Who are the very worst TV showrunners ever

[TMC]

I don't have a lot of evidence but I want to feel inclined to add Tim Doyle. There have been whispers out there that he has been in the past, verbally abusive towards female writers. We do know that he departed from the Goldbergs spin-off Schooled 13 episodes into the second/final season due to "creative differences sparked by Doyle’s vision for the comedy, which did not reconcile with ABC, Sony TV, and ABC Studios’." Doyle was a (if not thee) driving force behind the removal of Alexandra Kronsey from Last Man Standing after the first season.

[icecream]

Tim Doyle was not the force behind Alexandra Krosney being fired, that I blame on Tim Allen. And posting rumors about Tim Doyle being abusive is unproven gossip that is not needed, you seem to have a vendetta against him. I have a bunch of contempt for ABC screwing TKAA out of a renewal for Liz Meriwether's pair of garbage comedies. I did not watch Schooled, but wouldn't put anything past ABC with their shoddy treatment of him. Plus that show had a lot bigger problems with Bryan Callen, who was on Schooled from day one long before Tim Doyle was hired.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by catsrule

Tim Doyle was not the force behind Alexandra Krosney being fired, that I blame on Tim Allen. And posting rumors about Tim Doyle being abusive is unproven gossip that is not needed, you seem to have a vendetta against him. I have a bunch of contempt for ABC screwing TKAA out of a renewal for Liz Meriwether's pair of garbage comedies. I did not watch Schooled, but wouldn't put anything past ABC with their shoddy treatment of him. Plus that show had a lot bigger problems with Bryan Callen, who was on Schooled from day one long before Tim Doyle was hired.

Noticed that I said that Doyle was more than likely one of the forces/influences behind Alexandra Krosney's removal/firing. He all but admitted to not liking her either way on Facebook back in 2012. And with all due respect, I didn't come here to talk about TKAA, but previously or already established shows that Tim Doyle came on to. He rightly or wrongly, admitted that he's essentially a "journeyman TV writer" in that most of the time, he comes onto a project that is already in progress so the story world and characters are already set. As for whether or not Tim Doyle was abusive to his female writers, well here's a link to what Jeanne Darst said about him on Twitter.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TMC

Regarding Ryan Murphy, somebody elsewhere online said that his problem is that once he finds actors that he likes, he starts off each new season or project where he tries to build it around characters that he's created for those actors. And while the characters that he creates for those actors are actually interesting, instead of letting the plot and characters develop together, he has to construct a season arc for those characters to fit into.

Ryan Murphy's work is suffering on Netflix: He now seems to favor winners over underdogs

