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By TeeJay Small
| Published
If you work in the entertainment industry, you must know that negative reviews are a fact of life. Whether you’re putting together a multi-million dollar Marvel movie or a grade school talent show, you simply can’t please everyone who bears witness to your art. Unfortunately, Criminal Minds star Paget Brewster let the internet critics get a little too deep under her skin recently, which resulted in her lashing out at a ScreenRant writer by name on social media.
When The Critic Gets Critiqued
Per Variety, Brewster took to X to deliver a scathing now-deleted rant in response to a negative critique of Criminal Mindsexpressing “Hello critic Shealynn Scott… You’re young. You don’t know that bad pics and bad reviews can lead to 350 people losing their jobs.” She then commanded that the writer quit penning television reviews entirely, and suggested a pivot to philanthropy, arguing “Sell vintage. Work at a shelter. Do something better than what you do now. Because right now you suck.”
Other critics and industry insiders were quick to lambast Brewster for these comments, prompting a swift apology the following day. After suffering through a great deal of backlash, Brewster expressed “I was mean to Shealyn Scott last night and I profoundly regret it. Shame on me for insulting a human being for doing their job.” Then, perhaps invoking the spirit of her Community character Frankie Dart, Brewster humorously concluded “Turns out, last night, I sucked.”
Criticism Comes From A Caring Place
Though the controversy subsided quickly, the entire interaction made me think about the nature of film and television critique in general. Maybe there’s something to be said for the fact that every program (even the really bad ones) is an employer of potentially hundreds of people. With enough poor reviews, such a show could lose viewership, receive an abrupt cancellation, and leave those gaffers, camera operators, and on-screen talent scrambling to feed their families.
Unfortunately, I just don’t think Paget Brewster’s comments hold any water, even with the most generous reading. Most critics only bash a television show if they really care about it, or they really want to care about it. Personally, I’ve never watched an episode of Criminal Mindsso I don’t have a single negative thing to say about the series. But, if you ask me about a show like Archer or The Walking DeadI could speak at length about how disappointed I was when they began to decline in quality, or fell short of my expectations. I hated Alien 3but I watched it all the way to the end, because I love the Alien franchise, and I wanted to see it through on the off-chance that the film would improve as it progressed.
It’s also worth pointing out that it isn’t our job to keep Criminal Minds or any other show on the air. That job rests squarely on the people producing the series for our entertainment. While I reel at the notion of hundreds of union workers losing their jobs, I can’t help but feel that television is a capitalist enterprise and thus, subject to the regulation of the free market. If you make a TV show that’s better than anything else on streaming, you’ll have a better shot at keeping it on the air. If your series takes a nosedive in quality, it’s not my fault for noticing the decline.
I’m not trying to harp on Paget Brewster for her social media posts. I can’t say for certain that I’d react with any more grace if I were the one being torn apart by critics. Still, it’s always a virtue to look inward and reflect when your worldview is challenged, so I think it’s worth considering how our critiques can impact TV shows or other works of art in real time. Even though I’ll never feel wholly responsible for putting an entire production crew on the unemployment line, maybe I can make an active effort to not suck, as Paget Brewster so eloquently expressed. At the very least, I could always do an hour of volunteer work for every hour I spend absolutely hate-watching something on TV.
