13 Dumbest TV Decisions Of 2025 (So Far)

Why do the people who create and program television make the choices they do? It's a question you could spend your whole life pondering — but you don't have to, because we've done it for you! Yep: It's time for TVLine's annual list of the year's dumbest TV decisions. 

We're not talking about cancellations, per se, though you will see one of those pop up on the rundown below. We're talking about the moves that make absolutely no sense, from the absolutely detestable to the merely puzzling. From the mightiest network executive to the lowest-level marketing assistant, no one is immune from our critical eye. (Does it help at all to remind everyone that we chastise because we love? Eh, probably not — but it's true!)

Below, you'll find the TV decisions that made the least sense to us this year. "But the year's not done yet!" you cry, and you're right: We have no doubt that the propensity for human error will continue right through the clock striking midnight on Dec. 31. So make sure to hit the comments and note the biggest goofs you've noticed on the small screen, and it's very likely they'll show up here by the end of the year. 

Review our list below, then weigh in! 

Former NFL pro Mel Owens made a major fumble when, in a June interview, he scoffed at the idea that he'd be interested in women 60 or over... despite his being the star of ABC's upcoming "Golden Bachelor" season. If his potential love interests on the show were "60 or over, I'm cutting them," he told the sports podcast In the Trenches, adding that he preferred "fit" women aged 45 to 60 and that he asked producers "to try to stay away from the artificial hips and the wigs."  (P.S. He's 66.) His comments drew a lot of ire — duh — and it would've made perfect sense for ABC to part ways with Owens and his ageist outlook right then. The bloom, as they say, was off the rose. But nothing changed. He publicly apologized ("It's unfair. It's insensitive... and I want to earn it back"), production moved on apace, and all of the women this season have had to sit with the knowledge that the dude doling out their roses would really, y'know, like someone younger. — Kimberly Roots

So HBO Max launched in 2020 and then dropped the HBO from its name three years later and just went with Max. Well, executives must've regretted that move, because in July, the service switched its name back to HBO Max. (But don't get too comfortable: They might switch it back again in a couple years.) Meanwhile, Apple TV+ dropped the plus from its name in October and is now just going with Apple TV... even though that's already the name of Apple's TV app and streaming media player. Just curious: How much are the executives who made these decisions being paid again? — Dave Nemetz

Fans of HBO Max's "Sex and the City" continuation got a rude awakening when the streamer announced in August the show was ending... in just two weeks. And even ruder was the way it ended, with a disappointing finale that saw Miranda contend with a disgusting toilet explosion and Carrie end up on her own, with no man in her life. It didn't feel like a series finale, even though showrunner Michael Patrick King insisted it was intended as one. We hope that's not really the last we see of Carrie Bradshaw... because it'd be a shame if it ended like that. — D.N.

"I'm not choosing to leave you," "9-1-1" Captain Bobby Nash said before succumbing to the virus that would put him off duty forever. "I chose to save my team because it was the right thing to do. It was never because I wanted to go. I don't want to go. If I could choose, I would stay with you. Always." And, with all respect to the good people who make the ABC series, why the hell couldn't he? We know, we know: Showrunner Tim Minear said the move was an "entirely creative decision" designed to shake up the story and all surviving characters, and no one is ever happy when a beloved character is visited by the Grim Reaper. Still, the loss of Peter Krause was a giant blow. Was there no one else in the 118 or its greater network whose killing also would've evinced real emotion and new avenues for storytelling? — K.R.

Emmys host Nate Bargatze's bid to keep speeches short sounded like a fun idea at first: He pledged $100,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America... and then deducted $1,000 for every second a winner's speech went over 45 seconds. It turned into a disaster, though, with a ticking clock showing the money disappearing as winners spoke and shaming them into wrapping up early. It cast a weird pall over the entire ceremony, and it didn't even matter anyway, since Bargatze and CBS both kicked in a combined $350,000 in the end. (Probably because the donation was well into the red by then.) Let's just go back to the orchestra playing the winners off, please. — D.N.

As if it weren't bad enough that it took ABC what felt like forever to officially cancel Ryan Murphy's cruise-set drama, the season-turned-series finale came and went without giving us what we sorely needed: a firm YES or NO on TVLine's Fever Dream Theory. You'll recall we posited that the show's golden, glowy look and dark origin — remember Max's awful story about almost dying during the coronavirus pandemic? — all played into the idea that the series' central doc never recovered from COVID and actually died in his hospital bed. The ship on which he lived and worked, therefore, was Heaven. Or Purgatory. Or something. As the season progressed, we amassed evidence. We ran the idea by the show's cast. And after all that? Nothing! So we're going to take Joshua Jackson's statement that the cast "had a similar theory operating on set" as tacit confirmation of our clear genius. And if you hear differently — no, you didn't. — K.R.

