Haters Back Off is an American comedy television series based on the YouTube character Miranda Sings created by Colleen Ballinger. Its two seasons were released on Netflix in October 2016 and 2017, respectively. The "surreal and absurd" series centers around the family life of Miranda Sings, a sheltered, self-absorbed, overconfident and untalented young performer who seeks fame on YouTube.Snetiker, Marc. "Netflix orders Miranda Sings series Haters Back Off", Entertainment Weekly, January 14, 2016 The half-hour episodes depict Miranda's road to fame, and the price she pays for trampling on the feelings of others. The show stars Colleen Ballinger as Miranda, Angela Kinsey as her mother Bethany, Steve Little as her uncle Jim, Francesca Reale as her sister Emily, and Erik Stocklin as her best friend and love interest, Patrick. Season 2 added Matt Besser as Miranda's estranged father. Netflix described the show as "a bizarre family comedy, and a commentary on society today and our fascination with fame."Spangler, Todd. "Miranda Sings Leads the Way for Digital Stars Leaping to TV", Variety, June 21, 2016
The series was created by Colleen Ballinger and her brother, Christopher Ballinger, together with showrunners Gigi McCreery and Perry Rein. It was produced by Brightlight Pictures."Haters Back Off Netflix Series From Miranda Sings to Film in Vancouver", WhatsFilming.ca, February 11, 2016 The show was named for Miranda Sings' signature catchphrase that she uses when responding to negative comments on her YouTube videos.Andrews, Charles. "Netflix Original: Haters Back Off! Starring YouTuber Colleen Ballinger as Miranda Sings", ParentHerald.com, September 22, 2016Longwell, Todd. "Miranda Sings Giving Birth to Netflix Series", Video Ink, January 14, 2016; Pearson, Allyn. "Haters Back Off a Scripted Series Based on Youtube Star Miranda Sings Heading to Netflix", Mxdwn.com, January 14, 2016; and Keihm, Moira. "YouTube Personality Miranda Sings: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know", Heavy.com, January 17, 2016 Haters Back Off was one of the first scripted series created by a YouTube personality.Tiffany, Kaitlyn. "Netflix orders the first scripted comedy by a YouTube star", The Verge, January 14, 2016; and Yagoda, Maria. "Haters Back Off: YouTube Star Miranda Sings Gets Netflix Scripted Series", People magazine, January 15, 2016
The first season was released on October 14, 2016. It follows Miranda from the time she uploads her first video until one of her videos goes viral. The second season was released on October 20, 2017. It concerns Miranda's schemes to raise money from fans, leading to her family's financial ruin and her 15 minutes of fame on a New York stage. Ballinger told Entertainment Weekly that the writers of Season 2 continued to craft the scenarios and plot points "from things that actually happened to me in my career".Snetiker, Marc. "Miranda Sings series Haters Back Off! renewed for season 2", Entertainment Weekly, December 15, 2016 Netflix canceled the series after two seasons.Andreeva, Nellie. "Haters Back Off Canceled by Netflix After 2 Seasons", Deadline Hollywood, December 1, 2017; and Lee, Josh. "Netflix Just Cancelled Haters Back Off and Colleen Ballinger Is 'Heartbroken'", WeTheUnicorns.com, December 5, 2017 Ballinger and Stocklin married in 2018.
