Hate-watching is the activity of watching a

television show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

(or

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

) with the intention of acquiring amusement from the mockery of its content or subject. Closely related to anti-fan behaviours, viewers who partake in hate-watching derive pleasure and entertainment from a show's absurdities or failures. The act of hate-watching is premised on the audience engaging with a television text through a layer of irony.

Relationship with anti-fan culture

Contrary to typical fan behaviour where audience members consume a television text with the intent to acquire pleasure from its contents, the pleasure anti-fans derive from a text is rooted in its inferiority. In a study conducted in 2005 on

Television Without Pity Television Without Pity (often abbreviated TWoP) was a website that provided detailed recaps of select television dramas, situation comedies and reality TV shows along with discussion forums. These recaps were written with sarcastic criticism an ...

, a since-defunct

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

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 text, anti-fans engage with a text 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.

History

A 2012 article from ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' described the short-lived ''

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'' is an American comedy-drama television series created and primarily written by Aaron Sorkin. The series was about the production of a live comedy series, similar to ''Saturday Night Live''. Produced by Warner B ...

'' 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 aronSorkin run loose to settle all his grudges in fictional form". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' and other publications noted the difference between hate-watching and watching as a

guilty pleasure A guilty pleasure is something, such as a film, a television program, or a piece of music, that one enjoys despite understanding that it is not generally held in high regard, or is seen as unusual or weird. For example, a person may secretly like ...

. "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". In a ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' article describing the complexity of effects of U.S. presidential candidate

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

's appearance on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' as host, writer

Mary McNamara Mary McNamara (born 1963) is an American journalist and television critic for the ''Los Angeles Times''. She won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Biography McNamara moved from Baltimore to Westminster, Maryland, Westminster in elementary sc ...

references the hate-watching phenomenon as a reason that ratings alone are not an indication of support. An article from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' also pointed out the successful ratings for Trump's presidency. On a February 2020 article, Spanish television reviewer Borja Terán described the concept of hate-watching as "audience enjoying watching shows to be able to criticize them", citing it as part of the reason behind the success of

Telecinco Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially launc ...

and its

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

-based lineup (specifically mentioning '' Supervivientes'', the nineteenth season of which had premiered the night prior to the post): "the viewer feels superior to the guinea pigs taking part in the televised competition. They feel better with themselves and evade from personal problems by spending energy torpedoing a mere entertainment they follow through a screen." As the term gained popularity many anti-fans have begged 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 hadn't hate watched. Velma is one such example of this phenomena where hate-watching is supposedly the lead cause of the show being renewed for a second season.

Examples of hate-watching shows

*''

13 Reasons Why ''13 Reasons Why'' is an American teen drama television series developed for Netflix by Brian Yorkey and based on the 2007 novel ''Thirteen Reasons Why'' by author Jay Asher. The series revolves around high school student Clay Jensen (Dylan Mi ...

'' *''

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...

'' *''

Chrisley Knows Best ''Chrisley Knows Best'' is an American reality television series that premiered on the USA Network on March 11, 2014. It revolves around the lives of Georgia real estate tycoon Todd Chrisley and his wealthy family. The show was filmed in Roswel ...

''10 TV Shows You Love To Hate Watch, If You're Anything Like Us, HuffPost
/ref> *''

Emily in Paris ''Emily in Paris'' is an American romantic comedy television series created by Darren Star for Netflix. Set in Paris, the series stars Lily Collins as aspiring marketing executive Emily Cooper, an American who moves to France to provide an Amer ...

'' *''

Entourage An entourage () is an informal group or band of people who are closely associated with a (usually) famous, notorious, or otherwise notable individual. The word can also refer to: Arts and entertainment * L'entourage, French hip hop / rap collecti ...

'' *''

Euphoria Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...

'' *''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...

''Viral Video of the Day: ‘The Simpsons’ Meet ‘Family Guy’ - The Daily Beast
/ref> *''

'' *''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...

'' *''

Girls A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.c ...

'' *''

Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...

'' *''

House Hunters ''House Hunters'' is an American unscripted television series that airs on HGTV and is produced by Pie Town Productions. Each episode follows people making a decision about a new home purchase or rental. Format ''House Hunters'' follows indiv ...

'' *''

Keeping Up with the Kardashians ''Keeping Up with the Kardashians'' (often abbreviated ''KUWTK'') is an American reality television series which focused on the personal and professional lives of the Kardashian family, Kardashian–Jenner Stepfamily, blended family, airing b ...

'' *'' Love Island'' *''

Pretty Little Liars ''Pretty Little Liars'' is an American mystery teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Sara Shepard. Developed by I. Marlene King, the series was broadcast on Freeform between June 8, 2010, and June ...

'' *'' Riverdale'' *''

Say Yes to the Dress ''Say Yes to the Dress'' is an American reality television series on TLC which follows events at Kleinfeld Bridal in Manhattan. The series shows the progress of individual sales associates, managers, and fitters at the store, along with profi ...

'' *'' Singapore Social'' *'' Smash'' *'' Supervivientes'' *''

The Millionaire Matchmaker ''The Millionaire Matchmaker'' was an American reality television series on Bravo that premiered on January 22, 2008, and is hosted by Patti Stanger. ''The Millionaire Matchmaker'' follows Patti Stanger, owner of the Beverly Hills-based "Millio ...

'' *'' The Newsroom'' *''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

'' *''

True Blood ''True Blood'' is an American fantasy horror drama television series produced and created by Alan Ball. It is based on ''The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', a series of novels by Charlaine Harris. A reboot is currently in development. The serie ...

'' *'' Velma'' *''

Vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

''The joy of hate-watching - BBC Culture
/ref>

References

{{Reflist

External links

Hate Watching Is Still Watching: How Shock Value Changes TVHope-watching vs. hate-watching in TV's new golden ageData Proves TV Viewers Love to Hate-Watch Shows — Variety
American English words Popular culture neologisms Television terminology Hatred 2010s neologisms Media studies Film and video fandom 2000s in television 2010s in television 2020s in television

Relationship with anti-fan culture

History

Examples of hate-watching shows

See also

References

External links