< Internet Backdraft

Internet Backdraft/Live Action TV

  • Any discussion of which character in a certain role was better:
  • Mike or Joel of Mystery Science Theater 3000 used to be like this to the point where it was a banned topic on all Mystery Science Theater 3000 discussion groups. In the years since the show ended, this topic has cooled down enough that people may have polite conversations about it, but such fights were very heavy during the 90s.
    • The show itself got in a great Take That when Joel returned for a guest spot: Mike gets jealous about how well Joel's life has gone and asks "What's he got that I don't?!", to which Tom replies "Don't compare yourself, man. It ain't healthy."
    • Interestingly, if you study of one of the most active boards during the switch (and, more importantly, one of the few to have archived their posts), Usenet group alt.tv.mst3k, you will see comparatively little flame warring over Joel/Mike. It seems that, for at least one board, much more anger and vitriol was spilled over whether certain elements of the show were sexist and if Jim Mallon had been instrumental in "forcing" Joel out.
  • Other captains get it too, but principally "Kirk or Picard?" of Star Trek. "Weird Al" Yankovic's parody "White and Nerdy" references this:

Only question I ever thought was hard
Was "Do I like Kirk, or do I like Picard?"

  • iCarly: Creddie or Seddie? Or Cam?
    • By extension, iOMG.
    • The creator of the show ended up involved with this when he joined the fandom and started blogging about the show. It eventually got so bad, that they eventually wrote an episode with a blatant Author Tract from the main characters telling a bunch of crazed fans that the show is a comedy and not a relationship drama. It Got Worse.
  • The Retool of Stargate SG-1. Just decide on your opinion and go to the appropriate pro/anti thread (i.e. "The Pro(Anti) Season 10 Thread") if you want to keep your sanity.
  • "I Hate Carter" communities. Do not wake the beast that is the Stargate SG-1 fandom.
    • Mentioning that you think it's a great idea for Carter to crossover to Stargate Atlantis in the Atlantis fandom. The actor who plays Rodney McKay actually got booed at a convention for this. Not that it stopped the writers from actually doing so.
    • All it took was the producers to mention that Stargate Universe would featured a younger cast and was partly intended to draw in new viewers for immediate assumptions to be made that the series would be nothing more than a soap opera aimed at teenagers. Eventually the producers decided to announce that this was very much not the case, especially considering the lead character (ironically named Colonel Young) would be about the same age Jack was at the start of SG-1.
  • There are several ways to do this in Doctor Who forums, including:
    • Whether the new series or the old series is better -- this can then turn into a four-sided fight when the Doctor Who Expanded Universe is mentioned
    • Just about anything to do with the Made for TV Movie.
      • Although in some parts of the internet it's widely accepted that it's So Bad It's Good and Paul McGann did the best he could with the material he got. The only real question is whether it's canon.
    • Russell T. Davies -- is he a good or bad writer?
    • Who was the best Doctor? (Which has at least eleven sides in the fight.)
    • And almost anything to do with Rose Tyler and/or Billie Piper.
    • The hilariously titled "UNIT dating controversy", as described on the other wiki.
    • Are the sexual innuendos and double entendres since "The Doctor Dances" clever parental bonuses or just a cheap attempt to go Darker and Edgier?
    • Was Torchwood needed? Or, indeed, any good?
      • Was Ianto or Gwen any good? And who did Jack love more?
      • Just try saying "rape spray" and see what happens.
    • Some guy called Lawrence Miles wrote some Doctor Who Expanded Universe fiction once. Posters on Outpost Gallifrey, Behind the Sofa and other fora/blogs seem to have very strong opinions about this fact. Mainly because Miles himself has some very strong opinions about the new series.
    • Canon status of the books, audios and comics. Just start a thread called "The books are not canon" and stand well back. Then say that Doctor Who doesn't have an official canon or Universe Bible.
      • Speaking of the books and Expanded Universe, the argument over whether the books should be 'rad' (i.e. more adult, playing around with the traditional formulas and, usually, Darker and Edgier) or 'trad' (staying as close as possible to the tone and formulas of the original series as possible, just in a different format) were guaranteed to cause online meltdowns for a while. Since the new series came along and completely stole the Expanded Universe's thunder, however, these arguments have by and large quietened down.
