Fandom and Viewer Issues: "Fan" Is Short for "Fanatic"

[legaleagle53]

To Adam:  Gee, d'ya think, Sherlock?  What was your first clue?

[OnceUponAJen]

Shatner cracks me up with some of the things he says about Sean on Twitter. It is obviously all in good fun. I can't imagine anyone taking it seriously.

[stealinghome]

Except Horowitz doesn't really want to/mean that he should stop with the script teases. What he really wants is for people to beg him not to stop giving the script teases, and fawn all over him and tell him how the show is sooooooo good. I mean, come on, that's such a classic "I feel underappreciated so I'm going to threaten to withhold to make you liiiiike me" move.

[Souris]

Adam frustrates me.

[mjgchick]

Some Captain Swan fans are embarrassing themselves on Twitter right now.

[FurryFury]

Give us quotes, then :)

[buildmeupbuttercup]

Why is Shatner having to do Adam's dirty work? We debate the age of some of these BA's and I know Adam isn't anyone's parent but why is Shatner the one calling out bullying and teaching that its wrong?

 

Some have speculated that maybe Adam enjoys the ridiculous tweets and responding to the hate he gets but what about his actors? Colin retweeted an article about online bullying, Sean was seen on set reading a book about being abused on social media/online, Jen gets attacks for almost anything she says most recently her "people will see what they want to see comment" and Adam never says shit about it. He sort of defended Shatner by saying he respects him, so why not his own actors? I'm lucky enough to have a boss that constantly has my back, but if I'm the actors I'd probably be frustrated that Adam not only stays silent about the abuse but often eggs it on. I know a ton of fandoms have similar issues, and nothing he said would change the behavior, but it's frustrating that its been going on for 4 years and he's never made a statement. Is he afraid of being labeled homophobic (not that that hasn't happened before)? Worried about losing viewers/ratings? Hell he's doing that himself with some of these shitty plots!

 

Just from what I am reading in the spoiler thread, it sounds like Adam tried to defuse the Shatner hate by releasing an SQ related script tease. I don't see the tease itself as queerbaity but considering the timing it seems like he tried to defuse the BAs so they would stop abusing Shatner and fangirl about "OMG ALL THE FEALZ!" Seems to be the equivalent of the kid throwing a tantrum in the store and the parent "rewarding" them with a new toy or candy to shut them up.

 

ETA:

I wouldn't care about that, but I despise appeasing bullies.  It doesn't make them stop;  it encourages them, and too important to use just to get your ego stroked.

^^^This. I agree Mari maybe Adam needs an ego boost after getting ripped on Twitter and the press for his Zarian reveal but rewarding bullying is the exact opposite of what he should be doing.

 

That said I really wish the other shippers wouldn't stoop to the same level and quit sending him whiny tweets.

Edited April 16, 2015 by buildmeupbuttercup

[daxx]

I just tweeted Victoria telling her how much I enjoy her snark, apparently the SQ were attacking her over an article where she mentioned liking CS. I also tweeted Adam that I would like him to continue the sneaks that even if I don't like a storyline not a reason to attack people attached to the show, because, duh...

People...

[Mari]

Just from what I am reading in the spoiler thread, it sounds like Adam tried to defuse the Shatner hate by releasing an SQ related script tease. I don't see the tease itself as queerbaity but considering the timing it seems like he tried to defuse the BAs so they would stop abusing Shatner and fangirl about "OMG ALL THE FEALZ!" Seems to be the equivalent of the kid throwing a tantrum in the store and the parent "rewarding" them with a new toy or candy to shut them up.

In and of itself, him tweeting out a bit of an Emma/Regina  wouldn't necessarily be--but, it was an emotional/friendship moment. It wasn't a moment that posed something mysterious that would tantalize people into watching because they wanted to know why something was happening. 

 

Considering there was apparently the Shatner/Swan Queen thing the night before, combined with the recent Swan Queen boycott?  It comes across as him tweeting out a warm, fuzzy reward to appease them, and at the same time gives him all the positive strokes of "Teh feelz!  You're beautiful!  It's beautiful." 

