2025's Most Disappointing New Seasons of Some Favorite TV Shows

I loved past seasons of these TV shows but, for me, several of the new 2025 seasons fell flat.

1.  And Just Like That - Season 3  

"Sex and the City" started in 1998 and we followed Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her friends through trials and tribulations until 2004.  

However, sadly, they all should have stayed back there where we left them so we could have our good memories. But then someone decided we needed to see these ladies again (without Samanatha) and they were all back in 2022. 

So "And Just Like That" was born, and it was okay (not nearly as good as "Sex and the City" but okay) until Season 3.  And then, just like that, Season 3 was just cringeworthy. Plots and dialogue were just awful.  And it was trying too hard to stay relevant. Samantha (Kim Cattrall) had made the right decision to stay away.

Rosy the Reviewer says...thank god it is now over for good (please let that be true). (HBO Max)

2.  Nine Perfect Strangers - Season 2

In season 1, nine strangers from the city gathered for a ten-day retreat at Tranquillum House, a health and wellness resort in the fictional town of Cabrillo, California. The gathering promisds to transform and heal the guests who stayed there.

But the resort was not what it seemed to be, and the guests discovered many secrets about each other and the resort's mysterious host, Masha (Nicole Kidman). One of the controversies arising between the guests and resort director, Masha, started when she gave them psilosybin in minimal but relevant doses in their food without their consent or even knowledge and they started to have some, shall I say, experiences? That was an interesting concept, the characters were all different and idiosyncratic, and despite, some shock value and wierdness, I liked it.

But then in Season 2, Masha moved to Germany and the shock value and weirdness just became more shocking and weird. For me, it maxed out.

Rosy the Reviewer says...I started to wish I had drugs to get through Season 2 (Hulu).

3.  The Bear - Season 4

Chef Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) returns to Chicago to save his family's restaurant.

I love cooking shows, whether it's reality competitions, or in this case, comedy/drama.  However, it took me a couple of seasons to get into this show, but I hung in there, and Season 3 really got me.  But then Season 4 came along, and it was just mostly Carmy staring off into space. I also can't stand Jamie Lee Curtis, which didn't help.  

Rumor has it that Season 4 was supposed to be the end.  I wish it had been. There is supposed to be a Season 5 which is now supposed to be the end.

Rosy the Reviewer says...don't know if I have the appetite for Season 5 (Hulu).

4.  The Last of Us - Season 2

SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED SEASON 2 YET AND PLAN ON IT, read no further...

This series is based on a video game where a pandemic caused by a fungal infection turns people into very unattractive zombie-like creatures with murder on their minds.

 

In Season 1, Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, and Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, teamed up to survive after the pandemic hit and wandered around meeting other survivors and fighting off zombies. It was fun and made Pedro Pascal a huge star.  

Season 2 started five years after the events of Season 1, and Joel and Ellie have settled into Jackson, Wyoming with Joel's brother, Tommy and Ellie's friends, Dina and Jesse. So after Episode 1 of Season 2, so far, so good.

But then, in Episode 2...THEY KILLED OFF JOEL!

Okay, I know he shows up in later episodes in flashbacks but they ruined it for me by killing him off. Bad decision.  I bailed.

Rosy the Reviewer says...well, that killed ME!  As far as I was concerned, without Joel being alive, it wasn't worth watching, becasue Ellie kind of bored me and I didn't care what happened anymore. Bring on the zombies (HBO Max)!

5. A Man on the Inside - Season 2

In Season 1, Ted Danson played Charles Nieuwendyk, a widower and retired college engineering professor who takes a job as an investigative assistant for Kovalenko Investigations to investigate a missing necklace at a retirement community. 

The series was warm and fuzzy as we got to know the old folks in the old folks home, and I liked it that they were not portrayed in a silly or undignified way, which is often the case when dealing on film with senior citizens. This series was based on a documentary called "The Mole Agent," which was about a real life guy who went undercover in an old peoples' home.  Loved that movie and loved Series 1 of this, so I was looking forward to Series 2.