    • Just say Looms around any Doctor Who fan.
    • Say that Adric or Mel were fantastic companions.
    • By this point, anyone who goes onto a Doctor Who forum and 'innocently' wonders whether Paul McGann will be making a guest appearance in the new series as the Eighth Doctor -- no doubt in a story which explains what happened in the Time War once and for all and shows his regeneration -- deserves exactly what they get.
    • For years the main Doctor Who newsgroup, rec.arts.drwho, was plagued by flamewars between defenders of the Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy and the quality of stories in his era (called "pro-McCoy trolls" by their enemies), and their detractors (sometimes called "Hatfields" in a punning reference to the Hatfield-McCoy feud of Appalachia). The argument became so heated because it took in whether McCoy's seasons, the last three before Doctor Who's sixteen-year hiatus, were the cause of its cancellation or a high point that was tragically cut short by it. Arguments and heated language still surround the subject on rec.arts.drwho, but since the new series has been airing it has become possible to discuss it politely, if carefully, on many Doctor Who forums.
    • Discussions of the Third Doctor can sometimes result in one of these; this stems mainly from an interview given by one of the writers of the Expanded Universe novels which derided the Third Doctor along the lines of him being an imperialist right-wing tool of the Establishment because he used to work with the soldiers in UNIT, in contrast to the apparently anti-establishment nature of the other Doctors. Connected to the above, for some reason there seems to be particular tension between fans of the Third Doctor and fans of the Seventh Doctor along these lines.
      • "For some reason" being that many Seventh Doctor TV stories were Anvilicious left-wing polemics to some degree or other, so fans of the era tend to be pretty leftist in real life.
    • Mentioning that you don't like River Song is a good way to get people to insult you and give you death threats.
    • Hey, question; is the series a children's show (i.e. a show intended for kids, but which adults form a significant Periphery Demographic of) or a family show (i.e. a show in which adults are intended to be part of the audience to begin with)? Again, seems like it would be a straightforward question, but oh, the amount of energy expounded in lengthy diatribes and nerd rage (on both sides) over that one could fuel a small country. Forever.
    • Asking if Matt Smith is a good Doctor inevitably brings up arguments. Asking if he's attractive might, as well.
  • This happens whenever Robin Williams is brought up on an internet forum. Cue the funny/not funny/only funny in the early days camps getting all up in arms at each other.
  • British comedy in particular seems to get this. Was the 1970s a Golden Age or not? Was the 1990s? Is British comedy rubbish since The Office? Is the purpose of comedy to make people laugh, or is there a higher calling? In some corners of the Internet, either an affirmative or negative answer to any of these questions will have people lunging through their monitors to beat the living snot out of you.
  • Channel 4's official Big Brother forum is populated by Single Issue Wonks who see virtually everything that happens on the show as evidence of bullying and/or racism, to the extent that people joke about running a sweepstake on when those issues would first raise their ugly heads whenever a new series begins. This led to some pretty epic Flame Wars, not helped by the inconsistent moderation. More recently the Shilpa Shetty racism row left the SIWs with a sense of smug vindication that didn't fade when Shilpa herself invoked the MST3K Mantra.
  • Who would win in a fight between any given Star Trek versus any given Star Wars ship (not that kind of Shipping). Numerous websites have been created around this all important question. The most popular is the Enterprise-D against a Star Destroyer; what nearly all of these sites ignore (likely in the interests of fun) is that those series were two of the most egregious examples of Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale, making most comparisons meaningless. (The fights usually start like this. "The Enterprise's shields are immune to lasers!" -- "The Star Destroyers mount turbolasers, which plainly don't act in any way that a normal laser could..."
    • 200-gigaton turbolasers. On that note, the Incredible Cross Sections books, and the Expanded Universe in general.
    • Isn't the Enterprise basically a diplomatic ship? Didn't a diplomatic ship not fair so well against a Star Destroyer in like the first five minutes of Star Wars?
  • Even within the Star Wars fandom, mentioning the ICS can spark a civil war.
    • Hell, any sci-fi versus argument where both franchises being debated have large, vocal fanbases count.
