Enough is enough: It’s time to stop our culture of hate-watching Netflix shows

It’s not big, it’s not clever and it’s time to stop making more Emily in Paris

2 years ago

I probably sit and think about Santa Clarita Diet more than the average person, and that’s a fact that I will sadly accept. The Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant fronted show is definitely one of the more left field outputs that Netflix has ever released, but I think there’s a strong case to be made for it being one of the most original and underrated shows of the last decade. Barrymore and Olyphant play husband and wife surburban realtor duo Sheila and Joel, who have to deal with Sheila slowly turning into a zombie with a taste for flesh whilst trying to continue her life as normal. It’s the perfect blend of dark humour and blood and guts, it got consistent acclaim over its three seasons but never hit its stride with the mainstream. I understand it’s not for everyone, but Santa Clarita Diet was brave, well written and so much fun. It got cancelled after its third season, and the show finished on a cliffhanger. No resolution came for fans on at least three important plot points. Meanwhile, Emily In Paris has just been renewed through to its fourth season. Hate-watching shows on Netflix is going to become the death of television.

Santa Clarita Diet

Hate-watching is a laugh, but the cost of hate-watching on Netflix is sometimes good art

I suppose before I go on any more about this, I should declare that I like everyone else am more than partial to a few hours of hate-watching. I hate-watch ITV’s Dinner Date on a daily basis. I relish every crumb of that car crash TV, watching dates fall apart in front of my eyes on a show where it appears the casting director’s brief was to cast the least charismatic people to ever walk the earth. I hate watch Love Island year after year, despite it being the pinnacle of the heterosexual agenda and being car crash toxic telly every single annum. But that’s reality TV, and honestly? As long as Drag Race is getting made still, hate-watch reality TV to your heart’s content. It’s in the format’s nature to be somewhat hate-watched.

Guilty pleasure and hate-watching are a blurred line. But I truly feel like no pleasures should be guilty, and I’m not ashamed of any of my pleasures. There’s nothing pleasurable about watching Dinner Date. That is hate-watching to the venom filled core.

Nightmare blunt rotation

I hate-watch shows that are no longer getting made. Glee? Oh, you best believe I’m hate watching that til the cows come home. My days are barely complete without spending some time watching Mr Schue terrorise the students of the McKinley High glee club with unsettling rap skills. Glee is dead and buried. Me binging it on Netflix is never going to make the the head honchos in charge of commissioning more give it any green light because Ryan Murphy has moved on even if the internet hasn’t. But if Emily In Paris gets high ratings, you best believe we’re going to have to endure another year’s worth of despicable, someone just pressed randomise Sim fashion sauntering around the streets of the French capital.

Basically, PLEASE stop hate-watching Emily In pissing Paris

I know you all love to hate Lily Collins’ nonsense, but this continued binging of such drivel is costing good shows the seasons they deserve. We saw it with the abomination that was 13 Reasons Why. The hours of poor young people’s lives lost to the teen angst ether watching that poo stain of a show is reason enough for our country to undertake a period of national mourning. And we’re reliving it all over again with Emily In Paris.

Brb I’m being sick

The critical reception of Emily In Paris tells you all you need to know about its merit, and that’s before you take into account the condemnation and backlash it’s received from French people about their depiction in the most famous of all the Netflix hate-watching canon. But the constant hate-watching and push from production to renew Emily In Paris has a darker side, as seen with the controversy surrounding the show’s nomination at the Golden Globes. Before the ceremony, it was reported that 30 members of the voting body were flown to Paris for two nights and received a private lunch paid for by Paramount, who produce Emily In Paris. It got backlash, and rightly so. It bears noting that on that year of nominations, acclaimed and game-changing telly like Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You did not receive any nomination.

Hate-watch in hindsight

When Santa Clarita Diet got cancelled, show creator Victor Fresco and producer Tracy Katsky released a statement saying: “We are all so sad. We have loved making it so much.Like our audience, we were all-in on Sheila and Joel. Their relationship, in the face of incredible adversity, was inspiring to write and to watch. Mostly, they were funny, which in a comedy is important.

“Netflix took at chance on this odd show and for that we will always be grateful. They were supportive, ever positive, and appreciative of our work. Until about noon today. Still, they were just one phone call away from being a perfect studio. Not bad. Everything ends. This was a thing. And so it ended.” It was a show brimming with creativity and originality and it got stopped in its prime. Netflix don’t release viewing figures, unless it’s something doing spectacularly well and they want to shout about it, but it’s apparent that things get cancelled for a multitude of reasons. But mostly, when what they’re receiving isn’t worth more than what they’re putting in.

Continuing hate-watching on Netflix will increase seasons of shows you know are shit, and smaller productions trying to do something different will suffer. It’s time to change the channel and put something good on.

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