Loathesome!: Characters We Hate

[Lisin]

Here's a topic to discuss some of the most hated characters in TV and the way the show dealt with that. I'm thinking of Kalinda's boyfriend on Good Wife or Mandy from the West Wing. Characters fans openly hated and were written off because of that hate. 

[BkWurm1]

Ah and then there are those characters that you beg and plead with the universe to go away and yet they never do. 

Most shows react to the needs and wants of the viewer. maybe not in the short term, I think that would stifle creativity, but long term, I think if something truly isn't working and they keep trying and it still isn't working, the show runners do make adjustments whether its the extreme of writing them off the show or simply reducing focus.   

Some characters like Lauren on Alias. the one that came between the romantic leads, never had a chance with the viewers no matter what the show runners thought.  I hated her, but I assumed she came with an expiration date, so in her case, I just dug in my heels and waited her out.  Sure enough, she was revealed as a villain and suddenly she was a character worth watching.  I can handle something like that, but as more shows that come from pre-scripted sources go on the air, I feel there is an increased problem of characters that worked great in the book or comic but have no business sticking around in the tv show and yet because they were in the book or movie or comic book source, their character is continually forced into the story.

Two specific examples come to my mind.  On Smallville, Lois Lane and now on Arrow, Laurel Lance.  In the comics both of these characters are big end game love interests.  But I think the act of telling a prequel to the story everybody knows, basically an origin story, doesn't lend itself to having all the characters in play from the beginning.  The narratives told in the comic books required the leads to be at certain place in their life in order for the addition of the characters to work but in the TV shows, the characters are still growing and in the case of Smallville, kept deliberately from their end point

Unfortunately its the same end point where a character like Lois Lane would be introduced in order to make sense to the story being told.  Since she showed up five seasons earlier, the writers stalled her progress like they stalled Clark's progress and devolved the character to the point where I know I found her unrecognizable and distasteful. 

Worse yet was the constant waste of my time on a character that had no natural function at that stage of the show.  Everything they did felt tacked on.  Painful and awkward.   The writer then spent so much time explaining why the "destined" leads should not be together that when they suddenly changed their mind and wanted to make them a match, they didn't bother to prove to me as a viewer why everything was suddenly reversed. 

It's like they relied on pointing to the source material as proof that what they were doing made sense, when instead it just contrasted how different the two creations had become.  The structure of a television show - taking years to show what might be told in a few pages of a comic - when it comes to an origin story- works against forcing in pieces to the story that shouldn't be told yet.  

Ideally the show would take the two not ready for each other love interests and gradually grow them together until they do work, but I know in the case of Smallville their journeys were sending them in opposite directions...until outside forces of the show decided to just fast forward and pretend they'd done the proper work in setting the characters up.  I can't think of a more epic fail which is why I hated Lois Lane on Smallville.

WIth Laurel Lance on Arrow, it's even more tricky since Laurel comes with a supposed heroic destiny of her own.  The fact that IMO she seems further removed from that possibility than ever makes her a hated character on my list cause in order to make the "destined" ending work, the show is going to have to undo and IMO screw up parts of the show that are working in order to prop up a character that feels wholly out of place.  Not only do I find the idea of her being the love interest to Oliver repugnant after years of sister swapping, I find the idea of her becoming the bad ass Black Canary absolutely laughable.  I hate the character for what she is now - a purposeless distraction - and for what she represents in the future - the reason why working characters are going to be kicked aside.  

I should just stop watching anything close to a prequel.  They are too often too locked in their own mythology to do what is right for the show and story they are currently telling.

[quarks]

The classic example here is Nikki and Paolo from Lost - the creators have admitted in interviews that the characters were killed off because of the terrible fan response.  Apparently Declan Porter was killed off on Revenge because of tepid fan support/hatred, although there was also a bit of trying to create a shocking season finale there. 

After that I think it gets trickier, because it's not always clear if a character was killed off or sent off because of negative fan response or other reasons.  Riley on Buffy, for instance, wasn't exactly embraced by fans, and was written off the show. But I always thought that part of the reason fans didn't like Riley was because he wasn't a great match for Buffy - so he would have been sent off anyway. And Buffy kept the not exactly popular Dawn around, but killed off Tara. So that's a harder case to judge.

[pootlus]

I think Dawn played an important part in Buffy's journey. Although the writing in S5 wasn't all there, I bought that Buffy would sacrifice her life to save her sister (although she would have done that for any of her friends). I didn't watch past the start of S6 so I don't know whether they established a purpose for her beyond Buffy's death/resurrection.