  • It's been fifteen years, but the one central debate in the Power Rangers fandom is apparently whether Ranger uber-stu Tommy Oliver belongs with Kimberly (his first love, whose actress quit the show in a snit) or Kat (Kimberly's replacement, with whom he was shown to be married and have kids in a flash-forward episode widely ignored by much of the fandom). The series itself seems to have Jossed both pairings, but even bringing that up will get you killed.
    • Also, do not mention "Forever Red". The near-instantaneous backdraft has been known to kill people, despite only being on a computer screen.
    • What about if Kimberly belongs with Tommy or Jason?
  • Depending on who you're talking to, don't mention to a hardcore Star Trek fan that you like Voyager, Enterprise, DS9, or the Abrams film. A large proportion of fans will hate at least one of these, and it's sometimes not easy to tell which. Insulting Voyager, DS9 or Enterprise is also another major cause of flamewars when fans rush to defend them, while the Abrams film is more of a Base Breaker.
  • CSI's Fur and Loathing. Beginning to die out now that most furs find it more ridiculous than offensive, but...
    • You also have little to fear in bringing it up since the majority of people find furs more ridiculous than offensive.
    • There are some wars of the ship variety too. For example, saying you like Danny/Lindsay can get some CSINYplaces going. Ditto with regular CSI if you want to discuss Grissom/Sara. It's died down a bit since they first became canon, but things flare up every now and then.
    • Also, just Ray Langston in general. Debating him can really raise a ruckus between the pro-Ray and anti-Ray groups.j
    • Also, try bringing up CSI: Miami and Horatio Caine in some of the NY or Las Vegas version areas. Then watch the flames heat up.
  • Throw a dart on a Buffy the Vampire Slayer forum. You'll still find arguments. Especially of the shipping war variety.
    • The words "Seeing Red" work really well.
    • And while you're at it, casually mention you hate Angel/Buffy, Spike/Buffy and Angel/Cordelia.
    • For that matter, mention that you actually liked Buffy/Riley. Bonus points for saying it was better than Buffy/Angel and Buffy/Spike, which will draw in more incensed fans and bring in another argument. Even saying you liked Riley himself, or that he's decent, is a seriously bad idea.
    • Never let anyone know you ship, or are at least okay with, Xander/Dawn unless you want to be called a paedophile or lectured on how it's basically incest.
  • Mention just about anything on a Supernatural forum and you will be caught up in a flame war so fast that it would make your head spin. Some of the classics:
    • Any discussion of the differences between Sam and Dean's characters will devolve into a scuffle over which brother is better. This may or may not include bitter assertions that the writers are favoring one brother and shortchanging the other.
    • Recurring female characters of the appropriate age to be love interests tend to inspire hate, defensiveness, and accusations of misogyny all around. Just try discussing the merits of Jo, Bela, or Ruby as characters.
    • Speaking of, go to a forum and say you like Bela.
    • Is the Myth Arc stupid, or are the Monster of the Week episodes just filler? Do you really want to ask?
    • Bring up the incredibly high deathcount of female recurring characters (something like two or three survive from the entire series). And the fact that almost all of them die in fire and/or a stab in the gut, reminiscent of Mary Winchester's death in the pilot - expression of misogyny, thematic resonance, or both?
      • Likewise the death of all the Badass black male characters.
    • Try suggesting in some forums that Wincest is gross, and you will lose your eyebrows to the resulting fireball.
    • Anything negative about Destiel, and you'll probably be missing major appendages by the end.
      • The tide's starting to turn. Now both negative and positive comments about Destiel get flamed in turns.
        • Just mention Destiel and stand back. There will be flames from all sides.
  • A small but extremely vocal minority of Battlestar Galactica fans continue to maintain that the original series (in which, remember, monkeys were used to portray robot dogs) is superior to the newer, usually citing ratings to back up their argument and becoming angry to the point of hysteria when reminded that their dream project, a continuation of the original show with much of the original cast, was about to go into production when it was delayed by 9/11 and the Sci-Fi Channel had second thoughts and decided to go for the reimagining instead, which they took personally. These fans proclaim the new show to be "Galactica In Name Only" (GINO), which amused the new series producer Ronald D. Moore so much he named a character "Gina" in their honour, which didn't help matters much. Amazingly, this flame war continues to be sparked up regularly today even with the new show about to finish for good.
