The Most Overrated Shows in America

Some people like things. Some people don’t like things. Some people don’t like that other people like things. At Reviews.org we like to write about those things. Today those things are popular television shows and why you don’t like that other people like them.

We wanted to know what you thought were the most overrated television shows, so we took some of the most-watched shows of all time and asked residents from every state whether or not you thought each show was overrated.

The answer was yes. Lots and lots of you thought every show on our list was overrated. Here are the most overrated shows in every state.

Let’s dig in!

First, the facts:

Fact 1: Out of every state we surveyed, NBC’s Parks and Recreation was picked most often (eight times) as the most overrated show. If every state has an equal vote, Parks and Recreation is the most overrated show. Ron Swanson would not be happy … or maybe he would.

Fact 2: In 1861, instead of abolishing slavery, 13 states and one US territory ratified the Ordinance of Secession, leading to the longest and bloodiest war in our country’s history.

The severity and implications of these two facts are not comparable in any way aside from the simple observation that sometimes states are very, very wrong.

So … no, Parks and Rec is not the most overrated show in America.

If we let the popular vote decide, which we should because it is the right thing to do, Rick and Morty is the most overrated show in America.

58% of our surveyed respondents said Rick and Morty is overrated.

Rick and Morty is a dark and often absurdist cartoon on Cartoon Network (also available on Hulu) that follows the adventures of a mad scientist and his grandson as they blah-blah through time and space and consequences happen or don’t and there was something to do with McDonald’s long-retired and probably expired Szechuan Sauce that you may have seen on the news at some point.

The point is, we don’t know why lots of you think it’s overrated, but you do. Peter Libby over at the New York Times disagrees with all of you, and he gets paid for his opinion so it’s worth more. (See what we did there.)

Take that, people who graciously helped us with our survey whom we appreciate and love! Next!

First, the highlight.

• 64% of women said Game of Thrones is overrated.
• 60% of men said Friends is overrated.

Now, the commentary.

OK, hate is a strong word, but when we looked at respondent totals by their identified gender, a staggering 64% of women thought the naked people and dragons show was overrated, while 60% of men thought the one about white people living in apartments they can’t possibly afford and complaining all the time wasn’t as great as everyone thought it was.

Half of our team agrees with half of you.

By “everything” we mean every show on our list. We didn’t see a lot of variation from show to show when we segmented by age until we got to our over-54 segment.

On average, people over the age of 54 labeled every show on our list as overrated 64% of the time.

To be fair, eight of the shows on our list came out in the last 15 years. So is the over-54 crowd biased? Are they looking at pre-millennial shows through rose-colored glasses?

Maybe?

Or … Taxi, Cheers, I Love Lucy, The Jeffersons, M.A.S.H., Dallas, Twin Peaks, The Odd Couple, Welcome Back, Kotter, Happy Days, Who’s the Boss, Mr. Belvedere, The Twilight Zone, Little House on the Prairie, Magnum PI, The Golden Girls, Miami Vice, Growing Pains, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, Batman, Star Trek ...

Let’s leave it there. We’re picking a winner, and it’s not a show. When it comes to what is and is not overrated, people over 54 are the most right. There are so many amazing shows in the world that pretty much anything that rises to the top of any most-watched list is, at least a little, overrated.

Except Parks and Recreation. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.

First, we sourced a list of the most-watched TV shows of all time from IMDB. Using that information, we conducted an anonymous survey among Americans 18 and older with a sample error of ± 4.5% and a 95% level of confidence. In states where enough responses were received to represent the population, we highlighted the television show with the highest majority of respondents indicating they believed the show was overrated.

In states where there were not enough respondents to make a fair determination, or in the event of a tie, we weighed the most overrated show according to the state’s US census region against low search intent in Google Trends.

Thank you. Really. You being here means a lot to us.

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