Uncertain Audience

"In the anime industry's quest for ratings, the creators of shows with strong cross-demographic appeal must pander to two separate, yet equally important groups: the Shonen fandom, who enjoy Giant Robots, short-skirted schoolgirls and long, drawn-out fights between musclebound supermen full of thinly veiled homoeroticism; and the Shoujo fandom, who like their schoolgirls magical, their Giant Robot pilots Bishonen, and their homoeroticism right out in the open. These are their stories..." —Episode 9, Vision of Escaflowne Abridged

Uncertain Audience takes place when producers have not positioned a certain enough target for their work's release.

Occurs when a form of media seems unaware of its target demographic, appealing to a wide range of different people. It can be a candy-coated Squee with a Squick center for some people (Like a Tootsie Roll lollipop for those who don't like chocolate, or prefer real chocolate) or vice versa (Like salted peanuts that you can't eat until you bust em open.) For chocolate-munching, peanut-swallowing people on the other hand, this genre blend can be the perfect flavor for you. On the other hand, if you have diabetes or high blood pressure, your best bet is to stay away from this.

Food metaphors aside, it generally comes in three forms:

• The direct result of a Genre Shift.
• The media's style was predetermined from before the author started by a gigantic melting pot of various genres combined into one.
• The author/writer/producer/what-have-you simply not considering their audience when writing the story.

Compare Multiple Demographic Appeal. See also Audience Shift and Growing with the Audience (if those tropes are not done well, it can result in this trope)

Examples of Uncertain Audience include:

Anime & Manga

• Code Geass seems to have about five different genres it wants to be in, ranging from robots to politics and back around to high school comedy, with elements of supernatural thriller thrown in.
• Similar to Code Geass, Full Metal Panic manages to find a way to take a giant robot military thriller and include high school comedy.
• You are never quite sure if Tower of God is a Shounen, Seinen, Shoujo, for otaku or for hipsters or for the general public.
• Higurashi might be the king of this. Cute lolis run around the show having fun like sunshine and puppies until stuff gets bad.
• Negima started out looking like a Harem Comedy, then took a hard turn into a fighting series in volume three. Since then it's remained a fighting series, albeit with Harem Comedy elements left in it. It works pretty well.
• As a Space Western, Cowboy Bebop falls here.
  • To elaborate, Cowboy Bebop runs the gamut in terms of genre and tone from comedy, like in "Mushroom Samba", to gruesome horror as in "Pierrot le Fou". This sometimes leads to extreme Mood Whiplash, though it is also what makes the series so popular in many people's eyes. In fact, in the preview for "Black Dog Serenade" Jet even warns the children and women in the audience that they won't care for the plot of the next episode because it is aimed at the middle-aged men.
• .hack//Legend of the Twilight: On one side, it was considerably more light-hearted and childish than .hack//Sign, with more comic relief and cute monsters. On the other side, it also had more Fan Service and Implied Twincest between the two main characters such that the series has arguably become infamously immortalized because of it.

Films — Animated

• Perhaps the main flaw of Titan A.E. was it did not seem to have a target demographic: The harder Science Fiction elements turned off children from it, and the goofier moments (already hit by the Animation Age Ghetto) turned off Science Fiction fans.

