Rotten Tomatoes is far from the be-all end-all of criticism, but many audience members use it as a way to quickly judge what the consensus is on a movie or TV show. However, Rotten Tomatoes wasn’t started until 1998, and it didn’t become incredibly popular until well after that. So, many viewers of these classic TV shows don’t realize how criminally low their Rotten Tomatoes scores are.
Since TV shows typically have multiple seasons, their general Rotten Tomatoes scores are calculated by taking the percentage of positive reviews across their seasons. However, some shows where the reviews vary wildly across seasons don’t have general critic scores, even if they do have general audience scores. The Rotten Tomatoes scores on this list vary a bit thanks to this complicated system, but each of these shows has a score far lower than you would probably expect.
7) Friends
Image via NBC
Friends is one of the most iconic sitcoms of all time, with it being incredibly quotable and beloved across generations. The show is still finding new fans over two decades after its final episode, proving how much staying power the show has. Thanks to how beloved Friends is, many would expect it to have an incredibly high Rotten Tomatoes score. However, this isn’t the case.
Friends has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 78% as of the writing of this article. This isn’t bad, but it definitely isn’t as high as many would expect. This signals that the show is just pretty good, whereas the 93% audience score better reflects the show’s legendary status.
6) Glee
Glee is a show that defined a generation, with many viewers still preferring the Glee cover of songs over the originals. Glee kick-started the careers of many big names, tackled all kinds of important issues, and won all kinds of awards. However, it too has a surprisingly low Rotten Tomatoes score.
Glee has a total Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 70%, with a series low of season 3’s 53%. Unlike Friends, the audience score isn’t much better, with it only sitting at 71%. This is surprising considering the show’s influence and popularity, but it seems that Rotten Tomatoes’ critics and audiences agree.
5) Ally McBeal
Ally McBeal is one of the defining legal dramas of the 1990s and early 2000s, with it lasting five seasons and inspiring many legal shows that came later. However, Ally McBeal only has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 61% across its five seasons, meaning that it only barely fits into the Fresh category. Seasons 2 and 3 both have 38%, and season 5 has 47%, proving that the show went down in critical reception as it went along.
4) Home Improvement
Home Improvement is another iconic sitcom, with it launching the career of its star Tim Allen. While it isn’t rewatched as much now, many aspects of the show (including Allen’s iconic grunt) have become memes, proving the show’s cultural influence. While the series doesn’t have a general critic score, two of its seasons have scores, and they are surprisingly low. Home Improvement season 1 has 64% on Rotten Tomatoes, and season 2 has 67%, both of which are far lower than the show’s general audience score of 79%.
3) Saved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell ran from 1989-1993, and with a sequel and a remake, the show clearly had a massive influence. Many teens growing up in the 90s were incredibly familiar with the Bayside gang, with it being one of the most popular shows of its time. Surprisingly, none of Saved by the Bell‘s seasons have critics’ scores. However, Rotten Tomatoes does have a general audience score for the series: 61%.
Based on how popular the show was with its audience, this is shockingly low. However, viewers who rated the show may have simply aged out of the target demographic since the show’s release.
2) Growing Pains
With 166 episodes and seven seasons, Growing Pains was undoubtedly one of the most successful shows of the 1980s. However, the show hasn’t fared as well critically as some may think. Although the show doesn’t have a general critic score, season 1 has a score of 27%, with this being far lower than some could have imagined.
1) Family Guy
Image Courtesy of Fox
Family Guy is up there with The Simpsons as the most influential adult animated sitcoms of all time, which is why it’s shocking how much its critical reception has varied with time. On Rotten Tomatoes, season 1 has 46%, season 4 has 80%, season 6 has 60%, season 9 has 83%, and then season 10 plummets to 50%.
Season 11 goes back up to 100%, season 13 is at 71%, season 14 is at 60%, and season 16 is at 100%. This wild variance is shocking, as it is generally accepted that the earlier seasons are better than the more recent ones. However, Family Guy season 1 has the lowest score on Rotten Tomatoes, implying that this isn’t the case.