 

I wouldn't care about that, but I despise appeasing bullies.  It doesn't make them stop;  it encourages them, and too important to use just to get your ego stroked.

Edited April 16, 2015 by Mari

[Curio]

If Adam wants to keep responding to these "bad apples" for whatever strange reason, he should just copy and paste the same generic response to each one:
 

Sorry, I do not respond to tweets that are rude, mean-spirited, and/or do not use proper grammar/punctuation/spelling. Please try again.

 

And that's all under 140 characters!

[Souris]

Some have speculated that maybe Adam enjoys the ridiculous tweets and responding to the hate he gets but what about his actors? Colin retweeted an article about online bullying, Sean was seen on set reading a book about being abused on social media/online, Jen gets attacks for almost anything she says most recently her "people will see what they want to see comment" and Adam never says shit about it. He sort of defended Shatner by saying he respects him, so why not his own actors? I'm lucky enough to have a boss that constantly has my back, but if I'm the actors I'd probably be frustrated that Adam not only stays silent about the abuse but often eggs it on. 

 

You know, that's a good point. It made me think if I've ever seen Adam stand up for his actors when they got hate, and I sadly realized I haven't. I hope I've just missed instances. I've seen him stick up for Shatner, Yvette Nicole Brown and Scott Nimerfro, but that's it. Never any of his actors.

Edited April 16, 2015 by Souris

[YaddaYadda]

Considering there was apparently the Shatner/Swan Queen thing the night before, combined with the recent Swan Queen boycott?  It comes across as him tweeting out a warm, fuzzy reward to appease them, and at the same time gives him all the positive strokes of "Teh feelz!  You're beautiful!  It's beautiful."

 

Or you know, they can just shut their faces and watch the show like everyone else who doesn't get snippets tweeted.  I don't see anything on the show as queer baiting, my mind and brain just don't go there.  At the end of the day, you reap what you sow.  It sucks that not stomping this out early on means that the people who play these characters get reamed and bullied for doing their jobs.

 

Actually, I'm just plain tired of people feeling big and good about themselves being assholes while hiding behind their computer screens.

Edited April 16, 2015 by YaddaYadda

[buildmeupbuttercup]

You know, that's a good point. It made me think if I've ever seen Adam stand up for his actors when they got hate, and I sadly realized I haven't. I hope I've just missed instances. I've seen him stick up for Shatner, Yvette Nicole Brown and Scott Nimerfro, but that's it. Never any of his actors.

Sean and Colin get death threats I think that warrants more defense than your skeezy writer who makes revolting comments about underage girls making out and who courts the abuse by being bffs with some of the BAs. Shatner and Brown aren't on his show, so yay for sticking up for them but the hate they see is like a miniscule tip of the iceberg compared his actors that are getting this abuse because of his show and the shit he is writing!

 

Keep it classy, Adam.

[YaddaYadda]

Sean and Colin get death threats I think that warrants more defense than your skeezy writer who makes revolting comments about underage girls making out and who courts the abuse by being bffs with some of the BAs.

 

If that's the case, then Sean and Colin need to pull an Ashley Judd and start filling police reports.  

[ParadoxLost]

I spend so little time on social media for this show.  My exposure to fandom is entirely this forum.  Having said that, I find it incredibly weird that Shatner is even aware of OUAT and that he cares enough to tweet about it at all.  I'm entertaining the possibility that he has a personal assistant that does his twitter.

 

Although trying to figure out why Shatner might care about this show led to the adult version of cartoon fairytales he narrates and that was kind of funny,  That may have been because I was picturing Gold and Cora in the one about Rumpelstiltskin.

[Serena]

That's kind of Shatner's schtick on Twitter. He also livetweets Supernatural and a bunch of other CW shows.

[YaddaYadda]

Regarding the ongoing Twitter conversation and the threats and bullying that goes on on that platform, Twitter out to crackdown on abusive tweets

 

So I guess there's that.  That being said, removing tweets and banning people doesn't really change much when people can open accounts just like that.  And as a personal experience with Twitter, someone opened a Twitter account with my email address that I've had since I was 18 years old.  I send Twitter word about that and they never did anything about it, so I just changed the password on the person who was using my email address, cleaned up the account.  I haven't got a clue how they managed to get an account using someone else's email address, but it's not the first time something like that happens to me.  Apparently some people are trying to re-activate my Facebook account which has been closed for 8 years now or at the very least use my email address to register.

