# Name a TV character who doesn't belong in a series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, actor-characters\ **Created:** [February 3, 2023, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248 "2023-02-03T10:45:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/62 "2023-02-06T03:35:49Z")
I am aware people disagree with me on this, but I wish Rockford would have taken Angel Martin about 50 miles into the desert and left him there. He’s such an albatross around the neck of so many episodes. The combination of smarmy, untrustworthy (even to his friends) and backstabbing makes me wonder how he stayed alive this long. And it seems whenever I get some free time and want to watch one on TV, Angel is always in it. The character must be so ingrained in the actor that when he played a different character on magnum he was exactly as annoying as Angel. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/63 "2023-02-06T04:04:14Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Did Diff’rent Strokes really need Sam? Really? > > Even Arnold didn’t want him there. I just put that down to the producers saying, “Our show’s cute kids are getting older, and therefore less cute, so let’s get another cute kid.” See, for example, Cousin Oliver (The Brady Bunch) and Ricky Stevens (The Partridge Family). And just as the Bradys and the Partridges found that the “new cute kid” gimmick doesn’t work, so did the Drummonds. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/64 "2023-02-06T17:00:04Z")
Cute kids who don’t belong could fill an entire thread. The usual treatment is to have them fade away, like Ritchie Petrie in _The Dick Van Dyke Show_, and Ben and Emma in _Friends._ The ultimate treatment was given to the two kids in _The Doris Day Show_ who vanished without even a mention in one of the show’s many retoolings. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/65 "2023-02-06T17:15:39Z")
I’m going to go with Deanna Troi from _Star Trek the Next Generation._ For most of the series, Troi just didn’t bring anything to the table other than a nice figure. Almost every episode was a snooze fest, save for the one late season episode were she was involved in some sort of Romulan spy plot, and as ship’s counselor seemed bloody useless on the bridge. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/66 "2023-02-06T18:16:01Z")
It seems like Troi’s primary purpose in most episodes was to be a walking lie detector. I was about to type “human lie detector”, but then the pedants would have pointed out that she was half Betazoid. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/67 "2023-02-06T18:27:20Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > It seems like Troi’s primary purpose in most episodes was to be a walking lie detector. And stater of the obvious, for less-engaged viewers. “Captain…I sense that he is lying.” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/68 "2023-02-06T18:38:55Z")
Sometimes, sure. More often than not she’d just get a pained expression on her face and claim that she “couldn’t read” the person under suspicion (which is hardly surprising given that they were usually at the other end of a viewscreen connection, far out of range of her telepathic abilities). ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/69 "2023-02-06T18:46:41Z")
That’s another thing. Was she a telepath, or just an empath? Pick one and stick with it! ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/70 "2023-02-06T19:50:25Z")
Fan theory: She was also the ship’s phychiatrist. The writer’s were too lazy to write those scenes. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/71 "2023-02-06T19:57:49Z")
I always felt Lucky (voiced by Tom Petty) in King of the Hill was an executive mandate to the show writers over the fact King of the Hill was popularly known as “A show about Texas rednecks” when none of the characters were actually rednecks. So they then inserted the most stereotypical redneck character into the mix and it didn’t gel at all. I don’t think ANYBODY actually liked any of his plotlines. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/72 "2023-02-06T20:46:35Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Fan theory: She was also the ship’s phychiatrist. And the ship’s lawyer. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/73 "2023-02-06T21:02:38Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Sometimes, sure. More often than not she’d just get a pained expression on her face and claim that she “couldn’t read” the person under suspicion (which is hardly surprising given that they were usually at the other end of a viewscreen connection, far out of range of her telepathic abilities) There was also the bit where a guy showed up to explain that he was a historian, just now arrived via time machine to do some research; can’t go into much detail, of course; the timeline might get compromised; I’m pointedly _not_ saying whether you’re all on the eve of some ultra-important event. Troi says he’s holding something back. Well, yeah; he is; he said so, even. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/74 "2023-02-06T21:51:50Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I’m going to go with Deanna Troi from _Star Trek the Next Generation._ For most of the series, Troi just didn’t bring anything to the table other than a nice figure. I sense jealousy. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/75 "2023-02-06T23:13:19Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I sense jealousy. Now that I know what a horndog Roddenberry was, I wouldn’t doubt it if her main purpose was to be eye candy for the audience. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/76 "2023-02-07T00:37:10Z")
There were a few such scenes. Troi counseled Barclay and the child whose parents died, and a few others as well, as I recall. That being said, the ship has several hundred people. Ship’s psychological counselor should be a full-time job - and being the bridge officer who can (or should be able to) advise the captain during confrontations is a different job, perhaps not full-time but demanding enough that a different person should be doing it rather than the counselor. (in one Star Trek novel, the Mirror-verse version of Troi had a better defined job - she’s the ship’s political officer. Now that makes sense). ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/77 "2023-02-07T03:03:33Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > > [@Palpatine1](#): > > > > Getting back to “Frasier,” the character who never made sense to me was Niles and Frasier’s Dad. How could such a blue-collar type have produced those uppercrust WASPy-preppy intellectuals?! > > I figured one possible explanation was the mom being even more of an uppercrust WASPy-preppy intellectual than Frasier is I think it was established that she, as a research scientist/psychiatrist, was the reason both the boys turned out intellectual types. In the flashbacks, she definitely had an air about her that set her apart from what you would “expect” from a cop’s wife. But I’m guessing that Frasier’s and Niles’ WASPY-preppyness probably came from that intellectual start then going to prep schools and then Harvard/Oxford and Yale/Cambridge respectively. Of course, if we go by Cheers continuity, their mother was Livia Soprano, a real fucking miserab’, so all bets are off. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/78 "2023-02-07T03:32:24Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I’m going to go with Deanna Troi from _Star Trek the Next Generation._ I think I’ve said this before, but I’m surprised Marina Sirtis stayed on the show after the introduction of Guinan. It was bad enough that Troi was a superfluous character from the beginning, but to stick around and watch Guinan doing the work that Troi should have been doing while the writers are still giving Sirits the “I sense… anger” lines… ouch. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/79 "2023-02-07T03:38:21Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > I think I’ve said this before, but I’m surprised Marina Sirtis stayed on the show after the introduction of Guinan. It was bad enough that Troi was a superfluous character from the beginning, but to stick around and watch Guinan doing the work that Troi should have been doing while the writers are still giving Sirits the “I sense… anger” lines… ouch. A steady paycheck is a steady paycheck. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/80 "2023-02-07T05:24:47Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > I think I’ve said this before, but I’m surprised Marina Sirtis stayed on the show after the introduction of Guinan. It was bad enough that Troi was a superfluous character from the beginning, but to stick around and watch Guinan doing the work that Troi should have been doing while the writers are still giving Sirits the “I sense… anger” lines… ouch. Sometimes a man’ll tell his bartender things he’ll never tell his ~~doctor~~ ship’s counselor. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248/81 "2023-02-07T13:39:34Z")
But Guinan was mysterious. Terribly mysterious! As much as I’m “take it or leave it” with Whoopi, I really liked the character Guinan. Especially in Ensign Ro, and Yesterday’s Enterprise. (not so much when she gave “witchy fingers” to Q, but admittedly that was early) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-tv-character-who-doesnt-belong-in-a-series/979248.md?page=5)