Lois Lane on Smallville is a tricky one. They really shot themselves in the foot by essentially writing in the character of Lois Lane in the form of Chloe, although I'll give them a pass in that they didn't know if they would ever be allowed to use the character of Lois Lane. I think it was Bezerker over on TWoP who said that they should have basically had Clark leaving his High School (and friends) behind after S4, and they could have had a much more Lois-like Lois (since Chloe would have been dead or otherwise gone by that point). IMO the real problem with Lois on Smallville wasn't with her, it was the fact that they kept Lana fucking Lang around for eight seasons, torpedoing any chance of a natural relationship developing between Lois and Clark, and Lana's sendoff even made it look as if Clark was settling for Lois!

So I'd like to add Lana Lang to this list. I like Kristin Kreuk, but holy crap I wanted her character dead pretty early on.

Riley I hated probably beyond all reason. In my defence I was in my twenties and in the depths of my Buffy/Angel obsession. I have much more appreciation now for the boy scout type than the dark brooding one and I think Riley could have worked...maybe. They should have made him more snarky - the one line of his I remember was how hanging out with the Scooby Gang made him realise that he needed to know the plural for 'Apocalypse'.

Other characters - one they completely redeemed for me was Jools on Farscape - absolutely hated her at first, but she definitely grew on me and I was blubbering when they killed her off.

Laurel on Arrow is rapidly torpedoing my love for that show, but I've ranted enough about that elsewhere.

[Kromm]

I never hated Smallville Lois myself.  They screwed up a bit with how she was introduced, and Lana being around just soured things it's true, but she was never the lame hopeless endgame that Laurel Lance seems like.  

[Lisin]

I hated Lana Lang so much on Smallville. I too think she was the problem, not Lois. I think shippers hated Lois because they knew that in continuity Clark would end up with her but Lois the character on Smallville didn't bother me anywhere near as much as stupid Lana. Stupid should be brain damaged by the amount of concussions she's sustained Lana. Oh the hate. It burns.

Another hated character I just thought of was John Doggett on the X-Files, this is another one where I know I hated him because he was supposed to be taking Mulder's place and I was just super mad about it. On rewatch he's not terrible at all and actually added a fun different dynamic to the show. I kind of felt bad for hating him as much as I did when the show initially aired. Don't get me wrong, I still wanted Mulder back, but since I've now seen the whole show I wasn't as pissed off rewatching it. I'm pretty sure if I ever rewatched Smallville I'd still hate Lana because she sucked. 

[mstaken]

Do we have to 'love to hate' these characters, or can it just be pure, wish-I-didn't-hate-them-but-do loathing?! If so:

1) Abby, Tony and Gibbs from NCIS. I actually don't know that I've ever developed such a visceral and immediate dislike for any characters as I did for those three, and particularly Abby and Tony.

2)  Juliet on Grim and JJ on Criminal Minds. I'm grouping these two together because I dislike them for the same reasons---they're so irritatingly devoid of personality, blandly flawless in that writers-were-too-lazy-to-give-them-a-single-flaw-or-any-personality-traits-at-all sort of way yet, due to the (IMO, of course) unskilled actresses who play them, are somehow vaguely unpleasant and unlikable, exuding an  unsympathetic and 'too cool for the room' vibe that I find really off-putting. I know it's not fair or rational, but I just groan whenever either one is on screen.

3) Pretty much everyone on Mad Men. Yes, all of them!

4) Liz, TJ, Colin and Dean on Gilmore Girls.  

Edited April 22, 2014 by mstaken

[Kromm]

I hated Lana Lang so much on Smallville. I too think she was the problem, not Lois. I think shippers hated Lois because they knew that in continuity Clark would end up with her but Lois the character on Smallville didn't bother me anywhere near as much as stupid Lana. Stupid should be brain damaged by the amount of concussions she's sustained Lana. Oh the hate. It burns.

Another hated character I just thought of was John Doggett on the X-Files, this is another one where I know I hated him because he was supposed to be taking Mulder's place and I was just super mad about it. On rewatch he's not terrible at all and actually added a fun different dynamic to the show. I kind of felt bad for hating him as much as I did when the show initially aired. Don't get me wrong, I still wanted Mulder back, but since I've now seen the whole show I wasn't as pissed off rewatching it. I'm pretty sure if I ever rewatched Smallville I'd still hate Lana because she sucked. 

Lois had the benefit of being at least reasonably well acted.  In terms of the actual character traits, as long as you could get over penalizing her for being "inevitable", there was enough of the classic comic book Lois in the Smallville version that you could admire her for the same reasons (not that comic Lois was always well written, but on BALANCE over so many years she took a shape that most people admired).  This is versus lets say... Laurel Lance, who bore no resemblance at ALL to the person in the comics people assumed she was meant to be.  Or there's the other example of Lana Lang, who I suppose matched the comic book version in terms of being kind of bland and uninteresting.

