Reasons We Loved Watching TV in 201213 of 14
At this point you may be wondering why "Smash (2012)" has been included on a Year End List -- "Smash," that NBC show that critics acclaimed to the heavens before its premiere, only to viciously turn on it a few episodes later. "Smash," the drama that represents not just unrealized greatness, but is an example of what happens when producers take a great idea and an extraordinarily talented cast and subsume it in a tarpit of mediocre writing and ridiculous storylines.
"Smash", friends, is TV's Hate-Watching mascot. Its presence here serves to remind you that this is not a typical "Best Of" list. However, it is a big reason that people watched TV this year, in that it provided viewers the opportunity to experience the catharsis of hating on something. Thus, the rise of Hate-Watching.
Hate-Watching is the conscious act of faithfully viewing and electronically heckling a show that was born with all the signs of promise and ambition fail ever more ambitiously week after week. In spite of what the term implies, it is actually something of a compliment to the series being Hate-Watched, because only programs that display a sizable amount of artistic merit, creative spark and signs of intelligence are worth Hate-Watching. In essence, it is the acknowledgment that the show in question is actually a great show buried under the stifling hides of clumsy execution and terrible plot-mapping.
Hate-Watching is not the same as the loveless marriage contract some viewers have with their favorite shows; that implies that said show had enough of a track record of being reliably entertaining for a significant amount of time for the viewer to agree to ride out any creative slumps and see how its story concludes. Loveless TV marriages are reserved for shows like "Battlestar Galactica (2004)", "Lost (2004)", and "Gossip Girl (2007)".
It also differs from the idea of a guilty pleasure, which are shows that most people agree have little to no redeeming value other than allowing one to turn off one's brain activity for a little while. (See: "The Bachelor (2002)", or the Joey Greco-era of "Cheaters (2000)".)
While one could argue that Hate-Watching pre-dates 2012, never before has it enjoyed such prominence. This is in large part due to the activity's support in social media and blogs, and due to the debut of two highly Hate-Watchable shows: the aforementioned "Smash" and HBO's "The Newsroom (2012)", which was simultaneously thought-provoking and drowning in Aaron Sorkin's singular brand of bombastic sermonizing.
Other popular targets for Hate-Watching are "The Killing (2011)", "Californication (2007)", and any Ryan Murphy series that is not "American Horror Story (2011)".
"Smash", friends, is TV's Hate-Watching mascot. Its presence here serves to remind you that this is not a typical "Best Of" list. However, it is a big reason that people watched TV this year, in that it provided viewers the opportunity to experience the catharsis of hating on something. Thus, the rise of Hate-Watching.
Hate-Watching is the conscious act of faithfully viewing and electronically heckling a show that was born with all the signs of promise and ambition fail ever more ambitiously week after week. In spite of what the term implies, it is actually something of a compliment to the series being Hate-Watched, because only programs that display a sizable amount of artistic merit, creative spark and signs of intelligence are worth Hate-Watching. In essence, it is the acknowledgment that the show in question is actually a great show buried under the stifling hides of clumsy execution and terrible plot-mapping.
Hate-Watching is not the same as the loveless marriage contract some viewers have with their favorite shows; that implies that said show had enough of a track record of being reliably entertaining for a significant amount of time for the viewer to agree to ride out any creative slumps and see how its story concludes. Loveless TV marriages are reserved for shows like "Battlestar Galactica (2004)", "Lost (2004)", and "Gossip Girl (2007)".
It also differs from the idea of a guilty pleasure, which are shows that most people agree have little to no redeeming value other than allowing one to turn off one's brain activity for a little while. (See: "The Bachelor (2002)", or the Joey Greco-era of "Cheaters (2000)".)
While one could argue that Hate-Watching pre-dates 2012, never before has it enjoyed such prominence. This is in large part due to the activity's support in social media and blogs, and due to the debut of two highly Hate-Watchable shows: the aforementioned "Smash" and HBO's "The Newsroom (2012)", which was simultaneously thought-provoking and drowning in Aaron Sorkin's singular brand of bombastic sermonizing.
Other popular targets for Hate-Watching are "The Killing (2011)", "Californication (2007)", and any Ryan Murphy series that is not "American Horror Story (2011)".