[retrograde]

Eh Twitter has been making meaningless promises about cracking down on abuse for years, yet the harassment on there is worse than ever. I'll believe it when I see it. 

[Souris]

Holy moly, YaddaYadda, that's scary and annoying!

[FurryFury]

.  I haven't got a clue how they managed to get an account using someone else's email address, but it's not the first time something like that happens to me.

 

I've had the same thing with Facebook happen to me.

[sharky]

It's actually pretty simple when it comes to email and may have even been done innocently. For some reason, Gmail allows you to create an email address with periods but it ignores the periods. So someone may think they're making a unique email address [jane.doe@gmail] but really any email sent there using that address is going to janedoe@gmail -- which likely belongs to someone else even if Gmail allowed them to make a different account. It's stupid and weird. I only found out about it when I started to get emails for other people sent to my email account. I've been invited to parties by people I don't know, was welcomed by the head of cardiology to a hospital I actually didn't get a residency for, and even had someone's dad tell me he transferred my tuition money into my bank account. That response was probably the most awkward one I've had so far.

[FurryFury]

I don't have a period in my account name, but some person constantly seems to mistake their account for mine while registering on different sites and I get stuff addressed to them. It's annoying.

Edited April 17, 2015 by FurryFury

[Dani-Ellie]

There is a David [My Last Name] somewhere in the world who mistakenly uses my Comcast email address for his personal business. My email address is d[lastname]@comcast ... best I can figure is his address has a number or two appended and he leaves out the number(s). I've gotten emails from his attorney about his divorce proceedings, invitations to parties and fundraisers by his friends, Redbox receipts, and free control of his student account at whatever school he registered for classes. If I were a less honest person, I could have gone in and completely messed up his class schedule. :P (I got in touch with the school and had them take my email address off the account instead.) With what I already know about this man, he's just lucky he's using the email address of someone who doesn't have the slightest clue how to pull off identity theft.

 

So yeah. Sometimes it is an honest mistake (or a whole bunch of honest mistakes).

Edited April 17, 2015 by Dani-Ellie

[OnceUponAJen]

I have a similar email address as someone who worked in the HR department at work. I got a few interesting emails, as you can imagine. Good thing I'm honest!

[Shanna Marie]

I got a Yahoo account ages and ages ago, so my Yahoo ID is just my last name (I may have been the first in the family to go online). It's a rather unique last name, so anyone in the US with this name is related to me, at least distantly. I apparently have a distant cousin who created an account with his first initial before the last name, but the initial is the same as the first letter of the last name, and either he mis-types it or people get it wrong when he tells it to them because I'm always getting his e-mail with just the last name without the first initial, which makes it my address. It's not a relative I've ever met, so it's not like I can just call and point out this problem, but I'm always getting alerts when he orders a computer from Dell, Linked-In requests, "time to order more checks" notices, etc. If I wanted to mess with him, I could change his passwords at so many places, since the verification e-mail would come to me. But I don't think it would work the other way around. If he tried to open a Twitter or Facebook account with that e-mail address, all the confirmation e-mails would come to me.

[YaddaYadda]

I don't know which thread this should go into, but the show has been picked up for a 5th season (no surprise there).  Confirmed by Josh Dallas on KTLA.  I've got no link but I'm assuming ABC will be confirming this after the season is over.  And I'm thinking the long running shows know ahead of time if they're being cancelled so that they don't end on a cliffhanger.  

[FormerMod-a1]

I don't know which thread this should go into, but the show has been picked up for a 5th season (no surprise there).  Confirmed by Josh Dallas on KTLA.  I've got no link but I'm assuming ABC will be confirming this after the season is over.  And I'm thinking the long running shows know ahead of time if they're being cancelled so that they don't end on a cliffhanger.  

 

Looks like it's already being discussed in the Media thread.

