We are in an era of prestige television, from the heights of Silo, Succession, Barry, and others setting a quality precedent for other shows to live up to — with some failing miserably. If you’re not going to be the best, you might as well be the worst, and Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra, a docudrama depicting the life and death of the Egyptian monarch, has earned the coveted title of worst show on Rotten Tomatoes, as reported by Forbes, with a whopping 2% audience score.
While that number could rise — or even fall — Queen Cleopatra is not alone in being awfully reviewed. Here are nine more of the worst audience reviewed series on Rotten Tomatoes.
Queen Cleopatra
Queen Cleopatra is actually the second season of a Netflix docuseries titled African Queens, and describes the life and death of the titular ruler of Egypt. The casting of a biracial actress to play Cleopatra sparked criticism amongst Egyptians, which likely led to the show’s less-than-savoury reception.
Camilla Long of The Times wrote: “It is patchy sub-Game of Thrones cosplay interwoven with academics you’ve never heard of.”
Queen Cleopatra has a 10% critic score and a 2% audience score.
Santa Inc.
Santa Inc. is a brash, foul-mouthed look at the North Pole staring Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman. The HBO Max original saw praise for its dissection of toxic work culture, while its raunchy humour was criticised for missing the mark.
Santa Inc. has no critic score and a 4% audience score.
Fairview
Adult animated series Fairview takes place in a world completely populated by nesting dolls, and focuses on a group of said dolls navigating the world of local politics. The Comedy Central show is billed as a satire tackling the hot topics of cryptocurrency, critical race theory, and the climate crisis, but Fairview’s bite is not resonating with audiences.
Fairview has no critic score and a 4% audience score.
Motel Makeover
Everyone loves a good home makeover show, but apparently not everyone loves a questionable motel makeover show. Netflix’s Motel Makeover sees two women flipping a dingy motel after successfully flipping their own in a bid to create a motel empire, but the show’s cliche and cheugy approach to home makeovers and subtle pro-gentrification narrative left a bad taste in viewers’ mouths.
Motel Makeover has no critic score and a 4% audience score.
everything’s gonna be all white
Showtime’s everything’s gonna be all white is a docuseries dissecting white supremacy in America. The four episode series features talking head perspectives from historians, comedians, and activists like Margaret Cho, Tamika Mallory, and Favianna Rodriguez. Despite its noble effort, everything’s gonna be all white was criticised by audiences for furthering the American racial divide, according to Parade.
everything’s gonna be all white has no critic score and a 4% audience score.
Anne Boleyn
This thriller miniseries on AMC+ depicts the final five months of Queen Anne Boleyn’s life before she was beheaded in 1536. The series shares a lot of the same story beats with Queen Cleopatra, and while critics were a little more receptive to it, audiences were not.
Anne Boleyn has a 50% critic score and a 6% audience score.
Generation Gap
The Kelly Ripa-hosted Generation Gap is a competition series that featured teams of children working with their parents or grandparents to tackle questions about culture of then and now. Generation Gap is pretty inoffensive, and that’s the problem — it’s boring.
Generation Gap has no critic score and a 6% audience score.
The Real Friends of WeHo
The Real Friends of WeHo is MTV’s dying breath as it clings to a bygone trend of cable TV reality shows. The series features six LGBTQ+ friends living and working in and around West Hollywood, California and quickly devolves into the manufactured drama that built the likes of E! and Bravo more successfully.
The Real Friends of WeHo has no critic score and a 6% audience score.
Velma
HBO Max’s Velma is a re-imagined and more mature version of the classic Scooby-Do lore, which exists in a separate universe than this series. Velma was created by audience darling Mindy Kaling, but viewers weren’t really on board with this retelling of the classic cartoon.
Velma has a 40% critic score and a 6% audience score.
Bling Empire: New York
Bling Empire has been described as a real-life counterpart to Crazy Rich Asians, following the lives of some of the most affluent Asian socialites in Los Angeles. The show’s sister series Bling Empire: New York is also one of the most poorly rated shows on Rotten Tomatoes, and in a rare move, Netflix opted not to order a second season of either Bling Empire or its New York spinoff, according to Deadline.
Bling Empire: New York has no critic score and a 7% audience score.