But as so often happens, sequels don't live up to the original.  In Series 2, Charles has become a P.I. in training and goes undercover at a university to find a missing laptop worth "millions."  Sadly, this second series isn't worth your time.  It is silly.  Silly dialogue, silly characters, silly plot. Even the presence of Mary Steenburgen, Danson's real life wife, doesn't help.

Rosy the Reviewer says...how could a show that was so smart and comforting the first time around turn into such a dumb and uncomfortable sitcom? (Netflix)

6.  Emily in Paris (Rome) - Season 5

Lily Collins plays a young American woman from the Midwest who is hired by a Parisien marketing firm to give them a new perspective.

This started out as a sweet "fish out of water" rom-com with perky, quirky Emily hanging out with other quirky characters and sporting all kinds of great clothes amidst the gorgeous Paris setting. I loved this show all the way through Season 4. 

But then Season 5 happened, which takes place mostly in Rome (though the side trip to Venice was fun), but then it all was just silly.  And the clothes weren't even good.  Some of her combinations made me say, "What??!!."

This is a perfect example of something good being dragged on too long.  I mean, when you have to leave Paris to go to Rome to keep it going, something is very wrong.

Rosy the Reviewer says...it just got silly. I wonder where Emily will go next?  Off the air? (Netflix)

6.  Palm Royale - Season 2

An ambitious social climber does everything she can to break into Palm Beach Society, circa 1969.

What started out as silly fun with clueless but determined Maxine (Kristin Wiig) scheming to establish herself in Palm Beach Society, in Season 2, it just just went even further south, even though Carol Burnett as Norma Delacorte, finally woke up from her coma (I love Carole). I couldn't watch.

Rosy the Reviewer says...out of control silly. (Apple+)

7.  Big Brother - Season 27

For those of you who have not watched "Big Brother," it's a reality show hosted by Julie Chen Moonves.  

Here is a little recap. 

The contestants are known as Houseguests and they all live together inside a custom-built house outfitted with cameras and microphones that record them at all times. The houseguests are sequestered with no contact with the outside world.  They share their thoughts on their day-to-day lives inside the house in a private room known as the Diary Room and each week, they compete in a Head of Household (HOH) competition. The winner of the HOH competition is immune from eviction and selects two (or, in certain seasons, three) houseguests to be nominated for eviction and then one of them gets voted off each week. The last one left in the house gets $750,000.

If you are not a "Big Brother" fan, this probably won't mean much to you, so you can stop reading now, but for you fans out there, wasn't this kind of a stupid season?  I know long-running TV shows have to try to keep things fresh, but this season went too far.

This season had a murder mystery theme and the house was dubbed Hotel Mystere and the "Mastermind" was wrecking havoc on the guests.  In the first episode, he "kidnaps" host Julie Chen and the houseguests must solve some puzzles to get her back. There is also an "accomplice" among them, and if that person manages to stay undetected, he or she can become a houseguest. And then they brought back Rachel Reilly, a former winner of the game and one of the most annoying people on earth. The competitions all had a mystery and Mastermind theme and were really lame and seemed forced. And the person who won was probably the most annoying person in the house (except for Rachel). 

And then there was the added feature this season - "Big Brother Unlocked" - where Derrick Levasseur (winner of Season 16) and Taylor Hale (winner of Season 24) chatted about what had transpired in the house over the last few weeks.  This is a direct steal from most of the British reality shows, where past players get together to rehash the week's events.  And I take back what I said about Rachel Reilly. Taylor Hale is the most annoying person on earth.

I have been a big "Big Brother" fan since the beginning of the show (that's how old I am). Can we please just get back to the good old-fashioned plotting and back-stabbing we have come to expect?  

Rosy the Reviewer says...if next season is like this last season, I just might have to to vote myself out! (CBS)

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