Murphy's recent movie musical The Prom marked his latest disappointing project for Netflix, arriving after lackluster reviews for The Politician, Hollywood and Ratched. The megaproducer's $300 million 2018 Netflix deal gave him cash and independence. But as Vulture's Jackson McHenry points out, it may have made Murphy out of touch with what made his previous shows so great. "The nine shows he’d produced at FX over 15 years, including Nip/Tuck, Glee, and American Horror Story, had always been maximal, attention-grabbing, full of cruelty or gore," says McHenry. "Run through with a strain of righteousness, they focused on underdog characters (theater geeks, gay teens, brunettes) boxing out their own space in the world. The shows could be angry about injustices of class, race, gender, sexuality, and, often, beauty. They could also be scattershot, favoring big swings in tone over consistency. More often than not, they had you by the throat. Murphy’s move to Netflix marked a certain anointment by the industry — at the time, it was called the biggest deal for a TV creator in history — and Murphy talked about it as if he had been invited to sit with the homecoming court at the cafeteria....But with millions in hand and more power than ever, the work Murphy has made at Netflix so far has been curiously tedious. In a review of his spring 2020 miniseries Hollywood, this magazine called it 'so narrow-minded that its sentimentality curls all the way back around to cynicism.' When Ratched premiered in the fall, the Ringer’s headline was simply 'Another Ryan Murphy Netflix Show, Another Miss.' Murphy has always had an eye for clever casting — reviving the career of an older actress, spinning out a career for one of his favorite regular players. Now, he has seemingly grown enamored with the possibility of casting whichever stars he pleases and allergic to challenging them with unflattering material. His sympathies, always conflicted between the world’s brown-haired losers and its glamorous blonde winners, have tipped slightly but conclusively toward the side of the winners." That can be seen in Murphy's seeming obsession with celebrities in his Netflix work. "Murphy has long had a sense of the chutes and ladders of power: who’s climbing up, and who’s pushing everyone else down," says McHenry. "Now that he’s on top at Netflix, he seems to have grown more fond of the whole board game. In his 2019 Time profile, Murphy notes that 'everything I’m working on is about one idea — taking marginalized characters and putting them in the leading story.' He brags about how he has every A-lister’s phone number — except for Meryl Streep’s. ('There’s everybody, and then there’s Meryl.') Those have always been Murphy’s two conflicting motivations, which he’s channeled through his characters all the way back to Popular: identification with the underdog and obsession with the top dog....While Murphy’s star casting goes back to Glee and American Horror Story, on Netflix it has gone into overdrive. See the casting of Cynthia Nixon in Ratched or Bette Midler in The Politician: Both play characters that wink at their own personae (a powerful queer woman, a comedic schemer) and never go deeper than that. Murphy’s desire to center A-listers is made most literal in The Prom. Unlike its Broadway iteration, which humbled and humiliated its stuck-up actor characters, Murphy’s version celebrates the magic of celebrity....The humor and tension of so many of Murphy’s earlier series came from an awareness of the world’s unfairness and the absurdity of in-group politics. Resentment was the grist for his content mill. In his Netflix work, Murphy has created fantasies of acceptance — noble, perhaps, but quickly and cheaply earned. When resentment does appear, it flows outward and down, toward the haters, the critics, or the townspeople of Indiana."

[TV Guy]

Originally Posted by catsrule

Tim Doyle was not the force behind Alexandra Krosney being fired, that I blame on Tim Allen. And posting rumors about Tim Doyle being abusive is unproven gossip that is not needed, you seem to have a vendetta against him.

TMC spends a great deal of time on these boards posting unfounded rumors and gossip. They made a post on the Family Ties board about Justine Bateman being bitter about her brother’s success, with absolutely no evidence. I’ve decided to start calling TMC out on these posts, and I’m glad you’re doing it as well. The worst thing we can do is say nothing when we see this type of gossip and rumormongering.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TV Guy

TMC spends a great deal of time on these boards posting unfounded rumors and gossip. They made a post on the Family Ties board about Justine Bateman being bitter about her brother’s success, with absolutely no evidence. I’ve decided to start calling TMC out on these posts, and I’m glad you’re doing it as well. The worst thing we can do is say nothing when we see this type of gossip and rumormongering.

And all you do is instead of actually addressing the subject at hand, you immediately make defensive, ad hominem attacks against me and take things that I said out of context. In case you didn't see it, I already addressed and attempted to clarify what I said about Justine Bateman. Like when I asked (since we're talking about Jason and Justine Bateman) whether or not Valerie Harper showed signs of actually being "difficult", thus prompting her removal from her very own sitcom Valerie. Instead of answering the question, you right away accuse me of doing nothing more than "spread gossip", even though she really did get fired for one reason or another.

And when I brought up Fred MacMurray's admitted "detachment" from his work on My Three Sons, you flat out accuse me of "slandering/disparaging" a dead man. In the case of Tim Doyle, how exactly am I making stuff up all by myself, when I just said that a female writer who worked for him on The Kids Are Alright implied on Twitter that he used abusive language? You completely and absolutely overlooked if not flat out ignored what I just said.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by factsoflife

I think Carsey-Werner (Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner) may be up there in the worst category; if only for giving their marquee stars way too much influence and power on-set and allowing terrible and abusive behavior from those stars to go unchecked. Between Cybill Shepherd reportedly being a witch to her co-stars to Roseanne reportedly being a tyrant and Brett Butler's well documented issues on-set, they seemed to either have no control over their sets or just blatantly ignored the problems on-set.

