10 Worst CW Shows Of All Time, Ranked

The CW, as many knew it, is largely defunct today. In its modern form, the channel just focuses on game shows and airing Canadian dramas. If younger viewers were to stumble upon this channel for the first time today, they'd never imagine that it once hosted a barrage of popular shows of various genres. These included everything from the Arrowverse superhero programs to the audacious musical/comedy "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" to steamy romantic melodramas like "Gossip Girl." These shows were cheap-looking and cheesy, but at their best, they could scratch a certain itch.

However, the tragic decline of The CW as a platform for major original scripted programming doesn't retroactively make every CW production a masterpiece. On the contrary, The CW has delivered its fair share of creative misfires that didn't help the network evade dubious critics. The worst CW shows (ranked below from "least worst" to worst) capture the artistic nadir of this network's forays. Some were reality programs that missed the mark, while others were narrative-driven shows working within the all-too-familiar CW mold.

Whatever genre or aesthetic they belonged to, these shows were staggering misfires. At least The CW being a husk of its former self means programs this bad won't reach the airwaves again.

There were always going to be growing pains as The WB became The CW for the 2006-2008 broadcast season. Unfortunately, this included the network immediately debuting an absolutely terrible piece of programming. That show was "Runaway," which followed the Hollands, a family holding a dark secret: They're living under an alias so that dad Paul (Donnie Wahlberg) isn't sent to prison. The show sees the family sticking together while keeping their identities under wraps as Paul scrambles to find any proof that he didn't commit the heinous crimes he's been accused of.

It's no surprise "Runaway" was the least watched primetime show amongst major broadcasters during the 2006-2007 broadcast season. The show suffered from many problems, including Donnie Wahlberg's performance. As many reviews pointed out, Wahlberg's acting chops failed to keep viewers compelled. Meanwhile, its overly familiar storytelling trappings, not to mention its somber tone, didn't do much to make the series stand out. There were countless other superior programs out there about fugitives and families sticking together under unthinkable circumstances.

Decades after its debut, "Runaway" is now a distant memory for even the most ardent CW watchers. Likewise, Wahlberg's subsequent hit series, "Blue Bloods," has ensured that people have forgotten all about his earlier foray into headlining television.

The trailer for Adam Sandler's 2009 movie "Funny People"  gave away too much of the final movie. Infamously, it saw Sandler's stand-up comic character dying of a grave disease, only for "something funny" to happen that beats the sickness. A similar situation was mirrored in the short-lived Lucy Hale CW show "Life Sentence." Here, Hale played Stella Abbott who believes she's dying of cancer, so she proceeds to live it up with no regrets. Like in "Funny People," though, Abbott's sickness goes into remission. 

The program followed Abbott's struggles with the ripple effects of her "live like you were dying" attitude. The final result was a show that received largely negative reviews, with many expressing frustration over "Life Sentence" being unable to properly execute either big laughs or poignant moments. "Saccharine" and "schmaltzy" are two words that constantly pop up in breakdowns, given the show's proclivity for ham-fisted bursts of sentimentality. None of the performances registered as especially distinctive either, further amplifying these issues.

While Stella Abbott got a new lease on life, "Life Sentence" got the axe after a single season and 13 episodes. Much as with that spoilery "Funny People" trailer, "Life Sentence" simply didn't click with viewers.

If you're going to enter the crowded space of medical TV dramas, you better have a killer hook or a level of artistry to match "The Pitt." With shows like "ER" and "Grey's Anatomy" cramming airwaves, viewers will quickly check out of a tedious doctor-centered program. "Emily Owens, M.D." opted to differentiate itself by transplanting the dynamics of a high school show into a hospital. Specifically, lead character Emily Owens (Mamie Gummer) must contend with both her crush and high school rival working in the facility. Meanwhile, many of the cliques that once dominated high school are alive and well in the medical world, albeit under different names.

CW executives must've salivated at the idea of combining "Degrassi" and "The O.C." melodrama with beloved hospital show hallmarks. Unfortunately, this blend didn't work, even though the cast featured reliable performers like Harry Lennix. The biggest problem here was the shallow writing that elicited more groans than anything else. Meanwhile, elements like pervasive narration from the titular lead were also routinely criticized.