Good things come to those who wait... but even that age-old wisdom has its limits, particularly when it comes to series that stretch out their seasons by splitting them and releasing them in "parts" or "chapters" or "volumes" or any other unit that translates to "we're going to string viewers along just a little more." Hasn't this method kinda played itself out by now? And, case in point, was anyone truly excited for "Wednesday" Part 2? We're supposed to binge these shows all at once, right? So give them to us all at once! — K.R.

BB27 was off to a great start this summer, serving up a little bit of everything: a dynamic cast, some decent drama and a beloved former winner, included. So color us surprised when the show introduced the mind-numbingly stupid White Locust twist which brought back a "Reindeer Games" comp from hell that took out the show's shining star and returnee, Rachel Reilly. And we're not just griping because it was Rachel! Other nominees had three chances to save themselves from elimination, thanks to the veto, BB Blockbuster and the live vote. (Campaigning counts as a way to save one's hide!) The fact that Rachel was immediately sent to jury broke our hearts and nearly ruined what was a decent run up to that point. They always say we should "Expect the Unexpected," but this turn of events just seemed downright unfair. (And let's be real: Producers couldn't have been pleased by that outcome either.) — Nick Caruso

We appreciate that creating incredibly timely comedy means running production and post-production right down to the wire. And we've loved the glee and abandon with which "South Park" continues to skewer politicians (one in particular) and society. But what is going on with the Comedy Central series' release schedule lately? "Apparently when you do everything at the last minute sometimes you don't get it done," creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone said in September when they had to delay an episode. "This one's on us. We didn't get it done in time. Thanks to Comedy Central and "South Park" fans for being so understanding. Tune in next week!" Then it took a couple of weeks off. Then it returned, but with new episodes every other Wednesday? Thank goodness it all streams on Paramount+, we guess. — K.R.

If you watched a recent "Law & Order: SVU" installment (Season 27, Episode 2, to be exact) on NBC, it ended with Det. Bruno telling Capt. Benson that her former partner, Det. Stabler, was in the hospital. However, if you watched the same hour on Peacock, NBC's streaming service, it ended with squad newbie Det. Griffin visiting Chief Tynan's home, possibly to report on Benson and her team. No matter how you watched, you missed part of the story. And we know that the Bruno conversation was subbed in so that the encore episode of "Law & Order: Organized Crime" that followed on the broadcast network made sense, but there had to have been a better way to do it, no? 

Sorry for the double-dip, "Law & Order: SVU" fans, but sometimes that's how things go. Funerals put people in a contemplative, emotionally tenderized mood, and we understand that the NBC procedural needed Benson and Stabler to be in that mindset in order to have a recent, pivotal conversation. But did the person they mourned have to be Capt. Donald Cragen?! Especially because Dann Florek, who has played the top cop for the past 27 years, is still alive and well (and filming — that video playing during the wake was shot for the episode!). Given that we've lost other "Law & Order"verse vets in real life (among them Jerry Orbach and Richard Belzer), it feels like a giant misstep to take Cragen out of play for story reasons. Dare we hope for flashbacks in the future? — K.R.

Sad but true: "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" will end its run in 2026 after a decade on the air. According to CBS' official statement when the news broke, the network's June move to end the popular late-night talkshow in 2026 was "purely a financial decision" that was "not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount." Which means it was the biggest of coincidences, then, that the axing took place days after Colbert criticized Paramount's decision to settle a multi-million-dollar lawsuit President Donald Trump brought against "60 Minutes" — and that Paramount was, at that time, waiting for government approval to merge with Skydance. And we're sure this has nothing to do with it, either: "I absolutely love that Colbert' got fired," Trump posted on Truth Social afterward. "His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next." — K.R.

After late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made comments related to Charlie Kirk's death in September, Nexstar Media Group — which owns 33 ABC affiliates — announced it would not air the late-night series he hosts. (Sinclair Broadcast Group soon followed suit.) ABC promptly put "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on indefinite hiatus, a move that was influenced by Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr threatened to penalize stations airing the show if they didn't "change conduct and take action." The talkshow was off the air for nearly a week before ABC reversed course and returned Kimmel to air. Nexstar and Sinclair later followed suit. The very sobering conversations about free speech and commerce, though, continue. — K.R.