Sure there may be critical consensus about the quality of The Wire vs. Jersey Shore, or any number of other things - but even if you knew some magical objective criteria that would determine where a certain TV show would fall on the scale, it wouldn’t necessarily have any bearing on whether you would actually like it or not…what everyone is saying is your preferences are your own, likely (like everyone else’s) to consist of a mix of high and low and everything else in between, so just own them (being afraid to suggest a Netflix movie to family members for fear of what they’ll think sounds pretty extreme to me, maybe you need help with this issue?)
Why, then is it described as a “guilty pleasure,” when someone deigns to like something that is considered beneath a certain cut-off point?
As for the Netflix incident, that is merely the most recent I could think of. I’ve also had trouble, for example, with introducing myself in new classes at the beginning of the semester because I didn’t want to reveal anything that could potentially be used as a reason to mock or condemn me. In particular, it was uncomfortable and difficult for me to reveal things like my major, because of the potential for stereotypes surrounding majors or mockery of so-called “useless majors” (for the last time, everyone, UNIVERSITY IS NOT TRADE SCHOOL).
Do you like (for example) some food you know is sugary and fatty and not especially good for you? Or some “reality” TV show you know is fake and edited to be overly dramatic and push your emotional buttons? Do you not see why you might describe them as “guilty pleasures” of your own?
Do you think that’s a rational or healthy way of thinking for an adult? Again (I say this sincerely) you might want to consider talking to someone (a professional) about this.
It does sound like you’re having a genuinely disabling amount of social anxiety. That sounds like it must be hard to deal with and I really do think that you would benefit from talking to a counselor or psychologist about how to cope with the anxiety.
My fiance is a very accomplished musician and has very strong opinions about music. I used to feel very self-conscious about admitting to my own music tastes in front of him. It helped when I realized that even he likes some music that he is kind of embarrassed to admit he likes. 
Some people just like to feel superior to others and will pretend to only like what is cool or critically acclaimed, but that’s just posturing in just about every case I think.
Perhaps it will help you to think about these two things:
-No matter what you do or don’t like, someone out there will think you’re stupid and uncool. It might help to just try to accept that. Try not to worry so much about trying to prevent it and try to think about how you can deal with that.
If you try to imagine that the next person you meet is going to think you’re an idiot and loser, what would that mean for you? How would you deal with it?
-A lot of times, critical opinions about a piece of art are really quite subjective. Art can be judged negatively depending on the fashion of the time and then be appreciated more later just because culture has changed, and vice versa. There are a ton of opinions in the music criticism field about who is “over rated”/“under rated”. Nobody has the one objective truth. Most people like music for emotional reasons that aren’t reasoned out based on some checklist of criteria or intellectual analysis. It’s all just opinion.
But how do you make those qualitative determinations for TV or music? I always see food used as a metaphor when talking about judgment of artistic taste, but I’m not so sure it’s such an apt comparison. You’re not going to get diabetes or gout from listening to the wrong music, for one.
Also, is that person bad or stupid in an intrinsic way for choosing to partake in the “wrong” entertainment?
On a certain level, I know it’s not rational, and yes, I have gone to the university health center back when I was completing my master’s degree. Unfortunately, I only got a couple of sessions in before I had finished up my degree, and I haven’t gotten around to resuming therapy since then for a number of reasons. I really don’t want to go any further into it.
It is very, very common to be afraid of being judged. You aren’t alone at all. One of the underlying causes is simply wanting to belong, to be accepted as you are, our wonderful friend who has tastes we may or may not share but we simply don’t care about that.
People do judge others by their tastes, along with a million other things, like height, physical fitness, accent, skin color, how you cut your hair, whether you stutter or limp, I mean, everything. Since we’re all invisible dogs on the internet, expression of taste looms larger because it’s ‘visible’.
If you are concerned with what other people think of you to the point of chronic anxiety, cavalier advice such as “just stop caring what other people think” is useless. Annoying, in fact.
Try to remember that what people are almost entirely concerned with is themselves. They say snobby things because they want to make a good impression with like-minded people, not so much because they want to exclude someone. Judging is always a reflection upon the one who judges, not the one who is being judged.
Try to focus on what gives you satisfaction, joy, and a feeling of safety, and not dwell upon your apprehensive thoughts.
What matters in a human being is wisdom and compassion, not what movies you like or what you eat, or read. Try to remember that too. It’s true.
Although I’m familiar with the snark and judgemental attitude you’re refering to, I only really ever encounter it on-line. For whatever reason - probably the anonymity factor - the internet serves as some peoples’ badge of courage and righteousness, complete with the privilege of making them the Arbitor of Good Taste. In real life, I’ve found, nobody is as concerned with what you’re doing, thinking, wearing, etc. as they are with their own stuff. Could you have possibly absorbed too much internet bullshit and now assume everyone around you has a judgemental streak? If you have anxiety about life in general, then as has been suggested let a professional give you a helping hand; there’s no shame in that. If your discomfort is confined to this specific area, learn and internalize the phrase “taste is subjective” (and possibly “fuck off”, when needed.)
