A month ago, we noticed an awful lot of folks were up in arms about a television show that we hadn’t even heard about until, well, a month ago.
It’s called The Terminal List, and it’s a series so poorly reviewed (it stands at 40% on RottenTomatoes) that right-wingers decided it must be great. After all, why would the perceived liberal media elite trash something unless it went against their woke values?
As a refresher: The Terminal List is an Amazon Prime Video original series based on a novel of the same name from former Navy SEAL sniper Jack Carr. Making a clear play at Tom Clancy’s bread-and-butter, the series follows a SEAL down a conspiracy rabbit hole as he attempts to figure out who was behind a deadly ambush on his platoon. In other words, it’s a “military vanity project,” as Variety puts it.
Top-lining the series is Chris “The Internet’s Least Favorite Chris” Pratt. Despite his ties to an anti-LGBTQ Christian church and highly questionable social media follows, Pratt is undoubtedly an A-list star, so perhaps it’s not too surprising to hear that the series has brought in big viewership numbers for its streaming home.
In fact, some are calling it “the new Yellowstone“—a.k.a. a show that’s apparently a ratings bonanza even if no one you know watches it. Per a report from Amazon, The Terminal List accrued 1.6 billion minutes of streaming in its first week, which sure does sound like a big number.
Over the weekend, Pratt shared a screenshot of a Daily Mail article touting the stat to his Instagram Story. In it, the notoriously conservative propaganda rag says The Terminal List‘s success “defies woke critics scathing reviews,” so it’s seems pretty clear where Pratt lands in all of this. It’s not just about the success of the show in spite of negative reviews—it’s about the success of the show in spite of what progressive voices have to say about it.
In a following post, he doubled down, employing a two-decade old Austin Powers quote to riff on the streaming numbers: “One point six BILLLLLLLION minutes.”
Look, we don’t begrudge Pratt for touting his show’s success or for referencing Dr. Evil (the Austin Powers movies are still funny!), but we are weary of his embrace of The Terminal List as some sort of idealogical victory for “real America”—or “those in the arena,” as writer Jack Carr put it.
In classically hyperbolic fashion, The New York Post wrote up the whole ordeal, and their intentionally sensational choice of words (“Chris Pratt ripped into trolls…” Did he?) has spurred further quibbling about the series that we find terminally boring.
Here’s what Twitter has to say:
Chris Pratt shares stuff like this and wonders why people don’t like him lmao pic.twitter.com/qsINJJ4AtO
— The Kavernacle (@TheKavernacle) August 7, 2022
Chris Pratt now linking articles from the fucking Daily Mail that scream about "woke critics." So I hope we can, once and for all, quite pretending he's not a bigoted garbage human.
(He always was, and some of us knew that you can judge a "Christian" by the church they go to.)
— Anna *Fuck the 2nd Amendment* Fragmin (@annafragmin) August 8, 2022
Chris Pratt later this week: "why doesn't anybody like me??? Marvel Bros- i need you to vouch for me again; people are being mean to me for no reason" https://t.co/omGUfegW2X
— naomi, trans rights activist ????? ?? (@H0NEYRIVER) August 8, 2022
Chris Pratt finally achieves his final form as MAGA chud poster boy. https://t.co/hDYfBAzMvT
— Kaos Agent ? (@AgentSiegfried) August 8, 2022
chris pratt says just three percent of critics trashed his show. google chris pratt and 3%er to find out about ethics in media criticism https://t.co/GYkGNpqrPP
— endora bullshit (@collectdust) August 8, 2022
Fahd
In reference to the Daily Mail article, the right-wing British and Australian media, not really understanding the connotations of the word in American culture, seem to have taken up the word “woke” as a pejorative. They seem to be using it as a code word “woke” for “non-racist”, “non-homophobic”, or “non-climate-change-denying”, etc. In other words, anyone who isn’t the “right” type of right-wing politician or right-wing media consumer is “woke”. Example sentence. Sunak is the woke candidate for conservative party leadership. Truss is not. It’s ridiculous and troubling that such lousy, simplistic journalism proliferates.
bachy
Considering that the trolls have been relentlessly ripping into Chris Pratt, who can blame him for flipping the bird?
Just letting ya know I was raised in the Catholic church and follow some people on IG who are NOT GAY {gasp} and whose politics are unknown to me. Does that make me eligible for the Queerty/Twitter vilification campaign?
Persian_Prince
YES
Apolodorus
You’re not like other girls. You’re a cool girl ?
Cam
Pratt belongs to an anti-LGBT hate group, his brother is a carver and is pictured selling woodcarvings with the rac-ist 3 percenter symbol.
But it’s cute you’re trying to pretend that Pratt is purposely in these groups.