"Emily Owens, M.D." didn't just fail to last more than a single season. Former CW president Mark Pedowitz would state that the show's failure forced the network to reckon with what kind of shows it wanted to air. At least this medical drama gave the CW the reality check it needed.

Reality television can produce fun pieces of trashy entertainment (there's a reason "Survivor" has lasted as long as it has). However, the cheapness of these programs and their tendency to lean on surface-level gimmicks has also unleashed disasters like "Kid Nation." While The CW's "Oh Sit!" isn't one of those explosive experiments, the series, which put contestants through what amounted to basically a more elaborate version of musical chairs, was still a wretched creation. Even its very core idea was preposterous. Musical chairs isn't something people above the age of five do.

The idea of adults sitting down to watch other adults engage in that activity already sounded bizarre. This critically derided venture lacked the necessary creative execution to remotely work. The program's two hosts, Jamie Kennedy and Jessi Cruickshank, were especially despised for their abrasive and unfunny wall-to-wall quips. Meanwhile, all efforts to stretch the musical chairs concept  out to an hour-long format were sweaty and belabored. 

If it takes this much work to pad out your central activity into 42 minutes of television, it may not be the best basis for a reality show. That obvious fact, unfortunately, didn't stop the "Oh Sit!" producers from trying (and failing) to make adult-skewing musical chairs the next "Survivor."

In the 2010s, The CW and Netflix made an output deal that saw the broadcast network get lots of cash from the streaming giant for providing new shows Netflix could host after they initially aired. Thus, shows that weren't viewership juggernauts when they first hit the airwaves could still be profitable. In this era, it took a lot for The CW to not give shows multiple seasons. However, even with Netflix helping out, the mid-to-late-2010s CW output still saw its fair share of single-season shows, including "Valor."

The program followed an assortment of U.S. Army helicopter pilots whose important missions are sent into tailspins (in more ways than one) by various secrets. While prior one-season military shows like the Fox comedy "Enlisted" scored positive marks and dedicated fanbases, "Valor" came and went without much fanfare in its 2017-2018 airing. The greatest prevailing criticism was simply how tedious it was. While other CW melodramas like "Riverdale" delivered a steady stream of surreal madness, "Valor" was too buttoned-up to even deliver entertainment.

Limp dialogue and forgettable performances further amplified the egregious flaws that sank "Valor." Unsurprisingly, a program this monotonous didn't last long on a network housing far more enjoyable series, like the one where Gorilla Grodd tries assassinating college-aged Barack Obama.

"Cult" had a quasi-meta premise that proposed a world where turducken's of crime regularly occurred. Specifically, the show chronicled Jeff (Matthew Davis) and Skye (Jessica Lucas) examining whether someone's taken their love of scary movies, er, the fictional in-universe crime show "Cult" too far. In other words, the duo look into whether or not TV crimes were begetting real bloodshed from the shows loyal fans. This was a lofty concept for a project that, considering it debuted in a pre-"Serial" and true crime podcast world, may have been a touch ahead of its time.

Those realities, though, couldn't stave off the largely poor critical reception that greeted "Cult." The greatest complaint that "Cult" suffered was that its characters were nowhere near as compelling as its premise. While the best serial killer TV shows of all time featured compelling individuals viewers were invested in, "Cult" starred a bunch of flat human beings. Other critics, meanwhile, harped on its excessive lore and derivative social commentary on matters like Hollywood and the relationships fans develop with their favorite TV shows.

Despite the grandiose ambitions of "Cult," it failed to make waves with either viewers or critics, which ensured its run on The CW would be short. Debuting a few months after The CW premiered "Arrow," which would unknowingly change comic book shows forever, "Cult" proved out of step with the network's new trajectory. 

If there's anything that defines The CW programming, it's attracting young people. From the very start of its existence, when it carried over WB shows like "One Tree Hill" and "Supernatural," the network emphasized eye candy and snazzy looking people who'd inspire countless fawning Tumblr posts. CW brass were really leaning into this aesthetic for the 2009-2010 season when it debuted "The Vampire Diaries" and new tales on "Melrose Place" and "90210."