[Mari]

Usually by now we've had a dust up or two on Twitter. Anyone notice anything of note?

[Souris]

I'm taking a break from Twitter because I'm pretty over the show at this point, though I did hear something about some SQ/RB fans trying to start a petition to end the show. I don't know any details and haven't paid any attention to it, but whatever. That's stupid.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Souris

[mjgchick]

That's ridiculous to want these actors to lose their jobs by trying to cancel it. We might not enjoy what's happening on screen but the actors don't seem to hate their jobs. Jennifer Morrison seems excited about this storyline so why should I want her to not have this job?

[Mari]

I'm taking a break from Twitter because I'm pretty over the show at this point, though I did hear something about some SQ/RB fans trying to start a petition to end the show. I don't know any details and haven't paid any attention to it, but whatever. That's stupid.

Really?  That's crazy. 

 

I hate this half season.  Truly hate it--and it may lose me.  But, how childish and spiteful would I have to be to try and get the show ended just because I'm not really enjoying it any longer? 

 

If it were a petition to switch show runners, or to make a storyline more prominent, I'd get that.  But this?  I don't get it.  Why not just quit watching the show?   Why try and get everyone fired?  It smacks of tantrum.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Mari

[myril]

I'm taking a break from Twitter because I'm pretty over the show at this point, though I did hear something about some SQ/RB fans trying to start a petition to end the show. I don't know any details and haven't paid any attention to it, but whatever. That's stupid.

 

Do you have any link to that? Just curious. Can't remember to have heard of fans of any show before doing something like that. 

Edited April 21, 2015 by myril

[Souris]

I don't, I'm afraid. It was in a private message, and I didn't investigate. It's probably just one or two disgruntled fans and will amount to nothing.

[FurryFury]

So I was just reading a ratings thread on TVBythenumbers, and I've accidentally wandered into comments (yeah, I know, stupid, but whatever)... Seems like quite a few people there actually LIKE this season! And think it's "on fire" or whatever! I mean, I don't know how can you write these things without sarcasm: "Such a landmark show. Constantly churning out epic episodes . OUAT has replaced LOST as my all time favorite show. No small feat."

I know tastes differ, but this is just WTF.

[Dani-Ellie]

From Curio in the "Sympathy for the De Vil" thread:

 

I don't mind the piling on of criticism right now. But personally, this half season is so atrocious that there isn't enough criticism in the world to bash it. I just hope that Adam & Eddy actualy listen to the criticism instead of tweeting, "Oh, well I'm sorry you didn't like that episode. I hope you enjoy the next one! Keep watching!" No. Dude. Listen. There are some legitimate arguments going on here.

 

I agree that there is legitimate criticism to be had but between here and Tumblr, it's getting to the point that there is nothing positive anymore. It's all nitpicking and this sucks and that's horrible and there's anger over the storylines before they even happen (from spoilers). I can't tell you how much anger I've seen on Tumblr about this line or that line in a sneak peek, and then it airs and I'm all, "THIS is what launched a thousand blog posts? Seriously?" It just feels like people have decided that they hate Plot Line X and rather than just ignore Plot Line X, they flip their lids over everything even remotely related to Plot Line X, no matter how innocuous it is in actuality.

 

I don't understand the point of hate-watching. Life is too short for that shit. If there is truly nothing redeeming about something anymore and there is more to dislike than there is to like, it's okay to stop. You don't have to finish every book you start reading, it's okay to stop a movie a quarter of the way into it if you don't care, and it's okay to let a show go that's changed too much for you.

 

I just feel like any positive comments are getting lost in a sea of doom and gloom, and frankly, it's starting to not be fun for me.

 

Seems like quite a few people there actually LIKE this season! And think it's "on fire" or whatever! I mean, I don't know how can you write these things without sarcasm: "Such a landmark show. Constantly churning out epic episodes . OUAT has replaced LOST as my all time favorite show. No small feat." I know tastes differ, but this is just WTF.

 

Sometimes people just want to be entertained. As much as I'm a rabid fangirl with the discussing and fanfic and gifsets, I'm also pretty easy to please. Just entertain me for the hour a week I watch you. If you no longer entertain me -- if there starts to be more that I don't like than I do -- I'll let you go.

