History Main / AudienceAlienatingPremise

* In the same sense, the 2001 XFL. As the premise was a TotallyRadical attempt at a new football league created by wrestling promoter and Wrestling/{{WWE}} CEO Wrestling/VinceMcMahon, viewers couldn't tell if it was serious football, or a parody of the sport with ProfessionalWrestling tropes galore[[note]]some bookies refused to take bets for this very reason[[/note]], with extreme and crazy rules (e.g. the infamous "jump ball" where players charge towards a ball and wrestle one another for possession), and were alienated and stayed away in droves. Not helping things is that many of the hosts for the XFL teams also had NFL teams (like UsefulNotes/{{New York|City}} and UsefulNotes/LosAngeles), making them redundant for all the professional football fans out there. It folded after one season due to ''very'' poor TV ratings and a $70 ''million'' loss. When the XFL was rebooted in 2020, it became a more serious lower-level league, and was much better received[[note]]It did fold after that season, but only due to poor timing with the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic -- it later returned in 2023, [[ScheduleSlip after failing to make a predicted 2022 return]][[/note]].

* In 1988, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company launched [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_(cigarette) Premier]], a smokeless cigarette that heated tobacco rather than burning it, allowing smokers to enjoy the taste of tobacco without that harmful secondhand smoke and messy ash. What few of the existing audience of smokers who were willing to give Premier a shot were not pleased by Premier's taste and the complicated instructions required to light it, while the potential new audience of non-smokers who were already put off by tobacco products still refused to give them a shot. By the following year, Premier was snuffed out.[[note]]They tried again with "Eclipse" in the [=1990s=] and while that was more successful, it still remained a niche, and eventually was discontinued in 2014. A ''third'' attempt was made with "Revo" in 2015, but that failed and was discontinued within the same year for the same reasons.[[/note]]
* The Legends (formerly ''Lingerie'') Football League, which is effectively the women's version of [[UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball (American) football]]. As the former title implied, the premise was women's tackle football with the players clad in little more than [[{{Stripperiffic}} bikini clothing and padding]]. Women and feminists were alienated by many aspects of the league, notably the sexist clothing they ''have'' to wear (in a few cases, teams were ''fined'' for players wearing ''too much'') as if to put {{Fanservice}} over athleticism. Even the men looking for such things were alienated as the protective gear negates any attractiveness the women accentuate, and many of the players were too muscular looking for the target male audience, as they were athletes ''first''. The league never found its niche and folded in 2019.[[note]]Kinda makes ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' gag on the "Horrible Premise" more meta, doesn't it?[[/note]]

* Creator/AndrewLloydWebber's ''[[Theatre/CinderellaLloydWebber Bad Cinderella]]'' initially got good press when it premiered it London, but as the production moved closer to appearing on Broadway bad word-of-mouth concerning about the story started circling the internet. A semi-modern retelling of ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'', Lloyd Webber wrote Cinderella as a {{Jerkass}}, openly defiant of her stepfamily and already friends with the prince, thus negating the entire premise of the story. No one was interested in seeing a Cinderella whose only problem was her neurotic hang-ups slathered in TotallyRadical, and when the show premiered on Broadway it only lasted a few months before closing.

* Creator/AndrewLloydWebber's ''Bad Cinderella'' initially got good press when it premiered it London, but as the production moved closer to appearing on Broadway bad word-of-mouth concerning about the story started circling the internet. A semi-modern retelling of ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'', Lloyd Webber wrote Cinderella as a {{Jerkass}}, openly defiant of her stepfamily and already friends with the prince, thus negating the entire premise of the story. No one was interested in seeing a Cinderella whose only problem was her neurotic hang-ups slathered in TotallyRadical, and when the show premiered on Broadway it only lasted a few months before closing.

* ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' is about a world where only about 10% of the population is male, and this leads to polygamy. Already a rather odd premise, since polygamy is a controversial idea in the west. It gets even worse when you add in the concept of marrying ''children'' (married in name only due to the weird way the group marriages work, but if someone hears only the vague premise...).
* ''Literature/{{Bumped}}'' is a young adult novel about a dystopian future where a virus has made everyone over the age of 18 infertile and reliant on teenage girls as surrogate mothers. People were {{squick}}ed out by the TeenPregnancy, while readers who do want to read about it criticized the book for exploiting a serious problem in society for shock value.
* ''Literature/CaptivePrince'': The story follows a hunky, dark skinned prince that is turned into a SexSlave for the blonde, fair-skinned prince of an enemy nation, which made some people uncomfortable, especially since the story would follow their love story, but the two spend the entirety of the first novel of the trilogy hating each other.