[quarks]

I think Juliet on Grimm has improved this season. The first season she really couldn't add much because she didn't know anything, and she didn't know anything in a generally boring kind of way. In the second season that amnesia plot really did her - and the show in general - no favors.  This season she's able to add useful commentary and interact with the rest of the cast more, which makes her less boring.

I can, however, at least see why Nick is with Juliet, which puts her several steps up over Laurel (for Oliver on Arrow) and Riley (for Buffy.) 

I also think "love to hate" is a bit different - there's a large gulf between a character who is completely despicable (hi, Joffrey on Game of Thrones) where the show is aware that the character is a horrible person, and a character hated for other reasons, like Juliet or Laurel, who have never started a civil war or killed a prostitute for fun or tortured kittens, but still aren't liked by the audience for whatever reason. 

[Kromm]

I also think "love to hate" is a bit different - there's a large gulf between a character who is completely despicable (hi, Joffrey on Game of Thrones) where the show is aware that the character is a horrible person, and a character hated for other reasons, like Juliet or Laurel, who have never started a civil war or killed a prostitute for fun or tortured kittens, but still aren't liked by the audience for whatever reason. 

Agreed.  I think with characters like Lois, or even ones as horrible as Lana Lang or Laurel Lance it's not really "love to hate".  I don't think many people loved to hate Lana Lang.  I think they just plain hated her.  Period.

Love to hate to me is more like a character who's written evil, and we vicariously enjoy seeing them do bad things.  It's hissing in protest at a character doing something despicable, but being secretly pleased you got to see them do it.  It's not just a typical villain either.  It's the really JUICY ones.

[BkWurm1]

For the first few seasons on Smallville there was no better character to "Love to Hate" than Lionel Luther.  He was the original Magnificent Bastard as far as I'm concerned.  His character was horridly weakened and distorted as the show went on and tried to transfer the mantle of evil to the son (also a very poorly done storyline) but when they brought him back (cause no one has to stay dead on a sci-fi show) and he was still Lionel 1.0 -  oh, I actually shivered with delightful dread.

I hated Lana too.  So much that I just kind of accepted it like the sky being blue and tend to forget to even complain about her anymore. 

The reason Lois gets so much of my ire has a lot to do with her character doing nothing to move any meaningful story ahead for years.  She just hung over the show like a shrill dark cloud, threatening to step in and take over dreams and skills and motivations. 

I think if she'd had any other name than Lois Lane and the implicit promise that came with the name, I would have found her wacky antics amusing rather than sad and her sense of entitlement funny rather than grating. 

Even 4 years after her introduction to the show she was no more than a parody of what she was supposed to be and it seemed clear that the only way the Smallville Lois could become like her comic counterpart  would be if they destroyed another character and then just willy nilly say a bunch of stuff like it had happened on the show (tell not show since that would take too much time apparently) and then go forward ignoring the past and in fact often rewriting the past.  

It was the seeing the disaster coming and hoping against hope that the show wouldn't ruin its own creations just so it could line up with the comics that completely ruined SMLois for me.  In the end everything I feared happened so even if the character started to be better written in the last two seasons, it was too late.  I knew how untrue everything about the character was even if the show was pretending differently.  

I think I extra hate Lois because in the end it felt like the show was trying to tell me I was crazy for wanting the first 8 seasons to matter.  There was soo much brainwashing going on in those last two seasons.  And now I fear that Laurel Lance is going to mess up Arrow in the same damn way.   

[Chas411]

Peyton Sawyer on One Tree Hill - easily the most pathetic and desperate character ever.

[Spartan Girl]

Bringing back this topic from TWOP so that we can unleash our scorn for our least favorite characters.  I'll start with the characters I hate the most these days:

 

Fitz from Scandal, who is quite possible the most pitiful excuse of a man, let alone President, I have ever seen.  For a guy that's apparently skated through his political career on his so-called charm, there's nothing much really charming about him.  He's whiny, petulant, obsessive, hypocritical, and oh yeah -- a MURDERER.  And yet we're supposed to root for him and Olivia as a couple?!

 

Xander from Buffy: I probably shouldn't talk about how much I hate him in his character thread because then I'm met with a bunch of defenders.  But no matter how many times someone will take his side and defend his actions, it's never going to make me like him.  IMO, he's a petty, self-righteous, immature hypocrite that never really grows up.  Even in the comics I find him utterly unlikable.

 

Marge Simpson: Once upon a time, she was an average housewife and a decent character.  Nowadays, she's a spineless ninny that divides her time between obsessing over Lisa's love life (even though she's EIGHT FUCKING YEARS OLD) and nagging Homer.

