The 98 Biggest TV Show Flops, Bombs and Misses in the First Half of 2026

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In July, I updated my look at how the “streaming bubble” popped since 2023, showing the decline in streaming TV shows over time.

But after compiling and analyzing and writing about over one hundred TV show flops in the first half of 2026—I counted 99 “nominees” and there are even more honorable mentions—I couldn’t have told you that the number of shows is going down. When it comes to scripted, English-language TV shows, it feels like we have as many bombs as ever. I don’t keep a specific count, but some streamers probably had as many flops as they’ve ever had.

That’s right, it’s time for part two of my analysis of the biggest flops, bombs and misses on streaming in the first half of 2026. Two weeks ago, I took a look at films. Today, TV shows.

If you want to read the full methodology for how I assemble this list, you can find it at the bottom of this article. In short, this list is…

…scripted and unscripted TV shows,

…from the nine major streamers,

…in the US (using US-only ratings),

…excluding true crime, kids and foreign-language shows,

…that got no/poor ratings,

…from Jan-2026 to the end of June-2026.

Reminder: this article does not represent my personal opinion—many of these shows are great!—but I follow the data, and a miss is a miss and a bomb is a bomb. Also, price matters. If a TV show costs north of $100 million, it needs to get lots and lots of streaming viewership to justify that budget.

As with past editions, I ordered this list by streamer, going from best (fewest flops) to worst (the most misses)—taking the size of the flops into consideration—and like the last edition, three or four streamers vied to take the win/loss of having the most flops. (But the actual winner is no surprise.)

I try to avoid tooting my own horn too much, but seriously, in just under 5,000 words (including the methodology section) I provide a mostly comprehensive overview of the eight major streamers (Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+, and Apple TV) for the first half of the year, mentioning most of their hits and all their misses. It summarizes the entire first half of 2026! If you want to support this work, please subscribe.

Tubi

• Big Mood
• Boarders
• The Freak Brothers
• Twenty Twenty Six

Honorable Mentions: Busted on Bodycam, Deestroying the Pitch, Destination World Cup 2026

I don’t think that Tubi spends all that much making or (mostly) licensing these original TV shows—Big Mood, Boardersand Twenty Twenty Six all come from the UK—but they’re not free and they didn’t chart anywhere.

Winner: The Freak Brothers

Have you even heard of this show? It’s an animated comedy…that’s on its third season! And Pete Davidson, Woody Harrelson, John Goodman and Tiffany Haddish all provide voice talent for it. Yes, animated shows don’t cost as much as live action shows, but cheap isn’t free! So a show with this level of talent needs to perform better.

Disney+

• Daredevil: Born Again
• Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord

Honorable Mentions: Behind the Attraction, Donna Hay Coastal Celebrations, We Call It Imagineering

Disney+ doesn’t make all that many original shows anymore. They had two flops, and one was animated. Their one not-a-miss show, Wonder Man, got just good enough viewership to not be considered a “miss”…but it’s since been cancelled.

At this point, Disney has pivoted entirely away from making big budget TV shows for Disney+ to making…almost nothing for Disney+? Sure, Disney’s spending circa 2019-2022 was unsustainable, but now they’re pivoting too far in the other direction. At some point, Disney needs to stop shifting strategies so wildly.

Really, Disney should have made fewer shows for Disney+ at launch and the shows they did make at that time needed to be made at more reasonable budgets. And they should adopt that strategy now.

Winner: Daredevil: Born Again

Daredevil, the Marvel Comics character, is on my personal Mount Rushmore of favorite superheroes, so it pains me to give him the win/loss today, but this show deserves it.

I’ll repeat my hot take from last spring:

“Based on his popularity, Daredevil should be in movies, and probably ones that cost a lot less than the MCU’s usual price tag. Disney/Bob Iger/Ike Perlmutter (who, based on reporting, made the decision) made a huge mistake selling TV shows to Netflix in the 2010s, thus limiting this character to the small screen. Daredevil could have anchored Marvel’s post-Infinity War plans, and if he did, the MCU would probably be in a better place than it is now.”

HBO Max