TV Characters You Hated In Shows You Loved

I enjoyed "Taxi" when it aired some 30 years ago. I wish Nick At Nite or TV Land would show reruns regularly. It was one of the great ensemble sitcoms of the era. But even the best shows could have characters the show would have been better off without. My pick? Latka Gravas, as played by Andy Kaufman.

I admit I never liked Andy Kaufman to begin with, but even trying to give him a fair shake, Latka added nothing to the show, other than irritation. Christopher Lloyd's brilliant Reverend Jim was the only eccentric character the show needed. Even the otherwise worthless Tony Danza couldn't detract from the overall chemistry and rapport exhibited by the cast.

So let's hear your picks!

I would have enjoyed Seinfield if they got rid of Jerry and Julia. I hated those 2 characters and was the reason why I very rarely ever watched that show.

I always said that if they got rid of those 2 people, i would have watched Seinfield!

I hated the early flouzie version of her, and the later cynical battle ax, and all the transition elements. At every stage she seemed to be symbolic of negative male stereotypes of women, and never once seemed to be a character in her own right.

That little whiner. :-)

I guess but I'm a fan of the movie and that is just a character continuation. The latter stages Margaret sucks. They episode where Hawkeye and her are pinned down in that hut and "fall for each other" almost made me stab my eyes with pins.

I didn't like her character in the movie, either. She wasn't supposed to be likable, but I mean I didn't like the whole way they created and treated her. She always seemed like a degrading stereotype to me, like the show was saying a smart, competent female must really be an offensive, irrational slave to her sexual passions and emotions. Considering that most of the other women in the movie and series were also mostly there for sexual entertainment and only avoided the scorn of the other characters by being happy with their lot made her treatment stand out more.

Meh, I'm sounding more serious than I took it. I didn't sit around fuming about it, I just didn't like her character when they focused on her. It was still a great series. :)

nurses like that.

The nurses could make or break a surgeon's record or make their lives hell.

The nurses were volunteers and the surgeons usually draftees.

The movie was sexist shit.

Unbelievably bad, even in the context of the time.

about the guys who were the inspiration for the movie - their tent was outfitted like an African safari complete with pith helmets.

And folks that served with them said the relationship between the surgeons and the nurses was completely INauthentic. The doctors just would not have treated the nurses so callously.

He was played by Ron Carey. He's in the middle, below.



A very annoying twerp. Loved Carey in the Mel Brooks movies, though. He played "Swiftus" in History of the World Part I.

What an ass.

Wesley was a pain. She was a freaking disaster. Somebody on the writing staff had Electra issues - a lifetime subscription.

The episode where she loses her telepathy is one of my favourites.

...which may have had something to do with her presence on the show. They should have just left her as the voice of the computer.

The original Number One in the ST: OS pilot, then Nurse Chappel. It wasn't the character per se; it was the writing. She was a caricature of Mommy Dearest and a femme d'un certain age.

Pretty much the repository of every single tired stereotype about sexually-active older women rolled into one. To this day, whenever she beams onto the Enterprise, I beam to another channel.

Horrible acting, horrible lines, just an all around horrible character.

Though for the life of me, I wouldn't want a snot-nosed kid steering what must have been a considerable investment in resources and time to create a Galaxy class starship. I will give him a small (really tiny) bit of credit, he never totaled the thing, he left that for the adults.

n/t

we wouldn't have Wil Wheaton's reviews of TNG episodes. All in all, the universe balances itself...

http://www.tvsquad.com/bloggers/wil-wheaton/

because he was so one-dimensionally engineered to appeal to me
It didn't work

I LUUUURRRRVED Chris. I wanted one of my very own (Peter Pan syndrome notwithstanding).

I hated how they made her so dark and cynical and then started revolving every other episode around her. I liked her when she was a jock.

I liked her at first, but then it just got silly.

I never liked Becky either.

nothing against the actor but I suffer enough with tight ass, gung ho Repubs as it is.

as for that Kaufman bum....talentless and toxic I tells ya!!!!

