This is all subject to opinion of course. For my own entries I’ll exempt kids as major characters, but suit yourself in your own. SEINFELD is of course the king of these shows, the original “With Friends Like These…” set-up. The only reason I’d even want to live in the same building as one of these people is rent control, and nothing about their non-stop whining and complete selfishness would make me want to befriend them.
Moving on to something more current-
WEEDS- in the beginning I felt sympathy for Nancy Botwin: she sold pot because her husband’s death left her broke and with a big mortgage and no way of supporting her kids. As the show progressed, however, I lost any sympathy as she ignored every possible warning sign to get out of the business/sell the house for payoff if you have to/save your family (it’s established that there is an equity and surely she and the kids have at least Social Security to live on and while their lifestyle will have to be downgraded it would be a helluva lot healthier than the one that she’s created). By end of season 3 Nancy’s a half-sane self-absolving ditz, the older son’s a whiny brat, the brother-in-law is a total oxygen thief that I wouldn’t even want to know my kids’ names let alone be a male authority figure around them, Sanjay’s a total wuss, Halia would steal the coins from a blind man’s cup if she needed bus fare, Conrad’s a p-whipped wuss, Celia’s a complete nightmare, the maid’s an opportunistic bitch, and all of the other male characters are whining and miserable stoners. Just no one to really root for on the whole series save perhaps younger son Shane and his lesbian friend Belle.
Six Feet Under. I managed to watch the whole series, but it would get hard because of the obnoxiousness of the characters. Even relatively likeable ones like David and Rico had major personality problems. Of course, that’s what drove the drama of the show, etc etc.
No! How come you liked him? He’s a materialistic murderer, who keeps on murdering long after he has an established business wich a steady cashflow. The only thing that can be said for him is that once he realises it is the murders that draw police harrasment, he seriously tries to lower the body count.In the wire, I liked Bubbles, Omar, McNulty, and Daniels.
That was all just work (except maybe in regards to D.) Everything he did bad was just part of living the life that had been handed to him. Certainly he should still be locked up and/or put on death row, but that’s independent of whether he’s a nice guy or not.
McNulty and all of them had no particular excuse to be assholes, they just were–nor did they ever tend to redeem that. Homicide, which was the predecesor to The Wire had all the cops also being multiple times divorced and somewhat sleezy and whatnot, but that show made you feel sorry for and understand their situation. The Wire just didn’t spend enough time on them to really care enough to forgive them. Daniel Baldwin’s character, in Homicide, his divorce was probably one of the better things ever on TV even though he was a complete mess.
Bunk was likeable, I suppose. But he was a secondary character.
I agree. Compared to the other characters, they’re saints.
I came here to mention The Sopranos, but someone beat me to it. I watched a couple seasons of that show, and I never got it. Sure, it was well-made, but I couldn’t root for ANY of the major characters not to get busted or killed. And when they did, I always thought, “It’s about time.”
From the few I’ve been forced to watch: Grey’s Anatomy.
I have since determined that there is only one way I could be convinced to watch another episode: if it chronicles the beginnings of a zombie apocalypse, and every character is ripped limb from limb by a horde of the slavering undead.