[FurryFury]

I don't understand the point of hate-watching. Life is too short for that shit. If there is truly nothing redeeming about something anymore and there is more to dislike than there is to like, it's okay to stop. You don't have to finish every book you start reading, it's okay to stop a movie a quarter of the way into it if you don't care, and it's okay to let a show go that's changed too much for you.

I just feel like any positive comments are getting lost in a sea of doom and gloom, and frankly, it's starting to not be fun for me.

 

I dunno. I guess it all depends on your opinion of the show. There's literally nothing good about this season. NOTHING. However, I can understand how it's frustrating to have all the board be negative. I had to quit this forum's The 100 boards for a time because of a few viewers nitpicking something I've found absolutely unimportant - but that was because the show has been terrific this season and I've thought people just didn't appreciate it (still do). But here, people actually did appreciate the show for a long time. They care. They just can't see it get ruined by its creators. There's a similar thing happening on Arrow board, another show that's had a pretty bad year (and the less said about Glee fandom, the better), so I'm not particularly surprised, honestly.

 

Also, hate-watching actually works well for this show because there are people to snark with. Otherwise, I would agree. Doing it yourself is no fun.

Edited April 21, 2015 by FurryFury

[Dani-Ellie]

I dunno. I guess it all depends on your opinion of the show. There's literally nothing good about this season. NOTHING.

 

But again, that's your opinion. I personally loved everything have to do with the Frozen arc back in the fall, and in this arc, I like that they resisted the urge to make the Author a singular guy who's been writing a cosmic story since the beginning of time. I'm interested in Emma going darkside because yes please give me the angst. It's a plot that every hero story ever has done and I don't know why it's such a bad thing here.

 

And if you hate it, that's fine. But like I said, it just feels like a piling on, to the point where the little things are being picked apart and criticized way beyond what seems necessary. Something that's clearly a joke or clearly just a character letting off steam is getting picked apart word by word.

 

Also, hate-watching actually works well for this show because there are people to snark with. Otherwise, I would agree. Doing it yourself is no fun.

 

But at a certain point, I do think the snark becomes mean-spirited. When it's like "nobody picks on my little brother but me," it's fine. But there is a line that gets crossed and the snark is no longer fun. It's hard to feel like you're the only one actually still enjoying something.

[OnceUponAJen]

I think the spoilers do cause a lot of angst and nit-picking. I just like to be entertained too. Trying to keep track of timeliness gives me a headache, but I can see why other people like to do it. I.think the show has gotten rather crowded in terms of characters, and I would like more focus on the core group rather than the villains. That's my main complaint. Overall, I like it and will keep watching.

[Rumsy4]

I agree that too much nitpicking can be draining. If the criticism is well reasoned, I don't mind as long as it doesn't devolve into repetitious ranting. I do think that we tend to be overly negative in the spoilers thread. Honestly, with OUAT, nitpicking is one of the few pleasures I get from watching right now. I know I should probably stop watching, but I haven't reached that point yet. 

Edited April 21, 2015 by Rumsy4

[FormerMod-a1]

Feeling overwhelmed by negativity?  Not only do we have the Positivity Thread, which I know some of you have found, but there is also an Unpopular Opinions thread. 

 

(This is not an official post, you are all fine here, just thought I'd remind/pass this on for those interested).

[FurryFury]

Honestly, with OUAT, nitpicking is one of the few pleasures I get from watching right now. I know I should probably stop watching, but I haven't reached that point yet.

 

Yeah, pretty much.

 

But again, that's your opinion. I personally loved everything have to do with the Frozen arc back in the fall,

 

Oh, I was talking about 4B. I did like quite a lot of stuff in 4A - Ingrid and Elizabeth Mitchell's performance, Elsa and Georgina Haig, the whole Arendelle plotline, Emma/Elsa... But 4B is just one sucky episode after another. I just can't understand how anyone can call it "best show ever" or something.

[Dani-Ellie]

But 4B is just one sucky episode after another. I just can't understand how anyone can call it "best show ever" or something.