Joshua333
He supports homophobic people and LGBTQ+ marvel fans don’t like that but sure, the straight white man with lots of money is the oppressed one here.
monty clift
you’re so desperate to be a victim lmao
Vince
I didn’t know that Cam. Yeah, his brother is an extreme far right nut. Then again so is mine.
I don’t think the apple falls too far from the tree though. My guess Chris believes in the same shit. Just very careful to keep it on the down low.
bachy
Pratt has never criticized the gay community. He may not be an expert on the latest gay/transgender political theory, but why TF should he be? I respect electrical engineers, but there are important issues in electrical engineering I know nothing about. Why? Because I am not a f****** electrical engineer and I don’t give a sht about electrical engineering.
Pratt has written on IG: “I am a man who believes that everyone is entitled to love who they want free from the judgement of their fellow man. No church defines me or my life, and I am not a spokesman for any church or any group of people.”
Is that not enough for the High Wokerati? What do we require him to do; suck a D? I don’t like to see another American burned at the stake for “guesses” and “speculation” from a howling mob.
Scapegoating is ugly. Anyone who has ever been scapegoated should know better than to behave like this.
Cam
@bachy
Let’s try that another way. Guy who belongs to the KKK says he doesn’t have a problem with Black people. hmmm, doesn’t work does it?
Pratt belongs to an anti-LGBTQ group, and when it got attention he at first refused to comment, after the backlash grew he came out with a vague comment and refused to call out his church, he FIRST claimed the church was NOT homophobic, a complete lie.
But by all means, keep trying to make the bigot the victim.
bachy
Cam, you seem to be possessed by the resurgence of the kind of paranoid, angry blaming mania that led to women being burned at the stake in 17th c. Salem. No one – not even the gay men and women commenting on Queerty – will ever meet such stringent expectations of eternal, unblemished, woke perfection.
One thing that helps me to resist that particular emotional vortex is a slogan from the 12-step program:
Progress, not Perfection.
Progress is slow, and real. Perfection is instantaneous and delusional.
Cut people some slack. You’ll find it makes allies, not enemies. And we do need allies, don’t you think?
LeBlevsez
bachy –
“…free from the judgement of their fellow man.” This sounds like the standard avoidance tactic used by religious bigots. They claim not to judge because their deity will do it for them.
As for the “paranoid, angry blaming mania” you decried: what’s your opinion of ‘Drag Queen Story Hour’ again?
barryaksarben
Pratt is a lying pig and wants everyone to like him like they did Hitler
Ronbo
Yes, Queerty has an “enemies list” and if you don’t follow orders and hate on demand, like a good little nazi, you are on their list. Of course, according to editor Cam, you are just one sock puppet of the 4,288 other screenames who is just one person who refuse to be part of the “hate or be hated” clique.
All because an actor who is extremely popular attended a church service? Unbunce your undies and try to understand that people can be both religious and have ideas OTHER than what a church preaches.
Remember that Hillary Clinton campaigned for her husband and ran for her senate seat repeatedly stating “Marriage will ALWAYS be between one man and one woman.” What did Pratt say that was even half as nasty and hateful?
Manray
It started.out to be enjoyable…but then just became downright sad.
I didn’t even watch the ending, had lost interest long before that.
Cam
Pratt is just a slightly more popular Kirk Cameron.
daedstarr
If by slightly you mean demonstrably. You want him to be not popular, but that’s just not the case.
monty clift
I hope his fat comes back to haunt him.
alexpof
Yellowston is a show everybody i know watches, and Chriss Pratt is only hated by this site everybody else loves him
Cam
LOL!!! If you are going to switch screenames to come in to defend a right winger, try to lie a little bit better.
The director of Guardians of the Galaxy had to come out to try to defend continuing to cast Pratt. If it was just this site attacking him that wouldn’t have been necessary. Obviously the backlash to his supporting bigotry has gotten huge.
Ronbo
Cam, What about him is “right winger”? The vast majority of Religions support LGBTQ individuals – even though their ancient doctrine can be misread to say that. Pratt has not said anything – except to address the haters fostered here. Making an ‘enemies list’ only isolates us from the vast majority of people who do support us.
We don’t call Cam a killer because John Wayne Gacy was gay do we? Let’s stop with the bigotry by association and try to build bridges rather than burning down the ones built with compassion and acceptance.
Winsocki
The writer of this article is a hack. So many twisted ‘facts’. First “Yellowstone” is populare with all my liberal woke friends and even my Trump/GOP hating mother and she is 92. I like The Daily Mail and read articles all the time. Chris Pratt is popular in the Marcel Universe with my Woke Friends. I do not know what “woke” means when it is the opposite of “sleepy head”. The hatred of Chris Pratt is unseemly. Fact, some people who have total opposite views culturally and politically I know are very nice people. Humans are weird like that.
johncp56
This woke word used against anyone liberal kills me, when it is spewed out the mouths of the likes Of FOX news and Alex Jones and the rest of the KKK losers, I hope i,m woke
Essie
Luckily, I canceled Amazon Prime so I can’t contribute to this conversation.
rockyroo
I did not know about Pratt’s politics until all the fuss about this show. I had watched it before all the fuss and found it to be just another spy show, but not original. I did make it through the first episode but found it boring and trite. I won’t be watching any more and advise, to all viewers, not to waste too much time trying to sit through it.
