Brandon: 0:00

But it's that scornful one where I understood as a sports fan, I love watching my team's rivals lose, and so I will hate watch the Packers. I will hate watch the SEC because I can't stand nen none of them. And so I love and revel in their failures. When I watch Alabama lose a football game, it brings me joy. When Aaron Rodgers throws an interception, I go and grab a celebratory beer. Like now I understand what hate watching, truly is. Hello and welcome to the Cup of Tea Critiques Podcast. I'm your host, Brandon Chaisson, and like always, I'll be joined today by the team that brings you cupofteacritiques.com. Here we'll dive deep into the productions and topics we broach on our website, so you can decide for yourself if they're your "cup of tea." Ready for a deep look with a deep brew? This

week's topic: 1:02

The Joy of Hate Watching. Cup of Tea Critiques is a family affair, and I'm here with my brother, Chris, my mother, Reba, and my father, Terry, and I'm gonna start by kicking this to my brother. Bro, you and I, on several occasions, have had conversations about our parents, because, you know, Mom and Dad will keep watching these television shows knowing dang well they're not enjoying themselves. They tell us about it all the time. And ironically, recently, you brought up this term, there's actually a term for this behavior, so why don't you go ahead and share it with the audience and help us define what it is Mom and Dad are doing.

Chris: 1:44

They're hate watching. They're hate watching. Hate watching is a term, I think it's it became popular, I would say, about 12/13, years ago, and it's just when you're consuming media specifically to mock or criticize it. So I think there are shows, there are people, where people either it becomes just part of their routine or because, or it evokes some kind of strong emotion in them, or they, or a long running show that maybe got off the rails. It's, there's all these different kinds of reasons, like people might be watching something, maybe they just want to needle somebody that maybe they want to ruin it for somebody who's enjoying it, you know. Maybe they're just trolling, you know. So there's a lot of different reasons people hate watch, but it's just watching something you know is not any any good at all.

Brandon: 2:39

Okay, so Mom and Dad, I think I can sum this up in one letter. Why? Why do you do this to yourselves?

Terry: 2:52

Don't know to tell you the truth, why we stuck with some shows the way we was and the thing is directly to the definition of it. Afterwards, we would talk about how bad it was and talk about the various parts of it and how bad it was, and that was Blue Bloods to call it out that we watched way too long.

Excerpt from Blue Bloods: 3:41

Clip from Blue Bloods

Terry: 3:44

And the equalizer started to do that. Both of those shows started out, okay, Blue Bloods was marginal, but the Equalizer, we sort of enjoyed it at the beginning. We liked the character, Queen Latifah, playing that lead role. But as the show went on, it just got worse in terms of how just far fetched her performing the stunts were and on and on and on.

Excerpt from Equalizer: 4:32

Clip from Equalizer

Terry: 4:37

We watched it for two seasons, maybe two and a half before we started to bail. Blue Bloods. We watched too many seasons, minimum of five, and I have no clue why we lasted that

Reba: 5:00

Like your dad said . . . long.

Chris: 5:03

Because a Reagan doesn't quit!

Reba: 5:14

Your dad said it all, and you all have, I think, properly diagnosed us as well, hate watchers. Yeah, that's something, yes, we're guilty of, for sure.

Brandon: 5:27

Now, Chris, you and I are fortunate our parents' bond is extremely strong, but now we've learned that that bond got strong by a mutual glutton for punishment that is hate watching. Um, however they do, they did kind of stumble upon, right? They did happen to stumble upon the fact that, though that there are multiple flavors of this self punishment. So can you kind of help take us through the different you know, Baskin Robbins, 31 flavors of hate watching that there are.