    • Also, do not mention the new Battlestar Galactica around fans of Babylon 5, who seem to think Moore has ripped off J. Michael Straczynski's magnum opus. (Possibly guilt by association with Star Trek: Deep Space 9 a series frequently accused of borrowing liberally from Bablyon 5; Moore was the co-executive producer of Deep Space 9)
    • The finale has opened entire cans of worms: Kara's disappearance, giving up technology, the timeline, etc...
    • Athena vs Boomer -- even when the territory is ostenibly about the actress, flame wars about which version of the same character will erupt.
    • Saying that you like either "Black Market" or "The Woman King" is probably not a good idea.
  • American Idol. Bring up season 2's finale on certain boards, and watch everything go up in flames. Season 8 is starting to look like it'll be equally inflammatory.
    • Speaking of Season 8, go into any LiveJournal community for it and bring up any permutation of Kradam vs. Kraty. THEN RUN LIKE THE MOTHERFUCKING WIND.
    • Try mentioning that you think the latter seasons (After Simon Cowell left) are better than the former seasons.
      • Heck, just try saying you think (insert judge here) is better than (insert judge here) or that you think the show got better once (insert judge here) left the show. You will not make it out in one piece.
    • Simon Cowell. Is he just an extremely strict judge on what qualifies as talent who is only doing his job, or his he a complete Jerkass who takes joy in shattering people's dreams by insulting them? No two fans will agree.
  • Venture onto a Terminator:The Sarah Connor Chronicles board and mention Dollhouse, or vice-versa. Then stand back as the foaming at the mouth begins.
  • And Dollhouse in general: is it attacking sexualised abuse of women and wider dehumanisation for commercial entertainment, or wallowing in it while pretending to attack it?
    • Announce that Dollhouse is the best thing Joss Whedon's ever made. Bonus points if you're in the company of Browncoats.
      • Speaking of Browncoats, go just about anywhere science-fiction TV is discussed (including this wiki) and suggest that Firefly is anything other than perfect and without flaw.
    • Speaking of Joss Whedon in general, criticise his reputation as a feminist or his depiction of women. Then enter your nuclear fallout shelter buried deep within a mountain and bunker down. Oh, you don't have one of these? Poor you...
      • Depends on the forum. In some parts nowadays, praising Whedon as a feminist will get you dogpiled by people explaining in exhaustive detail what a hypocritical misogynist he is.
  • Go to any discussion on The Daily Show and say you think Jon's started to take the show too seriously. The Daily Show: where serious business is Serious Business.
  • Smallville. Say you loved/hated Lana. Bring a fire extinguisher.
    • The Chlois Theory debate can still be agitated even though it has never calmed down for the past six years. (For the uninitiated, the Chlois Theory was basically about the fervent desire of many Chloe fans for the original character of Chloe to become Lois Lane so that she could "win" Clark; this theory continued even after Lois Lane was brought onto the show.)
      • Try being a Smallville fan who doesn't mind the deviations from Superman comic book canon, or expressing the view that you liked the witches/lost artifacts storyline from Season 4, or saying that you don't think that every new plot development is a "retcon." Or, perhaps worst of all, try expressing the opinion that Chloe Sullivan is NOT the living embodiment of perfection. The Internet Backdraft will probably burn you to a smoldering crisp.
  • Babylon 5: Sheridan, or Sinclair. While probably nowhere near the levels of some of these other examples('Fivers' tend to be much more calm about this show, amazingly enough), the result is probably going to still be interesting, to say the least. For that matter, if there were 4 seasons, or 5. The fandom seems to be split on this one.
    • Calm? Try telling a 'Fiver' that the displayed power levels for weapons and shield/armour resistances seem poor (for example the infamous 2 megaton nuclear mine from In the Beginning) or try to claim that the Vorlon planet killer did anything other than reduce the target planet to it's component atoms (we never see how it destroys planets) and make sure you're saying this from within the safety of an asbestos bunker.
