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15 TV Shows That Were Just the Writer's Poorly Disguised Fetish

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Ignacio Weil

Entertainment - August 4th 2026, 20:30 GMT+2

Euphoria season 3 sydney sweeney dog — 1. Euphoria (2019)

Sam Levinson’s teen drama filters addiction, abuse, and adolescent insecurity through glitter, neon, and a camera that rarely knows when to look away. Its unusually frequent nudity became such a talking point that Sydney Sweeney publicly explained she had asked for certain unnecessary scenes to be removed—and said Levinson agreed. No hidden motive has ever been proven, but when trauma is photographed this seductively, the line between criticizing the male gaze and indulging it becomes awfully slippery. | © HBO

Elite 2018 — 2. Elite (2018)

Las Encinas may technically be a school, yet classrooms rank somewhere below murder, designer uniforms, and elaborately staged hookups on *Elite*’s list of priorities. The Spanish Netflix drama began with sharp class conflict, then escalated its erotic spectacle through threesomes, voyeurism, open relationships, and enough shower encounters to cause a water shortage. Its inclusive approach to sexuality widened teen-TV representation, but even the murder investigations eventually felt like scheduling conflicts between bedroom scenes. | © Netflix

The Idol 2023 — 3. The Idol (2023)

*The Idol* did not so much conceal its interests as drape them in expensive lighting and call them an examination of fame. Jocelyn’s relationship with cult leader Tedros repeatedly folds control, humiliation, choking, and submission into her supposed artistic awakening, while the camera treats Lily-Rose Depp’s body as its favorite location. Reports that the production shifted away from Amy Seimetz’s female-centered approach only sharpened that reading. The promised music-industry satire ultimately looked uncomfortably fond of the exploitation it claimed to expose. | © HBO

Totally Spies 2001 1 — 4. Totally Spies! (2001)

Latex catsuits were merely the opening bid. Across *Totally Spies!*, Sam, Clover, and Alex are restrained, hypnotized, enlarged, transformed, brainwashed, fattened, shrunk, and occasionally turned into creatures—with suspiciously elaborate attention paid to the process. “Passion Patties” and “Attack of the 50 Foot Mandy” alone gave the internet enough material to build an entire taxonomy of fetish fuel. The show remains a genuinely clever spy comedy, but rewatching it can feel like discovering that every DeviantArt tag once employed a storyboard artist. | © Marathon Media

Baby 2018 1 — 5. Baby (2018)

Inspired by Rome’s real “Baby Squillo” scandal, *Baby* could have been a grim examination of grooming and the commercial sexual exploitation of minors. Instead, it packages Chiara and Ludovica’s double lives in luxury apartments, moody pop songs, expensive clothes, and nightclub cool, making danger look disconcertingly aspirational. The story does acknowledge coercion and consequences, but its glossy teen-drama vocabulary regularly competes with that message. When trafficking resembles a perfume campaign, “raising awareness” starts sounding like a convenient alibi. | © Netflix

Total Drama 2007 — 6. Total Drama (2007)

Owen’s digestive system has been carrying *Total Drama*’s gross-out department since Camp Wawanakwa opened. Flatulence, vomiting, censored nudity, painful swelling, and elaborate public humiliation recur so relentlessly that the reboot eventually built an entire dinosaur challenge around gas and named it “Jurassic Fart.” Toilet humor proves nothing about anyone’s private interests, and children’s cartoons have always appreciated a good raspberry. Still, this many seasons of lovingly timed gas clouds makes “the writers find it funny” feel less like an explanation than a diagnosis. | © Fresh TV

I Carly 2007 1 — 7. iCarly (2007)

One episode literally titled “iToe Fat Cakes” traps Carly’s toe inside a bathtub faucet for most of its subplot; elsewhere, bare feet and toe jokes keep wandering into frame with remarkable confidence. Those moments became more uncomfortable once viewers revisited Dan Schneider’s Nickelodeon catalog and noticed the same motif across several productions. Schneider has denied that the foot comedy reflected a fetish, calling it innocent silliness for children. Fair enough—but *iCarly* supplied the internet with enough close-ups to ensure the question would outlive the punchlines. | © Schneider’s Bakery

Toddlers Tiaras 2009 1 — 8. Toddlers & Tiaras (2009)

*Toddlers & Tiaras* requires less decoding than most entries here, which is exactly why it remains so unnerving. The TLC reality series filmed very young contestants wearing spray tans, false eyelashes, hairpieces, and adult-inspired costumes, including a padded Dolly Parton look and a routine involving a fake cigarette. Producers presented it as pageant culture and family competition, but the camera understood precisely which excesses would generate outrage. This was not fictional provocation; actual children became the raw material for rubberneck television. | © TLC

