Like Fred and The Annoying Orange, actress and comedian Colleen Ballinger has built a YouTube empire on intentional, calculated irritation. Her signature character, a deluded and narcissistic would-be crooner called Miranda Sings, has been getting on people’s nerves since 2008 with her ego-driven ramblings and tuneless, nasal renditions of pop songs. And now, just like those other nerve-jangling comedy sensations, Ballinger’s creation has started to leapfrog to other media. The deliberately unhelpful book Self-Help, supposedly written by Miranda, was a best seller in 2015. What’s left but to give the character her own TV show? On October 14, Netflix will release the first season of Haters Back Off, an original comedy series built around Miranda.
Based on the trailer, Haters Back Off is exactly the series that Ballinger’s fans should have expected from her. It seems to function as a sort of origin story for the Miranda Sings character, giving more details about the world she blearily inhabits. As usual, Ballinger plays a young woman who is far too confident in her nonexistent singing talents, uploading videos of herself to YouTube and then being shocked when she receives negative comments about them. (In this trailer, Ballinger is shown massacring “Genie In A Bottle” by Christina Aguilera.) The supporting cast includes Steve Little from Eastbound & Down as Miranda’s uncle Jim, and Angela Kinsey of The Office as her worried mother. Viewers deciding whether or not to watch this series should see how long they last while watching the following music video. It’s just under two minutes.