Ratings are broken. Honestly, if you open IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes right now and see an 8 show rating, you probably think you’ve found the next Breaking Bad. But you haven't. Not necessarily. The way we rate television has shifted so violently in the last few years that a score of 8.0 doesn't mean what it did in 2015.
It’s confusing.
Back in the day, an 8 was prestigious. It was reserved for the heavy hitters—the Sopranos of the world. Now? You’ll see a mid-tier Netflix rom-com or a generic procedural hitting those same numbers within forty-eight hours of release. We’re living in an era of massive "rating inflation," where anything below a 7 is considered unwatchable garbage and anything above an 8 is often just the result of a very loud, very dedicated fanbase.
The Psychology Behind the 8 Show Rating
Why 8? It’s the sweet spot.
Psychologically, humans view a 7.5 as "fine" and a 9.0 as "masterpiece." The 8 show rating sits right in that comfortable pocket where a viewer feels like they aren't wasting their time, but they aren't expecting their life to be changed either. It's the "safe" recommendation.
But here is the kicker: the way these numbers are calculated is inherently flawed. Most people don't use the full scale. Nobody rates a show a 4. If they don't like it, they give it a 1. If they love it, they give it a 10. This binary behavior pushes the average toward the middle-high range.
Look at the data.
On IMDb, the distribution of scores is heavily weighted toward the 7.0 to 8.5 range. This means the difference between a "good" show and a "legendary" show is often just 0.4 points. That is a razor-thin margin. You've got shows like The Wire sitting at a 9.3, while some seasonal anime that aired last Tuesday might briefly touch an 8.9 because five thousand superfans rushed the polls.
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Why Some Great Shows Get Stuck at a 7.9
Timing is everything.
If a show starts slow, it’s doomed to never hit that elusive 8 show rating. People drop off after two episodes and leave a mediocre review. They never see the incredible payoff in the season finale. Meanwhile, a show with a killer pilot will skyrocket to an 8.5, and even if the rest of the season is mediocre, the early momentum carries the average.
It's basically a popularity contest disguised as a meritocracy.
We also have to talk about "review bombing." It’s a real thing. Sometimes a show is genuinely fantastic, but it gets hit with thousands of one-star reviews because of a casting choice or a political stance. This drags a potential 8.4 down to a 6.2 in a matter of hours. On the flip side, "fan-voting" can artificially inflate a show. Marvel and Star Wars properties often debut with massive scores that slowly decay over six months as the "normal" people finally get around to watching and realize the show was just... okay.
The "Genre Bias" in TV Scores
Not all eights are created equal.
An 8.1 in the "Comedy" category is often much harder to achieve than an 8.1 in "True Crime." Why? Because humor is subjective. If a joke doesn't land for you, you're annoyed. But a thriller? As long as it keeps you anxious, you’ll probably give it a high score.
- Sci-Fi and Fantasy: These fans are loyal. They vote high. An 8.0 here might just mean "it looked cool."
- Documentaries: These almost always have higher averages. People feel bad giving a "boring" rating to a tragic real-life story.
- Sitcoms: These are the hardest to rank. Seinfeld and Friends are outliers. Most modern sitcoms struggle to stay above a 7.5 because the "cringe" factor is a high barrier to entry.
How to Actually Use Ratings Without Getting Fooled
Stop looking at the number. Start looking at the count.
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If a show has an 8 show rating but only 1,200 reviews, ignore it. That’s just the cast’s extended families and a few hardcore fans. You need a sample size of at least 10,000 to 20,000 before that number starts to mean anything real. Even then, you should check the "Episode Ratings."
This is the secret pro-tip.
Go to the episode list. If the series has an 8.2 overall, but the individual episodes are all 7.5 except for one 9.5 finale, you’re in for a slog. You want consistency. A show where every episode is an 8.0 is infinitely better than a show that peaks once and snoozes for the rest of the season.
There's also the "Recency Bias."
New shows always rank higher. It’s a fact. The people who watch a show the day it drops are the enthusiasts. They want to love it. They need to love it to justify their excitement. If you want a real assessment of a show’s quality, wait six months. If it’s still holding an 8 show rating after the hype has died and the "regular" viewers have weighed in, then you’ve likely found something worth your time.
The Rotten Tomatoes Problem
We can't talk about ratings without mentioning the Tomatometer. It is the most misunderstood metric in entertainment. A "90%" on Rotten Tomatoes does not mean the show is a 9/10. It just means 90% of critics gave it at least a 6/10.
Think about that.
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A show could be perfectly "mild" and get a 100% score because nobody hated it. It’s the "C-average" that looks like an A+. This is why you see shows with a 95% critic score and a 7.2 IMDb score. The critics thought it was "fine/passable," but the audience thought it was "just okay."
You have to triangulate.
- Check IMDb for the general audience "vibe."
- Check Metacritic for the "prestige" factor (critics there actually give weighted scores).
- Check Reddit for the "is this actually worth my Sunday night" factor.
Trusting Your Own Taste Over the Crowd
At the end of the day, an 8 show rating is just a suggestion. There are masterpieces sitting at a 6.5 because they were too weird, too slow, or too ahead of their time. The Leftovers struggled with ratings early on. Parks and Recreation had a rocky first season that dragged its lifetime average down.
Don't let a number dictate your culture.
The best way to find your next favorite show isn't by sorting by "Top Rated." It's by finding a specific critic or a friend whose taste matches yours. If they love a "7.2" show, you probably will too. The "8" is just a safe harbor for the masses; the real gems are usually hiding in the high sevens, waiting for someone to actually pay attention.
How to Evaluate Your Next Binge
To get a true sense of whether a show is worth the time, follow these steps instead of just glancing at the header score:
- Verify the Review Volume: Ensure there are at least 15,000 ratings to filter out early-access bias and fan brigades.
- Scan the Rating Distribution: Look at the bar chart on IMDb. If there is a massive spike at "10" and another at "1," the show is likely a victim of a cultural tug-of-war. If the curve is a natural bell shape peaking at 8, the rating is likely honest.
- Examine the "Trend Line": Use tools like IMDb's episode rating charts to see if the show gets better as it goes. A rising line indicates a show that rewards viewers; a falling line means it started strong but ran out of ideas.
- Ignore the 100% Club: On Rotten Tomatoes, look for the "Average Rating" (usually a smaller number like 7.1/10) rather than the big red tomato percentage. The percentage is just a consensus of "not bad," whereas the average rating tells you the actual intensity of the praise.