Despite a year full of promising releases, certain series have unfortunately failed to offer content that meets public expectations. Between shaky plots, questionable creative choices and questionable executions, here is an overview of some of the worst new series of 2024.
#7 Zorro (Paramount+)
The series Zorro with Jean Dujardin is neither a total disaster nor a memorable work. If the main actor sincerely seems to be having fun under the mask of the famous vigilante, the story seems constantly hesitating between homage, pastiche, parody and fan service. Even the spectators attracted by the presence of Dujardin, hoping to find a spirit close toOSS 117 (which was never announced as such), risk being disappointed. If humor and self-deprecation punctuate the program, they struggle to find a balance with more “serious” intrigues. Despite well-chosen settings and some good ideas, the series loses its way and ends up lacking identity and breath.
#6 Good Times (Netflix)
Good Times on Netflix is the animated reboot of a series that marked American pop culture of the 1970s. Of course, not all the references are, perhaps, necessarily accessible for a French viewer, but in the end, the series never manages to deliver anything other than worn-out clichés, launched at a pace that is too often laborious. The characters are stuck in repetitive stereotypes, and the whole lacks energy and finesse. We feel a permanent desire, as artificial as it is irritating, to proclaim loudly and clearly that we understand the times, but which, in the end, gives the impression of watching your uncle treat himself to an electric scooter and Funko Pop while listening to K-pop in the middle of a mid-life crisis. At the end of the day, Good Times brings nothing new andThis is just another animated “content”.
#5 Sex Intentions / Cruel Intentions (Amazon Prime)
Adapter Sex Intentions in series was a risky bet, but it is clear that modernizing a film which already modernized Les Liaisons Dangereuses could only be a bad idea. The project appears to have been launched without any real understanding of its own conceptleaving viewers facing a smooth and flavorless product. If this series can at least ensure royalties for the authors of the 1999 film, it is difficult not to be doubtful about a result so bland, poorly paced, and, to put it bluntly, soporific.
#4 Furies (Netflix)
Marina Foïs and Lina El Arabi as a vengeful duo of badass killers, it was a surprising idea, but unfortunately indeed the only one. Presented in its trailers as a French reinvention of the style John Wick, Furies turns out to be just another Netflix product soulless and breathless. If the action scenes and stunts are impeccable and the actors seem to be having fun, the series nonetheless remains a succession of clichés already seen elsewhere. The story lacks anchoring in a reality specific to its environmentopting for a Paris in which we never believe. More annoying than actually bad, Furies has anyway already been forgotten by the publict seems doomed to haunt the back catalog of the streaming platform.
#3 La Cage (Netflix)
The Cage suffers from some of the same problems as Furies which we spoke about above. Created by Franck Gastambide, The Cage met a lot of energy reproducing worn-out American models to the limit, to the detriment of a true identity. If the ambition to transpose the world of MMA into a French series is laudable, the result suffers froma scenario like Rocky/ Creed predictable and stereotypical characters who struggle to arouse real attachment. On the other hand, the interest in the series will largely depend on the level of respect or consideration you have for MMA and its universe. Moreover, for fans of this discipline, the presence of sports stars can seduce. For others, The Cage remains a self-formatted product, quickly forgotten.
#2 Knuckles (Paramount+)
Let's be clear, the movies Sonic are not masterpieces, and no one will try to make you believe the opposite. However, they at least have the advantage of not lying about the merchandise. From the trailer, we know that we will be treated to a pretext plot, gags for the youngest, maximum screen time for the legged mascots, and a Jim Carrey who hides his depression behind an avalanche of grimaces and gesticulations.
The announcement of a spin-off centered on Knuckles, with a trailer promising a program similar to that of the last two films, at least had the advantage of being honest, even if it was not particularly reassuring. But here it is…: in the end, It's hard to get more boring and off the mark than this low-end derivative product.
To make a long story short, Knuckles, although he is the only character on the poster, is ironically the main absentee from the series. The story actually focuses on Wade Whipple, a very secondary character in the first films, who here undertakes a road trip to reconcile with his family and, symbolically, “kill the father” during a bowling competition. In the middle of this gigantic off-topic, Knuckles is only allowed three minutes of screen time per episode to “develop” a plot which pits him against villainous Men in Black and a sub-Robotnik serving as the end boss.
#1 The Acolyte (Disney+)
The Acolyte is a textbook case. If the series did not deserve all the storm of hatred that fell on it, it is clear that it fails to be a good Star Wars, nor even a good series at all. Concretely, without the Star Wars design, no one would have watched this succession of empty moments until the end, of awkward silences and hollow characters who wander without purpose or logic between narrow settings and adventures too far from each other.
Certainly, there are here and there two or three narrative or visual ideas that are not too unpleasantwhich could, perhaps, by exploring some simple but interesting concepts of the saga, give a decent 1h20 TV movie. However, tout is stretched over six episodes all of different lengths, unintentionally reflecting the teams' inability to structure their narrative and master their own format.
Final nail in the coffin: a totally inexplicable astronomical budget of 230 million dollars. Indeed, the series looks like a bad science fiction film from the 1990s, somewhere between Soldier by Paul WS Anderson and the worst episodes of the first season of Stargate SG-1.
