Haters Back Off

Despite the more cartoonish elements, there are real consequences for actions in Haters, and rightly so. Still, while the discord is earned, the tonal shifts don’t always jibe. It’s not enough of a deviation to throw Haters Back Off! off the rails, though, so there’s no need to heed the warning when partaking of this new comedy.

The humor isn't everyone's cup of tea (particularly anyone over 18), but the solid supporting cast might reward the extremely patient. [October 14, 16, p.52]

Miranda sings badly with great gusto; she is witheringly sarcastic to people even though we know she has misunderstood what they’ve said. It’s a very impressive, thought-through presentation by Ballinger. I admire it, but I also didn’t find it funny.

Not everything in Haters Back Off! works. In fact, a lot of it doesn’t. It’s a show whose title basically serves as a warning.

The episodes sometimes veer into contempt for the characters. There’s a deeper pathos to Miranda’s situation, but the season doesn’t delve deeply into that until late, by which time haters will have long since backed off.

YouTube is a fascinating medium because of how intimate it can be; the viewer is brought right into the star’s bedroom to share in flights of fancy or upfront confessional. “Haters Back Off!” offers traces of that fascinating landscape, including moments where Miranda’s kooky, sullen frustration is completely understandable. But the show is too caught up in the foreground of attempting to be brutally funny with material that was fresh 12 years ago.

The series seems to want to exist somewhere between a Pee-wee Herman world, where Miranda exists within her own reality, and “Waiting for Guffman” or other parodies of self-important clueless people. It doesn’t succeed as either, nor on its own terms.