# Irritating TV characters, past and present **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2009, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164 "2009-12-31T06:50:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/41 "2010-01-01T01:18:25Z")
I think that everybody on MASH should have been anesthetized with ether, or chloroform, or whatever it is that gives you a slow, painful death if overly administered. (This excepts, of course, Wayne Rogers, who left early, and Major Flag.) I would be happy to see Rerun from What’s Happening take the pipe. Gary Coleman in whatever the name of that travesty was: “What you talkin about?” He must be punished. hh ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/42 "2010-01-01T01:22:45Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > When I say that if I found out Jerry Stiller was beaten to death with a tire iron that I would then go out and buy the finest bottle of single malt Scotch available I have to take extreme exception to this. I think that you mean a jack handle. A common mistake. hh ---
**Author:** ![SweetLucy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@SweetLucy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SweetLucy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/43 "2010-01-01T04:28:28Z")
Phoebe, of “Friends.” I admit I haven’t watched the show that much, but I wanted to throw tomatoes through the TV screen every time her ugly face and squawky voice appeared. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/44 "2010-01-01T05:13:25Z")
The station manager (Max Wright?) on Dabney Coleman’s “Buffalo Bill” TV show was especially badly acted and put a damper on the show whenever he showed up. Wesley Crusher on “Star Trek TNG” Chukotay on “Star Trek Voyager”. Janeway too. Tom Paris. Hell, the whole damn series. Rhoda and SyPhyllis on “Mary Tyler Moore”. One they got spinoffs, the show became a classic giving more airtime to Sue Ann Nivens and Ted Baxter. Darrin II on “Bewitched” ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/45 "2010-01-01T05:32:52Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > “The Nanny”… God yes. She is annoying before her second syllable. For an oldie, I’ll got with Higgins on Magnum PI. I feel safe making the huge blanket statement “all children on every sitcom ever”. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Baldy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Gary\_Baldy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Baldy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/46 "2010-01-01T06:59:40Z")
I feel safe by saying all family members and boyfriends on In Plain Sight. Also, Andy Dick in anything. Also, Andy Dick in anything. Also, Andy Dick in anything. I can’t stress this too much… Also, Andy Dick in anything. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/47 "2010-01-01T07:08:47Z")
No mention of Scrappy Doo yet? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Baldy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Gary\_Baldy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Baldy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/48 "2010-01-01T07:11:36Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > No mention of Scrappy Doo yet? If Scrappy is being added, we must include BooBoo Bear. ---
**Author:** ![Tinkertoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@Tinkertoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinkertoy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/49 "2010-01-01T07:12:28Z")
Each of the **Real Housewives** no matter where they are from. Yes I know it’s supposed to be reality but no one that stupid, arrogant and bitchy would have been allowed to live as long as they have. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/50 "2010-01-01T08:35:04Z")
> [@Gary\_Baldy](#): > > I feel safe by saying all family members and boyfriends on In Plain Sight. > > Also, Andy Dick in anything. > Also, Andy Dick in anything. > Also, Andy Dick in anything. > I can’t stress this too much… Also, Andy Dick in anything. I found him tolerable on NewsRadio, but that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/51 "2010-01-01T08:36:49Z")
Dr. Smith on _Lost In Space_. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/52 "2010-01-01T08:56:11Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Mr. BURNS is who you choose for irritating on the Simpsons? I’d choose Flanders well before Burns. Why? Because he is a nice guy? I’m sorry but I’m not into the Nietzsche-style hate-the-decent-people concept. Burns comes off at an animal level somewhere near Oscar Apfel, who played a crooked businessman in the Our Gang short “Helping Grandma” (the one with the general store; at the end Wheezer bops Apfel on the head with a hammer.) I say this because I often temper my perception of an irritating character with my sense of right and wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/53 "2010-01-01T09:40:23Z")
Michael Scott, _The Office_. I’m starting to FF thru his scenes. Marcy Rhoades D’Arcy, _Married…with Children_, from about season 7 on. Without a husband who could, you know, act, she turned into a one-note feminazi shrew. Percy in the various _Blackadders_. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/54 "2010-01-01T09:55:32Z")
Hyacinth Bucket, the lead character on the British sitcom “Keeping Up Appearances”. The first time you watch the show, her snobbery and bossiness are genuinely funny. The second time around you wonder why anybody puts up with her. The third time around, you’re rooting for her to be dismembered with a pickaxe. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/55 "2010-01-01T13:43:50Z")
> [@Mehitabel](#): > > Michael Scott, _The Office_. I’m starting to FF thru his scenes.\ I just stopped recording it. The show has its moments, but in general he is so painful that I can’t watch. ---
**Author:** ![McGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f4b2a3/32.png) [@McGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McGeek)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/56 "2010-01-01T16:17:23Z")
> [@wedgehed](#): > > Dr. Smith on _Lost In Space_. YES! As annoting as all the others mentioned are, Dr. Smith was the worst. Made a stupid show even more unwatchable. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/57 "2010-01-01T16:30:03Z")
Gladys Kravitz - _Bewitched_ - character intentionally written annoying. Jessica Fletcher - _Murder, She Wrote_ - She was written as a likable character but I found her smug and arrogant. Everytime she went somewhere, somebody (or more) died. Why would anyone invite her to a wedding (or similar) is beyond my comprehension. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/58 "2010-01-01T23:00:43Z")
I’ll clarify that even though Michael Scott is supposed to be annoying on the show, he also annoys me. The best parts of the show are Dwight and Jim interacting. I haven’t watched any of The Office or 30 Rock this season though, since I don’t have Earl to draw me in. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/59 "2010-01-01T23:01:49Z")
Joey on Full House. Even as a kid I thought his cartoon impersonations and stand up act were awful. And Michelle because she was so damned spoiled. I wanted someone to backhand her in every episode. ---
**Author:** ![NGC2024](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f475e1/32.png) [@NGC2024](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NGC2024)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164/60 "2010-01-02T01:22:03Z")
I’m going with Edna Garrett in both Diff’rent Strokes and The Facts of Life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-tv-characters-past-and-present/523164.md?page=4)