When I was going through an old thread that compared and contrast Carsey-Werner's sitcoms with Miller-Boyett's, I was remined that I posted this:

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,289333_2,00.html

Intriguingly enough, Carsey-Werner's problems on Grace are only the latest examples of an unenviable trend for the producers. With hits like The Cosby Show and Roseanne to its credit, the production company is one of the most successful and profitable in TV history. But the producers have also developed a reputation for troubled shows. In addition to Grace, Carsey-Werner has had to deal with noisy clashes on the sets of Roseanne, Cybill, and most recently, Men Behaving Badly. After numerous backstage problems last year, Men opens this season with Ron Eldard and Justine Bateman gone and only Rob Schneider remaining from the original cast.

Many fault the company's management style. "Carsey-Werner empowers the stars and gives them too much weight," says one former ABC programming executive. "They take the power away from the executive producer, and that is who needs to call the shots." Adds a former Grace executive producer, "They won't stick up for the writer, and it's very frustrating." The producer, who quit before his contract expired, explains, "It's not worth the money."

Ken Levine pretty much said in his blog that not only Carey-Werner enabled problematic, egotistical stars like Roseanne Barr, Bill Cosby, Cybill Shepherd, and Brett Butler, they just threw money at the perceived problem instead of actually remedying it:

But what about the enablers? What about the Carsey-Werner Company? For years they’ve built an empire on stars who were monsters and just threw money at the problems and went home while showrunners and writers were pummeled on a daily basis. ROSEANNE, COSBY, CYBILL, GRACE UNDER FIRE (starring another loose cannon, Bret Butler). Writers were sent into a wood chipper. Carsey & Werner just threw a lot of money at them and a lot of money at the ones who replaced them when they just couldn’t take it anymore. The stories are legendary. These monsters (stars) got away with everything. So now if the COSBY show is pulled forever and ROSEANNE is yanked from schedules, you’ll pardon me if I don’t shed a tear for the poor production company that will no longer see syndication blood money. We all got into this business to be writers, not wranglers.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I agree with Sal: Jeff Franklin and Miller-Boyett were horrible. When you look at their shows there's a common thread to most or even all of them: the continuity was terrible, the writing was not always great, and major cast members are written out, never to be seen or heard from again.

What about Michael Jacobs and April Kelly then? Boy Meets World was notorious for its own issues with continuity.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by TMC

What about Michael Jacobs and April Kelly then? Boy Meets World was notorious for its own issues with continuity.

I never watched Boy Meets World, so I can't say.

[Yong Fang]

A guy named Kurtzman is basically the “show runner” for the new Trek series Discovery and Picard, which in my opinion and the opinion of the majority of Star Trek faithful are not good shows with terrible storylines and mostly terrible characters. Trek nation isn’t feeling the love but watch the dreck out of loyalty to the franchise and the hope that something better comes (and if we don’t watch it, Trek dies).

[TMC]

Originally Posted by factsoflife

John Wells is generally regarded as a good, solid showrunner; but his work on "The West Wing" was clearly a pale comparison to the work Aaron Sorkin had done on that show. I fear anybody who had the task of replacing Sorkin was going to look like an imposter and wells did as fine a job as he could have.

Speaking of which:

Showrunner Swap: Aaron Sorkin to John Wells

Few shows have been more connected to their showrunner than The West Wing. Aaron Sorkin’s crowning television glory, the meticulous creator made his lasting cultural mark with the political drama that was the toast of the early millennium. Intensely hands-on (even to the point of lurking in online forums and commenting under a pseudonym), Sorkin eventually left the series after four years, leaving the show to John Wells (the current showrunner of Shameless) for the last three seasons. For die-hard Sorkin fans, the transition was understandably hard to take, and the change was certainly felt in the show’s slightly softened writing and use of well-respected Sorkin tropes. But viewed in the style of today’s binge-viewing culture, the show’s transition is less obvious than it might have been at the time of the series airing, making the transition palatable at the very least. (For those that were wondering, no, Sorkin did not watch the new seasons, likening it to watching someone “make out with [your] wife.”)

Verdict: Slightly for the Worse

[TMC]

Originally Posted by bmasters9

I think the late Larry Hagman might have done that on the last two or three seasons' worth of O-R CBS Dallas.