[gwlisa]

The WORST for me, hands down, is Manny Delgado from Modern Family. I hate that kid with the fire of a thousand suns. When I was still watching that show (back when it was funny, which was unfortunately too short-lived) I would grit my teeth to get through Manny scenes. What a one-dimensional, unfunny wet blanket. No redeeming qualities and a weird relationship between him and his mother. Yuck.

[andromeda331]

Phoebe Halliwell, the top reason being that Cole was about to give up the Source's powers and she stopped it, then when she decided she couldn't be evil she chose to vanquish Cole because he was too evil. He was going to give them up and you stopped him. This is a fact that is never, ever brought up or the fact she willingly joined Cole to be his Queen. Instead he's blamed for everything while she gets of scot-free. When he manages to come back Phoebe treats him like he's evil, never giving him a chance, and acting he was the one who treated her badly. Aside from that she was selfish, self-absorb, constantly abandoning her job to save lives including those of her sisters because apparently writing her column, men and going to a party is more important. She had no self control and nothing, was ever her fault. 

[Spartan Girl]

Can I add Lester in Fargo?  I really hate him.  People compare him all the time to Walter White, but I actually PREFER Walter White to him.  Walt was just as much as an evil sociopath, but at least he was smart when it came to his plans, while Lester just skates on dumb luck and dumb cops.  And the way he pretends to be a nice guy/victim is absolutely sickening.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Spike. Forever and always, Spike. He's not just *a* Nice Guy, he is *the* Nice Guy, and since I've never cared for the use of that term that's saying something. I used to kind of enjoy him, and then he "fell in love" with Buffy and it was a fast, brutal slide downhill from that moment. The only thing that separates him from being exactly like Damon Salvatore (who I also hate, just not as much) is that Joss decided that Spike was so wonderful that *of course* he could choose to get a soul, even though that had never happened before. Like ever. When he died at the Hellmouth, I cheered, but unfortunately he came back to ruin the final season of Angel. Except his coming back did mean that that crazy Slayer cut his hands off. I laughed at that too.

[ABay]

There are certainly characters I do not like, usually because they eat up screen time that should've gone to characters I like. However, lately I find that it's not so much the character per se but the fan or media reactions to them that inspire my wrath.

[janie jones]

99% of the people on this show are assholes, but I loathe, loathe, loathe Howard on Big Bang Theory.  I just can't fucking stand him.

[die Frau]

I always hated Wilson on House, which I hadn't planned on doing, since I liked Robert Sean Leonard in movies. I know he was the "good one" and House the one with flaws and it seemed like Wilson reminded House of this about 100 times per episode. I didn't even like when they gave him cancer, because it just seemed desperate at that point. Plus, I don't like to watch characters battling cancer, but that's getting off topic...

 

I can't say I've seen more than about 10 minutes of the show Castle, and that's because I was so turned off by the character of Kate. I also didn't care for Castle's daughter...

 

I don't watch NCIS regularly, but it didn't break my heart when Ziva left the show. She started off with a bit of potential, but ended up very loathsome. She reminded me of a "tattletale in school" all grown up.

 

My husband and I also watched the show Vikings and I literally found myself rooting for the characters of Rollo and Floki to die...

Edited June 5, 2014 by die Frau

[ABay]

The only characters I didn't hate on NCIS were the agent who isn't Dinozzo and Ducky (because I will always love Illya Kuryakin).

 

I'm currently rewatching The Borgias and have to catch up on DaVinci's Demons and WTF is up with Naples? Between Prince Alphonse in one and King Ferrante in the other it's a wonder the city wasn't razed and salted. On the other hand, in The Borgias, I am deeply in love with Cardinal Sforza and Machiavelli and want a mini-series of them conquering the Renaissance world together.

[potatoradio]

I'll just get the ball rolling on some old but still some of my most loathed characters (see also, unpopular opinions):

 

Carol Hathaway on ER: never understood what was supposed to be so amazing about this person. To me, she was a grim, humorless, critical sourpuss and I wish the Steven King Helicopter had attacked her instead of the fab Dr. Romano.

 

Lorelei Gilmore/Sarah on Parenthood (same actress, apparently same character): There's a fine line between quirky oddball and skin-crawling levels of annoying. She crossed it every time she opened her mouth.

 

Phoebe on Friends: I didn't like any of the characters on this show, really, but this twit seriously bugged. Like Dharma with ten times the "ain't I cute" cloying mugging.

 

Kramer on Seinfeld: Not a show I liked, either, but, when subjected to watching it, the appearance of this guy had me drinking seriously dangerous amounts to dull the pain of watching. Nobody should believe in their punchlines that much.

 

Whoever Allison Janey played on West Wing: see Carol Hathaway.

 

And, because hatred knows no bounds: Woody Woodpecker and Droopy Dog should have ended up on the floor as soon as they were sketched. Nothing killed the afternoon of cartoon watching like seeing these boring arses.