Chris: 6:02

Well, we've broken this down in about three different ways. So we determined that Mom and Dad were watching Blue Bloods and The Equalizer as a form of routine based hate watching. You start watching a show and you get, you just get used to watching it, and it gets it goes down and down and down in quality. But you, you're now in this habit of watching it, and so you just kind of keep watching it as a form of comfort. So that's the first one, routine based probably the most common, right? The second one is, maybe the most melancholy is just a regretful hate watch where you you are watching something wishing that it can go back to being the best version of itself. The most common example of this, maybe it's a little mixed with routine, is girls. It's a show on HBO called Girls that everybody really liked when it first came out, just slowly started to have real disdain for the main characters as they became they became off putting on screen. They became off putting off screen. The show just started to the show just started to kind of dive bomb it, but people just kept watching it, and it was really just people, I think, wanted it to be as good as that first season was. And so there was a little melancholy, you know, Oh, damn, I wish this show had stayed on the track it was on.

Excerpt from Girls: 7:28

Clip from Girls

Chris: 7:51

And then the last one is just the pettiest one is just scornful. Hate watching, just watching something, knowing it's not any good, and being glad that it's not good and and frankly, reveling in the disappointment of other people who like it.

Brandon: 8:12

Okay, and it's it's with that last one, because I have to admit for myself, I could not understand this phenomenon, like, I can't watch something that I hate, you know, if it's something that's going to waste my time, I just don't feel like I can throw myself into it, or so I thought. And I legitimately tried to understand this phenomenon. I went through my entire list on all the different kind of streaming services, Netflix, Hulu, etc, and then I finally went through my YouTube TV list, and as I went down the list, I realized there are a lot of shows on there that I have recording simply because I'm a giant sports fan, but it's that scornful one where I understood as a sports fan, I love watching My team's rivals lose, and so I will hate watch the Packers. I will hate watch the SEC because I can't stand nan, none of them. And so I love and revel in their failures. When I watch Alabama lose a football game, it brings me joy when Aaron Rodgers throws an interception, I go and grab a celebratory beer. Like now I understand what hate watching truly is, because once you can define it like that and help me understand there's a category for me too, that there's that scornful category, I now understand this, and I'm a proud hate watcher.

Chris: 9:37

Yeah, well, you know the piggyback off of it, and I think there is a distinction between disliking and hating. And the article I was just looking at kind of talked about, if you if you dislike something a show, you're probably just not going to watch it, but the hate watching it appeals to an emotion that people want to have, like we think we want to be happy, but. Like you we want to feel, we want to feel certain emotions, like anger, like people want to feel that. So it had a link to some research thing. And it was, it's, you know, it only showed me like, kind of the summary of it, but basically that the people who are happy across different cultures are people who feel those emotions. So it's not always elation. Sometimes it is something like a negative emotion, but they just feel it more strongly. Those people are tend to be happier.

Reba: 10:31

Your dad and I began watching Blue Bloods because Tom Selleck was in it, and we were big fans of Magnum PI, the original Magnum PI, it was a very, very good show. And so when Blue Bloods came along, starring Tom Selleck, we just wanted it to be good, and we wanted it to be successful, and it just turned out to not be. We were just, you know, incredibly disappointed with it, and we hung in there for years, years, and it just, we just, we couldn't get it there. We couldn't get it there. The reason we hung in there is because it's not, not just that it was routine based, but it was also because we just wanted to grab, you know, Tom Selleck by the lapels, and say, Please be like Magnum, please be like Magnum. So I think that's why that's, to your point, there was an emotional element. It wasn't strictly routine based.

Chris: 11:30

Yeah, and then also a couple of reality shows that I used to watch when I was at Michigan, myself and my my roommate freshman year, Carlos, we watched rock of love and pickup artists, which were on MTV. And so I think, you know, I think that goes to bonding over hate watching, kind of like the, you know, the community based hate watching, which is, you know, kind of, in a couple of the articles that I looked at, part of the reason I was watching these was my roommate was watching them, and then we were and then, you know, so that was, and obviously I'm away at college, so it's like, you just start bonding with people over whatever the shows are, good or bad.

Reba: 12:11

I remember years ago, we we put a movie on, put a movie on one night that we had rented from Blockbuster or whomever it was, and it was just so, it was a Western or something. It was so bad, it was, so we all tried to get through it. It started out with a bank robbery or something.