Big Mouth 2017 1 — 9. Big Mouth (2017)

*Big Mouth* approaches puberty like a school health class hijacked by the loudest kids in the back row. Its Hormone Monsters transform middle-school anxiety into talking genitals, masturbation jokes, bodily fluids, and magnificently revolting confessions, drawing heavily from Nick Kroll and Andrew Goldberg’s adolescence. That candor can remove shame from experiences television normally sanitizes. Eight seasons later, however, viewers may reasonably wonder whether so much evidence was required to establish that thirteen-year-olds think about sex. | © Netflix

13 Reasons Why 2017 1 — 10. 13 Reasons Why (2017)

Trauma became both subject matter and selling point on *13 Reasons Why*. The drama rendered suicide, rape, assault, and bullying with a graphic intensity its creators defended as unflinching honesty, even as mental-health organizations warned that the approach could harm vulnerable viewers. Netflix subsequently strengthened its warnings and removed Hannah’s original suicide scene from the first-season finale. Calling that a fetish may be too literal—“misery porn” is closer—but Liberty High kept manufacturing fresh suffering long after its central mystery had reached a natural end. | © Paramount Television Studios

Dance Moms 2011 — 11. Dance Moms (2011)

A burlesque-style routine called “Fantastic” put young dancers in flesh-toned bra tops and tights designed to suggest nudity; Lifetime later removed the episode from circulation. That incident captures *Dance Moms* at its most revealing, as parental outrage, Abby Lee Miller’s pressure, and the girls’ exposure were all repackaged as weekly entertainment. Dance competitions can use mature choreography without sinister intentions. The show’s appetite for humiliation and boundary-pushing, however, often seemed considerably more grown-up than the performers carrying it. | © Lifetime

American Horror Story 2011 1 — 12. American Horror Story (2011)

The black latex Rubber Man arrived in Murder House and practically handed *American Horror Story* its mission statement. Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s anthology has since returned to leather, BDSM, voyeurism, domination, blood, and eroticized violence across wildly different seasons, treating kink as both nightmare imagery and production design. Unlike the teen dramas on this list, AHS is made for adults and rarely pretends to be tasteful. Its shameless excess is part of the attraction; subtle horror was never going to survive check-in at Hotel Cortez. | © Ryan Murphy Productions

Skins 2007 1 — 13. Skins (2007)

*Skins* sold itself as the messy truth about British adolescence, and much of its appeal came from rejecting the polished morality of conventional teen dramas. The complication is that its young cast was asked to embody that honesty through explicit scenes, revealing publicity, and relentless body scrutiny. April Pearson, Laya Lewis, and Kaya Scodelario later described inadequate safeguarding, while Pearson and Lewis also recalled pressure surrounding their appearances. What once looked fearlessly authentic now raises a harsher question: whose authenticity was the production purchasing, and who paid for it? | © Company Pictures

Nip Tuck — 14. Nip/Tuck (2003)

On *Nip/Tuck*, cosmetic surgery was never simply medicine; it was sex, power, self-loathing, and wish fulfillment performed beneath surgical lights. Sean McNamara and Christian Troy spent six seasons reshaping bodies while their own lives became progressively more grotesque, giving the show endless excuses for eroticized procedures, graphic close-ups, and beauty-obsessed patients. Ryan Murphy’s drama often criticized the vanity it displayed, but it also stared at every incision with unmistakable fascination. The operating table was its confession booth—and occasionally its bedroom. | © Warner Bros. Television

Victorious 2010 1 — 15. Victorious (2010)

*Victorious* turned Hollywood Arts into a candy-colored talent factory, then occasionally slipped in jokes that read very differently once its audience grew older. Daniella Monet has said she objected to a scene in which Trina applied lip gloss while eating a pickle because it felt sexualized; Nickelodeon aired it anyway. Online Cat Valentine shorts went further, giving Ariana Grande bits about “juicing” a potato and pouring water over herself. Those moments were not invented by suspicious social-media users—they were scripted, filmed, and officially released. | © Schneider’s Bakery

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Television writers inevitably leave something of themselves on the page, but these shows revealed rather more than anyone expected. From suspiciously frequent foot close-ups to transformations, bondage imagery, and extremely specific costume choices, certain fixations kept finding their way into the scripts. Some were played for laughs, while others appeared so often that viewers began wondering how nobody at the network noticed—or whether they simply chose not to ask.

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Television writers inevitably leave something of themselves on the page, but these shows revealed rather more than anyone expected. From suspiciously frequent foot close-ups to transformations, bondage imagery, and extremely specific costume choices, certain fixations kept finding their way into the scripts. Some were played for laughs, while others appeared so often that viewers began wondering how nobody at the network noticed—or whether they simply chose not to ask.