  • Heroes: Volume 4 ending, An Invisible Thread. While other fans approve of the developments in the finale, the Nathan and Sylar fan contingents have joined forces and are baying for blood. It's not pretty, bring bandages and aloe vera if you venture in.
    • Heck, just bring up when you think the show jumped the shark (or if it ever did) and watch the anger build.
    • After it was revealed that Adrian Pasdar only found out he was fired when reading his character's death scene, the anger among his fans could probably be measured in megatons.
  • A rather amusing case from a while back, when the 'Retribution' episode of Horatio Hornblower aired, which had a popular character die saving Horatio's life and career, so many people went to the A&E boards to react to it that the servers actuallly crashed.
  • The Star Trek fandom can rip itself apart over just about anything:
    • Just how good Deep Space Nine was.
    • Just how good Voyager was.
    • Is Janeway a raging psychotic bitch or a brilliant and daring captain?
    • Ship wars. Good grief, the ship wars.
    • Star Trek: Enterprise. Just... Star Trek Enterprise.
    • Wesley Crusher: Creator's Pet, or much-needed, well-liked addition of youth to the cast? Bonus points if you ever argued the latter on Wil Wheaton Dot Net's forums.
    • The most infamous battle of all... Kirk or Picard.
    • Pick a topic. Any topic.
    • Here's a quick way to start a flame war. Go onto Youtube and/or any Star Trek forum. Find a video/thread about Q. Make a reference to Discord. Sit back, and enjoy the flames.
  • Merlin. Season 2. Five words: Did it jump the shark? That is all. Bonus points if you take a side on the Arthur/Morgana & Arthur/Merlin vs. Arthur/Gwen shipping war.
    • Increase that Season 2 discussion by a few degrees and you've got the post-Season 4 talks.
  • Jay Leno fans vs. Conan O'Brien fans. About the only thing they have in common is a fiery hatred for Too Dumb to Live NBC executive Jeff Zucker.
  • The latest episode (3x07) of Chuck has caused this due to extreme shipper issues: c4441503162851562400 Chuck, "Chuck vs. the Mask": Night at the museum, Chuck: Schwartz and Fedak vs. the controversy, The Double-Edged Sword Of Devotion: 'Chuck' Vs. The Entitled Fan Base
  • Lost. Oh, Lost. What causes more wank: that it's got more ships than the Spanish Armada, that its complex storylines and time jumping lead to slightly overinvested analyses, or that it's run by a couple of Promoted Fanboys who know far too well how to stir both bases' pots? And that's not mentioning the once-vast amount of Fan Haters...That's not even the tip of the iceberg. There's part of the fanbase that are bitter, bitter over whether or not the show was making the plot up as it went along during the early season, and whether or not it's suffering from the The Chris Carter Effect.
    • Post finale it's 10x worse. Most forums are split over whether the finale was the best episode of the series or a pointless cop-out that allowed the writers to avoid answering any questions. Not to mention those angered that the popular Jacket/Skate ship alignment was thrown aside despite it being built up as the endgame since the end of Season 5. AND not to mention those offended by the religious undertones of the final scene.
  • Jericho:while it will always be dangerous to go into any forum and declare a preference for Emily or Heather. Things really went nuts after two different groups (one based out of Jeritopia chat room and another from Shaun O'Mac's show chat) claimed to have originated the campaign to save the show. the melee the ensued was so nasty it killed the second campaign to save the show and eventually most of the fandom itself. Hell these days there is so little activity in that corner not because everyone's lost interest but because so few fans can stand each other long enough to have a conversation about it. (The real irony is that its entirely possible that the idea came from someone posting in both chats concurrently as several were known to do. So both sides actually may be right.)
  • Just about anywhere, and certainly in this wiki, suggest that Firefly is not perfect and without flaw.
    • Bring up the fact that the series is about a blended American-Chinese culture, yet no Asian actors were cast in any of the lead roles, and only one was given any lines even in minor roles. The consensus is that it was an accidental oversight, but whether it was because of Joss being occupied with trying to keep the show afloat, or whether all the Chinese stuff was just window-dressing is heavily contested.
    • Or mention that Kaylee is never anything but a useless, helpless little Damsel in Distress unless engines are involved.