Chris: 12:31

Oh, bandits. It wasn't a Western, though.

Brandon: 12:35

It wasn't Western or Western. We wanted to throw it towards the west, because it was that bad.

Chris: 12:45

It was terrible.

Excerpt from Bandits: 12:50

Clip from Bandits

Reba: 13:05

It was just so. We tried to get through it, and we just couldn't

Chris: 13:13

At some point or I was like, What is this even about? Like, I think we were like, like, what are we even watching?

Brandon: 13:20

I don't remember which person it was that quit, but I remember like

Chris: 13:24

It was, it was, it was Mom and Dad, both went upstairs, and you and through. And I specifically remember, because I think, I think I was, I think you were in the recliner, and I was, like, on the ground or something like that, and, and I just remember you getting up because you were like, you know, draped up, you have, like a blanket over you were saying, you got up and you walked over to the DVD box, just like looking really hard for the runtime, because we, because, I think we're all under the the impression that it was like an hour and a half movie. And it turned out it was way longer than that.

Terry: 14:02

Two hours and three minutes.

Chris: 14:03

Yeah, so I just remember you getting up and going to look at the DVD box. You were like,"just turn it off when you're done." And you just went up, either went upstairs or downstairs, I don't remember, but you you were done not that long after Mom and Dad.

Brandon: 14:19

I gave up. Tried to get through it. I mean . . .

Chris: 14:23

But what we got it thinking it would be good, though. We were like, This looks like a good movie. I think Bruce Willis . . .

Brandon: 14:30

It had a lot of names on there.

Terry: 14:32

According to the, two bank robbers fall in love with the girl they've kidnapped.

Chris: 14:40

Doesn't sound bad.

Brandon: 14:41

That's a better description than what it is, a trash movie that spent too much time running.

Chris: 14:48

I was like, it didn't sound that bad. And I think at the time, Bruce Willis was doing some good movies. So we're like,

Terry: 14:53

Yeah, Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett

Chris: 14:57

Yeah, good cast.

Brandon: 14:58

But do you ever wonder if these actors get into these things, and when they're done, they're like, damn if they don't just burn the film. Just evidence, though, that you know, doesn't matter who is acting in the film, sometimes trash is just trash, and it this is not to say that their acting was terrible. It was just a bad movie. Yeah, the script was boring. The scenes were repetitive. Like, it's something, ?, nothing.

Chris: 15:26

It was tough to call that a hate watch, though, because I

Terry: 15:27

Yeah

Brandon: 15:28

No, I agree it. I mean, I can understand hate watching was, by the end, I was just like, kind of indifferent. Like I was, I started, I was like, What am I doing? What do I got to do tomorrow? Like, like, that's, just start thinking about. in the moment. We didn't get into it, thinking that's what we were going to be doing, but in the middle of it, I did.

Reba: 15:52

According to this, an element of hate watching is that the enjoyment of watching something bad can be a form of entertainment. It it can be a source of shared amusement among friends or online communities, and we are kind of enjoying the experience of having watched something so bad.

Chris: 16:11

I think hate watching does give you kind of the, it takes disappointment out of the out of the equation, right? I think we go to most things, expecting it to be good, or, you know, hope, certainly hoping it's good. And we can feel really let down if it's like, if it's bad, or if it's, you know, substandard for whoever's in it, I feel like it's also though, like, if you watch something, you know this is going to be garbage, and it ends up being decent. Sometimes it's kind of disappointing in the opposite way, because you didn't get the satisfaction of seeing something that was, that sucked. Does that make sense? Like you're like, Oh, I was that was part of it. That's better than I wanted it to be like you those better than I thought, especially if it's like an actor. You can just take Jason Statham. If Brandon went to see a Jason Statham movie after watching a trailer and being like, Oh, this looks like, this looks like garbage. I'm gonna go watch it with, you know, somebody who likes Jason Statham. And you're like, This is gonna be garbage. I'm gonna get to laugh in their face afterward, and then, and then it turns out to be, you know, either really good or like, or like, at least decent, and you're like, damn. Like, you just you, you didn't get that satisfaction out of so you're like, you're still disappointed the same way you'd be if you went expecting a good movie and it was okay, or bad.

