It’s a television staple that got a reboot in 2021 that was just as successful.
Walker follows the titular character, played by Norris, who works for the Texas Ranger Division. Cordell Walker is a moralistic ranger and former Marine who was raised by his Native American uncle, Ray Firewalker; he solves state-level cases and enforces justice wherever it’s overdue with his partner and best friend, Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard). The show gets corny very often and even predictable at times, but sometimes, we don’t want surprises—we want entertainment.
7
‘Virgin River’ (2019–)
Created by Sue Tenney
As an avid fan of Virgin River, I am completely aware I’m saying something bad about my own feel-good series, though calling something so bad that it’s good doesn’t really sound like a terrible thing. Virgin River is Dr. Quinn set in modern times, and it’s an essential cozy show to watch to offset the crazy times we live in. Virgin River will make you believe in love and romance again, even if it is crazily inconsistent and uses wild plot twists sometimes.
Virgin River is about LA-based midwife Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge), who decides to leave her traumatic life behind and take a job at a small town in northern California called Virgin River. There, she meets bar owner and war veteran Jack (Martin Henderson), and the two fall in love at basically first sight (though the show allows them to be friends first, which is a great change of pace). The rest of the Virgin River community are incredibly wholesome, sometimes annoying, characters, and many are often more likable than Mel and Jack. The show’s timeline is totally off, but the vibes are consistently there, so you have to like it.
6
‘Jackass’ (2000–2001)
Created by Jeff Tremaine, Spike Jonze, and Johnny Knoxville
Jackass is probably a weird choice considering the other series here, but it’s just one of those shows we loved watching even when we winced and shook our heads at its protagonists. This is more of a reality series, though it had scripted sketches during most of its episode runtimes. Some of its running gags include Johnny Knoxville dressing up as an old man and doing unruly things in public and Chris Pontius going into stores in a thong as his “Party Boy” persona.
Jackass follows a group of stuntmen and actors doing, basically, dangerous stuff. They do stunts, skits, and pranks on each other, often in public and unbeknownst to members of the public. The show is both brilliant and awful, and it’s just one of those you can’t look away from. With a developed franchise of a series, spin-offs, five movies, a video game, and a mobile game, Jackass is the quintessential 2000s program that serves as a time capsule into this chaotic decade. It’s genuinely funny at times, too (shout out to Brandon DiCamillo, the best comedian of the group), and you’ll surely grow to love some of its protagonists.
5
‘Pretty Little Liars’ (2010–2017)
Created by I. Marlene King
As much as Jackass is the quintessential 2000s series, Pretty Little Liars is the same for the 2010s. This long-running series sometimes felt like it overstayed its welcome, especially with bonkers plot twists to keep things interesting. 160 episodes and seven seasons later, the show ended, but not before making stars out of most of its cast, from Shay Mitchell to Lucy Hale and Ashley Benson. The ultimate teen murder mystery doubles as the popular girl club falling apart story, making a cross between Scream and Gossip Girl.
Pretty Little Liars follows a high school girl clique: Aria (Hale), Emily (Mitchell), Hanna (Benson), and Spencer (Troian Bellisario), who start getting threats from a mysterious “A” blackmailing them in relation to the disappearance of their former clique leader. With each season, “A” changes and so does the antagonist, making the show feel like beating a dead horse at times; the initial reveal of “A” caused massive outrage when it was first aired. Though initially exciting and full of novelty, Pretty Little Liars gets plot-hole-y and corny, but it’s still entertaining if you don’t mind all of that.
Pretty Little Liars
- Release Date
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2010 – 2016
- Network
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ABC, Freeform
- Showrunner
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Ina Marlene King
- Writers
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Ina Marlene King
4
‘Emily In Paris’ (2020–)
Created by Darren Star
If Emily In Paris feels reminiscent of Sex and the City, that’s because these two shows have the same creator—Darren Star. Though SATC is a quintessential show that raised a generation, Emily In Paris is a pretty lacking successor. Still, we have to hand it to Star—he knows how to write an annoyingly likable protagonist. The show, despite a terrible initial reception, lives on and is awaiting its fifth season now; season four saw the guest appearances of some interesting characters, from fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth to Brigitte Macron herself.
