# Loved the show, hated the character, so I stopped watching... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426 "2010-07-12T18:09:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/61 "2010-07-14T05:05:30Z")
Terri (Will’s wife) from Glee. And by extension Will for being soul-grindingly stupid enough to get strung along for the entire first season. By the last couple weeks of the first season, I told my wife that if Terri’s plot line wasn’t wrapped up and her gone I was done with the show. That was actually the episode where that happened. The second season got off to a weak start and I kind of drifted away from the show but not before seeing friggin’ Terri show up again in the second season. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/62 "2010-07-14T05:08:06Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > I loathed Shane so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so much that I just couldn’t stomach another second of that show. I think it was season 2 when he had the storyline with his bitch GF. In later seasons, she faded away and he became bearable. > [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](#): > > **House** was my favorite show until season 4, with the introduction of **Thirteen** and **Amber** , both of whom are (were) unwatchable. Thirteen is easy on the eyes. Amber, Taub and Kutner are all annoying. I also don’t watch NCIS because of DiNozzo. Actually the entire cast stinks but I could watch all of them in small doses except DiNozzo. I stopped watching News Radio after Lovitz took over for Hartman. X-Files was never the same after Mulder left. I don’t blame the characters though. They should have dropped the dumb conspiracy theory storyline and went back to the Monster of the Week formula. I stopped watching Law and Order after Lenny left. He was the only reason I watched it in the first place. I actually had the opposite phenomenon for Seinfeld. When I first saw it, I hated the characters. However, after talking to friends, they all recommended it because of the stories, and then after I could get past my dislike of the characters, I realized that it was pure genius. Sadly, I realized this too late, and it was already in it’s last 2 seasons by then. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/63 "2010-07-14T05:27:21Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I actually had the opposite phenomenon for Seinfeld. When I first saw it, I hated the characters. However, after talking to friends, they all recommended it because of the stories, and then after I could get past my dislike of the characters, I realized that it was pure genius. Sadly, I realized this too late, and it was already in it’s last 2 seasons by then. I had the exact same experience. I realized eventually that we were \*supposed \*to hate the characters, and that the whole show was about bad things happening to bad people. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/64 "2010-07-14T05:33:30Z")
First year of _Desperate Housewives_, I loved it. Loved all the characters–some for their nastiness, some for their cluelessness. They ALL changed. The clueless ones got nasty, the nasty ones …I don’t know…it wasn’t that I meant to give it up, but I had to go through a lot to watch it, kicking men who wanted to watch football out of the TV area, etc. It just quit being worth it. _The Good Wife._ Great premise, lots of dramatic potential. I just didn’t like her. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/65 "2010-07-14T05:54:52Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I had the exact same experience. I realized eventually that we were \*supposed \*to hate the characters, and that the whole show was about bad things happening to bad people. My impression was that it was actually a deconstruction of the sitcom, like how the Watchmen were a deconstruction of the comic book. It was a sitcom without the sit-. One day I had an epiphany: I finally understood what they meant when they said Seinfeld was “a show about nothing,” and that I was basically watching a modern miracle every Thursday night. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/66 "2010-07-14T11:40:10Z")
I hated the character of Antonio on _Wings_. I pretty much stopped watching the show after he appeared ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/67 "2010-07-14T11:56:42Z")
I’ve come to realize that in being her annoying self on _Lost_, doing everything she could to drive us away through her shenanigans, Kate was actually trying to do us all a favor. If only I’d listened. ---
**Author:** ![Stillwell\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Stillwell\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stillwell_Angel)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/68 "2010-07-18T16:16:08Z")
Tommy and Sheila on Rescue Me. Absolutely love the show and haven’t stopped watching yet, but I have seriously considered taking it off my DVR list because I hate these two characters so much. Tommy is just unlikeable, and Sheila is so icky I feel like I need a shower after her scenes to de-contaminate myself. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/69 "2010-07-18T16:36:31Z")