* ''Public Assistance'' is a ''Monopoly''-esque game that satirizes welfare programs. Even putting aside the politics involved, a board game about welfare programs doesn't sound interesting.

* ''Public Assistance'' is a ''Monopoly''-esque game that satirizes welfare programs. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Even putting aside the politics involved]], a board game about welfare programs doesn't sound interesting.

* ''Public Assistance'' is a ''Monopoly''-esque game that satirizes welfare programs. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Even putting the politics involved]], a board game about welfare programs doesn't sound interesting.

** ''[[Toys/LegoVidiyo VIDIYO]]'' was an unusual example for LEGO where in terms of ''thematic'' premise -- a music-based theme featuring characters and sets combining different musical genres with quirky visual motifs (a popstar with a candy motif, a electronic DJ with an alien motif, metal musicians with monsters, etc.) -- it's generally well-liked, with its sets and [[Toys/LEGOMinifigures minifigures]] going for decent prices on the secondary market. However, ''VIDIYO'' became a massive commercial flop due to its ''functional'' premise, where the toys were built for a supplementary app based on creating music videos and dance clips à la Website/TikTok, with certain tiles included in the line allowing for AugmentedReality integration. That last feature made ''VIDIYO'' sets expensive on retail even for LEGO, where the most common "[=BeatBoxes=]" cost $20 for around 70 pieces, one of the most lopsided price-per-piece ratios in the history of LEGO, and most of the pieces are just 2x2 printed tiles, with the rest of the build effectively being just a lightly-decorated carrying case. When combined with the app being its own dedicated platform with no means of exporting videos (meaning one can't record and share videos on other social media sites), the line was widely dismissed as an overpriced novelty that didn't have much of a substantial draw to begin with.

* ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' is about a world where only about 10% of the population is male, and this leads to polygamy. Already a rather odd premise, not to mention the fact that polygamy is a rather controversial idea in the west. It gets even worse when you add in the concept of marrying ''children'' (married in name only due to the weird way the group marriages work, but if someone hears only the vague premise...).

* ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' is about a world where only about 10% of the population is male, and this leads to polygamy. Already a rather odd premise, not to mention the fact that polygamy is a rather controversial idea in the west. Worse yet, the cover and advertising were apparently designed to appeal to a mainstream romance audience, who likely won't like the book ''at all'' as it's more of a thriller.

* NXT Season 3 on paper seemed like it could be a good idea - a season of female rookies from WWE's developmental system competing for a chance at the main roster. However, the concept was flawed from the beginning when WWE's choice of contestants included only one trained wrestler from the indies in Wrestling/AJLee and, while some of the homegrown developmental talent were already quite good for their amount of time training - {{Wrestling/Naomi}} was already on the same skill level as AJ, and {{Wrestling/Aksana}} and [[Wrestling/KarleePerez Maxine]] could have a good match with the right opponent - rookies included Jamie Keyes, who was literally a ring announcer forced into the wrestling role and didn't have any experience beyond basic holds and pins. The planned WrestlingMonster Aloisa (Isis the Amazon from the indies) was dropped from the contest before the first episode and replaced with {{Wrestling/Kaitlyn}}, who had only a few weeks of training and had her first ever match there on television (although she too would prove quite good for her inexperience if she had the right opponent). The choice of mentors for the rookies contrasted heavily with the prominent superstars who had done so on the main roster and didn't even have top players in the women's division - instead the likes of Primo and Goldust, who'd had minimal presence on TV, and lesser Divas like Wrestling/KellyKelly and the Wrestling/BellaTwins, with only Wrestling/AliciaFox (a former Divas' Champion) and Wrestling/VickieGuerrero (an over heel manager) being notable. The greenness of most of the rookies resulted in several matches that were full of botches, including a match between Kaitlyn and Maxine so terrible that Michael Cole got up from the commentary booth to take a phone call in the middle of it. WWE also treated the show like a joke, with silly segments like dance-offs, Halloween costume contests and mechanical bull riding that placed the season heavily into the GirlShowGhetto. Ratings plummeted every week until it was moved to WWE.com after a few episodes, and the finale was a debacle where the extremely green Kaitlyn was chosen as the winner over Naomi.

