# Terrible characters from great shows.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-characters-from-great-shows/852614
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 26, 2020, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-characters-from-great-shows/852614 "2020-04-26T14:49:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-characters-from-great-shows/852614/101 "2020-05-04T17:44:01Z")
> [@Icerigger](#):
>
> I thought she was great in TNG’s **Half a Life**.
> [Half a Life (Star Trek: The Next Generation) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_a_Life_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation))
She was also good in the episode [Dark Page,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Page) and so was Troi. It was a weird episode though - it turns out Deanna Troi had an older sister who’d died when Deanna was a baby, and Deanna was never told about her sister’s existence, which is, well, odd. But it was a good standalone episode for all that.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2020, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-characters-from-great-shows/852614/102 "2020-05-05T03:48:11Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#):
>
> I haven’t re-watched those episodes as an adult, so I don’t know how I’d feel about him now.
He was and remains a rather beloved character, to the point that people wish he was in the movies (only to be given the response that he kinda was, since the finale is a better TNG movie than most of the real ones). He’s the character De Lancie is most known for, and why he revives that basic character in various forms on other shows.
Hating the other Star Trek characters mentioned in this thread is popular (even if Troi’s actress is beloved), but most don’t hate Q. So it wouldn’t surprise me if you wouldn’t.
That said, I do love that, in Star Trek: Borg, you get to punch (or kick) him for being a smirking asshole. It’s even more cathartic than seeing Sisko punch him. Too bad getting that game running is on modern hardware is a pain and my attempt at a fan remaster fizzled out.
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2020, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-characters-from-great-shows/852614/103 "2020-05-05T04:22:16Z")
Here’s an old one- the greasy janitor, Schneider, from **One Day at a Time**.
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### Author:  [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2020, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-characters-from-great-shows/852614/104 "2020-05-05T04:27:18Z")
> [@Little\_Brother\_1](#):
>
> And since you mention those “Voyager” guest appearances, I just can’t take Dwight Schultz’s overwrought, fretful, socially awkward Reginald Barclay character. I just had to get that off my chest.
That episode where we see Barclay’s holodeck fantasy is fucking hilarious. I especially like that his holodeck Riker is like a head shorter than the real one, literally cutting him down to size. TNG had a lot of comic relief. That’s what I love about it.
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### Author:  [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2020, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-characters-from-great-shows/852614/105 "2020-05-05T08:55:10Z")
I love _ **The Muppet Show** _ (and its various TV and movie spinoffs) but I can’t stand Fozzie Bear. I get that he’s supposed to be a bad comic telling bad jokes, but dammit, all he’s ever used for is to tell bad jokes. Why do we, the audience, have to suffer through all that? The only payoff we get, an occasional wisecrack by Statler and Waldorf, isn’t nearly enough to justify the setup.
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### Author:  [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2020, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-characters-from-great-shows/852614/106 "2020-05-05T15:30:32Z")
> [@jtur88](#):
>
> Everybods mother on all sitcoms. Especially Rosanne and George Costanza.
One exception: Dorothy’s mom Sophia on\* Golden Girls\*(played by Estelle Getty). IMHO she was the most entertaining character on the show
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### Author:  [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2020, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-characters-from-great-shows/852614/107 "2020-05-05T19:12:31Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#):
>
> Here’s an old one- the greasy janitor, Schneider, from **One Day at a Time**.
Yeah, for sure. Years ago I worked with someone who always carried his tools in/on a tool belt. We used to razz him about his “Schneider Belt”.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2020, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-characters-from-great-shows/852614/108 "2020-05-05T20:51:07Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#):
>
> 😕
I knew exactly what he meant.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2020, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-characters-from-great-shows/852614/109 "2020-05-05T22:00:49Z")
That Gilligan guy sure was an idiot!
But seriously, _Dead Like Me_: great show, but after the first couple of episodes really could have done without George’s family. None of their storylines were ever very interesting and all of their scenes were basically just filler.
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### Author:  [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2020, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-characters-from-great-shows/852614/110 "2020-05-05T22:30:40Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#):
>
> Here’s an old one- the greasy janitor, Schneider, from **One Day at a Time**.
Yeah could not stand him, the way he opened their door with his pass key without knocking, I wonder if it could be considered a crime?
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-characters-from-great-shows/852614/111 "2020-05-05T22:43:24Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#):
>
> I knew exactly what he meant.
Well unless he’s using a different definition of the word “great” from everyone else, questioning **Breaking Bad** ’s ranking as a “great show” is bizarre. Even if the show wasn’t to your taste, you have to know it’s thought of by most people as one of the greatest TV shows _of all time_.
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### Author:  [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2020, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-characters-from-great-shows/852614/112 "2020-05-05T23:24:31Z")
> [@madsircool](#):
>
> Her character was supposed to be evil. She was a female Tony and she was ruthless and manipulative.
>
> My choice would be Artie Buccos wife, the restaurateur. Her accent could peel paint. And could she nag.
You have to pick the only straight character on the show? She was the moral center by default.
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### Author:  [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-characters-from-great-shows/852614/113 "2020-05-05T23:28:36Z")
> [@Superdude](#):
>
> I’m quarantine binging _Deadwood_, and halfway through the 1st season, Calamity Jane’s really annoying me.
I remember that. I was watching Sons of anarchy once and realized that the same actress was playing a lawyer. Jane was kind of eccentrically portrayed, with alot of tics.
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