Summary

• Rotten Tomatoes scores are often higher for recent TV shows compared to audiences, highlighting a credibility issue with the site's reliability.
• Critics may be more positive due to corporate influence, while audiences offer more genuine opinions, leading to a gap in scores.
• Despite differences, shows like Castlevania: Nocturne and The Winter King have been renewed despite low audience scores, indicating varied perspectives on quality.

Recent premieres or seasons of television shows have been favored higher in critics' eyes on Rotten Tomatoes compared to audiences. In of its credibility, it's been brought to light recently that Rotten Tomatoes is broken. For a variety of reasons, the site isn't the most reliable when it comes to the very quality of the content itself, but it can show the general attitude of viewers and critics.

Scores on Rotten Tomatoes have become crucial for many when deciding whether to watch a movie or television series. While critics have reasonings for being more positive towards a television series, such as being persuaded by companies to boost their scores, audience typically don't have the same incentives. Therefore, it's not unusual to see such a gap between the scores of critics and those of audiences.

10 Castlevania: Nocturne

Critics Score: 96%, Audience Score: 45%

Castlevania: Nocturne is based on two video games and acts as a follow-up to the animated Castlevania series. The series takes place during the French Revolution, following the characters of Annette and Richter Belmont as they fight against the Vampire Messiah. Much of the praise from critics is for Castlevania: Nocturne's ability to reel viewers in, as well as praise for its serious tone that adds depth to the original fantasy storyline. However, audiences disagree. Many audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes discuss how they feel the writing is lackluster and that the characters are poorly developed. Despite the difference in beliefs, Castlevania: Nocturne has been renewed for season two.

9 The Winter King

Critics Score: 74%, Audience Score: 41%

Based on Bernard Cornwell's novel series, The Warlord Chronicles, The Winter King follows King Arthur as he's exiled. The Winter King differs from Cornwell's text and this decision is something many viewers find an issue with. This complaint is a commonality among many of the lower scores by audience on Rotten Tomatoes, earning the series a 41% score from audiences. Yet, critics gave the series a 74% score. While taking into the series' imperfections, critics on the site agree that The Winter King is still worth the watch.

8 Doctor Who (2023)

Critics Score: 96%, Audience Score: 44%

Three special episodes aired celebrating the 60th anniversary of the sci-fi series, Doctor Who. The episodes starred David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor and gave a sneak peek into what audiences can expect in the fourteenth series starring Ncuti Gatwa premiering in 2024. While critics on Rotten Tomatoes were pleased with the three episodes, audiences felt as though the material in the episodes wasn't special enough to their liking. Resulting in a 44% audience score, the higher ratings and reviews from audiences show they were pleased to see Tennant and Catherine Tate reprising their roles.

7 The Gilded Age (Season 2)

Critics Score: 93%, Audience Score: 57%

Both seasons one and two of The Gilded Age reveal contrasting scores between critics and audiences. Season two, having premiered in 2023, was enjoyed by many critics with a score of 93%, but rated poorly by audiences with 57%. A large issue had by critics and audience alike with season one was the slow build and lack of stakes for the characters.

While some audience found this issue to be resolved in season two, many still felt as though the season didn't hold up, especially in comparison to Downton Abbey, the widely popular historical drama also written by The Gilded Age writer Julian Fellowes. With a third season announced, there's a possibility that the gap between critics and audience scores will subside.

6 NCIS: Sydney

Critics Score: 70%, Audience Score: 25%

As a new spin-off in the NCIS franchise, NCIS: Sydney follows the character of Special Agent-in-Charge Michelle Mackey and her team as they investigate crime. The 70% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes is made up of praise for NCIS: Sydney and its ability to follow the typical NCIS formula. However, audiences feel as though this is what makes the series deserving of a lower score. Many of the reviews from audiences state the series is full of clichés and is often too predictable.

5 Halo

Critics Score: 70%, Audience Score: 52%

In recent years, the rise of on-screen adaptations of popular video games has been received well. Yet, there's bound to be an adaptation that doesn't sit well with fans of the original game material and that's what happened with the 2022 series, Halo. On one hand, critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave the series a higher rating for its ability to create familiarity with old fans, while still introducing new material. On the other hand, audience felt the series departed too far from the well-known video games. Audiences will have to wait to see if their criticisms were taken into with the second season set to premiere in 2024.

4 The Curse

Critics Score: 94%, Audience Score: 37%

The Curse stars Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder as married hosts of a poorly done house-flipping reality show. The tone and content of the series are recognizable to fans of Fielder's previous work. Correlating with a 37% audience score, many of the reviews found the unsettling and cringe humor to be too much for them. The critics on Rotten Tomatoes, noting the specific humor won't be for everyone, applauded The Curse for its ability to draw viewers in, despite how uneasy they may feel. In addition, critics praised the performances of Fielder and Stone.

3 The Witcher (Season 3)

Critics Score: 79%, Audience Score: 19%

The 2023 release of The Witcher season three divided critics and audiences. The Netflix series is based on the books by Andrzej Sapkowski and for three seasons followed Henry Cavill as Geralt. However, before Cavill's final portrayal of the character, it was announced Liam Hemsworth would be replacing him.

Review bombing, a common issue seen on the Rotten Tomatoes site, is likely the main cause of The Witcher's season three audience score of 19%, as many fans are upset about Cavill's recasting. Yet, it's not the only factor audiences disliked. A significant issue audience , and some critics, have with The Witcher is its contrasting approach to Sapkowski's books. It's an issue that was prevalent in season two and only seemed to get worse in season three.

2 The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power

Critics Score: 83%, Audience Score: 38%

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is based on J.R.R. Tolkien's novel of the same name. While, at times, The Rings of Power adapts Tolkien's text better compared to the films, overall, audiences felt it made too many changes to the beloved story and characters. This is because Amazon Studios wasn't able to acquire the rights to the Tolkien books that dealt specifically with the period explored in The Rings of Power. This left audiences feeling as though The Rings of Power was a decent fantasy series, but not one worth being attached to The Lord of the Rings.

1 The Morning Show (Season 3)

Critics Score: 72%, Audience Score: 11%

Season three of The Morning Show is the highest-rated season by critics on Rotten Tomatoes with 72%, but fan's reactions were strikingly differing, resulting in an 11% audience score. While season three appeared to fix issues from season two, audiences still were not pleased with the outcome, including the handling of The Morning Show's two leads. Audiences on Rotten Tomatoes say the characters are unrecognizable from previous seasons and the series overall can't find its footing when it comes to the plot and the type of show it's trying to be.