Jerry Seinfeld after Larry David stepped down as the showrunner for Seinfeld following the seventh season.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

Charisma's/Cordelia's departure from Angel was handled incredibly badly, both on-camera and off-camera. I can't begin to describe how icky her Season 4 storyline became.

Charisma Carpenter alleges Joss Whedon "abused his power" on the Buffy and Angel sets: "The disturbing incidents triggered a chronic physical condition from which I still suffer"

In a series of posts on Instagram and Twitter, Carpenter writes that she stands with Ray Fisher, who accused Whedon of “gross, abusive, unprofessional and completely unacceptable” behavior on the Justice League set. "For nearly two decades, I have held my tongue and even made excuses for certain events that traumatize me to this day. Joss Whedon abused his power on numerous occasions while working on the sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. While he found his misconduct amusing, it only served to intensify my performance anxiety, disempower me, and alienate me from my peers. The disturbing incidents triggered a chronic physical condition from which I still suffer. It is with a beating, heavy heart that I say I coped in isolation and, at times, destructively." Carpenter went on to state that " Joss has a history of being casually cruel. He has created hostile and toxic work environments since his early career. I know because I experienced it first-hand. Repeatedly. Like his ongoing, passive-aggressive threats to fire me, which wreaks havoc on a young actor’s self-esteem. And callously calling me ‘fat’ to colleagues when I was four months pregnant, weighing 126 lbs. He was mean and biting, disparaging about others openly, and often played favorites, putting people against one another to compete and vie for his attention and approval." Whedon has yet to respond to the just-posted allegations.

ALSO:

• Buffy alum Amber Benson backs up Charisma Carpenter's allegations: "Buffy was a toxic environment and it starts at the top," Benson tweeted. "@AllCharisma is speaking truth and I support her 100%. There was a lot of damage done during that time and many of us are still processing it twenty plus years later. #IStandWithRayFisher #IStandWithCharismaCarpenter."
• Ray Fisher responds by calling Carpenter "one of the bravest people I know": "I am forever grateful for her courage and for her lending her voice to the Justice League investigation," he tweeted. "Read her truth. Share her truth. Protect her at all costs. 'It is time.'"

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Lee

Look at his name-TMC. That's almost the same as TMZ, as in TMZ.Com. He basically sets
himself up the papparazzi of Sitcoms Online, posting just internet articles most of the time
instead of his own opinion.

TMC just so happens to be my actual initials, which I had long before TMZ was a thing! And what exactly does my username have to do with the topic of "worst showrunners ever"!?

[TMC]

Craig Thomas and Carter Bays - The series finale of How I Met Your Mother and how disappointing it was has been dissected and discussed to death. So, I won't try to rehash it too much. I'll just say that it seemed like a tell-tale example of what could happen when showrunners let their egos get in the way. They didn't even understand why people loved their show.

Simply put, they WANTED to meet the mother and fall in love with her as Ted did. Instead, she's treated like a footnote in the finale so that Ted can go chase Robin. Many viewers of HIMYM believed that it was obvious by the end of their relationship, that Ted and Robin were just two very different people. And yet, Thomas and Bays were so fixated on the idea of both of them ending up together.

Then the writers did put Barney and Robin together (which likely wouldn't have happened if the show had ended sooner), and they worked so much better than Ted and Robin ever had. This naturally meant that a good relationship that they spent a lot of time on had to be destroyed to in order to get to the ending that they wanted.

HIMYM was maybe a victim of its own success. It's a perfect example of a show that the writers had to keep developing events they hadn't originally intended. But by getting renewed so many times, the story grew into something the showrunners never originally intended it to be.

So logically, the ending needed to change with it. It actually would have been terrifically easy to change the ending of the show right up until the end. Instead, Carter and Bays stuck with an ending that only worked for the early version of the show, where Ted and Robin didn't seem toxic as a couple, where Barney hadn't grown and become a worthy partner for Robin, and where the audience hadn't met Tracy, the mother. Carter and Bays have only themselves to blame for not sticking the ending.