 

And I like woodpeckers. I feed them. Also, dogs. I might also very well like and admire the actors mentioned above, but holy crap their characters were just repugnant to me.

 

Sharing the hate is healing.

 

 

 

 

 

[midge]

Bill on Big Love - I adored that show but hate hate hated that misogynistic ass. 

 

Dawn on Buffy - Because what other choice is there?  "Get out, get out, Get out!"

 

Kripke on Big Bang - just ANOTHER way for that creep Chuck Lorre to do hate comedy.   He apparently can't handle fat people or those with disabilities. 

 

Meadow and AJ, the Sopranos - maybe it was the terrible acting. 

[spaceytraci1208]

Gemma Teller-Morrow from Sons of Anarchy; I kinda dug her the first couple seasons, but I was over her by the time she held a gun to a baby's head during season 3. Now after brutally murdering her daughter-in-law, bitch needs to die slow.

[Anna Yolei]

Secret Life of the American Teenager has a whole host of shitty characters to choose from, but Amy had to be the worst. A 15 year old mother that has not one but TWO guys fighting to be the father of the child she's hardly ever seen with; has a job and a fucking Land Rover gift wrapped to her; a roof over her head and a supportive family but always is bitching about something. "Waaah, I can't goto Italy with my boyfriend two moths after giving birth!"

If Special Snowflake Extraordinaire Rachel Berry and pre-Xindi Captain Furrow aka Jonathan "My father was owed this from the Vulcans hurr" Archer had a child, this bitch would be it, and Fitz Grant would be their son.

ETA:

Regarding Marge, since my phone won't let me post the quote: wait, what about obsessing about Lisa's lovelife? Good grief, I was a late holdout on that show, but I haven't watched in seven or eight years.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Anna Yolei

[DiamondDoll]

Kate on Lost is big one for me. She was everywhere, every guy though she was wonderful/beautiful and she always had to know everything about everyone. She had like 3000 flashbacks and none of them were interesting. I actually hate her so much that every time I do my Lost rewatch, I always skip Kate centric episodes. Also Evangeline Lilly is a crap actress. 

[Pickles Aplenty]

Chalky White from Boardwalk Empire.  The actor is incredible, but I can't stand Chalky.  Such a sulky, boring asshole.

 

Jim Halpert from The Office.  John Krasinski is cute, but Jim is a smug bastard, and I hate his looks to the camera.  I guess he was supposed to be the underdog, I found Tim on the UK version to be much more likable/relatable as an underdog.  Jim was just the cool guy who thinks he's above everyone else.

 

Dawson from Dawson's Creek.  Do I even need to explain this one? 

 

Tara from Sons of Anarchy.  I'm glad she's dead, because she may have been one of the dumbest characters in the history of television.  I'm going to be a successful doctor and a biker's old lady!  No you're not, honey.  No one does that.  Pull your head out of your ass.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Billina

[BoogieBurns]

Max and Camille on Parenthood. Max is giving Asberger's a bad name, that is not the way all Aspie people act. But Camille (the grandma) is the one I hate the most, she is supposed to be the matriarch to this close-nit family, but there is nothing warm or comforting about her. On a personal note, she acts like my stepmom, so she sucks. The role feels miscast, but also, the writing makes her seem like an outsider. She is so cold and distant. 

[Portia]

But Camille (the grandma) is the one I hate the most, she is supposed to be the matriarch to this close-nit family, but there is nothing warm or comforting about her. On a personal note, she acts like my stepmom, so she sucks. The role feels miscast, but also, the writing makes her seem like an outsider. She is so cold and distant. 

 

Ugh, Camille. She's also passive-agressive as hell. Zeek is a jerk, but at least he's honest about who he is. She's just as big an a-hole as he; she's just an a-hole with a quavery voice and flowy blouses.

 

The thing that cemented my Camille-hate was when Crosby and Jasmine decided to baptize the baby and Jasmine's mother planned a post-baptism luncheon at her modest abode. Camille first tried to co-opt the luncheon, then instead organized a lavish and wholly unnecessary pre-baptism dinner for the night before. SO not cool. Jasmine's mother is a pill, but I was really offended on her behalf that her event was undercut that way. And I also thought it uncool for Camille to monopolize her kids' and grandkids' Saturday night as well as their Sunday. They have their own lives and activities, yo.

 

I also can't stand Sydney.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Portia

[gwlisa]

After GWLisa enemy #1, Manny Delgado, other (distant second and third) hated characters include Joey Tribiani and Andy Bernard on The Office. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

For me? Fucking Root on Person of Interest She's the most specialist snowflake that ever flaked and I want her gone. Prefererably killed, with a look of shock that someone got the fucking better of her. I'll admit part of the hate is my dislike for the actress.