Films — Live-Action

• Pirates of the Caribbean plays up both the romance angle and the pirate angle, as well as the kiddie comedy angle and the zombie curse angle. Taken individually, each would seem to mesh poorly with the others, but (the first, at least) is notable for its success in Multiple Demographic Appeal.
• Also the bad sci fi Pod People, now mainly known through Mystery Science Theater 3000. It features an E.T.-like Friendly Alien who befriends a little kid, but also features a gang of bikers with some coarse language and sexual innuendo. It also contains a B-plot about a second alien, identical to the first, going on a murderous killing "spree" against the rest of the trapped-in-a-cabin cast.. so it's basically E.T. meets Friday the 13 th. Possibly a result of Executive Meddling; originally it was written to be a straight up horror film, but when E.T. was released they tried to capitalize on the success and turn it into an alien buddy film. Didn't really go well.
• Speaking of Mystery Science Theater 3000, who the hell was Hobgoblins made for? It's about a bunch of Grotesque Cute obvious puppets who trap people in twisted versions of their wildest fantasies... all of which seem to be about everybody boning their brains out. If you thought the movie it was ripping off was a bit confused about its target audience, wait until you see this thing.
• Mary and Max, a stop motion animated film based on a story of two lifelong pen pals. The story is framed as a kooky children's movie, with poop jokes and a plucky little girl hero. However, the majority of the movie focuses on the emotional bonds between Mary and Max, and Max's various psychoses. Plus some pretty dark themes such as attempted suicide, Max's inability to cope with his Asperger's syndrome, and Mary's husband leaving her for another man. It's an interesting blend of Oscar-style character study, children's movie, animated movie, and a combination of all three. The target audience, however? Hard to say.
• Hudson Hawk. A parody of musical comedy (a singing cat burglar) and action/adventure/espionage.
• Last Action Hero. A mass Lampshade Hanging of action/adventure movie tropes mixed with a comparison between Real Life and cinematic reality.
• The Adventures of Baron Munchasen
• There's also movies like Dick and Across the Universe which are meant to appeal to a young audience but deal with things (Watergate and The Sixties, respectively) that are more likely to appeal to baby boomers.
• Battlefield Baseball, which is sort of a spoof of baseball movies... but also has gratuitous violence, an inexplicable plot, and a few musical numbers, all wrapped up in a martial-arts package. Its weird.
• Spice World. The Nostalgia Chick comments on how she has no idea who it was being marketed towards, given that some of the jokes were clearly meant for adults (such as men in thongs and one of the girls suggesting that they get naked for a young boy in the hospital), but other jokes seemed more geared for kids, or at least would be unfunny to adults.
• The live action film adaptation of Yatterman made by Takashi Miike seems pretty childish, with lots of slapstick humor, colorful special effects, cheesy action scenes and a clumsy villain trio... but it also had many sex- related jokes, including one scene where one robots starts acting as it was having an orgasm.
• The 2009 film of Land of the Lost with Will Ferrell.
• Monkeybone
• Sucker Punch: While the trailers make it look like it was a pop-corn flick(With Giant robots, dragons and samurai monsters), is actually a serious drama about a girl being put in a mental institution that uses her imagination to escape from harsh reality, involving at least two fantasy sub-plots: One that takes place in a brothel, and another that involves different genres, such as Tolkienesque High Fantasy, Sci Fi/Cyberpunk,Steampunk/Diesel Punk/War Movie.
• Despite being rated "PG", and having lots of childish humor, the movie version of Howard the Duck also contains lots of sexual humor and innuendo, including references to zoophilia.
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show In a commentary on the DVD, Richard O'brien mentions that this was a concern around the time the film was released.
• The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
• Several Anthology Films tend to do this, such as New York Stories and Paris, je t'aime (This one had elements of comedy, drama, fantasy, Magic Realism, and one story involving vampires)
• It is not quite clear if Barry Levinson's Toys was intended as a kid´s comedy or a satire for adults, having elements from both genres.
• Ink has many light-hearted and whimsical elements from Fairy Tales and Juvenile Fantasy, but it also has lots of swearing, frightening scenes, deals with several adult themes as drug use and suicide. It also has several elements from arthouse films (Specially in the visual style) and fighting sequences involving martial arts and a shaky camera.
• The Black Hole. It was much Darker and Edgier than its contemporary Disney films with overt references to Dante's Inferno and high octane Nightmare Fuel, appealing to older viewers. It also had a lot of Affectionate Parody moments and comedy to appeal to younger viewers. Unsurprisingly, the film didn't do too well with either audience.
• Prior to James Gunn being made its head, the DC Extended Universe seemed to have no idea who it was for. While it is true that its rival, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is also on the Cerebus Rollercoaster, both the Infinity and Multiverse Sagas were ultimately meant to be for the whole family, with each entry being in service of the larger stories, setting up future plot points and character growth. The DCEU by contrast can shift between an MCU-esque film meant for a mass market that doesn't seem to remember Bigger Bad Darkseid or a niche film "for the fans" that openly foreshadows Darkseid.
• The Fantastic Beasts films. With the film series really pushing the angle of magizoology and all of Newt's wacky animals and antics, one would think that the sub-franchise is meant for a younger audience. But on the other hand, the films really don't shy away from discussions of fascism and painting Grindelwald as a Complete Monster, something more suited to teenagers or older. So it can leave one asking who the films are for. While the main eight Harry Potter films were more tonally consistent than their literary counterparts (see below), Fantastic Beasts was all over the place in tone.
  • Though it was thankfully averted by The Secrets of Dumbledore, the climax of The Crimes of Grindelwald seemingly going to establish Newt Scamander found himself forced to walk the bitter oath of The Chosen One not unlike Harry Potter himself, compounding this issue nevertheless.