** The failure of ''Ride/JourneyIntoImagination'''s second incarnation, ''Journey into YOUR Imagination'' can be attributed to this. Beyond the absence of the fan-favorites Figment and Dreamfinder (though Figment would receive a couple of small cameos), the second version would shift away from the ride's original whimsical premise about the wonders of imagination in favor of a more scientific-oriented story starring Dr. Nigel Channing, who constantly talks down to the riders and treats them as if they're [[ViewersAreMorons unimaginative idiots]] throughout the entire ride. In short, it failed to appeal to longtime fans by lacking the elements that made the original attraction so beloved, while also turning off more casual riders thanks to its sterile and condescending plot that had little to do with imagination, and Nigel Channing being less likable or endearing compared to Dreamfinder and Figment (and less marketable to boot). Due to the swift backlash it received, Disney would shut down the attraction only two years after its opening (making it one of the shortest lived attractions in the parks) and replace it with the third and current incarnation (which brings back a few elements from the original incarnation, such as Figment and the theme song "One Little Spark"), with the second incarnation going down in infamy as one of Disney's worst ideas.

* The Legends (formerly ''Lingerie'') Football League, which is effectively the women's version of [[UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball (American) football]]. As the former title implied, the premise was women's tackle football with the players clad in little more than [[{{Stripperiffic}} bikini clothing and padding]]. Women and feminists were alienated by many aspects of the league, notably the sexist clothing they ''have'' to wear (in a few cases, teams were ''fined'' for players wearing ''too much'') as if to put {{Fanservice}} over athleticism. Even the men looking for such things were alienated as the protective gear negates any attractiveness the women accentuate, and many of the players would too muscular looking for the target male audience, as they were athletes ''first''. The league never found its niche and folded in 2019.[[note]]Kinda makes ''Franchise/TheSimpsons'' gag on the "Horrible Premise" more meta, doesn't it?[[/note]]

* WebVideo/{{Jontron}} feels this way about a lot of the various ''Franchise/{{Barbie}}'' games he reviews. He finds them to be far too focused on fashion, which simply is nearly unworkable as the main premise of a video game and would even drive away Barbie's target audience since they could just as easily do that with the dolls. Notably, the only one he actually finds decent is ''Barbie: Magic Genie Adventure'', because said game averts this and is a normal fantasy action-adventure game with Barbie characters:
--> '''Jontron (on ''Barbie'' by Creator/{{Epyx}}):''' So this game can be wholly summed up as "getting ready for a date with Ken!" Alright, Ken you're creepy, Barbie you need to stand up for yourself more, and if I was a small girl I'd probably never touch video games again after this!
--> '''Jontron (on ''Barbie: Magic Genie Adventure''):''' Believe it or not this one's actually pretty good. You fly around on your magic carpet through mazes while collecting items and solving puzzles. All of this to restore your friend's magical powers. [[SarcasmMode But something feels off... something's not right.]] No one's told me to change my dress or get ready for a date with Ken yet!
* During WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd's ''12 Days of Shitsmas'' he feels this way about ''[[Creator/MaryKateAndAshleyOlsen Mary-Kate and Ashley Get A Clue]]'' for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor. Though he admits the game actually isn't that bad, he feels fans of the puzzle-game genre would be alienated by it starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, while fans of the twins would be alienated by the game's in-depth puzzle mechanics. Notably the game was originally to be a ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' video game, before being retooled into a ''Literature/MayaTheBee'' game, which was then reskinned with Mary-Kate and Ashley, without ever ''once'' changing the actual gameplay mechanics, it's evident the developers had absolutely no clue who the game was supposed to appeal to either.

[[quoteright:174:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/horrible_premise_3.png]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:174:We don't know what stinks more: the concept or his diaper.]]-]

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerber_Singles Gerber Singles]] were jarred ready-to-eat foods made by Gerber (the baby food company), who believed that there was a market for ready-to-eat foods similar to baby food (and because their market research showed that 10% of all baby food was consumed by adults). Unsurprisingly, this product flopped because of the marketing campaign came off as condescending and shameful (their two slogans were "Look at you! All grown up!" and "Eat this when you're alone"). And that's not getting into the unappealing appearance and texture of the meals.

