CSI got rid of Fox and Dourdan thereby eliminating the 2 weakest characters. That could help the show a lot.
Everyone rip[s Wesley Crusher.
But, you know what? Actually, MOST of the characters, taken over the course of the show, were supremely lame. Picard was a brave explorer who wimped out time and again and blew a chance to kill off the Borg. Beverly Crusher was a sanctimonious, fatally boring bitch. Deanna Troi was another sanctimonious bitch (loved her Mom, though) and Will Riker and Geordi La Forge were just really boring. Wesley at least seemed human, even if the script kept making him ridiculously important.
The only characters I actually liked were Worf and Data, in part because, I think, their alienness forced them to deal with difficulty in relating to their surroundings. Worf is constantly fighting his naturally aggressive nature; when out of his element, like dealing with civilians or with his son, he tries his best and still fails a lot, and struggles to understand why he fails. Data, of course, is utterly alone in the universe, and the nature of his character allows for the exploration of a lot of neat questions.
Orko from He-Man. And generally the comic relief character on otherwise fairly serious shows is very hard to do well. I do like Conner on Primeval though, and Wash on Firefly, and for some reason, Snarf on Thundercats. I even liked Wesley except for his reunion episodes (the academy and space Indians eps - I did like the Ashley Judd ep).
Pretty much most of female characters on CSI. I’m sorry, but I’m really starting to get sick of “chip on her shoulder and unwilling or unable to control their emotions” being passed off as “personality.”
Granted, this varies from character to character, and over time, and with occasional glowing exceptions. (Like Lady Heather. She was cool—she just needed minions and a fortress.)
Agree about Will and Grace and would add Jerry Seinfeld fromSeinfeld to that observation. Kramer and Elaine were funny. Costanza and Newman were excellent love-to-hate characters. Costanza’s Dad was great–like a much-funnier version of my own Dad. Jerry was just there.
Back in the dark ages before my little suburb had cable and VCRs were common , I worked 4-to-12 shift.
The only thing still on at 12:15 was NBC and Tom Snyder. Hated Tom Snyder, loved his guest-booker. Always had great guests on that show.
Jake, Daria and Quinn’s father on Daria. He was just weak and useless with not much to add to the stories.
God, me too. I always switch over those episodes.
Also, Bart is pretty annoying too sometimes. Yes, he’s meant to be, yada yada yada, but he doesn’t have the funny or endearing qualities of Homer, who is always watchable even at his most assholish.
Disagree. He was only a one-note character for a little while; after a while, they varied his escape schemes to pretty good comedic effect. And later, when he replaced Radar as company clerk, his character was pretty well handled.
I’m taking a trip in the WayBack Machine™ for my picks of weakest characters:
F Troop: Calamity Jane (despite being the only eye candy)
I Dream of Jeanie: Major Healy
Superman: Jimmy Olsen (some things never change)
The Addams Family: Grandmama Addams
Sanford & Son: Grady and Rollo
Welcome Back Carter: Boom Boom Washington
Junior on My Wife & Kids.
I’ll have to go the opposite side - Chuck annoys the heck out of me, and I love Ned. Might be because he brings the pretty. She’s got an annoying voice.
Recently I’ve felt Ned has been more tic than character, though, so my opinion might change on him. But that still leaves Olive, Emerson, Lily, Vivian, Digby, and Pigby!
Susan
She pretty much got those in the “Heart of Gold” episode of Firefly - a foil-sided fortress and a whorehouse full of minions. Plus Mal and the gang.
Scrappy Doo
The Wonder Twins
Sure, but those people would probably bug me too.
I find that last statement odd. The only Wesley episode I found tolerable was the academy episode; it revealed that he and Tom Paris were, at heart, the same sort of wanker.
Yeah, I know that the leader of Nova Squadron wasn’t Paris. Except of course that he was.)
Scrubs - Elliot Reid’s character is beyond annoying. Her neurosis got tiresome a few seasons ago.
The Wire - Ziggy was one of those annoying kids I just wanna punch for 85% of the season. Luckily he REALLY brought it home at the end of the season. I happen to think the series is almost perfect but I thought he was kind of weak.
Seinfeld - I just found her entirely unlikable.
My twoo all-time favorite shows are The Wire and The Simpsons.
Of characters on The Wire who showed up with some frequency across multiple seasons, I think the consistently least interesting and least entertaining was Cutty. Are there any great scenes or moments involving Cutty? Second place is probably Ronnie.
Among relatively major Simpsons characters, it’s hard to find a clunker. But again applying the “fewest great moments/scenes involving this character” test, and not going for some weak-ass answer like Snowball 2, I’d have to say maybe Marge.
What I took from the Vito arc is to show that, even though they were showing Tony as a more evolved “modern” gangster (seeing a therapist, having a sense of regret for some of his misdeeds, concern for his son not getting into the life, etc.), he was still a neanderthal. This sorta was more confirmation of the whole “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” theme.
He gave up Vito to Phil; didn’t do anything about it. Vito was one of Tony’s best guys, a good earner and loyal. Tony waffled about it because of what a good earner Vito was but, in the end, he was a “cocksucking fanook” and left his wife (Phil Leotardo’s sister). This is apparently more offensive than being a bad earner and didn’t even warrant of the protection of his boss.
Paulie talks to and supports Johnny Sack behind his back, Furio gets to almost banging Carmela (only out of fear did he not, not any sense of loyalty to Tony), and Artie puts a gun in his face. All of them get a pass. Vito gets one of the more horrific deaths on the show simply for being homosexual (bisexual, not sure if they ever determined it one way or the other).
That arc to me was just one more layer of Tony’s lack of evolution and the foreshadowing of his death in the final episode. It was one of the more important and eye opening layers for me.
The “actors” in Deadwood- what a waste of valuable Al Swearangen time. Jack was a promising character and I realize that they didn’t have the time to flesh them out but I kept thinking “There’s only (1,2 or 3) episodes left! I need more Al and less Actors!”
I’m annoyed that the dog has been the focus of about eight episodes, while the cat, at best, got a B-plot one time. Even an episode that started out pro-cat (Snowball II saves Homer from a treehouse fire) turned back toward the dog after the first commercial.
Bad dog! Bad!