  • Every episode of Deadliest Warrior can, and likely will, provoke some of these. Because they deal with such Serious Business topics as warriors throughout history, martial arts, military, guns, firearms, swords, etc, as well as the age old "who would win in a fight?" question, someone's panties will get twisted as soon as an episode airs.
    • It's pretty much for this reason alone that the producers refuse to do a 'Pirates Vs. Ninjas' episode.
  • Go onto any Survivor forum and mention Russell Hantz, and you'll have flames hotter than any campfire ever started in the game.
    • And not a day goes by without someone inciting another argument about whether people who have won the game deserve to be called the "best player" of their particular season for actually, y'know, winning, versus a Creator's Pet whom the editors deemed to be the better player, or if an extremely strategic player "should" have won over a less strategic but more socially-adept and/or challenge-adept player.
  • Go onto any Big Brother (US version) forum and alt.tv.big-brother in USENET and mention Natalie Martinez and you'll have flames hotter than in the backyard grill explosion they ever had in the game.
    • For a few years, you couldn't even mention anything positive about contestant Evel Dick Donato without someone bringing up Dick's rather cruel treatment of a certain contestant, or the validity of his win(certain scenes during the live feed footage led some fans to think that Season 8 might have been rigged in his favor).
  • Find a House/Wilson community, any House/Wilson community, and mention "Huddy". Cue the raging inferno.
  • Don't ever... EVER... call Father Ted a Britcom. Trust me you'll never hear the end of it.
  • Go ahead, go to any Kamen Rider forum and say that Faiz or Kiva was your favorite series. Bonus points if you say you liked either of them more than Kuuga or W.
    • Alternatively, go on any Kamen Rider video on Youtube and compare it to Power Rangers. Saying that you prefer Power Rangers over Kamen Rider will earn you some extra flames.
    • Also, go and try to say that Kamen Rider is a show for little kids. Hard-core fans of the series will defend it for being Darker and Edgier than their Power Ranger (technically Super Sentai) counterparts and that the series is aimed at an older audience, while opponents will use the same argument as stated above (that the series is basically Power Rangers without the convenient color schemes).
    • Go pretty much anywhere on the Internet and say that you liked Kamen Rider Decade. For bonus points:
  • Passions : Mention you're a Sheridan/Luis fan OR a Fancy/Luis fan on any of the Passions boards and just see the Flame War that develops.
  • Bones: The backdraft from the departure of Eric Milligan's much beloved character was so enormous that a) the writers retconned at least part of the horror, and b) it was nicknamed; the Zackdraft.
    • Say you like Brennan/Sully better than Booth/Brennan or just that you liked Sully. Then RUN AWAY FAST.
    • The developments at the end of Season 6 are guaranteed to bring up debate as well. It started literally as soon as the episode aired.
  • Go to a Glee forum and bring up the Kurt-Finn-Burt scene in the episode Theatricality. The explosion will occur approximately .02 seconds after you hit 'post.'
    • Do not mention the "Rocky Horror" episode to a fan of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Just don't. A flame war will ensue over whether or not it did the film/musical justice.
    • Glee in general now. Charming, groundbreaking TV show? Overrated, autotuned cliche fest? Run and don't look back.
  • Whether or not Isiah Washington deserved to be fired from Grey's Anatomy or not. And by extension his adversaries T.R. Knight, and Katherine Heigl can cause backdrafts as well all their own. Especially the polarizing Ms. Heigl.
  • Dancing With the Stars was Bristol Palin's Elimination Houdini the result of fans wanting to see a sweet Girl Next Door improve or the result of a Tea Party conspiracy to hijack the results and stick it to the "liberal media." Further, is she just an average girl out of her depth dealing with the spotlight or a smug entitled brat who is so self-absorbed that she genuinely thinks that she was as good as most of the dancers she outlasted and that people who are upset about it are just "haters?"
  • Freaks and Geeks: Go to The AV Club and tell them that Freaks and Geeks is not the greatest show ever made. I dare you.
    • The Wire gets about the same amount of reverence.
