13. Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC: 2013-2020)
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. went from being a can’t-miss juggernaut to the ignored stepchild of the MCU in less time than it took for viewers to watch the first half of season one and think, “Wait, this kind of sucks.” The basic premise, in which an elite S.H.I.E.L.D. team took on metahuman threats and technological MacGuffins, may have been solid, but as it turns out, basing the entire first year of your show on a secret you’re not allowed to reveal until almost the very end makes for underwhelming television. Luckily, the show earned a second season, and soon fashioned itself into one of the most reliably entertaining superhero shows. Its scrappy underdog status ended up working to its benefit, since being a B-level concern in the A-list MCU meant more creative freedom. By the end of seven seasons, the team had defeated more than supervillains—they had overcome dim expectations. [Alex McLevy]