 

Because different people watch for different reasons. Different people enjoy different characters, different storylines, different ideas. For me, though this isn't the strongest half season ever, it's not the absolute worst, either. I still find things I enjoy and I'm still interested in where this is all going.

[BaggythePanther]

So I was just reading a ratings thread on TVBythenumbers, and I've accidentally wandered into comments (yeah, I know, stupid, but whatever)... Seems like quite a few people there actually LIKE this season! And think it's "on fire" or whatever! I mean, I don't know how can you write these things without sarcasm: "Such a landmark show. Constantly churning out epic episodes . OUAT has replaced LOST as my all time favorite show. No small feat."

I know tastes differ, but this is just WTF.

 

 

I saw this too and was surprised, but I can see how if you watch with a shallow point of view, or only for a few characters how it could be much easier to enjoy the show.

 

Alan Sepinwall recently had an interesting article about hate-watching vs. hope-watching. When I read the article I though of OUAT. For example when I watch the Robin with the Zelena reveal I wonder why I'm still watching, but then I see the Cruella episode and I'm entertained again. And even though it's TS, TW I still see glimmers of hope that upcoming storylines might actually be worth sticking around for.

 

[Souris]

Alan Sepinwall recently had an interesting article about hate-watching vs. hope-watching. When I read the article I though of OUAT. For example when I watch the Robin with the Zelena reveal I wonder why I'm still watching, but then I see the Cruella episode and I'm entertained again. And even though it's TS, TW I still see glimmers of hope that upcoming storylines might actually be worth sticking around for.

 

Really interesting article -- thanks for posting!

 

In general, I've never really hate-watched a show, because who has time for that? There are too many choices of other things to watch. If I started to dislike a show, I just turned it off -- even shows I was once an uber-fan of. I've dropped a LOT of shows. I do think for some viewers it's fun. It's like heckling or MST3K. People are free to watch a show for any reason they want to, even if it's just to snark, so it's totally up to them.

 

For others, I think it serves as a transition period between loving a show and giving up on it. Like you hate what it has become, but there's still enough hope there that maybe things will get better, so you hang on out of hope or loyalty, but you're dissatisfied, so that's what you have to express. And maybe it's like a stages of grief thing, with a long anger stage. I believe Once has fit into the latter category for me.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Souris

[Daisy]

I guess for me it's weird. If I loved a book/show or something, and i am invested - even if I hate the path it goes down - my hope is that it will somehow get back to what made me like it in the first place. I like completion. (I may loathe how it was completed - but at least it's completed). if i finish things 1/2 way through then it just makes me eventually have to finish things later. 

[CatMack]

For others, I think it serves as a transition period between loving a show and giving up on it. Like you hate what it has become, but there's still enough hope there that maybe things will get better, so you hang on out of hope or loyalty, but you're dissatisfied, so that's what you have to express. And maybe it's like a stages of grief thing, with a long anger stage. I believe Once has fit into the latter category for me.

 

This is exactly what's happened with Once for me (and Nikita, and Supernatural, and many others before).  I don't like this current half season.  Like, at all.  I actually finally did sort of give up - this last episode was the only one I've watched in a month, though I've been reading recaps to keep current.  I love these characters, plot required idiot ball passing aside, and I want to return to the days where I enjoyed the show even if it wasn't perfect and there were things to snark about.  But right now I really just can't.  It got bad enough for me to stop until the next half season, but I can understand why others would stick with it even if they're currently unsatisfied.  I stuck with it a lot longer than I probably should have considering how angry the show had made me lately.

 

It sucks to only find negativity when you want to discuss what's working for you.  I won't read the Agents of SHIELD forum here for just that reason - way too much negativity for characters and plots I love.  I've actually found the same can be true of the reverse as well.  When you have serious problems with a show and feel it's not providing the level of storytelling it should and everyone else praises it endlessly, the writers can do no wrong, etc.  I think it's human nature to want to see other people share your opinions, to have a certain amount of validation, in addition to just wanting to have a good discussion.  So if you're in a community where yours is the minority opinion that gets drowned out, it's always going to be frustrating.  