  • If you criticize Mr. Rogers, his fans will either flame you to hell and back... or allude to the fact that, while what you said pissed them off, Mr. Rogers himself would want them to forgive you and let it slide.
  • The Price Is Right: As soon as Drew Carey took over the hosting position from longtime host Bob Barker, the fandom was immediately split in two over which host is/was better/worse. The debate rages on to this day.
    • For that matter, just about anything that changed after Drew took over, in part because the show had been very static beforehand: from the set to the prizes, from the firing of announcer Rich Fields (himself a divisive figure; many of the fans wanted Randy West instead because of his rapport with the fandom), to the hiring of Rich's successor George Gray (some fans wanted Jeff Davis or David H. Lawrence XVII instead, and felt that George Gray was hired only because he's a close friend of executive producer Mike Richards). There's also the retirement or firing of countless other staff members who had been with the show since well before Barker retired.
  • Similarly, even though it was over 20 years ago, game show fans still argue about whether Ray Combs or Richard Dawson was the better host of Family Feud.
    • Defenders of Drew and Ray both use Bob's lawsuits and Richard's prima donna nature, and both men's constant backstage shenanigans, as strikes against them, while Bob and Richard defenders both find Ray and Drew comparatively sloppy and unskilled.
  • If you go on a Charmed forum and bring up which you actress you believe was in the wrong during the whole Alyssa Milano/Shannen Doherty feud that happened 10 years ago, you'd better have a hose with you to put out all the flames you're going to cause...
  • Community. Is Modern Warfare just good or the best episode of the series - if not of all TV? Is Jeff's storyline the real one in Remedial Chaos Theory? Jeff/Annie or Jeff/Britta? Was the show better before all of the "special" episodes? Is Abed the greatest character ever or just a delusional Meta Guy? Any of these inquiries will bring only death and destruction.
  • Just bringing up Nineteen Kids and Counting can start this, because of the Duggar family's extreme religious beliefs. They don't believe in birth control and homeschool all of their children. People will get into arguments over whether Michelle Duggar is a victim of the patriarchy or if she should be left alone because she chose this lifestyle for herself. Expect someone to bring up over-population as well and also to start a flame war about religion.
  • Within the Big Wolf on Campus fandom, do not mention Tommy/Lori VS Tommy/Merton VS Lori/Merton VS Tommy/Stacy and so on and so forth. You will get flamed no matter which pair you ship, or even if you're completely neutral about pairings.
    • Don't ask which season is better. Just, don't. Though, you may survive mentioning not liking the third season.
    • Lori VS Stacy. Was Stacy a pointless Damsel in Distress who had no character development beyond being Tommy's on-again-off-again-girlfriend, or is Lori nothing more than a third wheel in the Tommy-N-Merton duo?
    • Speaking of Merton, mention you don't like him, or, to a lesser extent, say that he was over-used as the series progressed.
    • Try mentioning you don't like either Imaginary Fiend and/or the Manchurian Werewolf two-parter in terms of episodes. You will immediately get hit by a backlash of flames.
  • CN Real. Every time someone says they like it in a discussion, something catches on fire. It doesn't matter which discussion. Or if it's possible for the object to burn. (Burning bubbles? Sure, why not.) CN Real attracted so much bile on TV Tropes that the main page for the block was permanently redlinked.
  • Go onto just about any forum and say that you think Ashton Kutcher is a bigger improvement over Charlie Sheen and that the show is much better this way, I dare you. And for icing on it, state your opinion of who was wrong: Chuck Lorre or Charlie Sheen. Bring an umbrella for the storm that will rain upon you.
  • Go onto a Highlander forum and say you don't like Methos. Or if you want to get the film fans going too, ask which is better, Duncan or Connor. It might not be as bad now as when the show was on, but it's still not good. Oh and although he drifted into The Scrappy territory at times, try saying you're glad Richie died. The Richie fans will hate you and the non-Riche fans will start arguing with them about it.
    • Never say you actually like 'The Source'. It's not pretty. 'Highlander II' gets this as well, but The Source possibly surpassed it. And at least HL 2 has a small handful of admirers.
    • Go tell someone you don't like Tessa. Really, try it, you will be called a misogynist by every Highlander fan in the tri-galactic area.
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