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If you spend any time online, you should know one thing — people are passionate about their television. From all-caps debates about Game of Thrones‘ mythology to heated bar arguments about the current season of The Bachelor, television has the ability to really make people mad. But underneath all that anger, most fandoms come to accept some universal television truths: the finale of How I Met Your Mother was bad; The Office should have ended after Steve Carrell left; and Breaking Bad is the best show of all time.
This article is not about any of those truths.
No, this is about the opposite takes, the opinions people still hold onto even after both critics and fans have decided they are wrong. These are about the takes that have been universally agreed to be bad, that people will still go to the grave defending. Even the best critics have their bad takes — Roger Ebert, one of the greatest film critics of all time, once gave Paul Blart: Mall Cop a positive review. Though team Decider may not be Ebert-level famous, that doesn’t mean we’re immune to questionable opinions. Here are some of the “bad TV takes” we’ll take to our graves no matter what fans and critics say. Don’t @ us.
'Lost': That controversial finale was satisfying.
Listen, this one depends on your relationship with Lost as a show. Did you watch Lost for the mysteries or the characters? Which one mattered more to you? If you watched it for the mystery, then yes, obviously the series finale was a complete letdown because the episode wasn’t a montage of reveal after reveal, two episodes’ worth of Scooby-Doo-style reveals. That would not have been good television, I firmly believe that. Instead, we got an ending that rewarded viewers that were fans of the characters first, which *raises hand.*
I loved Lost‘s heroes and villains, from Jin and Sun to Sawyer and Kate to Ben and Hurley. I just wanted to spend time with them, and know that they were all gonna be all right. The finale gave me that closure, closure I cared about way more than learning the truth about four-toed statues. That’s me! — Brett White
'Sex and the City': Carrie should have ended up with Berger.
Carrie should’ve ended up with Berger on Sex and the City. Yes, the Post-It guy. Ron Livingston played the witty writer who was Carrie’s equal on so many levels: they shared the same profession, a similar sense of humor, and they were both about the same amount of annoying. He broke up with her on a Post-It note that read “I’m sorry I can’t don’t hate me,” and so I don’t hate him. He made the most sense for her. They were a great pair that had a lot in common, including a great on-screen chemistry. It would’ve made sense, and it would’ve been fun to watch. — Lea Palmieri
'Rugrats': This is the most overrated Nicktoon ever.
If I could scream this from the mountains, I would. I hate Rugrats. I hate it with such an intense passion that I have a difficult time understanding why anyone ever tolerated this show. The squiggly, bulging animation is unpleasant, bordering on unsettling, the parents are terrible (who lets their babies almost die every other episode??), and then there’s the baby talk. The way Tommy and his friends butchered their limited language in an effort to be cute on the show’s part made me cringe when I was a kid, and things haven’t changed now. Nickelodeon has produced so many great and even more so-so cartoons. However, I’ll never be able to understand why this annoying and baby-focused show became such a pop culture force. — Kayla Cobb
'Bloodline': You need to watch all three seasons.
The first season of Bloodline is a near-perfect 13 episodes of television. The Rayburn family saga plays out as a perfect slow-burn thriller as we unearth the dark secrets behind black sheep brother Danny’s death, and by the end, we’re left to face some harrowing truths. Unfortunately, the first season’s slow-burn descent into darkness did not carry over into what followed, and Bloodline‘s second and third seasons were largely panned by critics. That all 33 episodes of Bloodline are worth watching is a hill I’m willing to die on, even if it is a slow, painful death. Ben Mendelsohn is just too good (and too hot) to ignore, even if he’s mostly a ghost after Season 1 and wears a wig reminiscent of Dana Carvey’s hair in the third season. Critics be damned, Bloodline should be watched from start to finish. — Jade Budowski
'The Walking Dead': This show doesn't get nearly as much credit as it should.
The Walking Dead gets an unfair rap. Yes, it’s very violent, and often takes an extremely grim view of human nature. But it doesn’t get enough credit for pushing the envelope visually and structurally. You probably know a bit about Executive Producer Greg Nicotero and his incredible crew of effects artists: every week for eight seasons, they’ve raised the bar for zombie gross-out moments. But the show is also beautifully filmed — on film, a rarity for television. And the episodes themselves often play with time: one half season was set in the same 48 hour period, while another overlapped episodes so that you couldn’t see the full picture of what had happened until the season was done. Will it make you sad? Sure. But the craft involved is often extremely impressive. — Alex Zalben
'Buffy the Vampire Slayer': Riley was Buffy's best boyfriend.
Buffy superfans either ship the slayer with Angel or Spike, two vampires with souls that come and go and a love of leather trench coats. I get it. They’re both bad boys with differing levels of heart-of-gold-ness. But sandwiched in-between those two epic loves is Riley, a bland, normal dude from the Midwest (who just so happens to be a government-enlisted monster-hunting super-soldier). No one likes Riley. I don’t even like Riley. But, when it comes to the title of Best BF For Buff, it has to be Riley — and I realize that now that I’m an adult person.
First, Angel slept with a 17-year-old Buffy when he was over 200 years old. Creepy! He also lost his soul and tried to kill her and all of her friends (in one case, he succeeded!). He got his soul back, sure, but there is absolutely nothing stable or safe about being with a guy that can snap like that, to an apocalyptic level. And then there’s Spike, the vampire that emotionally abused Buffy for a season culminating in him attempting to rape her. Also, not good! Not sexy! Bad, very bad! Riley’s worst offense was being cripplingly insecure about having a girlfriend that was way more powerful than him. That’s some we-can-work-this-out-in-therapy level stuff, way more manageable than any of the drama Spike and Angel serve. — Brett White
'American Horror Story': 'Cult' was one of the best seasons of 'AHS.'
When FX and Ryan Murphy announced that American Horror Story would be tackling the 2016 election, I was the first person to roll my eyes and complain. We had just survived a nation-fracturing political battle. Did we really need a whole show about it? But Murphy must know something that I don’t because American Horror Story: Cult was exactly what I needed. The star-studded season flipped between overtly mocking both political parties and gross-out horror. Out of all of American Horror Story‘s very loud and subtly-free seasons, this one was the most intense. But after one of the most infuriating election cycles in American history, watching a show that was essentially one 10-hour long scream was deeply cathartic. Asylum is still king in my book, but Cult takes second place. — Kayla Cobb