Literature

• Critics of Harry Potter accused the series of this. One the one hand, it appeared to be about a young orphan's Cinderella-esque wish fulfilment having the thrilling and exciting enrolment at Hogwarts, Wizarding School and Academy of Adventure every tween dreams of. On the other hand, the series did get a lot Darker and Edgier as it progressed with characters being Killed Off for Real and showing the Wizarding World as a Crapsaccharine World. While the latter was said by Word of God to be "Growing With the Audience" (and it largely was received as such), the uncertainty comes from the fact that the books never stray too far from the initial set-up. In the first two books, Harry thinks that all evil stems from Voldemort before books 3-6 delve into the politics that show Voldemort to be a symptom of the Wizarding World's corrupt policies. Yet Book 7 ends with all evil in the world stemming from Voldemort, everything being fine and dandy once he gets blown up, and Word of God was only source of confirmation where the systemic problems that allowed Voldemort to rise up and encouraged Pure-Blood Supremacy in the first place being corrected which involved reforming Ministry of Magic from scratch. So at the end of the day, did the series want to be a simple story of wish fulfilment and adventure or be more like Star Wars in its discussion of war, politics and The Chosen One?
  • One can relate to readers who sent angry letters to Rowling for their inability to finish Chamber of Secrets due to caught off-guard by its darker elements since, well, originally into the series for its aforementioned wondrous Wizarding School and Academy of Adventure setting. Rowling's scathing warning where character deaths in Goblet of Fire were just the beginning didn't quell the uneasiness readers had.

Live-Action TV

• Many Space Western films and series fit this trope:
  • Firefly was a ratings flop due to the difficulty of marketing such a mixed-genre product properly.
  • Ditto Star Trek: The Original Series. They even threw Chekov in to bring in the Monkees Fan Girls.
• Glee especially in its first season. It meshes things like oral sex jokes with the teeny angst of Degrassi and the kind of Anvilicious messages you'd expect from an 80s kids cartoon along with the cutesy singing appeal of Kidz Bop and The Wiggles. Based on comments from the writers, it eventually decided it was mainly for Tweens.