Background
Miranda Sings
Since 2008, Colleen Ballinger has posted videos as her comically talentless, narcissistic and quirky character, Miranda Sings, primarily on the YouTube channel Miranda Sings.Ng, David. "YouTube sensation Miranda seduces Broadway", Los Angeles Times, May 11, 2009 The character is a satire of bad, but egotistical, performers who film themselves singing as a form of self-promotion.Eggar, Robin. "She'd like to teach the world to sing". The Times, May 2, 2010, accessed March 6, 2012; and "Meme Comes to Life", Transmedia Televisual Studies, FILM345, Queens University, February 2010 Miranda is portrayed as a home-schooled young woman who is eccentric and infantilized, narcissistically believes that she was born famous, and is obsessed with show business fame.Velasco, Schuyler. "Interview: Miranda Sings", Backstage, August 3, 2010Rivera, Erica. "'The haters' defined YouTube sensation Miranda Sings", City Pages, August 4, 2015 Miranda uses spoonerisms and malapropisms, is irritable, ludicrously self-absorbed and self-righteous, socially awkward, and has a defiant, arrogant attitude.Siegel, Ben. "Miranda shows that she's very good at being bad", The Buffalo News, May 6, 2014Wilson, Jessica. "Miranda Sings – review" , What's Peen Seen? September 11, 2013, accessed May 5, 2014 She responds to people who offer criticism with the catchphrase, "Haters back off!"Noteboom, Kris. "BooTube" , TheaterJones, March 5, 2012"Ep. 25 Colleen Ballinger (Miranda Sings)", Interview of Ballinger at 54:20 and 58:30, Ear Biscuits, Soundcloud.com, March 31, 2014
In March 2009, Ballinger uploaded a Miranda video called "Free Voice Lesson", full of awful singing advice, that quickly became her first viral sensation.Linton, Shannon. "Miranda Sings ... Terribly: An Unlikely Rise to Stardom" , APU Life, Spring '12 issue, May 30, 2012"Comedian Colleen Ballinger bringing hit Internet character Miranda Sings to CCRI", Community College of Rhode Island, March 14, 2013, accessed February 14, 2016 This led to requests for Ballinger to perform live as Miranda,Sims, James. "Colleen Ballinger Talks YouTube Character Miranda Sings", Huffington Post, August 30, 2010, accessed January 18, 2016 and she later began to tour worldwide.Miranda Sings Australia schedule , November 2009; Newcastle Herald, November 26, 2009, p. 45; Sparks, Abbe. "Mirfandas Infiltrate Highland Park from across the country for Midwest Premiere of Miranda Sings Live!" , Chicago Tribune (Highland Park local), November 22, 2010; Michelin, Lana. "How (not) to sing great" . Red Deer Advocate, January 14, 2011; Blank, Matthew. "'Miranda Sings Christmas Spectacular', With Lauren Kennedy and Frankie Grande", Playbill, December 20, 2011; Bell, Matt. "Marketing Lessons from 'Miranda Sings'", Standing (inn)ovation, November 14, 2013; and Dessau, Bruce. "UK Tour Dates for YouTube Star Miranda Sings" , Beyond the Joke, September 4, 2014 The Miranda Sings YouTube channel has received more than 2 billion views and has more than 10 million subscribers.Ballinger, Colleen. About Miranda Sings, Miranda Sings, YouTube, accessed December 19, 2019 Miranda has appeared in character on television shows,"Miranda Sings on 'Tori Goes Platinum'", May 2012, accessed June 12, 2014; Wilstein, Matt. "The 10 Best TV Shows of 2014 That Aren't Really TV", Mediaite.com, December 19, 2014; Roberts, Andrew. "Jerry Seinfeld Takes a Torturous Ride with YouTube's Miranda Sings and Finds Out How to Be Famous", Uproxx, December 1, 2014; and "Pictionary with Martin Short, Jerry Seinfeld and Miranda Sings" , The Tonight Show, NBC, December 1, 2014; and Boardman, Madeline. "Martin Short, Jerry Seinfeld Play Hilarious Game of Pictionary With Jimmy Fallon", Us Weekly, December 2, 2014 and Ballinger released a 2015 book, Selp-Helf, written in Miranda's voice,"Stage Tube: Miranda Sings Quits Youtube; Announces Book Plans!", BroadwayWorld.com, February 25, 2015; Kawecki, Jenny. "What You Need to Know Before You Read Selp-Helf, the Debut Book from YouTube Star Miranda Sings", Barnes & Noble, July 20, 2015 that ranked No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list for Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous."Best Sellers: Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous", The New York Times, August 9, 2015 (sales for the week ending July 25, 2015) Her second Miranda book, My Diarrhe,Weiss, Geoff. "Simon & Schuster to Leak Miranda Sings' Dirty Secrets In Second Book, My Diarrhe", TubeFilter.com, February 16, 2018 appeared on the same best seller list in 2018."Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous", The New York Times, accessed July 23, 2018
Development Ballinger told interviewers that she and her brother Chris began to develop the idea for the show about five or six years before it premiered. At first they considered a film treatment but later decided on a television series format. Ballinger chose Netflix over HBO to produce Haters Back Off because she felt that Netflix understood and was enthusiastic about the character and its online origin and fanbase.Tiffany, Kaitlyn. "How YouTube character Miranda Sings made the move to Netflix's Haters Back Off", The Verge, October 12, 2016 Comparing the show to Christopher Guest's Waiting for Guffman, showrunner Perry Rein said: "This is the first time we've done a show about a really bad dancer and singer. [It has] characters that take themselves very seriously in their very small worlds." The show was one of the first scripted series created by a YouTube personality.
