10 TV Shows That Hate Their Fans
Caitlin Johnson
Welcome to WatchMojoUK, and today we’re looking at 10 TV shows that have nothing but contempt for their biggest fans.
“I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!” (2002-)
ITV tries not to treat its viewers with abject disdain through the show, but we’re convinced that many of “I’m a Celebs” producers resent the public. That’s because the more they spend on a contestant, the quicker the public votes them out. After cementing record-breaking fees to bring in Noel Edmonds, he proved to be so unpopular that he was voted out first – and that was after joining late, too! We’re sure ITV was livid when this happened, especially when it was followed by the very same public alleging that the entire show was a fix. This was apparently because he was feuding with Holly Willoughby at the time.
“Sex Education” (2019-23)
It was one of the biggest shows on Netflix for a few years. Filmed in the rolling hills of rural Wales, “Sex Education” was an intelligent and funny coming-of-age story starring Asa Butterfield and Gillian Anderson. But with each series, it got progressively worse. The will-they-won’t-they between Otis and Maeve was so drawn out that nobody was rooting for them by the end, and Otis’s character development made him into an increasingly horrible person. Fan-favourite characters also disappeared between series and the villains became cartoonishly evil, lacking the nuance that had made the first run so popular.
“Killing Eve” (2018-22)
Another show that just went downhill after its spectacular first series was “Killing Eve”. Though it made Jodie Comer into a global superstar, its habit of shedding a showrunner every series also led to it losing most of its cast, with the exceptions of Eve, Villanelle, and Carolyn. But then, we got that finale: with the Twelve finally defeated, it looked like Eve and Villanelle might get their happily-ever-after – which, incidentally, is what happens in the books. Instead, their celebration is cut brutally short when Villanelle is killed by a sniper. The show ends with her dead in the Thames. The backlash was immense, and while the stars stood by it, Comer admitted that she wasn’t surprised people were so angry.
“Line of Duty” (2012-)
It’s recently been announced that a seventh series of “Line of Duty” is in the works, and after THAT ending, we’re not surprised. But will it actually be worth watching another string of episodes? Perhaps not, since fans are still reeling from the abominable reveal that, all along, “H” had been Ian Buckells, and he was finally caught because he hadn’t learnt to spell the word “definitely”. People were outraged at spending so much time watching the show only to get a twist like that, with some suspecting that Buckells was made H because it was so stupid nobody would have been able to figure it out.
“The Jeremy Kyle Show” (2005-19)
The fans of “The Jeremy Kyle Show” were the very same people targeted to make appearances on it, and it never treated them with anything other than utter contempt. It positioned itself as a way out of addiction and poverty for vulnerable people, offering them stints in rehab among other things for airing their grievances on daytime TV. But in reality, it was predatory through and through, luring in desperate members of the public. The more mentally unwell they were, the more producers were encouraged to book them, and then Kyle goaded them into fighting for our entertainment. It’s no wonder it led to so many tragedies.
“Sherlock” (2010-17)
Another show that is so desperate to produce a mystery fans can’t solve it’ll conjure any old plot points is “Sherlock”. It became clear at the beginning of series 3 that Moffat and Gatiss were sick to death of the show’s devoted online fanbase, which spent years trying to crack how Sherlock survived the fall. But, how DID he survive? Rather than tell us, Moffat decided to just make fun of all the fans and their theories, and then not actually bother to explain what happened. Sherlock’s just too clever for us all! With the last series, the mask finally came off, and people realised that, the whole time, Moffat had been making it up as he went along.
“Game of Thrones” (2011-19)
In the grisly aftermath of “Game of Thrones’” final season, one of the most memorable television events in history, everybody wanted to know how and why this had happened. How had TV’s greatest show become so bad? Well, not only did they, of course, run out of books to adapt, but the showrunners said that throughout the later seasons they constantly wanted to do the unexpected. Unfortunately, with a rabid audience addicted to speculating about what was going to happen, this meant that everything unexpected was, like in the case of “Line of Duty”, utterly absurd. But maybe they succeeded: after all, nobody DID expect that Daenerys would immolate King’s Landing and wind up assassinated by Jon Snow.
“The Apprentice” (2005-)
Inevitably, it’s fans of “The Apprentice” who apply to be on the show next, only to be publicly humiliated in the editing room and inevitably hated by viewers at home. But there was one moment that insulted fans of “The Apprentice” more than any other when, in 2017, Lord Sugar named TWO people the winner. He couldn’t choose between Sarah Lynn and James White, so decided, after all that, to invest in both of them, at the cost of half a million pounds. Now, that’s nice and heartwarming for them, but did it make a mockery of the show’s format and the coveted “process” the candidates have to go through? We don’t know, but it speaks volumes that he hasn’t done it since.
“This Morning” (1988-)
The resentment goes both ways on “This Morning”. For years, audiences were trying to find any reason to hate Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, from feud rumours to Queuegate. So, it can’t have been a good feeling at ITV to realise that actually, audiences were right not to trust Schofield, because he’d been lying to absolutely everybody for years about his dodgy behaviour behind-the-scenes. It was also an obsessive fan of Willoughby who plotted to kidnap her, leading to her departure. Since then, fans have been picking apart Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley, seemingly never happy with the presenting line-up.
“Doctor Who” (1963-89; 2005-)
A lot of people will argue that the “Doctor Who” revival started to go downhill after Russell T. Davies left the first time; others still will argue that it was a solid show until Chris Chibnall took the reins. But while Davies’ second era as showrunner hasn’t exactly been the return to form the BBC wanted, it’s still better than the all-time lows of the Timeless Child. Regarded as an insult to the sixty years of lore, this arc revealed that, all along, a mysterious entity called the Timeless Child was the source of regeneration on Gallifrey. And THEN the Master revealed that the Timeless Child is, in fact, the Doctor. Does Chris Chibnall even LIKE “Doctor Who” or its fanbase?
Let us know in the comments what TV shows YOU think hate their own viewers.