Ronbo
I agree completely. Chase movies and comic book movies are usually not my cup of tea. I want something that feels real, has actual three-dimentional charactes – not simply cut-out charactures.
Which bring me to these one-dimentional Pratt attacks… what does our community demand more than “I am a man who believes that everyone is entitled to love who they want free from the judgement of their fellow man. No church defines me or my life, and I am not a spokesman for any church or any group of people.”
PS – I’ve attended a catholic service or two with my husband and you should note that I am not the Pope. I never heard an anti-gay, anti-lesbian or anti-trans comment in their services.
We need to understand that this guilt by association is something we fought against while building our allies in the 1970’s and 80’s. Attacking supportive people who are actual supporters because of our hatred of religion – is similar to how the bigots attacked our supporters when they came to accept the LGBTQ community. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
bachy
I am not a Pratt fan. I thought he was funny in Guardians of the Galaxy, but one of his films is quite enough for me. He’s essentially the same character in all his movies, which can get boring.
What I cannot accept are these virulent Twitter Hate Campaigns based on nothing more than conjecture. Mob rule and the thirst for scapegoating are the ugliest of human instincts. To join the howling mob confers a kind of imaginary power, but it degrades both one’s dignity and integrity.
Mob rule has been associated with reigns of terror throughout history; yet we have recently seen a ghastly, mindless resurgence of mob rule in many modern political and religious arena.
But an important feature of gay life is the embrace of individuality. It takes a strong-willed individual to think independently and resist the demagogic lure of the mob.
LeBlevsez
Ronbo –
Why does Pratt offer only a generic “not me”? A simple “I support you” or “I don’t believe in ‘conversion therapy’” would clear up any ambiguity. Until then, it is reasonable for people to refuse to buy tickets to his movies and even to call for boycotts. Free market and such.
You may not hear anti-gay and anti-trans sermons when you attend catholic services, but the Catholic and Mormon churches are two of the biggest financial supporters of anti-gay and anti-trans laws and lobbying. So your husband tithes for his, your and our oppression. Bravo.
bachy –
“Reigns of terror”? The thing about virtual mobs is they carry virtual torches and pitchforks. Not a whole lot of terror there. I’m so glad you’re not trying to foment “paranoid, angry blaming mania.”
Ronbo
If you need Pratt’s “support”, please accept my sympathies – your dignity and self-respect must be in the toilet. He’s an actor, dude.
Now, please show me the list of all the other actors who have not met your demands. I’m sure that Queerty extremists can find time to start another enemies list; they are no longer spending time building bridges of compassion and acceptance.
“I am a man who believes that everyone is entitled to love who they want free from the judgement of their fellow man. No church defines me or my life, and I am not a spokesman for any church or any group of people.” “How hateful,” scream the people he just viciously attacked (?!?) with compassion and acceptance.
LeBlevsez
Okay Ronbo. I phrased that poorly. I was however talking about a public statement. So let it read “I support your community in its work toward equal protection and equal rights.” But since he’s offered only the most generic, non-committal statement, it’s really a moot point. If he’s a friend to Queers, a brief statement of support is very simple. Easy peasy.
“…[B]uilding bridges of compassion and acceptance.” I notice you require that of the LGBTQ communities but not of religious communities. What about that tithing issue?
Weeks79
The Terminal List: Critics who mean absolutely nothing rate it at 39% and the Audience score 95%…the only score that matters. The woke mob makes up maybe 30% of the population and for years now Hollywood has catered to woke idiocy….but Hollywood has lost billions to it…Disney over billion, Wb over 2 billion…there know business on the planet that ignores those type of losses. The woke mob is not now nor has it every been the majority…the most vocal…but again Hollywood is losing billions….the executives who run are starting say @#$% you lunatics. If I was running Disney WB I would fire every single one the woke idiots who pretty much turned them into a dumpster fire…as for Chris Pratt…so what, The woke mob attacks anyone who thinks different than them…but were 70%, the power you thought you was imaginary. When us misogynists, sexist, racist bigoted toxic fandom stopped spending our money and two of the biggest names in Hollywood is loosing billions lol….and there starting to drop you all..2 maybe 3 years at most. All we had to do was spending our money…were the @#$%@#$ the majority who spends money without us Hollywood folds…it was only a matter of time