The Worst TV Show Titles Ever

Sometimes you land on the perfect TV show title (think Friends, Cheers, Revenge). Other times, you land on Cougar Town. Or worse, Shasta McNasty. After much debate (and making some difficult cuts), TVLine has compiled the infamous list below, narrowing it down to what we believe are 35 of the worst TV show titles of all time.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (UPN/WB)

Great show, unfortunate, audience-alienating (though incredibly accurate!) title.

Complications (USA Network)

The generic name, which referred to the ramifications of one violent action taken by an ER doc, could have been the title of nearly any show on television.

Cougar Town (ABC/TBS)

The producers had a good time poking fun at the title, which referred to both Courteney Cox's "cougar" status (a premise that lasted all of six episodes) and the series' local high school sports teams (which were never again referenced after the pilot's opening scene).

Fear the Walking Dead (AMC)

As TVLine boss Michael Ausiello once said, the Walking Dead spinoff's title sounds more like "the name of a theme-park ride. Or a board game."

How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life) (ABC)

It probably took you longer to recite the title of the Sarah Chalke comedy than it took for the network to pull the plug after one season.

I Hate My Teenage Daughter (Fox)

Everyone has moments of weakness where they can't stand their family. But the mean-spirited title of this Fox comedy took things too far.

The Knick (Cinemax)

The title, which was shorthand for the series' central hospital, either conjured images of basketball players (way off base) or bloody shaving incidents (a little too on-the-nose).

GCB (ABC)

Hey, let's name a series after an acronym we made up!

Life UneXpected, SouthLAnd, HawthoRNe and UnREAL (The CW; TNT; Lifetime/Hulu)

Note: ThE oNLy thIng unNeceSSary cApiTAliZation doEs iS tiCK oFf tV wRITers. 

Manimal (NBC)

Yes, the one-season '80s drama was about a shapeshifter who could take animal form, but couldn't they have come up with a cooler name for it?

Oh Sit! (The CW)

This extreme take on musical chairs dared its announcers to earn an FCC fine.

Selfie (ABC)

This sweet, funny rom-com turned out to be leagues better than its vapid title.

Shasta McNasty (UPN)

Need we say more about the moniker of this ill-fated sitcom?

$#*! My Dad Says (CBS)

If you can't say it on TV, it probably shouldn't be in the title. (See also: Don't Trust the B—- in Apartment 23.)

Terriers (FX)

Unless the show was about puppies, there was no need to name it this. (P.S. It wasn't about puppies.)

Trophy Wife (ABC)

The tawdry title was no representation of the fun, funny, family ensemble comedy ABC canned after one season. We still miss Burt.

9JKL (CBS)

The title of this short-lived sitcom about a family that lived next door to each other (in apartments 9J, 9K and 9L — get it?) read like gibberish.

Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life (Fox)

Who's this Cooper Barrett fellow? And why should this college-aged punk be trusted to give anyone life advice? A bit presumptuous, don't you think?

Ghosted (Fox)

Ironically, the only thing appropriate about this title was how quickly viewers ghosted the Adam Scott/Craig Robinson comedy, which mostly did away with its supernatural premise by midseason. 

H8R (The CW)

The only thing more off-putting than the premise of this Mario Lopez-hosted reality show — D-list celebrities confronting Internet trolls — was its lame, abbreviated title. 

Halt and Catch Fire (AMC)

This clever title was based on a computer command that causes the system to lock up/require a restart — but if you're not at all tech savvy, it was likely alienating enough to keep you from checking out this #PeakTV Treasure.

Kevin (Probably) Saves the World (ABC)

He most certainly did not! Far too earnest a title for a show that was already on life support the moment ABC decided it would air in its infamous Tuesdays-at-10 death slot. 

Notorious (ABC)

The only thing notorious about this quickly cancelled drama was how hard it tried (and failed) to replicate the Shondaland formula.

Rise (NBC)

Something tells us this short-lived high-school theater drama would have done better with the name of the book on which it was based, Drama High. Instead, it was stuck with this generic, almost religious-sounding title. 

Second Chance (Fox)

This one-and-done Frankenstein drama was initially picked up to series as The Frankenstein Code, then went by the misspelled title Lookinglass. It was ultimately changed to Second Chance, a title which told viewers absolutely nothing.

SMILF (Showtime)

This single-mother dramedy is one of TVLine's #PeakTV Treasures, but is probably discovered most frequently by perverts clicking the wrong link on Google.

The Blacklist: Redemption (NBC)

This ill-fated Blacklist offshoot wasn't actually about any sort of redemption plot. So there's that. 

Wicked City (ABC)

This Ed Westwick serial killer drama neither took place in Boston, nor did it feature any show-stopping musical numbers. 

Young & Hungry (Freeform)

The only thing worse than the gimmicky title was the decision to preface every episode title with "Young & ...".

Emergence (ABC)

Like, we "get" that it was about the emergence of some sort of [SPOILER] technology, but not a day went by that we (and presumably many others) didn't see the title and think "medical drama" versus "sci-fi."

P.S. Make no mistake, despite these past two entries, we love Allison Tolman!

Downward Dog (ABC)

Yes, this short-lived comedy was about a dog owner. But was yoga ever involved...?

The Unicorn (CBS)

Our staff had at least one fan of this title — funny, it happened to be the single man of a certain age — when the CBS comedy first launched. But seeing as Wade has since fully realized his value on the dating scene as a not-awful male human being, the title a la Cougar Town has become irrelevant.

Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector (NBC)

"Let's name this after the popular novel that became a Denzel Washington/Angelina Jolie movie."

"Hmm, but every season won't be about that case. Can't we name it after the detective?"

"Oooh, let's do both! And hopefully TVLine's ratings column won't lampoon our choice every Saturday morning."

Fam (CBS)

Has a title ever been less inspired? (Does anyone even unironically refer to their "fam"?)

Wednesday 9:30 (8:30 Central) (ABC)

This midseason sitcom (about a struggling TV network) surely looked like a misprint in your TV guidance magazine, seeing as it indeed aired Wednesdays at 9:30 (8:30 Central). Yanked after two low-rated episodes, when it finally returned for a burn-off it was renamed My Adventures in Television.