10 Worst New Series of 2022, According to Critics

The controversy-plagued Netflix series from Ryan Murphy and his collaborators recounted the life and crimes of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (Evan Peters). “Far too much of the show is spent standing over Dahmer’s shoulder, watching him in action,” wrote Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson. “It becomes hard to see the show as anything more than lascivious.”

Randall Park and Melissa Fumero play two employees at the last remaining Blockbuster video store in this comedy from Netflix (which, funnily enough, helped put the real Blockbuster out of business). “It’s as awkward a marriage of studio and subject matter as audiences likely imagined going in, and even its charming veteran comedians — Park, Fumero, and J.B. Smoove — can’t summon enough magic to make Blockbuster worth sitting through,” observed IndieWire’s Ben Travers.

Starring Theo James and Rose Leslie, HBO’s now-canceled, decade-hopping love story got a review from the San Francisco Chronicle’s Carla Meyer so harsh that Metacritic translated it to 0/100. “With its Twilight-level trite dialogue and worldview, lack of adventures, and alleged love story that is more like a grooming story, this show is so bad on every level that it is hard to pinpoint blame,” Meyer wrote.

Created by Ben Falcone and starring him and his wife, Melissa McCarthy, this Netflix comedy centered on a mid-level tech support employee tasked with saving mankind from Satan. “For every witty move there is a terrible attempt at getting laughs, such as a running joke about Clark’s bowel movements,” wrote The Telegraph’s Anita Singh. “I suspect this will be no one’s favorite show.”

This Netflix thriller stars Melissa Barrera as a New York attorney who braves the Canadian wilderness after surviving a private-plane crash. “Rather than perch on the edge of your seat, you are more likely to drift off gently to sleep, perhaps dreaming of a pleasant holiday in a log cabin, and wake up when it is all over,” wrote The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan.

Created by V.E. Schwab, the novelist who wrote the titular short story, this canceled Netflix series depicted a romance between vampire Juliette (Sarah Catherine Hook) and monster hunter Cal (Imani Lewis). “Sunk by a noxious combination of flat writing and flatter directing, the actors never get enough runway to make these characters anything but facsimiles of overwrought tropes,” Variety’s Caroline Framke decreed. “The worst offense First Kill commits, though, is that it never sells the central romance that should by all rights be its beating heart.”

Mike Myers created and played eight characters in this Netflix comedy about a Canadian journalist uncovering the truth about a centuries-old secret society. “A tiresome compendium of half-formed characters, weak social commentary, and so many groan-worthy penis and poop jokes that it’s difficult to believe the headliner was once Hollywood’s top funnyman,” wrote The Daily Beast’s Nick Schager.

This now-axed Fox drama starred Susan Sarandon and Trace Adkins as the country-music power couple trying to keep their musical dynasty alive and Anna Friel as their daughter and heir apparent. “Because Monarch … doesn’t really dig beneath its Dallas/Dynasty trappings, there are plenty of moments that ring false,” said Sioux City Journal’s Bruce Miller. “When the performers are on stage, they seem real. When they’re insulting each other at home, they look phony.”

Keep Breathing star Jeff Wilbusch leads this Peacock series from David E. Kelley, playing a religious NYPD detective with a belief in humanity. “The series puts a spiritual spin on the police procedural, carrying out a compelling investigation but ultimately struggling to uncover anything profound,” wrote Slant’s Ross McIndoe.

An adaption of a Jack Carr novel of the same name, this Prime Video series stars Chris Pratt as a Navy SEAL returning home under scrutiny after a dozen of his platoon mates are killed in an ambush. “Amazon has flexed its muscles with military-style action series (see Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan and Reacher), but The Terminal List adds a numbingly simple-minded revenge saga to that subgenre,” said CNN’s Brian Lowry.