9 Sci-Fi TV Shows That Wasted Incredible Premises

WhatCulture

Great ideas don't always translate so well...

Transcript

00:00Having a strong and original central premise for the audience to invest in is the key to any show's

00:06success, especially in the world of sci-fi. But unfortunately for the interesting entries on this

00:13very list, due to a variety of reasons, each and every one of them were unable to make the most of

00:19their cracking premise. So I'm Gareth from WhatCulture.com and here are 9 Sci-Fi TV Shows

00:25that wasted incredible premises. 9. Torchwood

00:29The idea of a Doctor Who spin-off that explored how humans interacted with aliens when the Time

00:35Lord wasn't on Earth was an extremely exciting one. The premise for the show was actually set up in

00:41the first two seasons of the rebooted Doctor Who, with charismatic companion Captain Jack Harkness

00:47permanently brought back to life at the climax of Christopher Eccleston's one season as the Time

00:52Lord. The seedy origins of the Torchwood organization, which Captain Jack rebuilt,

00:58was then explored in great detail through David Tennant's first season, including its creation

01:03by Queen Victoria. Unfortunately, Torchwood eventually got off on the wrong foot with the

01:08pilot episode though, and never really recovered from there. Rather than concentrate on the world

01:14of possibilities of how mankind deals with their alien visitors, the show tried way too hard to

01:20distance itself from the successful series it had spun off from. The characters were all so

01:25mean-spirited, and the feel of the show was so downbeat that it was hard to invest in any of the

01:31so-so alien threats put forward. And while on the subject of Doctor Who's stuff, who's your favorite

01:37doctor? I want to know in the comment section right down below.

01:408. Hard Son

01:42In Hard Son, Jim Sturgis and Agnes Dean played British police officers Charlie Hicks and Elaine Renko,

01:49who in the midst of their investigations find out a horrifying secret. The world will be destroyed

01:54in five years' time. A story that followed a pre-apocalyptic rather than post-apocalyptic

02:00world was as strong a premise for a new show as one could hope for. The idea was not only original,

02:07but could easily have been used to explore how Earth's citizens dealt with their imminent demise,

02:12and how governments would react to the ensuing panic. Unfortunately, rather than explore these broader

02:17issues, the show proved to be nothing more than a convoluted B-grade chase story, with various

02:23dark forces attempting to kill off the officers so that the apocalyptic events could remain secret.

02:28The show plays out like the boring opening sections of the film 2012, while leaving out any of the

02:34exciting bits and adding a truckload of exposition.

02:377. Ghosted

02:39This supernatural sci-fi sitcom from Fox looked like the perfect show to sit back and have a few good

02:45laughs at in the style of the Men in Black franchise, and hopes were elevated significantly

02:50when first-rate comedians Adam Scott and Craig Robinson were cast as the two leads.

02:56The story explores the characters of Max Jennifer and Leroy Wright, a professor and police officer

03:01played by Scott and Robinson respectively. The pair are kidnapped by an MIB-style organisation,

03:08the Bureau Underground, who set them on a task of crucial importance.

03:12The task for these two mismatched partners is to investigate supernatural activities that threaten

03:18to wipe out human existence. Unfortunately, the comedy pairing of Scott and Robinson fails to fire,

03:25with lame jokes and a distinct lack of chemistry holding the show back.

03:29On top of this is a lame romantic subplot between Scott's character Max and co-worker Annie,

03:34that is explored in an unengaging and unhumorous manner. It also takes up a stack of screen time at the

03:41expense of the more interesting supernatural events occurring around them.

03:45Number 6, Seven Days

03:46This premise saw an experimental teleport being made operational that transported our protagonist,

03:52Frank, seven days into the past to stop catastrophic events before they occurred.

03:57Frank was actually a rather intriguing lead man due to his contrasting moods,

04:02his uber-confident persona hiding his issues with depression,

04:05and the pilot episode is spectacular, with Frank heading back a week in time in an attempt to stop

04:11the murders of the US and Russian presidents. The next episode then managed to raise the stakes

04:17once more, as Frank used the teleport to stop a virus being spread that would kill 98% of the

04:23world's population. Of all the shows on this list, this is one that wasted its great premise by going

04:29too hard too early though. Having saved the presidents of the world's two superpowers,

04:34and then saving mankind from an extinction-level event, the show simply gave itself nowhere to go.

04:40Each episode following this felt insignificant in comparison, and the ratings suffered accordingly.

