Hate-watching

Hate-watching refers to the activity of watching a television show (or film) 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.^[1] The act of hate-watching is premised on the audience engaging with a television text through a layer of irony. ^[2]

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. ^[3]

In a study conducted in 2005 on Television Without Pity (TWoP), 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 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.^[4]

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".^[5]

Entertainment Weekly and other publications noted the difference between hate-watching and watching as a guilty pleasure.^[6] "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".^[7]

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.^[8] An article from The New York Times also pointed out the successful ratings for Trump's presidency.^[9]

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 and its reality show-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."^[10]

Examples of hate-watching shows[]

• 13 Reasons Why^[11]
• Chrisley Knows Best^[12]
• Emily in Paris^{[11][13][14][15][16]}
• Family Guy^[17]
• Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip^[5]
• Game of Thrones^[18]
• Girls^[19]
• Glee^[20]
• House Hunters^[21]
• Keeping Up with the Kardashians^[12]
• Love Island^[22]
• Pretty Little Liars^[12]
• Riverdale^[11]
• Say Yes to the Dress^[12]
• Singapore Social^[23]
• Smash^[24][25]
• Supervivientes^[10]
• The Millionaire Matchmaker^[12]
• The Newsroom^[26][27][28]
• The Simpsons^[17]
• True Blood^[29]
• Vinyl^[12][30]

See also[]

• Anti-fan
• List of television shows considered the worst
• Quality television
• Binge-watching
• Golden Age of Television (2000s–present), where the term originated
• Cinephilia
• Doomscrolling

References[]

External links[]

• Hate Watching Is Still Watching: How Shock Value Changes TV
• Hope-watching vs. hate-watching in TV's new golden age
• Data Proves TV Viewers Love to Hate-Watch Shows — Variety