Emily In Paris follows an American communication graduate, Emily Cooper (Lily Collins), who moves to Paris for a new job opportunity. As she meets new people and potential love interests, Emily’s adaptation to Paris increases. The show has many great supporting actors (shout out to Ashley Park), but it enforces certain stereotypes of French people. It’s kind of like someone American wrote down their stereotypical views of the French, and in the 2020s, shows like that don’t really fly anymore. Unless they do, because as bad as it is, Emily In Paris is kind of good, too.
Emily in Paris
- Release Date
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October 2, 2020
- Showrunner
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Darren Star
- Directors
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Andrew Fleming
- Writers
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Darren Star
3
‘Riverdale’ (2017–2023)
Created by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
If you’re a fan of literally everything, Riverdale is the show for you. This series went on for seven seasons and has 137 episodes, each crazier than the last but also great in what it tries to be, which is a blend of genres, an ensemble story, and a fun time. Riverdale was initially conceived as a feature film by Archie Comics’ chief creative officer, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, based on various characters from their comics; it would’ve probably been a killer movie, considering season one was well-accepted by both critics and audiences.
Riverdale follows a group of high school friends: Archie (KJ Apa), Betty (Lili Reinhart), Veronica (Camilla Mendes), and Jughead (Cole Sprouse). Other people join their friend group over time, like Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) and Reggie (Charles Melton), but the show follows them throughout high school and much later in life; they experience a variety of things, from supernatural events to mundane things, and there are many plots with each character that feel straight out of a fever dream. The show was called “one of the weirdest teen soaps ever made” by Vulture‘s Rebecca Atler.
2
‘CSI: Miami’ (2002–2012)
Created by Anthony E. Zuiker, Ann Donahue, and Carol Mendelsohn
Waiting for David Caruso to say his cold open line and put on his glasses is a canon event in the life of a Millennial, and if you haven’t experienced this, well… I can’t say you missed out on much, though you may be hit by some FOMO. The CSI franchise was the essential viewing of the 2000s, with the main series being set in Las Vegas and other spin-offs in New York and Miami. The Las Vegas one was arguably the darkest and had some amazing storylines; two episodes were even directed by Quentin Tarantino. CSI: Miami, on the other hand, leaned into its Miami vibe a little too hard and gave us a warm-colored police procedural on steroids.
CSI: Miami follows the detectives of the CSI unit of the Miami-Dade Police Department. They’re comprised of Lieutenant Horatio Caine (Caruso), an experienced bomb expert; Calleigh Duquesne (Emily Procter), his partner and ballistics expert; Eric Delko (Adam Rodriguez), an underwater recovery expert; and Timothy Speedle (Rory Cochrane). The ensemble changes over time, but the so-bad-it’s-good factor remains, becoming even stronger with Cochrane’s departure. For fans of corny but incredibly entertaining police shows, CSI: Miami is the guilty pleasure you’ll love and get hooked on fast.
1
‘Baywatch’ (1989–2001)
Created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, Gregory J. Bonann
Baywatch may not be at the top of anyone’s watchlist recently, but maybe we can change that. If you’re tired of watching all the terrible things happening in daily life, a group of muscular, sexy people in red swimsuits saving victims from drowning is sure to take the edge off. Forget shows about the police, firefighters, and doctors—we need more stories about aquatic heroes, the lifeguards. Jokes aside, lifeguards are heroes who save lives and protect people, and we must appreciate them and their hard work. They’re usually not as glamrous as Pamela Anderson is in the show, but we can forgive that.
Baywatch follows the lifeguards on the coasts of Los Angeles and Hawaii, led by Mitch Buchannon (David Hasselhoff). Hasselhoff remained the main character throughout the show’s 11-season run, and the lifeguard staff around him often changed, though Anderson was the second-longest-running star in the series, appearing from season 3 to season 7. It may not be a riveting watch, but it’s still a great pastime, and many of its plot holes can be forgiven because of the beautiful landscapes and leisurely entertainment value.
Baywatch
- Release Date
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1989 – 2001-00-00
- Directors
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Gregory J. Bonann, Douglas Schwartz, Gus Trikonis
- Writers
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Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, Gregory J. Bonann
- Franchise(s)
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Baywatch