[[quoteright:244:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/horrible_premise_4.png]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:244:We don't know what stinks more: the concept or his diaper.]]-]

** Problem #1 is the basic concept, a show featuring the stars of yesterday, which would have been the 70s and 80s. Nostalgia acts work best when a genre of entertainment is [[AudienceAlienatingEra in decline]], which was definitely '''not''' the case in wrestling in 1999. Who wants to see the seniors tour when you've got Wrestling/SteveAustin, Wrestling/MickFoley, and [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] on [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} one show]], Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}, the Wrestling/NewWorldOrder, and Wrestling/{{Sting}} on the [[Wrestling/{{WCW}} the other show]]?

** End result: [[EpicFail Only 29,000 PPV buys (well short of the projection of 50,000 buys) and one of the most embarrassing wrestling shows the world has ever seen]]. To this day it's still considered the worst wrestling PPV ever (and that covers ''a lot'' of ground) and plans for future ''HOW'' events were [[StillbornFranchise immediately shelved]] once the buyrate figure came in. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbojwXXw--o See for yourself]], but be warned, it's not pretty.

-->--'''Elliot Gough''', on Creator/TomSka's idea of ''Death Row Chicks'', ''WebVideo/TryHards''.

[[quoteright:245:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/horrible_premise_4.png]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:245:We don't know what stinks more: the concept or his diaper.]]-]

[[quoteright:174:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/horrible_premise_3.png]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:174:We don't know what stinks more: the concept or his diaper.]]-]

Some shows never stood a chance. Not necessarily because they're bad, but because the very concept scared people away. [[YouKnowWhatTheySay They say]] that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but sometimes, that’s easier said than done. This is the [[TitleDrop Audience-Alienating Premise]]: an idea that could be cool and could even make a fantastic show, book, movie, video game or comic, and may very well have, but which instead dooms the work from the very start due to the mere concept being a difficult sell. Sadly, due to how it "sounds", many people won't try it out.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerber_Singles Gerber Singles]] were jarred ready-to-eat foods made by Gerber (the baby food company), who believed that there was a market for ready-to-eat foods similar to baby food (and because their market research showed that 10% of all baby food was consumed by adults). Unsurprisingly, this product flopped because of the marketing campaign came off as condescending and shameful (their two slogans were "Look at you! All grown up!" and "Eat this when you’re alone"). And that's not getting into the unappealing appearance and texture of the meals.

* ''WebVideo/DemoReel'' was Creator/DougWalker trying to replace [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic the comedic]] VideoReviewShow that made him famous with a comedy/drama that made genuine efforts to be serious. This naturally alienated most of his existing fans, who rejected the heavy, overly serious and pretentious storylines that also included his previous humor except without the Nostalgia Critic for people to latch onto. Doug eventually appeased old viewers by canning ''Demo Reel'' and reviving his past show instead, incorporating the show's existence as part of the Critic’s lore.

** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS23E18BewareMyCheatingBart Beware My Cheating Bart]]" has a movie literally titled ''[[OurProductSucks Horrible Premise]]'' being shown at the Springfield Mall. We never find out what this “Horrible Premise” is exactly, but it’s apparently about an UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball player (portrayed by [[TheAhnold Rainier Wolfcastle]]) wearing nothing but a helmet and a diaper.

%%** ''Theatre/PacificOvertures'': Japan opening itself up to the encroaching Western world in the 19th century, with staging inspired by Kabuki theater (an all-male cast, etc.).

* Creator/AndrewLloydWebber's ''Bad Cinderella'' initially got good press when it premiered it London, but as the production moved closer to appearing on Broadway bad word-of-mouth concerning about the story started circling the internet. A semi-modern retelling of ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'', Lloyd Webber wrote Cinderella as a {{Jerkass}}, openly defiant of her stepfamily and already friends with the prince, thus negating the entire premise of the story. No one was interested in seeing a Cinderella whose only problem was her neurotic hang-ups slathered in TotallyRadical, and when the show premiered on Broadway it only lasted a few months before closing.

* [[https://lethbridgenewsnow.com/2021/07/28/the-truth-behind-the-failure-of-colgate-beef-lasagna/ Colgate Kitchen Entrees]] were pre-packaged meals made by Colgate in the 1960s and marketed in Madison, Wisconsin. They were complete failures as the only two available options were freeze-dried chicken and crabmeat and of course, the fact that Colgate was better known for ''toothpaste''.