''Scare PewDiePie'' (stylized in all caps) is an American

comedy horror Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary genre, literary, television genre, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three ty ...

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...

web series that stars Swedish YouTube personality Felix Kjellberg, known professionally as PewDiePie. The series was produced by Maker Studios (now Disney Digital Network) and Skybound Entertainment, with

Robert Kirkman Robert Kirkman (; born November 30, 1978)Löchel, Ingo"The Walking Dead: Die Comic-Serie – Robert Kirkman" Zauberspiegel. Retrieved February 17, 2013. is an American comic book writer, screenwriter and television producer. He is best known ...

serving as executive producer, and premiered on February 10, 2016 exclusively for YouTube Red (now called YouTube Premium), the paid subscription arm of

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. Episodes feature PewDiePie exploring sets designed and based on

horror video games Survival horror is a Video game genre, subgenre of Survival game, survival of the players as the game tries to frighten them with either horror graphics or scary ambience. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel l ...

that he played and commented over on his

YouTube channel YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most v ...

. Ten episodes were produced and filmed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

during September 2015. A second season, titled ''Scare PewDiePie: Multiplayer'', was set to be released on March 9, 2017, but the show was cancelled before its release due to scandals involving PewDiePie.

Plot

In the series, PewDiePie encounters terrifying situations and sets inspired by his favorite survival horror video games he previously played on his YouTube channel. In some episodes, he is joined by other YouTubers, who follow and help him, including Mark Fischbach (

Markiplier Mark Edward Fischbach ( ; born June 28, 1989), also known as Markiplier, is an American YouTuber. Originally from Honolulu, Hawaii, he began his career in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is currently based in Los Angeles, California. In addition to uplo ...

), Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla of

Smosh Smosh is an American YouTube sketch comedy- improv collective founded by Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox. In 2002, Padilla created a website named "smosh.com" for making Flash animations, and he was later joined by Hecox. They began to post vide ...

, Arin Hanson of the

Game Grumps ''Game Grumps'' is an American Let's Play web series hosted by Arin Hanson and Dan Avidan. Created in 2012 by co-hosts Hanson and JonTron, Jon Jafari, the series centers around its hosts playing video games. After Jafari left the show in 2013 to f ...

, and Matthew Patrick ( MatPat).

Production

Development

In September 2015, PewDiePie announced through a vlog that he was working with a camera crew to shoot a show on location in

. At the time, PewDiePie did not reveal whether it was to be shot for a television or online audience, confirming that he could not speak too much about the show's details at the time. In October 2015,

announced YouTube Red, its paid subscription service that would offer subscribers an ad-free experience and the ability to download videos for offline viewing. It was announced that the service would be launching original content exclusive to YouTube Red subscribers in 2016. This original content was announced to include ''Scare PewDiePie'', the aforementioned series hinted at by PewDiePie. Skybound Entertainment and Maker Studios were announced as producers of the show. After the series was announced, PewDiePie spoke about his experience shooting the series, stating, "Shooting a show like this in a completely new format has been so much fun," and adding, "we just wrapped shooting but I still feel unsure every day if I'm safe or not from another scare." During a press release, Skybound's co-founder,

, stated, "Working with Felix, YouTube, and Maker Studios on this venture has been creatively exhilarating and just plain fun. I trust audiences will love the show as much as we loved creating it."

Renewal and cancellation

On June 23, 2016, YouTube announced that ''Scare PewDiePie'' would be renewed for a second season, to be titled ''Scare PewDiePie: Multiplayer'', in which PewDiePie would be joined by fellow YouTuber

jacksepticeye Seán William McLoughlin (born 7 February 1990), better known as Jacksepticeye, is an Irish YouTuber, best known for his vlogs and comedic Let's Play series. , his channel has over 15.7 billion views and 28.9 million subscribers, and is the mo ...

. However, on February 14, 2017, YouTube announced that ''Scare PewDiePie'' was cancelled following a series of anti-Semitic jokes made by Kjellberg on his YouTube channel. On March 14, 2017, PewDiePie released a comedic video that included a fake first episode of Scare PewDiePie: Season 2. Despite initially stoking online speculation that he would release the second season, PewDiePie confirmed in the video that this would be impossible for legal reasons. He did express regret that the season would not be seen by the public, saying, "It's a shame, it's a damn shame."

Episodes

Reception

The show was not well-received by critics, despite receiving support from viewers and PewDiePie fans. Erik Kain wrote for ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' that the seventh episode (the only episode offered for free to non-YouTube Red viewers) was "terrible." Despite calling PewDiePie "a hard worker" and "a charismatic presence onscreen," Kain suggested that the show was not good enough to justify paying for it, writing: "It's just... maybe if you're a PewDiePie fan you might enjoy it, but I'd rather watch that one Brazilian elevator prank over and over again than this. And I can watch that on YouTube without a $10/month subscription." Writing for '' Variety'', Brian Lowry said that the show "has a decidedly not-ready-for-primetime feel." Despite expressing optimism that YouTube Red would produce better content in the future, his review of the free episode was overwhelmingly negative, at one point reading: "Even with a relentless barrage of spooky sound effects and funky camera angles – and a creative pedigree that includes producers from '' The Walking Dead'' – it’s hard to imagine anything but the most committed bros (referring to PewDiePie fans) being anything but bored." When the show was initially released, some of PewDiePie’s fans felt upset that he had "sold out" by starring in a series produced by a corporation rather than himself.Popper, Ben
Can PewDiePie grow up without alienating his fans?
''The Verge,'' Retrieved July 26, 2019. However, when the series was cancelled, many fans rallied around PewDiePie and the show itself, feeling that the second season should have been released and that Kjellberg was being treated unfairly.

References

External links

*
Series playlist
on

* {{YouTube Premium 2016 American television series debuts 2016 American television series endings 2016 web series debuts 2016 web series endings Maker Studios videos PewDiePie Skybound Entertainment titles YouTube Premium original series