[FurryFury]

I won't read the Agents of SHIELD forum here for just that reason - way too much negativity for characters and plots I love.

 

It's not that bad there at this point. I'm a bit sick of all the repetitive Skye hate because she hasn't been that bad for like a season, but otherwise, I think this show has kinda found its audience.

 

When you have serious problems with a show and feel it's not providing the level of storytelling it should and everyone else praises it endlessly, the writers can do no wrong, etc.  I think it's human nature to want to see other people share your opinions, to have a certain amount of validation, in addition to just wanting to have a good discussion.  So if you're in a community where yours is the minority opinion that gets drowned out, it's always going to be frustrating.

 

Yeah, I had this feeling during Sleepy Hollow season one (in retrospect, I guess I've just noticed the problems with it way sooner than they became apparent to the general audience).

 

I actually finally did sort of give up - this last episode was the only one I've watched in a month

 

Same! I've tuned in because this episode has been promoted a lot and because I did like Cruella. It wasn't that bad, but all the sorta OK parts had to do with the flashback. I was cringing all the way through Regina telling Emma & Co about Zelena scene and can't imagine watching the continuation of this plot. It's embarrassingly bad.

 

Overall, I guess I'm lucky to find a place that shares my views on the show. I can only hope that other big and active communities will form on these boards, right now it's mostly Once and Arrow, from what I watch.

[Featherhat]

I've been hope-watching/hate-watching shows since the back half of Buffy when I didn't even have a name for why I stilled watched a show that drove me crazy but I had loved so much that I kept hoping it would get better and/or

 

Yeah I think for a lot of people in fandom, it can be a "Five stages of grieving" thing and fandom is a social thing and stepping away from a show means loosing touch with people who you enjoyed talking with about a show/book, which is often a lot of the reason you hang in there as long as possible. I do eventually give up on shows that I can't stand watching any more or just make me sad because they used to be awesome and IMHO aren't any more. And in a long running show, some seasons are better than others and sometimes showrunners and writers find a second wind after a saggy middle, and a lot of episodes have *something* I can appreciate. And I do like to see things through, or at the very least look up how they end when they do. I say this as someone who watched the final season of HIMYM with no intention of ever watching the previous two.

 

I have only ever outright hate watched knowing it probably wasn't going to get much better was SGU. I'm ashamed that I almost took pleasure in that failing because the showrunners pissed so thoroughly on their previous (admittedly goofy) shows, actors and fans.

 

With OUATiW I was pleasantly surprised about how much I enjoyed it after a rocky first couple of episodes.

[tennisgurl]

Baggythepather, I am really glad you posted that article! I was actually about to, reading some of the earlier posts. I never really full on hate watch, I just don't have the time. There are too many shows on that I actually like I want to see. But fandom can make things tough. I had to recently go cold turkey from a fandom that I was really invested in, because the show did something that pissed me off so bad, and the negativity in fandom was so intense, I had to take a break, because I was legitimately getting upset. Real tears were shed. I took a break, and am kind of venturing back into fandom, but I cant see myself being as into it as I used to be. Nerveless the less, I plan on watching the show next season, in hopes that things will get better. So I can understand wanting to keep watching, no matter how much you don't like the show anymore. You get invested, like it or not. Being in a fandom can suck up a surprising amount of your time, especially if you make friends, or get extremely emotionally involved with the characters. reading fanfic, posts, looking at art and giffs, it can really become a part of your life, and leaving it can make it seem like your life has a hole in it. Fandom is a good place to blow off steam from the "real world", and losing that can be pretty awful

 

I haven't gotten to hate watching with Once, I`m hope watching. I am thrilled Alan posted that article, because it explains my relationship with Once so well. There is enough I like to keep watching, and if that goes away, I`ll keep watching, in hope that it will get better. I might have to emotionally distance myself, but I live in eternal hope.

Edited April 21, 2015 by tennisgurl

[Mari]

Yes, I have to agree that hope-watching is a much better description of what I'm doing than hate-watching. I'm angry and frustrated, but not willing the give up quite yet. If the day comes that I can't even hope things will get better, I'll move on.