10 Television Shows That Hated Their Own Fanbases
Don't worry about packing your sun cream, there's a whole lot of shade coming...
If you get a solid fanbase to root for your show, you can stay on the air for years! Your ratings go up, you trend on Twitter every time a new season or episode is released and get to enjoy the feelings of people appreciating your art.
So, with all that said, any showrunner, actor or crew member should be eternally grateful to their fanbase, right?
Well, you have to take into consideration the fact that not all fanbases serve you well. Maybe they love your show at first but then seemingly forget it exists and your ratings plummet to the point of cancellation. There's also the ever-present existence of toxic fanbases that gatekeep your show, fight with other fandoms and give you and your precious series a bad name that you can't control.
Those are pretty good reasons to hate your own fanbase.
But there are also some showrunners, some writing teams, and even some privileged actors that pettily hate the fanbases of their tv shows for seemingly no good reason. And they're not afraid to show it, whether that be through subtle dialogue, callous character deaths or completely unsubtle, downright rude public outbursts.
10. Supernatural - Constant Meta Shadiness
The long-running horror tv show Supernatural is known for many things (one being how long-running it actually was), but probably one of its most controversial aspects is how meta the show can get.
Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with a show that plays with meta-comedy (Community did that very well until it didn't, but we'll get to that.) There was just something about the meta episodes of Supernatural that seemed to rub some fans the wrong way... and for good reason.
While the series dips its toes in the meta-pool constantly throughout its run, it is the show's introduction of the Supernatural book series that managed to make its self-referential nature a little bit sour.
Meta works when you're poking fun at yourself because self-awareness is endearing, but this ribbing becomes less fun when it's at the expense of your dedicated fanbase. The introduction of the fan-worshipped novels led to the introduction of the Supernatural fanbase in the show, which could have been so cool...
But the series doesn't exactly show them in a positive light. The fans are portrayed as creepy, obsessive sadsacks that Sam and Dean look down on. They ship the brothers together, they're pushy and possessive of the material and one fan consistently sexually harasses Sam, going as far as to put a love spell on him! Don't even get me started on the musical episode!
It was very clear from the constant negative depictions of the fanbase that the showrunners were less than happy about their avid viewers.