On YouTube, Miranda always had an offstage relationship with her mother and uncle, and Ballinger long had the idea for Miranda's best friend, Patrick; these characters were first seen in Season 1 of the series, together with another new character, Emily, Miranda's sister. Ballinger said that she wanted to use the longer format of the series to expose Miranda's vulnerability and make her believable; to explain the source of the insecurities that make Miranda so rude and eccentric.Snetiker, Marc. "Miranda Sings star Colleen Ballinger talks 'magical' making of Netflix series Haters Back Off", Entertainment Weekly, October 14, 2016; and Schroeder, Audra. "Netflix's Haters Back Off! Is a Family Affair", The Daily Dot, October 14, 2016 Emily is the only normal person in Miranda's family, but they treat her as the odd one, like Marilyn in The Munsters.Thomas, Leah. "The Haters Back Off Cast Fills Out the World of Miranda Sings", Bustle.com, October 15, 2016Wisener, Jasef. "Haters Back Off! Season 1 Review: Ready or Not, Miranda is Here", TVOvermind.com, October 12, 2016 The series expanded Miranda's world seen in YouTube. Miranda represents an "extreme version of what the average gawky teenage girl may be feeling."Ulaby, Neda. "Haters Back Off!: New TV Show Makes YouTube Star More Than Internet Famous", NPR, October 15, 2016 Season 2 introduced Miranda's estranged father, played by Matt Besser.
/Film mused: "Haters Back Off seems like a smart move for Netflix. [A] streaming content provider seems like a natural fit. Her built-in audience is already used to watching original content online".Han, Angie. "Netflix Gets Into the YouTube Personality Business With Miranda Sings' Haters Back Off", Slashfilm.com, January 15, 2016 TechCrunch commented: "[T]he rise of YouTube-fueled online influencers has been breathtaking ... building big audiences beyond the reach, knowledge and control of traditional entertainment gatekeepers, including the networks. ... Netflix can ... leverage the audiences of these online stars, and their marketing reach, to drive the fans to new properties ... online, where their fans already routinely seek entertainment".Bruce, Juan. "Networks Need to Take Note of the New Netflix Series With YouTube's Miranda Sings", TechCrunch, February 3, 2016 In September 2016, the series was included in The Wall Street Journal's list of "The 6 Best New Things to Stream in October".Ayers, Mike. "The 6 Best New Things to Stream in October", The Wall Street Journal, September 30, 2016 Bustle.com listed "11 Reasons You Should Watch ... Haters Back Off", writing that "Miranda has become emblematic of a new kind [of] star-seeker in the digital age: a youngster who decides that waiting for a fame-making opportunity simply won't do and that in order to become visible (and ostensibly beloved), you have to create the opportunities for visibility yourself."Gemmill, Allie. "11 Reasons You Should Watch Miranda Sings's New Show Haters Back Off", Bustle.com, accessed October 3, 2016
Cast
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