[Editor’s note: this list was originally published in 2023. It has since been updated to include new entries, including “Hurry Up Tomorrow.”]

When HBO’s “The Idol” premiered to a resounding “ugh, really?” from the general public in 2023, there was a specific label people were quick to apply to the series: vanity project. Who the show was a vanity project for depended on which creator was being complained about at the time. But haters of the instantly despised pop star erotic thriller were practically universal in their assessment that the show was an ego stroke for star The Weeknd and/or series director Sam Levinson: both of whom took their lashings over the course of the show’s five-episode run.

The pair clearly had sky high hopes for the series, to the point that it received a rare TV premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2023 before its broadcast debut in June. That was criticized by many as a deeply egotistical push, but its inclusion at the...