Brandon: 17:34

Yeah, I guess I can understand that. If what it's worth, I've saved myself that embarrassment by not catching any of his productions in theaters. But

Chris: 17:42

So is there any? Is there? So there's not any show that, like, say, as a big fan base, or just a very dedicated fan base where you're like, that show's terrible, and I'm gonna watch it just to, like, tear it down?

Brandon: 17:56

As a sports fan. I think most sports fans can relate to this, because how many times do you tune into your rivals games to mock them for every mistake they make? I mean, as a Chicago Bears fan, any opportunity I got to see Aaron Rodgers throw an interception, I was happy. I was screaming. All I wanted to do was see him screw up.

Cheering: 18:17

Cheeri

Brandon: 18:17

That's it's funny to say it that way,

Chris: 18:17

somewhere

Brandon: 18:17

Oh, and yes, that's that followed him to the Jets.

Chris: 18:22

And I think a Knicks. I don't hate the Knicks Okay, he may not have been with the Packers anymore, but anytime but I think that's an excellent way to go ahead and wrap this he screwballs it, yeah, I'm happy. You know, same thing with one up. So with that, we're going to wrap up this edition of the Pistons. I don't care that we are 30/40, years removed from the dang bad boys, when the Pistons suck. I'm a happy man. Hey, I just, I just am. That's, that's who I am. I don't care for the Red Wings. I don't, I don't cheer for LA or New York sports because I'm a Chicago man. I'd apologize, but I'm not as much as I did. I don't hate this like, I don't hate the sorry for being a Chicago man. Like, because of that, I can understand hate watching through that definition, like, okay? And sports fans, I think can relate to that. Knicks as much as I did. You know, when I was younger. But when I see their fans and some of the home games, it like, it kind of comes back where you just, like you want you start like, like, in that last series, when that on that game one choke job happened like, you enjoyed it because it was at Madison Square Garden. If it was, if you weren't seeing the Knicks fans there or anything like that, I'd probably be like, Oh, dang you. Like, you might feel a little bad for him. But like watching the, you know, the celebrity row and the fans and all that you kind of like, it just makes you I think that's like, I think part of even with like shows, it's like, part of reason you don't like a show is because of the people who keep telling you it's amazing, and you're like, I don't trust your judgment. Like, so.

Terry: 20:19

Yeah

Brandon: 20:19

Sorry I was laughing so hard because before, Chris said, except Ohio State, my face was twitching because I wanted to say, Have you not watched yourself around Thanksgiving? Like that all I was about to say, and then you you bailed yourself out by mentioning that.

Terry: 20:35

I don't know if this falls under hate watching, but I'm sure I've told all of you this that when I was younger, for whatever crazy, sadistic reason, or whatever you want to call it, I used to always root for, in rivalry games, I would always root for the away team, because I always, for some reason, love seeing the fans look shell shocked when their team lost.

Brandon: 21:09

That's the, that's how I feel every time I see Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, Bama, Auburn, insert SEC school here. Anytime they lose, I am super happy.

Terry: 21:24

Oh yeah, yeah. I'm like Steven A when the Cowboys lose.

Chris: 21:32

Yeah. So as far as hate watching, like the I think Ohio State's the main thing, and it does. That's where I do understand, like, the like, the kind of emotion behind it, because I am, specifically Ohio State home games, especially if they're prime time, you're just watching it, I don't think they've lost one, and as long as I can remember, do you just watching it, hoping, hoping, you know everything goes wrong and they lose in the most embarrassing way possible. But I watched all those games kind of expecting them to win. So I don't really, I don't really have, like, a big let down, like, it's just like I, you know, and all I could really do is get the joy of seeing them lose when they're expected to win. So

Brandon: 22:19

The last prime time one you watched. And it may not be prime time like at night, but that would have been roughly 11am on November 30.