 

Ziva on NCIS, I just couldn't stand her; her constant putting down of Tony, thinking and the writers making her better than him, and taking away Tony's competence and intelligence to make her look better.

 

And on Daytime? Sonny, the midgety moobster, Vito/Michael Corleone wannabe on General Hospital, as well as the heiferous succubeast of a Slagbeast, whose name is Carly on the same show. Not love to hate. Just hate. HATE.HATE.HATE.

 

Captain Danny Ross on Law & Order: Criminal Intent for his blowhard, douchey ways and more concerned with pleasing the brass than having his detectives' back.

 

The judgmental, sanctimonious, cheating asshole known as Rey Curtis on the mothership of  Law and Order. Why, see the first five words.

[Misslindsey]

Gabby Dawson on Chicago Fire. Gabby Sue eats up so much screen time. She is always involved in so many stories, when they would be so better off without her in it. It is always "what would Dawson do" or "we/you/I should talk to Dawson". She wanted to be a doctor in season one, but then her dream was to be a firefighter. There are so many characters on CF that I would rather have more story or background than Dawson.

 

Lana Lang from Smallville. When a show tells me that I should love a character it usually makes me hate them. Lana was the epitome of special snowflake status.

 

Robin from How I Met Your Mother is another character I hate. I did not mind her at first, but than the writers seemed to want her to be the female version of Barney. I also hated, that everyone including Robin thought she was so hot. Cobie Smulders is very pretty, but not really more or less than most other characters on television.

 

[andromeda331]

And on Daytime? Sonny, the midgety moobster, Vito/Michael Corleone wannabe on General Hospital, as well as the heiferous succubeast of a Slagbeast, whose name is Carly on the same show. Not love to hate. Just hate. HATE.HATE.HATE.

 

 

I completely agree! Their the reasons I finally had to stop watching General Hospital, it stinks because I used to really love the show but they completely ruined it for me. 

 

Completely agree about Kate on LOST. Not only was her back story was boring, she was boring. She did nothing on the show but runaway. Why be invest with Kate and Jack? She'll be with Sawyer in a few minutes. Same with Kate and Sawyer. Getting them all captured because she wanted to come along and they said no? 

 

I'd added Adam and Kristina along with Max because their the reason Max is so horrible. They

lethim get away with everything, they expect everyone in the world to cater to Max. Every time

Maxdoes something wrong, its always someone else's fault. When that girl got mad at him for

taking a picture of the crying girl, it was the girl's fault. When Max got kicked off the yearbook

it of course wasn't his fault. Max being disruptive in class? Well, the teacher obviously should

abandon all of his other students to focus on Max. Haddie, remember Haddie? Listening her

explain to her dad all the times Max has ruined something or she had to change something

she wanted because of how it would effect Max? 

Edited June 8, 2014 by andromeda331

[DiamondDoll]

Ditto about Sonny & Carly. Easily the worst characters on Daytime.

 

Sonny, the mobster with endless mommy issues, is presented as being a really good guy. A guy whose every murderous, disgusting act is absolved because Sonny is misunderstood because he had a bad childhood. Every woman will inexplicably fall deeply in pathetic love with Sonny and he has more children then there are Kardashians. Nothing is ever Sonny's fault and if them wimmins dare to cross him, beware of flying barware and endless stuttering rants about betrayal. Go die in a fire.

 

Carly the rapid she-beast whose middle name is hypocrisy. The woman with the mattress strapped to her back loves to call other women sluts, bitches and whores. Carly, who slept with her stepfather and is now sleeping with a serial killer who had her son raped, loves to judge everyone about everything. I can't with this trick, she needs to take a seat or hundred. 

[Rick Kitchen]

 

Ziva on NCIS, I just couldn't stand her; her constant putting down of Tony, thinking and the writers making her better than him, and taking away Tony's competence and intelligence to make her look better.

 

You mean the way DiNozzo does to McGee?  I detest him because of that.

[GHScorpiosRule]

You mean the way DiNozzo does to McGee?  I detest him because of that.

 

No. Not even close to the same thing. it's apples and oranges. Tony was never made into a sudden computer genius, so that McGee would look stupid or incompetent. Once Ziva appeared, Tony could no longer speak Spanish; or fight. or solve cases. Because that's what Ziva was there for. She could fight. Anyone and anything, with any kind of weapon and spoke 10 to 15 languages.

 

Tony razzed McGee; hazed him. And they have over the years, become friends. And McGee could be smug too and put Tony down. So for me, the comparison isn't comparable.

