Hate-watching

Hate-watching is the activity of watching a television show or film with the intention of acquiring amusement from the mockery of its content or subject.^[1] Closely related to anti-fan behaviours, viewers who partake in hate-watching derive pleasure and entertainment from a show's absurdities or failures.^[2] The act of hate-watching is premised on the audience engaging with media through a satirical lens.^[2]

Relationship with anti-fan culture

Contrary to typical fan behaviour where audience members consume a piece of media with the intent to acquire pleasure from its contents, the pleasure anti-fans derive from a piece of media is rooted in its perceived shortcomings.^[2]

In a study conducted in 2005 on Television Without Pity, a since-defunct website that hosted discussions about television shows, Gray points out the patterns of anti-fan behaviours exhibited by its users. Unlike individuals who participate in fandom culture out of love for a particular piece of media, anti-fans engage with a piece of media out of dislike for it. The forums hosted on Television Without Pity expressed anti-fan sentiments where users would watch a television show, often critiquing and pointing out its perceived shortcomings.^[3]

History

A 2012 article from The New Yorker described the short-lived Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip as a show people loved to hate-watch, as "it was bad in a truly spectacular way—you could learn something from it, about self-righteous TV speechifying and failed satire and the dangers of letting a brilliant showrunner like [Aaron] Sorkin run loose to settle all his grudges in fictional form".^[4]

Entertainment Weekly and other publications noted the difference between hate-watching and watching as a guilty pleasure.^[5] "You wouldn't tune in every week to hate-watch a really bad reality show—that's a guilty pleasure. Generally speaking, hate-watching requires a TV series with high ambitions and features a certain amount of aesthetic perfection".^[6]

In a Los Angeles Times article describing the complexity of effects of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump's appearance on Saturday Night Live as host, writer Mary McNamara references the hate-watching phenomenon as a reason that ratings alone are not an indication of support.^[7] An article from The New York Times also pointed out the successful ratings for Trump's presidency.^[8]

In a February 2020 article, Spanish television reviewer Borja Terán described the concept of hate-watching as "enjoying watching shows to be able to criticize them", citing it as part of the reason behind the success of

As the term gained popularity, many anti-fans have asked others to not hate-watch, as they believe doing so will have the unintended effect of making the media they dislike seem more popular than if they had not hate-watched.[10] Velma is one such example of this phenomenon, where hate-watching is supposedly the lead cause of the show being renewed for a second season.^[11]

Examples of hate-watching shows

• 13 Reasons Why^[12]
• The Bachelor^[13]
• The Big Bang Theory^[14][15]
• Chrisley Knows Best^[16]
• Emily in Paris^{[12][17][18][19][20][21]}
• Entourage^[22]
• Euphoria^[23]
• Family Guy^[24]
• Flavor of Love^[25][26]
• Game of Thrones^[27][28]
• Girls^[29]
• Glee^[30]
• The Hills^[31]
• Hollywood^[21]
• House Hunters^[32]
• The Idol^[33]
• Keeping Up with the Kardashians^[16]
• Love Island^[34][28]
• Pretty Little Liars^[16]
• Real Housewives^[13]
• Riverdale^[12]
• Say Yes to the Dress^[16]
• Selling Sunset^[35]
• Singapore Social^[36]
• Smash^[37][38]
• Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip^[20]
• Survivor Spain (Supervivientes)^[20]
• The Magic Hour^[16]
• The Millionaire Matchmaker^[16]
• The Newsroom^[39][40][41]
• The Simpsons^[24]
• True Blood^[42]
• Velma^[43][44][28]
• Vinyl^[16][45]

Examples of hate-watching films

• Rebecca^[21]
• The Ridiculous 6^[21]
• Secret Obsession^[21]

See also

• Anti-fan
• List of television shows considered the worst
• Quality television
• Binge-watching
• Cinephilia
• Doomscrolling

References