'Haters Back Off' Makes the Move from YouTube to Netflix
by EG
The paths to stardom today are very, very different from what they were only a few short years ago, and so is the definition of a TV series. A new Netflix original series, Haters Back Off, puts both those ideas on display, as it gives us a comedic look at an unconventional celebrity in a non-traditional TV format.
The series is centered on Miranda Sings, a character developed by actress Colleen Ballinger for a series of YouTube videos way back in 2008. The narcissistic young woman with delusions of grandeur is a spoof of internet stardom that, ironically, achieved internet stardom.
The Netflix series is an attempt to bring the popular YouTube series into a more convetional realm, but not that much more conventional. Is a series on Netflix a more legitimate TV series than one on YouTube? Just three or four years ago, we might have said no, but now that Netflix has become one of the major players in the world of original TV programming, the line between internet stardom and old-fashioned stardom is getting very blurry.
From a creative point of view, Haters Back Off may not be quite ready for TV prime time. Critics have, for the most part, admitted that while the series and its goofy central character is sometimes amusing, the series as a whole feels like a Saturday Night Live skit that goes on longer than it should.
Haters Back Off debuts on Netflix on October 14.