Most irresponsible TV moments 2018

A grab bag of 2018 TV spoilers lies ahead. You have been warned.

We’re not mad. Just disappointed. 

The past twelve months of TV gave us killer comedy specials, incredible new series, and a whole lot of (positive) NOPE. Unfortunately, in the words of renowned television critic Isaac Newton, what goes up must come down. Hard.

From Pete Davidson mocking a veteran on SNL to the hellscape that was the Season 2 finale of 13 Reasons Why, here are 9 of the most irresponsible TV moments of 2018—in ascending order of do better-ness.

Note: We’re keeping this list in the entertainment realm — hard news obviously had its own host of issues this year.

9. Lacking context in Who Is America?

Sacha Baron Cohen’s shocking and revolutionary hidden camera show Who Is America? took Summer 2018 by storm. Whether it was The Bachelor‘s Corinne Olympios posing for an Ebola-themed photo shoot or Georgia Representative Jason Spencer dropping his pants to “scare terrorists,” the ignorant antics of SBC’s “victims” caused a whole lot of commotion.

However, at equal parts genius and nauseating, these pranks come with a pretty muddled thesis. Outside of laughing at the public figures who got got, it’s unclear what (if any) conversations Who Is America? viewers should be having about the splintered state of our country.

Unlike many of its heavily-researched satiric competitors, Who Is America? has yet to spark productive discourse and isn’t giving its public any usable action items. 

Our recommendation: Take all of that well-deserved press and use it to inform your audience about our divided nation. You know we’ll be listening, so say something important.

Who Is America? is . 

8. June’s finale decision on The Handmaid’s Tale 

Image: George kraychyk / hulu

During Mashable’s THT Season 2 finale debrief, Entertainment Reporter Jess Joho summed up this messy plot point beautifully: “Ironically, it feels like the show is reducing her to a womb.”

You said it. June’s last-minute decision to ditch her path to freedom and stay in Gilead to find Hannah seems unrealistic at best. Boiling June’s impactful, trauma-laden, two-season arc down to a maternal instinct dine-and-dash is not only counterintuitive, but also a bit sexist.

Mixing this in with Serena’s irredeemable “redemption” arc and June completely squandering what the Marthas did for her in the season finale, one thing becomes very clear: this writers room needs a Come to Jesus meeting. So to speak. 

Our recommendation: Get that girl on a plane. Like yesterday. And then start applying some basic logic to the behavior of your female protagonists. We are at war here. 

The Handmaid’s Tale is streaming on Hulu.

7. Coach Steve losing his virginity in Big Mouth

Big Mouth is a gutsy, irreverent, fearless cartoon about puberty—and if that doesn’t scream, “breeding ground for controversial missteps,” then I don’t know what does. 

The sensational animated series took a turn for the problematic in Season 2 when the terminally disoriented Coach Steve had sex for the first time under somewhat unsavory circumstances. Steve’s understanding of what was happening with Jay’s Mom seemed muddy at best and would have done well to be informed by the nuanced consent conversation of Season 1. 

Our recommendation: Set an example by treating even your most repellent and ridiculous characters with basic respect, particularly when it comes to informed sexual activity.

Big Mouth is streaming on Netflix.

6. Tate’s happy ending in American Horror Story: Apocalypse

Fan service: now available in shades “problematic” and “gross.” 

American Horror Story: Apocalypse‘s return to Murder House was phenomenal on the whole, but Tate and Violet’s fairy-tale ending left a bad taste in some viewers’ mouths—largely because Tate was, y’know, a school shooter, not Prince Charming.

“However desired this outcome was for fans who wished for Tate and Violet to end up together, it spoke better of Violet’s character and her personal growth to have her reject Tate alongside her rejection of the evils of the murder house in Season 1,” Senior Entertainment Reporter Alexis Nedd said in her takedown of the debacle.

Not only does this development devalue Violet’s character, it also casts a particularly dark shadow on the regularly campy and outrageous show’s judgment. While this kind of gratification may have felt overdue for long-time shippers, to the rest of us it seemed in particularly poor timing and taste.

Our recommendation: That whole time-travel finale shenanigan seems to have undone this nightmare. So, dear creators, please just… leave it where it is. Even if you are going back to this plot line.

American Horror Story is streaming on Netflix.

5. Patty’s “transformation” on Insatiable 

Image: Tina Rowden/Netflix

Insatiable has a lot of problems. (22 things stood out to us in the first episode alone.) But nearly all of the series’ atrocities can be traced back to one tone-deaf premise.

Thanks to having her jaw wired shut after a head injury, “former fatty” Patty Bladell “gets hot” and seeks revenge on anyone who hurt her before the transformation. Then, if you can believe it, things get worse.

