Even as fans wonder about upcoming seasons of 90 Day Fiance‘s spinoffs, others feel a little lost.

Recent seasons have brought wonderful, authentic couples. A recent fan-favorite pair, David and Sheila, stole viewers’ hearts.

But it’s not just that some of the other recurring cast members are toxic. The franchise itself keeps disappointing longtime fans.

There are a number of reasons for that.

There’s too much 90 Day Fiance

We’re not knocking the franchise as a whole. It’s a smash success for a reason.

But there are so many spinoffs. Some of them change names. Others have obnoxiously long titles. And the premises for several overlap excessively.

But the franchise seemingly expects people to commit hours and hours and hours out of their weeks … or miss out. Not even the MCU gives fans this kind of “homework.” Many find it overwhelming.

The rollout has been … weird

90 Day Fiance: The Other Way always comes out on Sundays. And usually with more or less a year between seasons.

Except for Season 5, which aired on Monday nights this summer. The full-length episodes made up a strangely truncated season.

Schedules change, of course. But this uneven (and unexplained) rollout made a lot of fans feel weirded and confused.

Just to be clear, there may be an explanation for that.

Between leaks about the cast and possible bad luck, not that much happened. This vestigial season may have been a necessity to bridge the gap between Seasons 4 and 6.

Also? COVID-19 is alive and well, unlike millions of its victims. The virus continues to disrupt filming and travel plans.

Production can be so tricky

We all know that producers ask the cast questions. Sometimes, they ask people questions again and again — until they get the perfect line to use in the show.

In some, rare cases, production actively suggests things. It’s not the same as “scripting” the show, but a prompted question can change people’s perception of the show.

We do want to be clear: the show is not fake. The couples are real (the fake ones faked their own relationships). And there’s no script. Producers tell one person what to say, and that’s beautiful Shaun Robinson.

Editing is where the real “magic” happens

Though casting these wacky, compelling people is the most important step, editing helps the show decide which people audiences love and which ones they hate.

Editing can rob a line or a fight of context. But often, the uses are more subtle.

For example, if you film people (in a stressful situation) for weeks or for months, you can make it look like they cry, or fight, or complain every single day. Or you can edit out most of those moments. Editing controls how much we see.

What’s with all of the misleads?

Whether it’s how much the show reveals (or doesn’t) or wildly dishonest promos, fans are catching on.

Those tricks that producers and editors use only work effectively when no one knows.

You want viewers latching onto the show. Heavy-handed “guidance” has people wondering what they’re not seeing.

Speaking of dishonesty, some couples ARE fake

It’s not “scammers” and we don’t mean production pairing people up. We mean catfishing.

We’ve seen promos for years that strongly suggest catfishing. Remember when everyone thought that Mahogany wasn’t real?

But there are actual instances of catfishing. Yolanda’s romance with Williams. And Tyray’s relationship with Carmella. It’s sad … and it’s not what the show’s about. Producers knew, in both cases, before they started filming.

It feels like the show has drifted from the core concept

Viewers would like to see a few more international love stories and fewer wannabe influencers.

And they’d also like to better understand who appears on which show.

For example, Kimberly and Usman appeared on 90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After? without even being married. Were they a last-minute substitution? Almost certainly. But it was a messy choice.

Similarly, fan-favorites Kenny and Armando were on 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way again this year.

That’s great … but they’re married.

Remember how Jenny and Sumit made the leap to Happily Ever After? from The Other Way? Why not Kenny and Armando? It feels like it’s just … arbitrary.

90 Day needs to be more responsible

On a much more serious note, this franchise has made reckless choices. We don’t just mean not thoroughly investigating people … we mean not updating fans on the truth.

There are viewers out there who have no idea why Geoffrey Paschel didn’t show up on his Tell All a few years ago.

Geoffrey is in prison where he belongs. Shortly before filming for the show, he brutally attacked and beat his then-fiance. TLC put this man on people’s screens. Viewers deserve to know what he really is.

Editors have also covered up bigotry

It gets worse than just not telling viewers potentially important information.

Earlier this year, the show actively covered up a bigoted exchange — skewing the meaning of a Tell All interaction.

Mahmoud said vicious, inexcusable things to and about fan-favorite Gabe Paboga. Without the context of that, some viewers mistakenly believed that Gabe had become disproportionately angry at him. He didn’t.

Even before the editing room …

A few years ago, terrible things — including a medical interaction and a sexual assault — happened to Stephanie Davison.

Producers kept filming her. According to Stephanie, they even pressured her to keep filming.

She was clearly in no state to make these decisions. The reality TV industry is in desperate need of regulations to prevent this sort of thing from happening.

Everybody loves villains, up to a point

Simply put, this franchise has allowed some of its worst villains to run amok and overstay their welcome.

We get it, Angela and Big Ed make headlines because they are fundamentally ridiculous people.

But they’re also awful.

A growing number of people express disgust at Angela and Ed’s recurring roles on TV.

Dealing with them — and their victims — “isn’t fun anymore.” And, for some viewers, the show isn’t fun anymore either.

That said … 90 Day Fiance ratings remain strong. Yes, they’ve alienated some fans. But they’ve gained new ones. It can’t last forever, but the show’s still doing well.

90 Day Fiance is Getting Too Toxic for Fans was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.