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

1. Euphoria (2019)

Cassie gets up at 4 a.m. to scrub, shave, and style herself into someone Nate might acknowledge in the hallway. Euphoria turns that ritual into a miniature study of approval-seeking, but it also illustrates the show’s fixation on women making themselves desirable to terrible men. The beauty routine is exhausting; the camera’s enthusiasm is inexhaustible. Even a breakdown apparently needs to arrive moisturised, colour-coordinated, and ready for its close-up. | © HBO

2. The Idol (2023)

The hairbrush is where The Idol makes its priorities painfully clear. After Jocelyn describes her mother’s abuse, Tedros recreates it under the pretence of restoring her creative drive. Domination, humiliation, and artistic authenticity become tangled together until a recording career starts resembling an abusive initiation ritual. The show understands that Tedros is dangerous; the uncomfortable part is how much dramatic significance it grants his claim that suffering produces better pop music. | © A24

3. Elite (2018)

A love triangle apparently wasn’t complicated enough until Elite put a father and son on two of its corners. Patrick’s involvement with Iván and Iván’s father, Cruz, pushes the school drama into increasingly extravagant taboo territory. Desire becomes a mechanism for making every family gathering unbearable, while the murder mystery competes with yet another romantic complication. Las Encinas needs fewer mood-lit parties and considerably more appointments with a qualified counsellor. | © Zeta Studios

4. Baby (2018)

Luxury interiors and carefully selected pop songs are peculiar packaging for a story inspired by the exploitation of schoolgirls. Baby repeatedly places its protagonists’ dangerous double lives inside an attractive world of money, secrecy, and adult attention. That visual seduction can expose how exploitation works, but it can also soften what the story is depicting. The troubling fixation is the polished surface: even when the circumstances become ugly, the lifestyle remains conspicuously photogenic. | © Fabula Pictures

5. Totally Spies! (2001)

“Passion Patties” revolves around cookies that cause compulsive eating and dramatic weight gain. “Attack of the 50 Foot Mandy” delivers exactly what its title promises, while other missions involve animal transformations and elaborate captivity scenarios. Totally Spies! keeps returning to bodies being altered, controlled, or trapped with remarkable inventiveness. Individually, these are cartoon premises. Watched together, they make you wonder whether international espionage was simply the easiest way to connect the storyboards. | © Marathon Media

6. iCarly (2007)

Carly getting her big toe trapped in a bathtub faucet is an actual storyline, rather than an unfortunate description of somebody’s fever dream. “iToe Fat Cakes” gives the predicament sustained attention, adding to the foot-related humour viewers have identified across Dan Schneider’s productions. Schneider has denied sexual intent and described that comedy as innocent. Still, the episode is an unusually elaborate investment in a toe joke, right down to giving it space in the title. | © Schneider’s Bakery

7. Total Drama (2007)

“Jurassic Fart” sounds like a joke somebody should have abandoned halfway through a pitch meeting. Instead, Total Drama made it an episode, turning flatulence and dinosaurs into an organised challenge. Owen’s appetite and bodily noises had already established the franchise’s dedication to digestive comedy, but this is industrial-scale commitment. The recurring attraction is gross-out humiliation: the contestants might be competing for money, yet their digestive systems keep receiving the most demanding assignments. | © Fresh TV

8. Big Mouth (2017)

A pillow gets an emotional storyline in Big Mouth. Jay’s attachment to his bedding becomes a recurring relationship rather than a throwaway gag, demonstrating how far the series will develop an uncomfortable premise. The adult cartoon routinely gives private impulses voices, personalities, and interpersonal problems. Sometimes that produces an insightful metaphor; sometimes you realise you are following the romantic complications of a cushion and wonder how the writers kept the planning meeting on schedule. | © Titmouse

9. Toddlers & Tiaras (2009)

One contestant was dressed as Julia Roberts’ character from Pretty Woman; another wore a padded Dolly Parton costume. These were adult decisions imposed on very young children, then packaged as pageant entertainment. Toddlers & Tiaras repeatedly found spectacle in the gap between a child’s age and the image adults wanted her to perform. The disturbing element needs no invented motive: parents, pageant organisers, and television producers all participated in putting those choices on display. | © Authentic Entertainment

10. Dance Moms (2011)

The “FANtastic” routine pushed Dance Moms beyond shouting matches and questionable teaching methods. Its showgirl-inspired presentation and costumes designed to suggest nudity prompted controversy, and Lifetime pulled the episode from rotation. These were children performing choreography selected and approved by adults, which makes the creative judgement the central issue. Somewhere between devising the routine and broadcasting it, a succession of grown-ups had opportunities to reconsider. The programme reached viewers anyway. | © Collins Avenue Entertainment

11. 13 Reasons Why (2017)

The fixation in 13 Reasons Why is suffering presented as evidence of seriousness. Sexual violence, bullying, and emotional devastation accumulate until the show’s determination to confront difficult subjects starts resembling a competition with its previous episode. Netflix eventually removed the graphic depiction of Hannah’s suicide from the first-season finale. The broader problem remains: when every new crisis demands a more punishing presentation, the characters can become delivery systems for the next distressing scene. | © Paramount Television Studios

12. Skins (2007)

Kaya Scodelario has said she pushed back against additional intimate scenes written for Effy’s return, questioning why they were necessary. Fellow Skins performers April Pearson and Laya Lewis have also described feeling insufficiently protected during such material. Those accounts complicate the show’s fascination with provocative teenage storylines. Its reputation depended partly on going further than other youth dramas, but “we can show more” is a remarkably poor substitute for knowing what a scene contributes. | © Company Pictures

13. American Horror Story (2011)

Rubber Man makes the fetish imagery in American Horror Story rather difficult to overlook. Murder House turns a full-body rubber suit into a recurring source of menace, combining anonymity, domination, and sexual threat in one instantly recognisable costume. The outfit also becomes an emblem of the series itself. Other haunted-house stories make do with a creaking staircase; this one establishes a substantial overlap between its horror props and its adult wardrobe department. | © 20th Century Fox Television

14. Victorious (2010)

Daniella Monet’s account of objecting to a scene involving a pickle and lip gloss gives Victorious’ questionable humour a concrete point of scrutiny. She said she considered the material sexualised, raised concerns, and saw it broadcast anyway. The performing-arts setting offered countless possibilities for comedy, yet this was a bit that survived production and approval. Forget decoding a supposed secret message: the performer’s stated discomfort is more revealing than any knowing wink at the audience. | © Schneider’s Bakery

15. Nip/Tuck (2003)

Christian Troy making Abby Mays wear a paper bag over her head during an intimate encounter takes Nip/Tuck’s obsession with beauty into outright humiliation. The cruelty reveals his own damage, but the series also makes a spectacle of how thoroughly he can degrade someone seeking his approval. This is a medical drama in which the consultation frequently feels like an audition for punishment. The scalpel is not always the most vicious instrument in the room. | © Warner Bros. Television