Show Spoilers: The Official Guide To When People Can Publicly Discuss Crucial Details In Movies, TV

PublishedApril 13, 2023 10:08 AM EDT|UpdatedApril 13, 2023 10:08 AM EDT

You are missing out if you don't watch HBO's Succession - it's literally the best damn show that's come out in years.

But this past Sunday's Episode 3 of what will be the show's final season took things to a whole new level with its mixture of emotions and storytelling. It's hard to explain just how shook the episode left viewers unless you watch the show. It was crazy.

Immediately after it aired people wanted to just talk about it. So where did they go? Social media of course.

But with this came a debate that we need to finally put an end to:

When is the correct time to publicly talk about TV or movies without spoiling it?

I took it to a Twitter poll and as you'll see it is a VERY contentious and divisive issue.

So, as the self-appointed Spoiler Commissioner, I will break down the poll's results, tell you why the winning answer was actually wrong, and will announce the official Spoiling Rules for society to follow.

SPOILER POLL ELICITS MIXED OPINIONS

Rarely do you see a four-answer poll where every option received at least 20% of the vote. It shows how divisive this debate is.

However, the winning poll result is NOT what we will be going with moving forward.

In fact, it troubles me that the majority of you wild and crazy lunatics voted and made "Whenever You Want" the winner.

Y'all must be real fun at parties.

WE ARE NOT MOVING FORWARD WITH "WHENEVER YOU WANT"

You can't be serious if you think it's alright to immediately jump on social media and give away a ending immediately after it happened for all to see.

If you're that desperate to talk to someone about what you just watched, take it to the group text.

I'm sorry but we need some sort of balance to the Force here. (Star Wars reference. By the way did you know that Darth Vader is...)

THE "DON'T GO ON SOCIAL MEDIA" ARGUMENT IS B.S.

A good amount of poll respondents argued that people should just not go on social media if they don't want to be spoiled.

Really? That's the counterargument? Don't go on the biggest and arguably the most important platform ever? "Hey boss, can't work today - I didn't watch Succession and I don't want to see the spoilers."

So no, that's just an unrealistic argument.

WHAT ABOUT MUTING THE WORDS?

Other voters responded that people should mute the words regarding the show or movie.

This is definitely something that should be done if someone knows they can't watch a show on time.

However, as New York Mets radio announcer Howie Rose showed, it doesn't always work.

Rose decided to tweet the Succession character's name in the tweet less than 15 hours after the episode aired - without even mentioning the word Succession. So muting wouldn't have helped here. The result was absolute bedlam:

***SPOILER SCROLL DOWN IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED***

When Rose was called out on his egregious tweet, he passed the responsibility off as it's just the way things are today.

"It's all over Twitter. Welcome to 2023," Rose tweeted.

Well Howie, as the Spoiler Commissioner, I am happy to say that we now have a set of guidelines in place. You're welcome.

HERE ARE THE NEW TV SPOILER RULES:

Congratulations to the very intelligent OutKick voters who chose "24 Hours!" - You Win!

The rule shall be that no one on social media can give a DIRECT SPOILER or ENDING until 24 HOURS AFTER a television show has aired.

When doing so, you must still include the "SPOILER" heading until three days has passed since it aired.

Got that? You have to wait 1 day to talk about it but you must include "SPOILER" for 3 days.

AND FOR MOVIES...

For movies, you must give one week. (I wanted to say 10 days - Friday to the second Monday, but that's not realistic)

You don't want to be like NFL running back LeSean McCoy. He still hasn't recovered from spoiling "The Avengers: Endgame" ending and still calls his tweet the "Worst decision of his life."

IT WASN'T EASY

I didn't come to this decision lightly, it was very difficult.

But unlike Los Angeles, NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle - we need some law and order here people. We need to show that compromise can actually happen.

And honestly, fixing the spoiler debate is the only damn way we can continue as a semi-functioning society.

FEEL FREE TO HIT ME UP ON SOCIALS TO THANK ME FOR BEING RIGHT: @THEGUNZSHOW

Also, enjoy these fun spoiler stories - including from OutKick's fearless leader Clay Travis!