Western Animation

• Ben 10: Ultimate Alien started the Ben 10‍'‍s franchise relationship with this, something that only became worse in Ben 10: Omniverse. Although they were probably aiming for Multiple Demographic Appeal.
  • On the one hand, UA attempts to Win Back the Crowd of fans of Ben 10: Alien Force (Seasons 1 & 2), after the controversial third season, continuing the trends of Growing With the Audience and being Darker and Edgier and more serious than the original series, giving Ben, Gwen and Kevin Character Rerailment, making them more like their personalities from AF seasons 1 & 2. The show even (attempted to) deconstructed Ben's Cape/Chosen One persona, challenging him with the question of whether or not he should go Knight Templar. The show follows up the plot of Ben 10: Alien Swarm (a Live Action TV movie based on AF) with Ben's Nanomech form and the character of Elena returning, creating continuity lockout. It also retains the art style and much of the writing team of AF.
  • On the other hand, it also attempts to appeal to the fanbase of the original series with Recycled Scripts, the return of various original series alien forms and even a time travel appearance by the original series 10 year old Ben. Depending on the Writer, Ben, Gwen and Kevin could be more like their season 3 AF personalities, having them hold the Jerkass Ball and/or Idiot Ball at times. The references to older continuity also apply to the original series episodes too, as well as its live action TV film, Ben 10: Race Against Time.
  • It also attempted to appeal to younger audiences as well with the Merchandise-Driven new aliens: The Ultimate Aliens, Evolution Power-Up Super Modes for several of Ben's alien forms (Justified by the Ultimatrix), and the Andromeda five, five new aliens from the Andromeda Galaxy (although the Andromeda five did get their own story arc), plus a lot of lighter filler episodes, and the basic premise of the series being Ben is publicly known celebrity, idolized by children (but distrusted by adults). Ben and Gwen holding the jerkass and/or Idiot Ball at times could be seen as attempting to appeal to this demographic as well.
• Star Wars Resistance is considered to have been a victim of this. After Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, Resistance was much Lighter and Softer, appealing to the younger viewers who felt put off by the serious nature of the earlier shows, but at the same time, it took place within the era of the much Darker and Edgier Sequel Trilogy, referencing the films a lot, clearly trying to snag the older viewers who grew up with Clone Wars and Rebels. While the show didn't suffer in ratings or critical reception as a result of this, it seemed to certainly play a factor in the general fanbase's So Okay It's Average view of the show, contrasting the praise that's heaped onto Clone Wars and Rebels.
• TUGS. A semi-sister show of Thomas the Tank Engine, TUGS was meant to appeal to those viewers, having the same style of models and morals in the story. At the same time however, TUGS was quite a bit Darker and Edgier than Thomas, even dropping a bridge on a minor character, and having a lot more references to permanent death, serious crime and generally playing the dockyard life much more seriously than the Island of Sodor. All of which could have been appreciated by an audience that was turned off by the Thomas-like visuals with those younger viewers being scared off, or not understanding, TUGS‍'‍ more mature tone. It's no surprise that TUGS didn't last long as a result of this.
• Some would say the Peacock series Supernatural Academy falls into this. It tries to tackle mature themes involving conspiracies and destinies, and also isn't afraid to throw in swear words and some rather intense moments. On the other hand, it has rather simplistic plots and characters that seem to cater to a young audience, and the main characters are teenagers. Not helping matters is that the show is animated by Icon Creative Studios, a CGI studio known for kids shows, such as the Disney Junior series Elena Of Avalor, creating a visual dissonance.
• Loonatics Unleashed was meant to cash in on the more action-focused cartoons that dominated animation blocks at the time, like Ben 10. And while the first season was tonally similar, some Cliché Storm feelings notwithstanding, the fact that the show is based on the Looney Tunes turned away older fans and the action turning away younger ones. And when the second season was Denser and Wackier to try and appeal to the younger viewers, the older fans bailed out while the younger ones were turned off by the serialization. Which leaves one wondering which audience Loonatics was trying to appeal to.
• Most episodes of Transformers: EarthSpark are simple low-stake Slice of Life escapades, not too dissimilar from what one would find in shows like Bluey. But then there are the very high-stake Myth Arc episodes and world-shaking, lore heavy, two-parters. It can leave one wondering which show EarthSpark wants to be and what audience it wants to appeal to.
• Miraculous Ladybug has a Myth Arc, a Continuity Lock Out-heavy one at that, and some pretty emotional stakes. Despite this, it also seems quite content to churn out Monster of the Week episodes that have no bearing on the larger story whatsoever to appeal to younger viewers who might just put on a random episode to pass the time.