The Worst of the Best

[Maister]

Everybody loves a winner, but even the Best and most successful occasionally have their substandard/screwup moments.

The Beatles: 'Honey Pie' The White Album is generally regarded as a benchmark in rock for its originality but this song is proof positive that there really can be too much of a good thing.

Porsche: the 914. What a cool idea, an exotic mid-engine design but at an affordable price.....ended up being viewed as a watering down of the Porsche name, yet still not affordable to the VW crowd.

Steven Spielberg: "1941" The Japs weren't the only ones to bomb. Proof the Hollywood wonderkid was mortal.

What do you think are some other examples of the worst of the best? Stephen King books? Stereos? Musical artists? Beer? First ring suburbs? Political manoevres/politicians? Songs? Films? TV shows? Where do you think excellence departs from a name usually associated with it?

[TexanOkie]

Law & Order is arguably the best, and one of the most economically successful, television franchises in history. It's successful enough to the point where it's almost possible to watch one of the syndicated reruns of the different franchise series 24 hours per day on various network and cable stations. However, one series of the franchise is missing; it is the same series that only lasted one season. Law & Order: Trial By Jury is this franchise. Unlike the other series, there is little or no focus on the criminal investigation by police detectives. Instead, it's focus was on the trial preparation and courtroom activities by the district and defense attorneys. In a way, it's opposite of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which focuses almost exclusively on the police criminal investigations. I'm not sure why it was cancelled (it was the first Law & Order franchise to be cancelled), but apparently the American public is not as interested in watching legal prep and trials as they are the police drama inherent in criminal investigations. The wild success of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit illustrates this, as it is consistently the highest rated series of the franchise, and is also the one that places the most emphasis on the mixture of personal and professional drama in the investigations/investigators.

[illinoisplanner]

Worst Guns N' Roses song from 1987-1992: "My World" on Use Your Illusion II

Out of the 50 songs the band recorded and released during this time period, pretty much all of them were top-notch, great, awesome, out of this world, timeless, classic. But this one just makes you go WTF? A terrible song that just isn't real GNR. Apparently it was added in the end by Axl Rose who had a little too much fun with the snythesizers and pro tools and many of the band members didn't even realize it was on the record until it was released.

[Seabishop]

The Beatles: 'Honey Pie' The White Album is generally regarded as a benchmark in rock for its originality but this song is proof positive that there really can be too much of a good thing.

Music nerd clarification:

Do you mean Honey Pie - "She was a working girl, north of England way..."

Or Wild Honey Pie - the weirder one where they just keep repeating "Honey Pie"?

[Maister]

Music nerd clarification:

Do you mean Honey Pie - "She was a working girl, north of England way..."

Or Wild Honey Pie - the weirder one where they just keep repeating "Honey Pie"?

Sorry. Wild Honey Pie (but you already knew or guessed that)


Another movie submission. Everyone recognizes the Godfather 1 and 2 as being among the best films of the 20th century...but Godfather 3?

[WSU MUP Student]

Worst of the best beers? Pabst Blue Ribbon - Somebody thought they were the best way back in 1893 and they been riding the wave of winning that blue ribbon since then!

[Gedunker]

The Houston Astros.

[Maister]

The Houston Astros.

The Detroit Lions!!

[JNA]

What about "The Town Next Door" _TM ?

[Coragus]

The 2006 St. Louis Cardinals won 83 games, only 2 games over .500. That was enough to win their division though, and they ended up beating the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. That is the worst of the best in baseball! Fewest regular season wins by a World Series winner ever!

[biscuit]

The Detroit Lions!!

Pittsburgh Pirates...

[Bear Up North]

This Bear has a few submissions.....

Music
This first submission has to do with a matter of personal taste. When Chicago first came on the music scene (1968/1969) they had the moniker of Chicago Transit Authority. The real CTA forced them to drop that name, so they became simply Chicago. Their first few albums were filled with solid rock and roll, rock-oriented horns, guitar jams, and Beach Boy-like harmonies. They rocked!

But in the middle 1970s they started to emphasize "pop" and the rock slid away. They had some good tunes mixed in later albums and I find it difficult to say with solid authority that they went from "best" to "worst". But, IMO, they slipped significantly.

Television
I have a couple nominees, both involving spin-off shows.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show was very popular, well-written, had great characters that made watching the program fun and entertaining. Mary's best friend was Rhoda, a riot on the MTM offering. But her spin-off show, Rhoda, was horrible.

Should say that another MTM spin-off, Lou Grant, was quite good.

All In The Family was an incredible trend-setter. When it first arrived on the airways it covered subjects never before covered on television, including bodily functions and sex. It garnered numerous awards. Then the show morphed into Archie Bunker's Place......not funny, not good, boring.

The Movies
Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter is my favorite movie. It won numerous awards, helped establish careers for a host of actors, may be the best-ever treatment of male-bonding. Cimino's next movie was Heaven's Gate, a movie that was so over-budget, incredibly trashed by critics, and killed a major movie production house.

Caddyshack was, simply, a fun movie. Bill Murray's character steals the show, Rodney Dangerfield is a riot, and a pesky groundhog outsmarts everybody. The follow-up movie was Caddyshack II and I would bet dollars to donuts that nobody in history sat through that entire movie. It really stunk.
_____

Bear

[imaplanner]

me

12345

[kalimotxo]

The Simpsons, seasons 9 through 21 and counting...

[Luca]

TV
"Friends" remains the only soap that regualrly makes me regurgitate beverages through my nose (on constant show on E4 he in teh UK). "Joey" was absolutely unwatchable.

FILM
All the Janes Bond movies between Sean Connery and Daniel Craig (although Roger Moore was entertainign, in a camp, 70s way).

MUSIC
Most great 'alternative' bands' second album.

ARCHITECTURE
Where to start...
One example: The Guggeneim in NYC... a desperate (if udnerstandable) attempt by FLW to 'do modernism'