04:46Number 5, The 4400

04:47The 4400 saw the return of, you guessed it, 4400 missing persons, all who were abducted from

04:54different periods across time, but return with no memory of what has occurred to them and without

05:00aging a day. Adding even more interest to this premise was the fact that some of the returning

05:05humans had returned with special powers. The idea of different members of the 4400 using their powers

05:11for negative reasons, with the increased fears and reactions of modern society towards the comeback

05:17kids, was extremely exciting and explored well in the shortened first season. Unfortunately,

05:23like our previous entry, the show moved too quickly and dug itself a hole it could not get out of.

05:28The final reveal of the first season unveiled that the humans had not been abducted by aliens as

05:34expected, but were instead taken by mankind of the future. Revealing the mystery so early in the

05:39show's run proved a dud move, the audience having little reason to stick around as the narrative

05:44possibilities dried up.

05:464. Manimal

05:47As the title unsubtly suggests, this show explores the life of a man who has the ability to turn

05:53himself into an animal. Depending on the requirements of the episode, Dr. Jonathan Chase would transform

05:59into a bird or panther, while occasionally popping into other forms such as a shark. Delightful.

06:06The show was appropriately cheesy in style, but without the humour that was required to make such a fun

06:11but silly premise work. Each transformation from man to animal was drawn out in excruciating detail,

06:18with actor Simon McCorkendale looking like he was extremely constipated while changing from human

06:24to animal. The stories were all lightweight police detective tales of the week, when the concept was

06:29really crying out for a more comic book feel, and the Manimal really needed some more otherworldly

06:35type villains to take on, rather than the goon of the week served up here, as there was never any real

06:40sense of threat.

06:413. Flash Forward

06:43If there was ever a TV pilot that got fans excited about a new show, it was most definitely Flash

06:49Forward. The show followed the moment when nearly every citizen on Earth blacks out for a period of

06:55137 seconds, with each person envisioning how their life would look in six months' time.

07:01Be it a return to alcoholism, the instigation of an affair, or no vision at all. The shocking

07:07prospect of actually seeing what lies ahead in life proved a truly exciting and innovative premise.

07:13The opening episodes of the series were actually quite decent too, with our protagonist detectives

07:18chasing down those responsible while trying to avoid the fate that awaited them. But the biggest

07:23issue that the showrunners just couldn't overcome was that the audience literally knew what was coming,

07:28meaning it was tough to build up suspense to an exciting end point because we had already,

07:33you know, seen it.

07:342. Manifest

07:36This 2019 drama sees a passenger flight take off from Jamaica, and after encountering a storm,

07:42seemingly land a few short hours later at their destination point in New York.

07:47Then comes the ripping twist, with the reveal that the plane has actually landed five years in the

07:53future, with the flight presumed crashed and the passengers dead. The exploration of the passengers

07:59reintegrating into society, alongside the investigation of what actually happened,

08:03seemed a setup for spectacular results. Sadly, the show proved to be extremely pedestrian,

08:09with acting that wouldn't be accepted on the cheesiest of soaps, and the most cliched scripts

08:14known to man. Melissa Roxburgh plays lead detective Michaela Stone, a passenger from the flight who

08:20hears mysterious messages in her head that proved to be important information. The scenes in which Stone

08:26hears said voices are unintentionally hilarious, though. Every big moment in the script is signposted

08:32a mile off, and we care less and less about the fate of the surviving passengers the more time we

08:37unfortunately have to be in their company.

08:391. Man from Atlantis

08:41The winner, or should I say loser, of top spot on this list goes to this truly awful 1977 sci-fi bomb

08:49starring a pre-Dallas Patrick Duffy. Duffy's character, who is given the name Mark Harris,

08:55is an amnesiac who is believed to be the last survivor of the civilization of Atlantis.

09:00Harris has a ton of unique abilities, including superhuman strength, the ability to breathe

09:05underwater, and physical traits that allow him to dive to the extreme depths of the ocean.

09:11After being nursed back to health after arriving on land, Harris assists the US Navy on a number of

09:16missions, taking on various villains with uniquely aquatic plans. While the premise set the show up for

09:22some great B-grade action and fun, the program took itself way, way too seriously, and ultimately

09:28became laughably bad for all the wrong reasons. Attempts at a love story between Harris and

09:33Belinda Montgomery's Dr. Elizabeth Merrill are excruciating, always matched by an equally painful

09:40score. And the costume designs for the various villainous creatures are bad for even 1977 standards,

09:46looking like rejected costumes from the Doctor Who classic era. This one very much sank when it could

09:52have swam, baby. And that's our list. Know of any other sci-fi TV shows that wasted incredible

09:57premises? Well, throw them in the comments down below, and don't forget to like, share, and click

10:02on the subscribe button while you're down there. I've been Gareth from WhatCulture.com, thank you for

10:06spending some time with us today. Now try and keep from getting beamed up into space, and hopefully we'll see

10:12you soon. Bye-bye!

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