> [@torie](#): > > My ex and I made it through one season of _The Sopranos_ before I started to find Tony Soprano so horrible I had to stop watching. I just could not take one. more. minute. of his garbage. I understand that the character was supposed to be fatally flawed, but it got to the point for me where it was painful to watch him abuse and misuse everyone close to him. > > I was so rooting for him to get shot at the end. Dammit. I always thought that was part of the point- to put the viewer in the position of watching a show where the protagonist is a truly horrible person, and NOT an anti-hero. I was particularly impressed by the way they’d throw you a little bone every now and again to make the characters more likeable (or more horrible) than you realized. For example, Sil always seemed to be one of the “nicer” gangsters- loves his wife, dotes on his daughter, etc… but then kills Adriana in cold blood, among other things. The only character who I absolutely could not stand to watch was Ralphie. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/70 "2010-07-18T16:48:12Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > George in **Seinfeld**. Or anything else Jason Alexander did. Really? I’m surprised by this. George was annoying, yes, but his neuroticism made the show in my opinion. Seinfeld sans George Costanza would have lasted two seasons tops. As you’ve probably guessed, George was my favorite Seinfeld character, so much so that I have his answering machine message on my answering machine…believe it or not. 😉 ETA: Coooooooostanza! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/71 "2010-07-18T16:52:43Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I stopped watching News Radio after Lovitz took over for Hartman. Didn’t everybody? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/72 "2010-07-18T17:31:47Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > Yeah, that was a bit of an overstatement. Can’t pin down exactly why she irritates me so much, but the woman makes my teeth hurt. I only recently started watching the series, inspired by **olive’s** [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=562837), but I gather Buffy does eventually go off to college, yes? I’ll probably keep watching. 🙂 I’m not sure how deep into the series you are, but Buffy’s Mom is kind of distant and distracted and one-dimensional toward the beginning. My first impression of her was, ‘‘Wow, she’s kind of a stereotypical boring out-of-touch crappy Mom.’’ But little by little she becomes more sympathetic, and she fleshes out rather nicely in later seasons. Hang in there. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/73 "2010-07-18T23:27:43Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I’m not sure how deep into the series you are, but Buffy’s Mom is kind of distant and distracted and one-dimensional toward the beginning. My first impression of her was, ‘‘Wow, she’s kind of a stereotypical boring out-of-touch crappy Mom.’’ But little by little she becomes more sympathetic, and she fleshes out rather nicely in later seasons. Hang in there. 🙂 Of course, that’s only the setup for the typical Whedon tear-your-heart-out-of-your-chest-and-stomp-on-it money shot…er, episode. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/74 "2010-07-19T00:40:51Z")
> [@bump](#): > > For example, Sil always seemed to be one of the “nicer” gangsters- loves his wife, dotes on his daughter, etc… but then kills Adriana in cold blood, among other things. Thanks for the spoiler warning on that rather important event which doesn’t happen until much later on in the show’s run. You know, for all the people that haven’t seen the complete series and hadn’t got to that part yet. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/75 "2010-07-19T01:38:55Z")
I quit “The Sopranos” during Season 2 in part because I found Dr. Melfi so annoying (mainly because of her leisurely and infantile speech patterns) – and partly because it strained credibility that she wouldn’t also drive Tony up the wall (and into a homicidal rage). ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/76 "2010-07-19T10:40:05Z")
Lorraine Bracco actually talks like that in everything. ---
**Author:** ![Acantha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@Acantha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acantha)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/77 "2010-07-19T11:08:06Z")
> [@robby](#): > > I can’t stand Vincent D’Onofrio’s character in “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” so much so that I can’t watch the show. I otherwise liked the show when it first came on, but cringed the whole time that his character was on screen that I gave it up. “Annoying as hell” is the phrase that comes to mind. Really? He’s one of my favorites. If they hadn’t replaced him with Jeff Goldblum I think I would have stopped watching completely when he left. I didn’t think they would come up with a replacement I would actually like. ---
**Author:** ![Acantha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@Acantha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acantha)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/78 "2010-07-19T11:13:49Z")
> [@Flip\_Pancake](#): > > e actress. > > Also: I don’t _love_ love CSI: Miami though it’s generally fun for what it is - a pretty Music Video O’ Science. But hells bells I cannot stand David Caruso. Agreed. I don’t understand why anyone resurrected his career for that show. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/79 "2010-07-19T11:23:24Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I’m not sure how deep into the series you are, but Buffy’s Mom is kind of distant and distracted and one-dimensional toward the beginning. My first impression of her was, ‘‘Wow, she’s kind of a stereotypical boring out-of-touch crappy Mom.’’ But little by little she becomes more sympathetic, and she fleshes out rather nicely in later seasons. Hang in there. 🙂 And her mom plays a less important role later on in the series, so you won’t see her as often if you still don’t like her. Shhh! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426/80 "2010-07-19T11:56:42Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > And her mom plays a less important role later on in the series, so you won’t see her as often if you still don’t like her. > > Shhh! I didn’t know, I swear! I made that post before I saw the episode on the same day. I PMed **koeeoaddi** and told her to stay out of my thread unless she wanted some major spoilers. She said she’s at the beginning of Season 5… so… well, I guess she doesn’t have to suffer for long. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loved-the-show-hated-the-character-so-i-stopped-watching/546426.md?page=5)