The 3 biggest duds of 2014

Along with its triumphs, the world of TV had its share of setbacks in 2014. Here’s a sample:

“How I Met Your Mother” concludes: This long-running CBS sitcom met few viewers’ expectations for a slam-bang finish. Its big reveal — naming the titular “your mother” after nine years of teasing — yielded a finale only slightly less tangled than the ending of “Lost.” And even “Lost” resisted the temptation to include a blue French horn in its wrap-up.

“Utopia” unrealized: Arriving with much fanfare, this Fox reality show stranded a group of strangers at a remote site where, during the year to follow, they were meant to build a more perfect society. But it turned out they couldn’t even build a show that viewers would watch. Puny ratings forced its cancellation after just two months. For Fox (and the human race) “Utopia” swiftly proved to be a dream unfulfilled.

“Peter Pan Live!” It proposed a bold counter-theory for the space-time continuum. It argued for eternal youth in a realm only accessible by fairy dust-assisted human flight. Unfortunately, NBC’s live production of this time-honored musical never managed to take off. Viewers had the feeling they had grown up and grown old by the end of its three hours struggling to get off the ground.

Frazier Moore, Associated Press

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