[BoogieBurns]

Robin from How I Met Your Mother is another character I hate. I did not mind her at first, but than the writers seemed to want her to be the female version of Barney. I also hated, that everyone including Robin thought she was so hot. Cobie Smulders is very pretty, but not really more or less than most other characters on television.

 

 

She is just so boring. I don't even know if it's Robin or Cobie who bores me to death. I started HIMYM after reading  about how similar each character was to a Friends character. Robin is no Rachel. It never even made sense that the HIMYM gang would hang with her. She was not relatable after the first 6 episodes. That show lasted for 9 seasons...

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Tony razzed McGee; hazed him.

 

But isn't that what douchey fratboys do? I don't see how its ostensibly friendly razzing when Tony does it and simultaneously vicious belittling when its happening to him. I'm not trying to talk you out of hating Ziva, although I liked her, but IMO it isn't as if someone waved a magic wand over him when she appeared and made him into an asshat.

[GHScorpiosRule]

But isn't that what douchey fratboys do? I don't see how its ostensibly friendly razzing when Tony does it and simultaneously vicious belittling when its happening to him. I'm not trying to talk you out of hating Ziva, although I liked her, but IMO it isn't as if someone waved a magic wand over him when she appeared and made him into an asshat.

 

Yes, and he did that mostly during the first three seasons when Tony was a fratboy character. Like I said, in Season four, we got to see Tony change, for the good, despite the terrible Frog arc storyline. It's why I hate Brennan with a passion. He undid all of that, making Tony a buffoon; but then McGee became more smug during those years. The razzing and hazing occurred in the early years and wasn't something we were constantly hit over the head with like we were with Ziva's super awesomeness and mad ninja skillz.

 

And I'll stop here before this thread gets derailed. I've watched this show from day one, so I've seen the progression, regression and putting to rights on this show. It's not perfect; some things still need changing.

[potatoradio]

I hated Jason on GH far more than Sonny. Once Jason got bonked on the head or whatever it was way back when that changed his personality from vanilla nice guy to stone cold criminal arse (and got him a stupid haircut to boot), the show would not stop putting his torture of his family front and center -- and I'm not saying the Qs were a sympathetic bunch, but I really felt bad for them trying to deal with this sociopath. And, he kept getting the sympathetic and juicy storylines while his far and away more likable brother AJ (especially as played by the adorable Billy Warlock) got the short end of the stick.

 

Between that and the endless squee-ing I read about how sexy the new Jason was, I had to give up the soap I'd watched loyally for about ten years when I realized they weren't going to bonk him on the head again and return him to original recipe Jason. While I suppose that's not the worst thing that happened, I resented one lame, insufferable character spoiling the whole soap for me.

Edited June 8, 2014 by potatoradio

[ABay]

Stanton on Person of Interest. It was just one cliche after another out of her mouth.

[andromeda331]

the show would not stop putting his torture of his family front and center -- and I'm not saying the Qs were a sympathetic bunch, but I really felt bad for them trying to deal with this sociopath.

 

I felt really bad for the Qs I mean their son nearly is killed, then he wakes up wants nothing to do with them and becomes a criminal. Any time they show up or come around you know wanting to be with their child who almost died he treated them like crap as if he was unable to understand why they would want to see him or why they hated his life choices. Once again you nearly died and then became a criminal. Also, when Michael was a baby, Jason and  his pals would always say how horrible it would be for Michael to grow up with Qs, because being raised by a mobster, bodyguards, and bullets flying is so much better for a child.

[potatoradio]

 

I felt really bad for the Qs I mean their son nearly is killed, then he wakes up wants nothing to do with them and becomes a criminal. Any time they show up or come around you know wanting to be with their child who almost died he treated them like crap as if he was unable to understand why they would want to see him or why they hated his life choices. Once again you nearly died and then became a criminal. Also, when Michael was a baby, Jason and  his pals would always say how horrible it would be for Michael to grow up with Qs, because being raised by a mobster, bodyguards, and bullets flying is so much better for a child.

 

Oh, man, it's starting to come back to me-- there was something about Michael's paternity, wasn't there? Was AJ the father and Jason somehow decided he was a better father and somehow got custody? That may well have been the straw the broke this viewer's back.

 

I actually went to Wikipedia and found that I had completely forgotten that AJ crashed the car that brought us the blight that is Jason Morgan. Was AJ drunk? In any case, says something that I had more sympathy for the guy who caused the crash than the victim. You totally made me remember how much of an arse Jason was when all the Q's wanted to do was help their son. Looks like he's off the show now, anyway. Good riddance.

 

Can we count real people who portray a persona as characters? Because, if so, I really hate Dr. Phil and was profoundly disturbed to see he's still on the teevee. Isn't that hack beyond tired now? Could not stand his schtick -- yeah, being a bombastic egomaniac is not calling people out on their denial. And nobody who wants to help people looks that pleased with himself when he delivers his insulting "truths." Shut up and get off the teevee.

