YMMV / Pop Quiz Hotshot

• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Ed from episode 5. Some find him an entertaining homage to Ed, Edd n Eddy, others find him an obnoxious and unfunny contestant who ruins the episode.
  • Similarly, Christian in episode 10. Some found him funny (his singing of the Doug theme and Critic's reaction were the highlight of the episode), while others hated his random answers in an attempt to make Critic corpse. His attempt to make Critic laugh by singing "Pig Power in the House" was pretty pathetic. It also didn't help he ended up beating Alex, but he didn't win against Critic.
• Broken Base: Whether the Critic episodes are an improvement over the pilot. Some think so because the Critic seems more invested in hosting, and the technical polish (such as it is) being stronger, along with the episode format being more streamlined. Others liked the pilot more because, to quote a YouTube comment, "Disinterested Brad is still a better host than hamming it up Doug".
• Character Rerailment: In the most basic of senses, but a lot of people love it for making Critic an actual consistent character again, as the reboot often has the issue of him just being a mouthpiece for Doug and having less internal logic than he used to.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Whether people like the show or not, many people enjoyed Shader from episode 3, and expressed that they wish for him to reappear in the future.
  • Megan got a good reception as well, being described for the most part as "adorable". Even Critic is notably nicer to her.
• Growing the Beard: Episode one was considered by most to be an improvement over the pilot.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: In the Star Wars edition, Critic loves Leia for being a diplomat and progressing roles for women. In the January 2017 women's march, Leia and Carrie Fisher were on a lot of protest signs.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In "Bunny Boobies", Christian sucks up to Critic a lot, but one of his answers is "Devil Boner vs Santa Christ". This battle happens in the Freddy vs. Jason review.
  • In episode 11, Critic scoffs at a contestant for not having seen Big Trouble in Little China. Turns out Doug hadn't seen it either, and wouldn't until he did with Tamara for a Tamara's Never Seen.
• Ho Yay:
  • Brad/Critic in the pilot, as Brad is abusive and creepy to Miss Stockholm but tells John that he wants to make Critic happy.
  • The second episode had a lot more thanks to Doug being onscreen (and improvising) for longer. Critic's super clingy to his male contestants, likes the thought of one hitting on him, and asks the General if he can be invited to a BDSM party.
• Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: On tumblr/livejournal, “kidnapper boyfriends” is gaining steam as a ship name for Anesthetic/Critic.
• Just Here for Godzilla: While Critic is lampshaded as the godzilla in question (with Doug in the indiegogo promo promising he'd be in every episode), a lot of people thought Brad being snarky was the only worthwhile part in the pilot. Tamara trying her best to give her character depth comes in a close second.
• LGBT Fanbase: The second episode appealed to them a lot more, with Critic hitting on both Tom and Ryan (who play along), and General Anesthetic's admission that he used to look female.
• Misblamed: Like with the site in general, Doug gets blamed for all failings when Hotshot was actually produced and ordered by Michaud. In this instance, even his dad said Michaud demanded a game show but had no clue what he actually wanted outside of that.
• Moe: Critic is in full on Cute and Psycho form, jumping around, hugging people if they make him the slightest bit happy, puppy eyed asking everyone if they're his friend, and wanting to know if he looks pretty in a tiara. Even his happily being a murdering kidnapping Mad Hatter is adorable.
• Nausea Fuel: Literally in episode 11, as Critic apparently likes the taste of just having vomited because he's very sick.
• No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: The badly-received pilot didn't do so well for CA's reputation, leading in retooling it into what a lot of people considered Growing the Beard, but as Fard said, “like, dislike, as long as you watch the video ;)”.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: The series is overshadowed by its Troubled Production and not fulfilling the promises made during its Indiegogo campaign. The pilot episode was released months after it was originally slated to premiere and was received with massive negative reception. They proceeded to release only eleven more episodes, far below the forty episodes promised in the Indiegogo campaign, and there were two four month hiatuses. Nowadays, it's only brought up as evidence of Channel Awesome's poor management.

• Special Effect Failure: When Brad is explaining the backstory in the pilot, his hand looks deformed at one point◊.
• Squick: A rare version coming from the makers themselves, but (especially) Doug, Rob, Jim and Tamara are all disturbed by the pink handcuffs and the fact that Mr Walker made them, as heard/seen in the Midwest Media Expo panel and the BTS for the Demolition Man review.
• Tear Jerker: The Critic in the opening laughing and enjoying himself and just wanting to watch movies with his friends and showing him in an empty room with no friends.
• The Woobie: Miss Stockholm. Go-Go Enslavement and, as the name suggests, Stockholm Syndrome, she's a Stepford Smiler Death Seeker who gets spooked by loud noises “every time”, gets the hose if she gets any of the rules wrong, and we see Brad emotionally manipulating her at the end of the pilot. At the end of episode 7, Brad and the General have a laugh about her assumedly starving to death.

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