Also on this season's CW slate was "The Beautiful Life," which almost seemed like a parody of this trend, focusing on the ultimate societal image of beauty: models. Those expecting this to be as light and zippy as Derek Zoolander's exploits, though, were in for a shock as its cast of New York models dealt with all kinds of melodramatic turmoil. No amount of attractive faces or abs could minimize the glaring flaws of "The Beautiful Life," which included absolutely abysmal writing and a reluctance to get creative with its storytelling.

Other non-CW shows like "The O.C." had the gusto to commit to set pieces like impromptu gunfire being set to Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek." "The Beautiful Life," meanwhile, went through the motions. No wonder it quickly died off, leaving its cast of attractive characters to languish in obscurity.

Even the worst of the Arrowverse TV shows couldn't hold a candle to the awfulness that was the 2023 CW program "Gotham Knights" (which was not part of the Arrowverse timeline). What's really frustrating is that its starting premise is so hokey that it should at least make for enjoyable schlock. Said premise involves a quartet of teens, like Bruce Wayne's adopted son Turner Hayes (Oscar Morgan) and The Joker's possible daughter Duela (Olivia Rose Keegan), teaming up to prove they didn't murder Batman's alter-ego. Along the way, they find a conspiracy that involves the Court of Owls and discover that Carrie Kelley (Navia Robinson) is actually Robin.

The concept of Batman and Joker's kids teaming up to save Gotham City is such a ridiculous yet perfectly comic book-y storyline, making it all the more egregious how badly "Gotham Knights" fumbles at every turn. The show's visuals were incredibly bland, while the camerawork in hand-to-hand fight scenes was appallingly clumsy. Then there was the dialogue, which was outright painful to listen to. An adherence to "gritty realism" in the show's color palettes and handful of superhero outfits only reinforced that "Gotham Knights" was too cowardly to take fun or grandiose swings. 

Tedious when it should've been either trashy or endearingly goofy, "Gotham Knights" was so bad it made Fox's "Gotham" show look almost as great as Adam West's "Batman" series.

There are countless examples of incomplete TV shows that left viewers everywhere heartbroken and begging for them to come back. Any program can end at the drop of a hat, which makes getting invested in any show a risk. Adding insult to injury are how many shows languish in cancellation while so many other programs endure. Networks will endlessly renew "The Ranch" or "Brickleberry" while never giving audiences another "1899" season.

One of the most egregious examples of this phenomenon is how the CW reality show "Farmer Wants a Wife" won't die. Like a ruthless Terminator chasing its suspect, this show, in which ten "city women" compete for the affection of a single farmer, never stops. Its existence started back in April 2008 on The CW and stretched on for eight episodes. This hillbilly twist on "The Bachelor" lacked the necessary excitement or fun to make its lackluster starting concept remotely tolerable. 

The original CW iteration of this production was absolutely atrocious and couldn't even work as enjoyable trash. In a terrible twist, 15 years after its one season CW run, "Farmer Wants a Wife" returned for a currently ongoing stint on Fox. Any world where "Mindhunter" is dead and "Wife" is on the airwaves is a cruel one.

When a reality TV show goes severely off the rails or engages in especially toxic material, a go-to descriptor is to say that it could exist inside Paul Verhoeven's "RoboCop." The sci-fi movie's dystopian landscape is full of dehumanizing and abrasive programming that certainly seem like it'd fit into the schedules of many modern TV networks. One show that could totally exist alongside "I'd buy that for a dollar!" is the 2011 CW reality program "H8R." Hosted by Mario Lopez, it followed assorted celebrities confronting everyday real-life people who've been critical of them.

Have you ever said something mean about a rich person online? Get ready to say those things to their face. Some of the celebrities included Kim Kardashian, Snooki, Eva Longoria, and The Miz. There's a warped power dynamic to the show, which asks audiences to both sympathize with the bourgeoise and get invested in them badgering working-class people. Other reality shows would suggest anyone watching could be the next "American Idol" or "Survivor" champion. "H8R," meanwhile, forced viewers like you to engage in cringeworthy interactions with Kim Kardashian.

"H8R" didn't work on any level, including making its thin premise sustain 45 minutes of television. Thankfully, it only lasted a handful of episodes. Still, "H8R" existing does ominously suggest our reality is becoming indistinguishable from that of "RoboCop."