[merylinkid]

There's  a reason I started calling the show "General Mobster" years ago.

[andromeda331]

Oh, man, it's starting to come back to me-- there was something about Michael's paternity, wasn't there? Was AJ the father and Jason somehow decided he was a better father and somehow got custody? That may well have been the straw the broke this viewer's back.

 

 

Well, at first Carly named Tony, her mother's husband as the baby's father but it turned out to be AJ, then yes Jason decided he would be a better father so he lied saying he was Michael's father.  AJ eventually found out about it when Robin got sick of lying and told him. Jason had the nerve to be mad about that. There was some custody fight I don't remember except Michael ended up with AJ for a few weeks when Carly married AJ, then she ended up with Sonny and they both wanted Michael. So Sonny forced AJ sign away custody of Michael. I do mean forced, Sonny kidnapped AJ and threaten him to sign over his parental rights. My hatred for Sonny was cemented. 

[potatoradio]

 

Well, at first Carly named Tony, her mother's husband as the baby's father but it turned out to be AJ, then yes Jason decided he would be a better father so he lied saying he was Michael's father.  AJ eventually found out about it when Robin got sick of lying and told him. Jason had the nerve to be mad about that. There was some custody fight I don't remember except Michael ended up with AJ for a few weeks when Carly married AJ, then she ended up with Sonny and they both wanted Michael. So Sonny forced AJ sign away custody of Michael. I do mean forced, Sonny kidnapped AJ and threaten him to sign over his parental rights. My hatred for Sonny was cemented.

 

OMG....I'd forgotten about psycho Tony! He had been another nice guy they transformed into sudden psychopath. Now I'm remembering the Michael fiasco and I'm amazed to discover that it still rankles me a bit even after all these years. Poor AJ. I definitely think GH made a huge blunder when it tried to become a daytime version of Goodfellas and rewrote several characters so that Sonny the Sulky would have someone to play with in his sandbox.

[andromeda331]

OMG....I'd forgotten about psycho Tony! He had been another nice guy they transformed into sudden psychopath. Now I'm remembering the Michael fiasco and I'm amazed to discover that it still rankles me a bit even after all these years. Poor AJ. I definitely think GH made a huge blunder when it tried to become a daytime version of Goodfellas and rewrote several characters so that Sonny the Sulky would have someone to play with in his sandbox.

 

 

Yes, after Tony's young daughter died he lost it. Everyone treated him like crap ever afterwards which angered me because Sonny and Carly's crimes were much worse. But no Tony is the bad guy. Same with AJ. Basically same with everyone who wasn't Sonny, Carly or Jason. I agree GH made a big mistake turning the show into Mob Show lots of fans dropped the show because of it. I held out a long time hoping it would go back to the way it was before but I finally had to quit. I'm still upset about that, it used to be a good show. 

[Anna Yolei]

So I tried to get into Doctor Who recently, beginning with season 1 of the curent series. Rose is rather....um, polarizing in fandom, and I find myself firmly in the hate category with her. After three episodes, I just couldn't, and I may just skip to season two.

[Athena]

So I tried to get into Doctor Who recently, beginning with season 1 of the curent series. Rose is rather....um, polarizing in fandom, and I find myself firmly in the hate category with her. After three episodes, I just couldn't, and I may just skip to season two.

 

You may not like season two Rose any better, but it may get better for you. As @Kromm said in another thread, you just have to wait things out with Doctor Who as the actors and writers eventually all change so you may like it more (or less) when it happens. I started skipping Doctor Who episodes because I've begun to dislike certain aspects too. It's a fairly easy show to fall back into after time away though.

 

As someone who does like Rose, I understand how some people just don't get her. You either get her appeal or you don't; I think it can be personal why some of us do like her. Those first couple of seasons or whenever she gets mentioned can be grating for some fans while perfectly fine for ones like me.

[Kromm]

For me the problem was never Rose.  It was that the past two showrunners are very fond of the "most special girl in the universe" phenomenon, and have done it time and again.  A companion can't just be a companion with Doctor Who anymore, she has to be a special snowflake.  Rose did it with the whole Bad Wolf thing.  Martha with becoming this super-duper rebel leader all on her own saves the world.  Donna is able to hold The Doctor's entire mind, albeit only temporarily.  Amy, well... Amy has so much special snowflakiness that Rose looks like a piker in comparison.  And Clara?  Having different versions of yourself bounce along the Doctor's entire lifetime to protect him is pretty outrageous.  

 

Not that the Companions should be useless, far from it.  But the WAY they contribute isn't about collaboration (which apparently never occurs to the writers) and is more about grand huge special snowflake moments.