This is more or less what my family said to me when I’ve come to them before about this. They also said that that people, by and large, are more concerned about their own lives, activities, and whatnot than in judging some random person they’ve never met (and that they, too, also worry about being judged).
On a rational level, I recognize that this is true and that my fear is overblown, but I don’t know why this fear is so intense for me at times regardless of what is rational.
It’s not just about taste. It’s about anything that could be used as a reason to judge me negatively, but taste is a major part of it. The other thing I had brought up was things like my major, and stereotypes thereof. Every major seems to have a derogatory stereotype of some sort (the most notable one in popular culture is all those shopworn jokes about philosophy majors working at McDonald’s).
I graduated from university in what many people would consider a “useless” field (music - and yes, there are jokes about music majors working in the fast food industry as well.) Eddyg, I know how hard it is to get through university, and I’m impressed that you managed to get through at least some of it. 
You’ll get over it when you can make the mental switch from “there must be something wrong with me” to “there must be something wrong with them” (people who judge others strongly on their taste in entertainment and/or people who judge fans of particular entertainment as one type of person).
I am exposed to a lot of people thinking my taste in TV sucks (I watch a lot of reality shows), my taste in books suck (I don’t read much at all) and my taste in music is lame (I’m so over indie shit) and at first I was taken aback. Now I use people’s judgement of me as a way to judge them. They are assholes.
I also use it as a way to make myself more open and less judgmental, personally. If I find myself thinking the way those assholes do (“Oh man, you read Twilight?! Hahaha!”) then remind myself to not be the thing I dislike, and be more open minded. It’s helpful.
Remember you can’t control what other people think or do - just how you react to them.
What do you mean by “some of it?” I’ve already gotten through grad school, so I’m not sure that’s “some of” university.
If you’re wondering what my major was, it was Japanese for my undergraduate degree, and then I got a Master of Library Science afterward. There is a very specific negative stereotype regarding Japanese that I fear. Namely, on the Internet anyone with even a tangential interest toward anything Japan-related is stereotyped as an anime-obsessed shut-in. In truth, I am not really into anime (well, back in middle school I was a little bit) and I took up the language as an extension of a general interest in foreign language that I have (I also took Russian and Arabic during my last year at university). My high school offered Japanese, I thought it was interesting, and I stuck with it. Yes, the language does attract people who like anime and Pocky and all that sort of stuff, but in my experience they tend to be present mostly in the introductory classes, and as you go on into the more advanced levels their numbers tend to decrease.
Well, I assume the universal love/condemnation for those are explained by the fact that large numbers of people love The Wire and hate the Star wars prequels, not because there’s any kind of conspiracy to make the hoi polloi feel stupid. But yeah, it sounds like you’re dealing with social anxiety that needs to be dealt with and you’ll realize this is nowhere near as important to most people as it seems to you now.
Oh, my apologies. I somehow had the impression you hadn’t finished grad school yet. So you finished it. I am very impressed.
In addition to what others have said, I suspect that you need to familiarize yourself with the concept of hyperbole. It’s used very often in conversational language.
Yes, there probably is something wrong with you that you suffer such high levels of anxiety over tastes in pop culture. I would talk to a therapist about that.
At the end of the day, movies, music, books, clothing and all other indicators of “taste”, “fashion” or “style” are just dumb ways in which people (most of which who contribute little or nothing to the world) try to define themselves through the acquisition of consumer products. Every hipster with their stupid skinny jeans and glasses and avant-guard films and their indie rock bands that no one heard of from the internet are going to look back in 5 years at what a douche they were.
Hey! Those skinny jeans aren’t stupid. For this total non-hipster, skinny jeans with a flowing top is a pretty good look. And there are plenty of really wonderful avant-garde and art house films.
I think what msmith is getting at is–people who define themselves solely by their tastes are shallow and obnoxious. Anyone who would diss you because of what you like is a jerk. Would you really want to hang around someone whose opinion of you would change because you disagreed about the merits of a movie?
But, to address the OP more directly–two things to keep in mind:
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As others here have said–most people are much more concerned with themselves than they are with you. In fact, other people may be a bit worried about how you judge them. In general, if you’re cool with what other people like, they’ll be cool with what you like.
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When people are getting to know each other, one of the main goals–often the only goal–of conversation is building rapport. Asking people about their tastes in movies, music, etc. is just a way to find common ground. Those few people searching for an excuse to look down on you are insecure jerks. You’re better off without them, anyway.
Suppose you tell someone that you majored in Japanese, and they reply, “So, you’re really into anime, huh?” Chances are, they said that because either: 1) anime is the only Japanese art form they can think of at the moment, or 2) they, themselves, like anime and want to talk about it with you. That’s really all there is to it.
OTOH, if they ask why you picked such a stupid major, make a polite excuse and just walk away. Nothing good will come from further conversation
Yup. Those people are insecure jerks you’re better off without.
If you like something, ignore them. They’re assholes and have no right to dictate what you can listen to.