What percentage of people do you think get the joke in your last line? I would guess pretty low.

;-)

:fistbump:

(But would you share the joke with me? Please?)

my avatar is Tony Clifton, an Andy Kaufman invention.

:D

I totally missed that! Thanks. Tony Clifton was one of his more obnoxious creations!

I recently watched several episodes of Lost in Space on Hulu and Dr Smith was the only reason to watch, the only interesting character at all. Well Will had some moments I think but few and far between and usually only in situations involving - Dr Smith.

He ended my childlike innocence.

I think that says more about me that about that awful childhood ruining cartoon character though. :blush:

Series enders.

Don't get me wrong. George was an essential element of the show, and some of his bits were hilarious. But sometimes his character made me soooooo mad! Dumbass little punk!

The things he would do were so unbearably stupid, that at times, I wanted to reach through my television machine and slap the shit out of him.

And in what possible world would a guy like that get so many chances with so many good-looking women (up to, and including Marissa Tomei), only to screw it up every single time.

I thought Susan was way too hot for George. George should've been kissing her ass at every opportunity, but no!

:grr:

That said, the show itself is still funny as hell thanks to the rest of the cast.

the Office anymore.

Recently I've gotten much more interested in Fringe, so the Office is just my "Fringe commercial break" viewing.
Maybe this summer I'll catch up on the Office eps I missed this season.

"excruciatingly" stage, but I get it.

I think Kevin is getting more and more hilarious. When he was shouting into the interview on last night's episode it was hilarious.

what Sam and Diane were to Cheers.

i.e. much more entertaining when they weren't a couple.

(Also see Niles and Daphne.)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=9364977&mesg_id=9364977

I need them to kill off jim and pam so I can laugh again. They have become such horrid characters.

And BJ to a lesser extent. That show went on several years too long.

Tori in Battlestar Galactica. I was bummed out when Billy died and got replaced with that awful Tori. I found absolutely nothing to like about her.

The stilted and improbable puns. It was like hitting myself in the head with a Spider Robinson novel.

Too bad Tyrol didn't do the mind-meld thing earlier.

I used to watch a show from New Zealand called The Tribe. There was a character on there named Danni. She was annoying as fuck. The actress couldn't act at all.

And on Lost? I get sick of Hurley and Miles. I hated Juliet for awhile but she grew on me. I also hated Claire and Charlie's storyline, bleh.

is that all the characters are assholes, and everyone gets a cycle of redemption arcs and character assassinations.

Also, one person's FAVORITE does nothing for the next person.

Jin and Sun and Desmond and Penny? :boring:

Wanted to tell them to go get a life.

Come on, Beej. Say "Peg" one more fucking time. I dare ya. Go ahead. I dare ya.

Mike Farrell dropped into a bar I was at here in Minneapolis to get changed to the parking meter (he was doing a book signing across the street). I said, "Hey, you're Mike Farrell" He nodded and the other people at the bar were like "Beej!" He looked disturbed by it.

Then one of the guys said, "You were that guy on that sit-com M*A*S*H, right?"

And he replied "It wasn't a sit-com."

We all collectively rolled our eyes.

It was less of one after he replaced Trapper.

You must be an old-timer like me to remember him! :D

He MADE that show!

;)

Best final credit in the history of television: "and Kam Fong as Chin Ho."

Would have been even better if it was a Quinn/Martin Production, cuz then it would've been spoken by that guy who did The Streets Of San Francisco opening credits. That right there is 70's gold, my friend.

Wo Fat was a recurring villain played by Kigh Deigh.

And I most certainly DO NOT watch too much TV. B-)

Just teeth-grindingly annoying.

and the beginning of the presidential election campaign between Vinick and Santos. The new writers just didn't know how to do characterization very well. I feel the most sorry for Josh Malina, who played Will Bailey. Malina had worked with Sorkin before and I think Sorkin must have had big plans for him but, when Sorkin left, his character just became so annoying

Also add to that Amy Gardner from the Sorkin era. Couldn't stand her!