Unable to relinquish the bullying throughout its supposed satire, Insatiable is one cruel, fat-shaming, train wreck we should have left behind in 2018. Sadly, it has been renewed for a Season 2. Because of course.

Our recommendation: Scrap it. Start over. Try watching Dietland instead.

Insatiable is streaming on Netflix.

4. Pete Davidson mocking Dan Crenshaw on SNL

During SNL‘s Nov. 3 Weekend Update, notoriously over-the-line comedian Pete Davidson riffed on a few photos of midterm candidates—including a picture of now Congressman-elect Dan Crenshaw, who lost an eye during his third combat tour in Afghanistan. 

Davidson mocked Crenshaw’s eyepatch, acknowledging the joke’s poor taste almost immediately, saying, “I’m sorry, I know he lost his eye in war or whatever.” 

Yeah, or “whatever.” (Insert outlandishly elaborate scoff here.) Following a swift and firm social media backlash, Davidson apologized, calling Crenshaw “a war hero” and himself “a dick.” 

Seems all good, right? Well, herein lies the twist. Davidson’s original flub led SNL to a do follow-up segment in which Crenshaw joined Davidson at the Weekend Update desk for a series of scorching Ariana Grande burns and a statement on the importance of Veterans Day. 

Consequently, this put Crenshaw, who was at one point an administrator for a far-right Facebook group laden with racist and xenophobic content, in a really positive light on a major media platform. Problematic doesn’t even begin to cover this mess.

Our recommendation: Work on the number of apologies you have to issue, SNL, by actually listening to what you’re saying. Seriously, this one was a gimme. 

Saturday Night Live reruns are . 

3. Roseanne turning into The Conners

(Insert long audible sigh.)

If you’re not caught up on Roseanne Barr’s remarkably rough 2018, here’s the TL;DR. 

In May, Barr posted a racist tweet about former presidential advisor, Valerie Jarrett. ABC, home to the wildly successful Roseanne reboot, publicly denounced Barr’s comment and in relatively short order canceled her show.

Then came The Conners. Making what they could of a series in shambles, ABC kept Roseanne minus Roseanne. To explain her obvious absence, writers introduced… the opioid epidemic? 

The Conners opted to kill two birds with one stone (figuratively speaking), finishing out Roseanne’s already-established addiction plot line from the previous season and kicking Barr off the show by having Roseanne overdose. 

While the narrative decision could have been apt and even profound under different circumstances, it instead played out like a spiteful, insensitive revenge fantasy, leaving Barr with the fate she supposedly deserved.

Our recommendation: Even in desperate times, tread carefully. Public health crises are very rarely the solution to your primetime problem. 

The Conners is streaming on ABC.

2. The entirety of that Heathers reboot

Oi, read a room!

A revamp of the 1989 cult classic, Heathers promised a devilishly delectable take on high school politics only to deliver an outrageously inappropriate meditation on America’s most terrifying realities—including, but not limited to: preferred pronouns, sexual assault, and in-school violence.  

Attacking a menagerie of sensitive subjects with a verbal chainsaw, Heathers took no prisoners and, in the process, made itself impossible to air. After months of continuous premiere date delays, Heathers‘ home network, Viacom, bailed on the series, selling it to The Paramount Network. Paramount then panic-streamed the series over 5 days and relegated its reruns to their streaming service.

Our recommendation: Sometimes it’s better to leave the past in the past. Especially when it comes with shoulder pads and mass murder.  

Heathers is streaming on the Paramount Network.

1. The Season 2 finale of 13 Reasons Why  

Image: Beth Dubber/Netflix

In a “who messed up the most” contest, 13 Reasons Why always wins. Always.

What began as a controversial adaptation of a YA novel quickly spiraled into the most unabashed emotional torture porn on television—and no episode captures that upsetting reality quite like the finale of Season 2. 

Leapfrogging from hot-button issue to hot-button issue, the most recent chapter in the 13 Reasons Why saga addressed heroin use, mass shootings, suicide, and forced sodomy in just a little over an hour. Creator Brian Yorkey has defended the finale’s particularly graphic depiction of rape.

“As intense as that scene is, and as strong as are [sic] or reactions to it may be, it doesn’t even come close to the pain experienced by the people who actually go through these things,” Yorkey said in an interview with Vulture. “When we talk about something being ‘disgusting’ or hard to watch, often that means we are attaching shame to the experience.” 

While that sentiment is certainly not without merit, a show aimed at teenagers isn’t the most responsible venue for exploring its limits. Moreover, the scene’s surprising nature and follow-up character arc addresses the horror’s realities with such ham-fisted clumsiness it’s easy to wonder whether that explanation was an artistic motivator or an after-the-fact excuse.

Our recommendation: Consider the well-being of your audience before reaching for that shock value. At all times. All. Times.

13 Reasons Why is streaming on Netflix.