Watching a series because you love the characters and appreciate the storyline is so overrated now that we’re all here to hate-watch. 

For the unversed, hate-watching is an actual phenomenon where people consume stuff with the intention to mock and critique it. It’s not necessarily bad (and no, it’s not trolling) because it psychologically benefits people as they project their insecurities and anger on superfluous stuff and derive amusement out of it. You can consider it a ‘guilty pleasure.’

There are a plethora of shows people love to hate-watch. Here’s a look at them.

1. Emily In Paris

A young American Marketer, Emily Cooper, lands a dreamy job in Paris and what follows is a supremely fancy and stereotypical portrayal of her life among the French people. Millions of people around the globe turned it to watch, more specifically hate-watch, the elite, picturesque, and extravagant life of Emily, which is far from reality. She inhabits a La La Land where nothing truly bad can ever happen to her. And as we all binge-watched the series, we ended up feeling insecure about our own lives while fantasizing about life like Emily. 

Vox

2. Game Of Thrones Season 8

It still hurts to remember how the show we once all obsessed over ended us giving the most disappointing and unfair climax. Or perhaps, it hurt us more because we had invested so much time and energy into watching and having those long-ass discussions around it. Keeping it aside, the final season of GOT becomes a product of hate-watch as we all drew our consolations in mocking the plotholes and absurdities of the final season when the show moved ahead from George R. R. Martin’s books. 

The New York Times

3. The Fabulous Lives Of Bollywood Wives

The not-so-fabulous series revolving around Maheep Kapoor, Bhavana Pandey, Seema Sajdeh, and Neelam Kothari Soni has us all addicted and not in the most loving way. While we watch them navigate their life, work, and relationships, we can’t help but point out the frivolity and problematic moments of the show.

Even Karan Johar admitted in an Instagram post that the show is far from being intellectually stimulating, “BUT you gotta admit these girls have the sass and guts to put themselves out there knowing you may laugh at them!!!!” 

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4. Vampire Diaries

It’s hard to find a social circle these days. The lovie-dovie world of Eleana is full of tragedies, yet she’s somehow surrounded by people (and vampires) who can do literally anything for her sake. And while the show seemed very promising and unique in the beginning, it just kept getting ridiculous as the seasons progressed, with vampires turning humans and vice-versa on mere whims. Yet, even when the show stopped making sense, many of us sailed through and completed the series because it was just so addicting.

The Vampire Diaries Wiki – Fandom

5. Indian Matchmaking

The first season of Indian Matchmaking was criticized and roasted so much, yet it trended on number one for days. And Netflix couldn’t help but release another season of the infamous series following Indian matchmaker Sima Taparia navigating rich clients looking for partners fulfilling superficial criteria in an arranged marriage setup. The entire process seemed so distant, unrealistic, and shallow that we couldn’t help but obsess over its absurdities.

BBC

6. Pretty Little Liars

This American mystery teen drama series followed the lives of four popular, pretty, and estranged friends who were haunted by their past and the unfateful day when their fifth friend, Allison, went missing. One year after her disappearance, the four friends began to get mysterious blackmailing texts from an anonymous person called ‘A.’ The series and the concept looked promising at the beginning until it became a hate-watch when it was stretched disproportionately, and we wound up having two As and an absurd twin thriller.

KISS.ie

7. The Affair 

The series explores the psychological and emotional impacts of extramarital affairs from multiple perspectives until it gets all haywire and stops making any sense. Nonetheless, the series is so addictive. A reviewer in Rotten Tomatoes writes, “show that swings from scenes of painfully truthful marital discord to borderline-incomprehensible whodunit plotlines? Still, I’ve watched both seasons, and I’ll almost certainly watch the third.”

The Hollywood Reporter

8. 13 Reasons Why

13 Reasons Why seemed very promising with its trailer, concept, and the sensitive topic it was involved in. While the initial seasons were just disappointing, the series completely lost the plot after season 2, where it felt more like a crime thriller because people were more vested in knowing who the killer was than addressing the larger issue at hand. Besides, their portrayal of mental health disorders was absurd and triggering. Yet, many people continued the show till the last season only because it was addicting in a weird way.

MEAWW

9. Keeping Up with the Kardashians

When people are ultra-rich, their lives become all the more exciting for the rest of the world as everyone’s curious to get a peek at their luxurious houses, peculiar problems, and extravagant lifestyles. Keeping Up with the Kardashians provided us just what we needed as we drove immense delight in ridiculing their elite lives and discussing problematic statements that they uttered quite often.

Fanpop

Which one do you love to hate-watch?