It knew when to close up shop. Season 7 was a hot mess of politics and soap opera. I need to check my DVDs, but I wonder how much Lawrence O'Donnell was involved with the series toward the end. That would also explain what happened, in addition to Sorkin.

Amy grew on me. But then, I'm a fan of Mary-Louise Parker.

OH -- one more! Helen Santos. Her constant bitching and passive aggressiveness about being the wife of a presidential candidate got old pretty damn quick. Like she didn't have a clue as to what it would be like living with a Secret Service detail or having to campaign.

And annoying. And a smartass. And a dick.

Don't know much about the guy in real life though.

He may have been a decent fella.


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4iHIjkpNMg/SUk0M7A2dLI/AAAAAAAABBI/P4hipM_9sO4/s400/sgt+carter.jpg

No problem with the actor. I realize that his character was that of a straight man but there was something annoying about him that I can't quite put into words. Just the way he was written, I guess.

I could never get my wings to flip like that...not without hairspray, anyway.

liked the show but got sick of his character right quick...

Goody-two shoes. I hate goody-two shoes.

JJ was as stereotypically racist as Amos & Andy -- with exceptions here and there (John Amos and Esther Rolle) Good Times was NOT one of Norman Lear's better efforts. I shudder when I think of that stupid chicken hat JJ wore for his job.

I would also add to that George Jefferson from The Jeffersons -- hell, the WHOLE cast was an irritant, for that matter.

Whine, whine, whine.

Besides, Claire is much hotter...

as the sense that she's playing every man around her to get what she wants, even if it means destroying lives (and IIRC her body count in that department is up to 4. Good for Sawyer for saying no).

She's a gross person.

he's not a character any more, he's a one-man opposition machine. Whatever anyone is doing, he's against it. Not for any reason. Just because god forbid five seconds of the show goes by without draaama.

He hasn't had a consistent motivation for four bloody seasons.

his alcoholic drunken-surgeon dad with a secret family thought he didn't have what it takes. :o

He's the least compelling major male character. Locke (in all his guises) and Ben are wonderfully odd and tortured characters, Sawyer is the guy you want to go drinking with, Desmond oozes cool, and Hurley is the ultimate goofy fanboy.

Ellyn Warren as portrayed by Polly Draper on Thirtysomething.

Constant whining, constant arm rubbing, constantly annoying!

Oh and David Birney's character.

:puke:

BTW, Seasons 1-3 are out on DVD, and the series has held up relatively well.

I didn't know they were on DVD, so thanks for the info. Yeah, I remember Elliot bugging me on occasion!!!

Yechhh.

Lots of BJ hatred in this thread (yeah, yeah, I know! lol). I always thought of him as the ideal friend. Plus, Mike Farrell is such a fundamentally decent liberal and human being, I always felt part of him is what made BJ fundamnetally decent and likeable.

:-)

But the guy he (sort of) replaced, Wayne Rogers, who played Trapper John? He's a money guy on FOX pretend news on the weekends!

That show was great when they were all a bunch of drunk womanizers. That's not a comment on sexual politics, but you could laugh at it before BJ came in and wholesomed it up. It reminds me of where I live now. There's Tom and Carl. Two completely drunken' womanizers. However, you could never imagine one without the other. They are two of the funniest people I know and feed off each other. I think the tragedy of their condition is what makes it so good.

You'll do fine. :-)

Didn't like Cliff much either.

She was OK in the beginning when she was traumatized and finding herself but she turned into such a drippy, castrating pain in the ass.

Well, I'd say that I was never a fan of Ted in "How I met your mother" what a fucking sap.

Not that I liked L and S much to begin with but it was passably watchable until that guy would dance into a scene and belt out a few bars of some lame Louis Prima song.

I longed for the day Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) and Donnatella Moss (Janel Moloney) would become an item; it HAD to be. Amy was always in the way.

She did nothing for the show.

from Everyone Loves Raymond, Boyle, Roberts, and Garrett made that show....