Chris: 22:29

Prime time, though

Brandon: 22:31

It was prime game, because most of the nation, because they watched it. Look at the numbers everybody was watching.

Chris: 22:39

That was hysterical. When he missed that second field goal, I was laughing so hard, because, you, you remember how you remember exactly what I'm talking about, right?

Brandon: 22:54

Oh yes

Chris: 22:55

Michigan throws that second interception, and the fans are all into it and everything, and then they run it on first down,

Brandon: 23:04

Yeah

Chris: 23:04

and it gets stuffed, and the fans are immediately booing again.

Brandon: 23:10

It's a run play for their fans to boo. They end up secondary.

Chris: 23:14

And second down play gets gets stuffed, like a swing pass. Third play, they get stuffed on the run again and they get booed again. So that's what's happened. That's why I was laughing so hard after the missed field goal, because it was just like, it was just this, like, comedy of like, it wasn't even a comedy of errors, really. They just got stuffed

Brandon: 23:34

ineptitude, comedy of inaptitude

Chris: 23:37

But also just like, Gus, just being like, "And he hooked it, wow!"

Jeers and Cheers: 23:52

Jeers and Cheers

Brandon: 23:53

Mr. Gus Johnson on the call. Yeah, no, I just knew so, so when it comes to sports, the other thing with hate watching is that like I'm not I have my father's mouth when it comes to watching sports. Okay, for just Mom, I am very tame when you're around. That's how you know you raised a good son. Because I really want to say a lot worse than what does fly out, however and unfortunate, because Bell is not a sports fan, but I have a feeling she may end up with a sports fan someday, or whatever, and she'll be engaged, because it's her partner and whatnot, and they're going to think that she's been a lifelong fan, and she's going to be like, No, I'm just regurgitating how my dad taught me to watch this, you know, and it'll be a sailor too, and even the sailor gonna be like, really, really. And again, this is how I unders, now, this is how I understand hate watching. That's what I do.

Terry: 24:58

Yep.

Brandon: 24:59

Let's. So in relation to 24 I don't think I ever hate watched it. What I hated was, and this is probably where hate watching comes into play when things become repetitive. For example, how many times can we hear CTU has been compromised?

Excerpt from 24: 25:22

Clip from 24

Brandon: 25:34

I mean, after a while you got like, Damn, you're you're the Counter Terrorism Unit and y'all keep getting terrorized, must not be good at your job. Somebody inside screwing things up. I got tired of hearing that, and as much as I enjoyed the character, Jack Bauer, he was somewhat Arnold Schwarzenegger, like with his lines, for example, we don't have time that literally was that could have been a ringtone on my phone for a text message, something coming through, like, I could've assigned that to somebody or whatever, just like that would have been it. So I didn't hate the show. I never I don't think there was ever a time where I hated the show, but I did get sick of this always being the same kind of central theme in every season. It's like, Y'all, y'all, can do better. I've watched you do better. You can do better.

Chris: 26:30

I'll mention one more. Honestly, I think for a lot of people, it's SNL. I think a lot of people, and I think, and I do think it's, I think it kind of falls into every category. Honestly, I think you could say it falls into all of these. Some people, you know, it's the Cup of Tea Critiques Podcast. Thank you so much for listening and figuring out your cup of tea along with us. Honestly, we could go on and on like we do at our dinner table, but we look forward to you joining us again next week for another great discussion, make sure you rate and follow the Cup of Tea Critiques Podcast, wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Also make sure to leave a comment. Let us know some of the hate watching you've done in your past. You can stay in the loop and on all things COTC by subscribing on our website, at cupofteacritiques.com you can also find us on Facebook. Check out our Instagram at cupofteacritiques and on Letterboxd at COTCritiques. for Reba, Terry and Chris. I'm Brandon. We'll see you next week for another deep look for the deep brew.