So Bad, It's Horrible is one of the more flame-bait-y parts of the site, so a cleanup thread is needed to ensure that works aren't added simply because someone doesn't like them.
If you want to list a work under this, keep the following in mind:
- The work must have very few fans or defenders (both genuine and ironic). It should fail to appeal to any type of audience.
- Being offensive in its subject matter isn't enough.
- It isn't horrible just because a certain critic disliked it, though their reviews can be used as sources and citations.
- The work should have notably poor reviews (e.g., less than 3/10 on IMDb, or single digit scores on Rotten Tomatoes)
- For a Moral Substitute to qualify, it cannot even appeal to its target demographic.
- Please be polite while writing and as much as possible, avoid falling into Complaining About Shows You Don't Like. Instead, focus on explaining why the work is horrible.
In addition, per No Recent Examples, Please!, a work must be at least one month old before it can be added, to prevent knee-jerk reactions.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Oct 6th 2024 at 3:34:45 AM
I am personally questiong the Velma entry on the Western Animation subpage. Didn't we previously agree that it didn't qualify for inclusion?
- Velma is an Animated Shock Comedy take on the Scooby-Doo franchise that excludes the title character. Critic Heather Hogan describes it as a show that "doesn't have any idea who its audience is, yet seems to despise them all the same". All main characters are unsympathetic Jerkasses who frequently abuse and manipulate each other, including Only Sane Man Norville who can be Not So Above It All, to the point that it's hard to see how they could ever be friends. Velma herself is an egotistical, Know-Nothing Know-It-All who bullies and gaslights Fred for being from a wealthy white family as a Running Gag and slut-shames any woman she deems prettier than her. Besides that, the writing is so shallow that any viewer, regardless of political beliefs, will find something offensive among the litany of strawmen and stock characters. Halfway through the first season, a love quadrangle between the entire main cast takes over the show, leaving the mystery element feeling undercooked and nonsensical. The show's attempts at parodying the Scooby-Doo formula are considered limp, mean-spirited, and outdone by earlier, more popular works, and its other attempts at humor are limited to annoying meta references and bashing its viewers. Aside from the occasional Animation Bump from hallucinations, the animation is passable at best, and ugly and inconsistent at worst. It sits at a dismal 39% critic and 7% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with even Grey DeLisle (the voice of Daphne Blake since What's New, Scooby-Doo?) describing the show as "a bastardization of a beloved classic cartoon". Saberspark
, MangaKamen
, Elvis The Alien
, and Spilling the Milk here
and here
, among others all trashed the show.
44% is pretty high. I don't want to kneejerk add it just because it's low-effort slop. If it has an audience it has an audience, and we have to be fair.
regulation pigeon
I was thinking that. 44% isn't too bad as far as critical reception goes. I personally despise this show but reviews are reviews, and this might not count with that rating.
What do the positive reviews making up that 44% argue as positives of the show? Do they collide with the criticisms asserted in the proposed writeup? I've seen a trend of generous reviews giving out relatively positive ratings for shows for very surface-level reasons while acknowledging certain flaws that others take much more seriously, like meanspirited/edgy humor (giving benefit of the doubt that it's not for everyone).
Edited by number9robotic on Aug 2nd 2024 at 3:25:37 AM
Thanks for playing King's Quest V!![]()
We can't discredit reviews just because we dislike the thing. I said the same thing when we were discussing Lady Ballers — if a thing is only liked because it panders to shitty people, then it succeeded in appealing to its audience and doesn't qualify for SBIH.
I wasn't asking to dismiss the critics, I sincerely would like to know if they were making any points or defenses in favor of the show that would point to it not being as "horrible" as the possible entry suggests.
Thanks for playing King's Quest V!![]()
It doesn't matter why they're giving it a positive review, all that matters is they are (unless they're demonstrably Astro Turfing, but that's a whole other thing).
Edited by MurlocAggroB on Aug 2nd 2024 at 5:54:52 AM
regulation pigeon
Well in regards to that, there is a gray area in regards to the Anti-Woke hysteria making the target audience "like" absolutely anything that is against any kind of open minded themes. They would probably "like" something like Holy Terror precisely because it's so outrageously bigoted, and not because of any merits of the book or show itself. This it's incredibly hard to take them at face value or being in good faith, at least from what I have seen.
And I for the record do agree with the sentiment of the target audience of the show not really genuinely liking it or enjoying it.
"Us weirdos have to stick together!"
Again, it doesn't matter if the only redeeming quality is mindless pandering. For a work to be SBIH, then it has to fail to appeal to even the target audience.
One show that I feel should be cut is Heathers (2018). It has a 5.6 rating on IMDB which is moreso average. Also, each individual episode has its rating in the 7.0 range mostly.
Someone added Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser to Other with a very brief, barely-descriptive entry. I'm not even sure if it qualifies as while it flopped hard on the financial side, reception from those who stayed there appears to be more mixed, with the biggest crime (and source of many criticisms that would be much quieter if it was cheaper) not being any aspects of the hotel itself so much as the thousands of dollars to spend per night. Indeed, the entry itself only mentions as flaws that "it was expensive" and "it flopped because it was expensive".
Edited by AlmightyKingPrawn on Aug 4th 2024 at 5:53:55 AM
She/her. Profile pic is by Richard Michael Gomez @StarmansArt. Please watch Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock. https://youtu.be/Vm92JNgPbqk

On the link you posted, it's sitting at 73k likes and 69k dislikes.