10 TV Shows That Made Fun Of Their Fans

A common trope you've probably seen on TV is the over the top, obsessive fan - who's typically the butt of the joke. Think of Penelope Taynt on The Amanda Show, Osgood on Doctor Who, or that guy on Smallville complaining about not adapting a comic book properly. This isn't just an amusing cliche, though. It's actually a way for writers to poke fun at their own fans.

Yes, with writers often highly aware of how their viewers are responding to their work, they love to subtly incorporate elements of their own fan base into the show itself. They'll either do this by having a character represent the fans and their point of view, or even by actually working common theories and fan fiction into the plot itself.

Why do they do this? Well, it shows fans that the writers are aware of their existence and appreciate the support. But also it can be a hilarious way to riff on them and suggest that maybe they care a little too much. Don't worry, though. They kid because they love.

Sometimes it's pretty blatant while other times it's a bit more subtle, and you may have actually been the subject of one of these jokes without even realizing it. Here are 10 great cases of shows that poked fun at their own viewers.

Community is tapped into its fan base more than any other show, constantly responding to criticism in a meta way. And in one hilarious case, the show both poked fun at and paid tribute to its own shippers.

In Paradigms of Human Memory, there's a montage of supposedly flirtatious moments between Jeff and Annie set to the song Gravity by Sara Bareilles. Jeff denies that there was anything romantic happening here, and he says you could do the same thing with any two people. The show then hilariously cuts to another montage of Pierce and Abed moments set to the same song, taking something entirely innocent and making it seem romantic.

Not only is this a joke making fun of shippers who read into character interactions, it's actually a reference to a specific fan. This video was uploaded by a viewer shortly into the first season before the show had really developed its passionate following. With only nine episodes to work with, the YouTuber cut together what few Jeff and Annie moments there were and set them to Gravity.

Dan Harmon says he saw this video and was deeply touched that people cared so much about the show already, and so with this episode, he had some fun with the idea of shipping, but also paid genuine tribute to Community's passionate fan base.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsBvqDwVqwc