1. Pirate Master (2007, CBS, one season)

1. Pirate Master (2007, CBS, one season)

Once any reality competition format gets established as viable and popular, TV producers enter the “But what if we put a clock in it?” phase of invention, where they essentially repeat or combine concepts, with kludgy alterations. Survivor/The Apprentice producer Mark Burnett fused his two biggest successes—and then shoved a peg-leg onto the resulting freak—to make Pirate Master, a game so goofy that it could’ve aired as a Joe Schmo Show-like parody of reality TV without anyone batting an eye. A bunch of goofily costumed contestants were herded aboard a ship and then given various maritime and treasure-hunting assignments, with one of them each episode parlaying his or her success into being named the leader—and thus set up either to hoard power and wealth or to share it equitably enough to avoid mutiny. The “what makes a good boss” component of Pirate Master was genuinely interesting, but the lack of exciting challenges and the overall silliness of everyone being dressed like pirates ultimately sank this boat. Halfway through its run, CBS banished it to online-only. (And this was in 2007, before the streaming revolution.)

Rebootability factor: Nonexistent. But who’d want a revival anyway? Isn’t Pirate Master much better as something we can hardly believe was ever on TV? [Noel Murray]