When it comes to dating, there are countless "red flags" that you may be looking out for. Some singles are bothered if their date doesn't pay for dinner, while others are have requirements when it comes to how quickly one responds to their texts or calls. But, red flags don't always have to do with dating itself. A potential partner's interests can also offer some possibly troubling clues, including their opinions about pop culture. Some women who date men have cited TV shows that raise red flags for them, whether that's because a guy loves a show too much or enjoys it for the wrong reasons.
The list below features TV shows—and one general TV opinion—that women have called cause for concern. This isn't to say that these shows are bad or offensive—many of them are beloved by all sorts of people and are critically acclaimed—but, for one reason or another, they raise suspension if a man loves them. Read on to find out more.
RELATED: 7 Classic Cartoons That Are Offensive by Today's Standards.
1 Breaking Bad
These are several threads on Reddit in which people express their pop culture red flags, and one show that comes up over and over again is Breaking Bad. Many women expressed concern about men idolizing main character Walter White (Bryan Cranston) rather than seeing him as a villain or at least morally complicated. Others specifically pointed out male viewers of the show who's unreasonably vilified Walter's wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn). One Reddit user called this view "the easiest way to tell if a dude was misogynistic right off the bat."
RELATED: The Most Hated TV Characters of All Time.
2 Mad Men
Similar to Breaking Bad, Mad Men has many fans of all genders, but some women are wary of men who hate on the show's female characters or admire Don Draper (Jon Hamm) for all the wrong reasons. A Reddit user wrote of the series, "Especially when they go on about how Joan [Christina Hendricks] 'slept her way' to the top with no understanding of the power dynamics, or are critical of Betty's [January Jones] parenting or think Peggy [Elisabeth Moss] was too ambitious."
3 Rick and Morty
The animated series Rick and Morty received several mentions as a potential red flag on Reddit. One user explained, "Some fans (particularly on reddit) can be very over the top about it. Some people also glorify Rick when the whole point is he's a psychopathic mess." Another shared, "I'd run away from any Rick and Morty fan, despite being a fan myself. You can't trust men who idolize shows like that."
4 Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones has plenty of fans, but it's no surprise that a tendency for endlessly rewatching the show might strike some as a red flag since it includes so much violence, including sexual violence against women. A Reddit thread titled "Would you date a man who likes game of thrones?" includes comments explaining that liking the show isn't an issue on its own, but that a person's response to its rape scenes, for instance, could be.
In another thread about dating dealbreakers, someone wrote of one of the show's characters, "Any guy with a hatred for Sansa Stark [Sophie Turner] is an immediate red flag for me. Usually a warning sign that they hate young women."
5 Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story
The miniseries Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story proved to be highly controversial in the way it tells the story of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (Evan Peters). "Anybody who watched the Dahmer show or defends it," shared a Reddit user of their red flag. Another person wrote, "i turned on Dahmer out of curiosity and turned it off so quickly because i couldn't stop thinking of the victims and how sensationalized he had become."
RELATED: 6 Glaringly Obvious Mistakes Spotted in Classic TV Shows.
6 BoJack Horseman
The animated Netflix show BoJack Horseman received a few mentions on the Reddit forums. As with many of the other shows named, the concern has to do with men misinterpreting the main character—in this case, a selfish, destructive, anthropomorphic horse. Wrote a Reddit user, "the amount of dudes who think bojack didn't deserve what happened to him because 'he was trying to get better' is infuriating like lmao yeah leave a string of damaged women behind you but as long as you eventually try to get better it's all good!"
7 Family Guy
A BuzzFeed article by Angela Andaloro about movie and TV red flags lists Family Guy as one for men. According to the writer, this cartoon "is designed to strike a nerve … But it takes it a toxic step further by centering gross ideals of masculinity and making women the punchline of too many jokes."
8 How I Met Your Mother
A few people on Reddit cited a love of How I Met Your Mother as a red flag, "if they're obsessed with barney," as one user put it. The character Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) is a manipulative womanizer, so singling him out as the person to admire on the series might raise some questions.
RELATED: 6 Red Flags That Spell Cheating, Therapists Warn.
9 Succession
Once again, liking Succession and understanding its characters—namely that they're all bad people—is fine. But, it has been pointed out that the character Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) received a lot more hate compared to her brothers, who are at least equally awful. In an article for Dazed Digital, Haaniyah Angus argued that this was misogyny: "It all feels like shorthand for saying, 'Shiv should be a better wife because she's a woman' or 'Shiv should be a better liberal because she's a woman.'"
10 Hating Reality TV
This isn't about a particular show, but some women find that dismissing this entire genre to be a red flag. Wrote a Reddit user, "Dudes who are weirdly anti-reality tv. like i don't care if they don't watch it/aren't interested in it but if they think watching it inherently makes you an idiot." Another shared, "Some men are so obnoxious about reality TV. I tried once telling a man he would like Survivor, and he said he refuses to watch trashy TV. It was right then when I knew I couldn't mention that I also watch Love Island and KUWTK [Keeping Up with the Kardashians] if he thought fricking Survivor was trashy."
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Lia Beck Lia Beck is a writer living in Richmond, Virginia. In addition to Best Life, she has written for Refinery29, Bustle, Hello Giggles, InStyle, and more.Read moreFiled UnderEntertainment • Relationship AdviceRead This Next6 Classic TV Mistakes That No One Noticed
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