Television Tuesday: The Three Fan Theories That Irritate the Hell Out of Me

Getting Angry

"The Penguin is somehow the Joker," is clever compared to the horrible-ideas below.

Whenever a show is on the air fans like to come-up with theories to explain certain things in the plot. This can become especially rampant when a series nears it end. I'm all for fans having theories--and sometimes a theory or two proves right--but certain so-called ideas seem to pop-up often, and they rarely are, "Mind-blowing," as the originators claim, and instead are just really annoying because they seem to get discussed a lot. Let's discuss the three worst offenders.

Your Theory is Bad and You Should Feel Bad

The only situation where I'm okay with someone declaring this.

Stupid Fan Theory One: It's All a Dream/Someone's Imagination!
I swear to God, a handful of shows do something along these lines ("St. Elsewhere", "Newhart") and suddenly fans think every show has to turn-out to be a dream. Every episode of, "The Simpsons," since 1993? It's a dream due to Homer being in a coma.  "The Walking Dead?" Again, a coma-dream. It is such a cop-out of a theory and it perturbs me to no end how when someone proposes the idea a show is a dream they feel they're some kind of genius--you aren't, you're a hack and you need to stop.

"It all fits together perfectly! Well, kind of...sort of...never-mind."

Stupid Fan Theory Two: The Continuities are Linked Somehow!
The, "Newhart," link I provided actually is a case where the first theory and this one proved true. That aside though, people really grasp at straws for these theories. To be fair there are times shows are of course in the same universe (hence spin-offs) but what bugs me is when fans take two shows that have nothing to do with one another and claim they take place in the same fictional Universe. For example, supposedly, "Breaking Bad," led to, "The Walking Dead," in some people's minds. Yeah, let that sink in. This isn't as common a theory, and there is at least one tongue-in-cheek version known as, "The Tommy Westphall Universe," which relates to the aforementioned, "St. Elsewhere." Even if this doesn't seem to occur as much I still despise it, however. Oh, but do note that the theory how every Pixar film takes place in the same Universes is rock-solid though, to the point the originator made a book about it. I'm fully onboard with that shit.

The laziest theory possible? Yeah.

Stupid Fan Theory Three: Everyone's Dead!
Fucking, "Lost." Seriously, it has to go and make everyone who guessed the characters were dead and/or in a kind of purgatory feel all happy they, "Called it," and now every single show is taking place in some kind of post-life. Putting aside how even creators of, "Lost," say that is a misinterpretation the damage has been done. You already know people are claiming, "The Walking Dead," takes place in some sort of Hell, and the idea that, "Maybe they're all dead," has become a worse excuse than, "A Wizard did it," when it comes to any continuity glitches that could be hand-waved away with a, "They're in the afterlife, there is no rules!" This theory can go to the same fictional Hell some people are convinced all their favorite characters are trapped in.

Now I'm Enraged!

Mean, but pretty accurate.

At this point in the article you are either nodding your head in agreement with me, thinking I sound like a cranky old man, or doing a mixture of both. Now yes, you could argue that these fan theories are all done in the spirit of fun and I'm being a killjoy, but my counter-statement is that something can be fun the first few times, yet when every show has the same absurd fan-theories lobbed at it, well, that's just lame. Plus, this is the internet, everyone is supposed to be cynical. Anyways, if there is a theory that bugs the bejeezus out of you and which I didn't think to mention, please do comment or email me.