When Bad Actors Happen to Great TV Series

This is entirely subjective of course so there’s bound to be lots of disagreement, so let us all keep our “2 Second Panties DeWadder” on active.

I hate it when there’s a great show and a great role and one actor or actress I just can’t stand. First time I think I really noticed it was when I was a kid watching What’s Hapennin’!, a show that I’ll still rank as superior, and it was just abundantly clear that Fred ‘Rerun’ Berry (may he rest in peace) had no clue why a particular joke was supposed to be funny or how to do much of anything other than say his lines and dance weird. There are few things worse for any show than terrible comic timing.

Matthew LeBlanc was always the weakest link imo on Friends (besides which I couldn’t stand the character) and JOEY makes two otherwise decent shows he messed up. I liked most of the supporting actors on Joey, but with the star being a ‘way too old to be that much of a clueless nimrod fratboy-without-the-college stock character’ it couldn’t last.

I’ve fallen in love with the show Deadwood on DVD. This show is just incredible in atmosphere, and quite possibly the only show I’ve ever seen where if a character gets a real ass-whoopin’ of a beating the scars last more than one episode. Ian McShane’s Al Swearengen is friggin’ Oscar-worthy, Powers Booth’s Cy Tolliver is the perfrect contrast to the far less refined but more cunningly intelligent Swearengen, Dourif’s Doctor is wonderful, the demented brain tumor suffering minister played by the actors who play Trixie and Joanie and Alma and Jane and most of the other characters (even Geri Jewel when she actually has lines) are just perfect. And (imo) Timothy Olyphant comes along and wrecks damned near every scene he’s in with his “grit your teeth and call it nuance” school of acting. He makes Kevin Costner look like Lovitz’s Master Thespian when it comes to emoting. Pretty as he is I can barely watch him.

There are a few others that come to mind, but I’m curious to see if others mention them first. What TV shows, past or present, have you really enjoyed except for one noticeably bad performance in a key role?

The above should have read “the demented brain tumor suffering minister played by Ray McKinnon was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen on TV and the actors who…”. (Bolding mine to show the missing part.)

Carry on then.

Whenever Jason Alexander ever appeared on anything like that time he was on Star Trek: Voyager.

Shrug. I like Olyphant.

Well you’re WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! And you couldn’t possibly be any wronger!

Security eunuch! Take this man away and bring me a full dossier on his past activities! I want to know where he was when the first Danish embassy was torched and if the answer is not to my liking then I’ll assign him a location. (And find out if he owns a copy of the Anarchist Cookbook, buys fertilizer at a bulk rate even though he doesn’t farm and a directory of Olive Gardens!)

The only one who immediately pops to mind is that chick that’s now playing Denny Crane’s fiance on Boston Legal. I think her name’s Joanna Cassidy? Anyway, I remember her from a lot of 80’s stuff when she was at the height of her “popularity”. She laughs like a cartoon character and it was so distracting as to make me loathe seeing her anywhere. She’d always play some woman who was supposed to be sexy or tough, then she’d laugh and I’d almost vomit. She seems to have toned it down, maybe she’s taken some “How Not to Laugh Like a Loon” classes but I still see her and think “Yuk!”.

I thought this thread was gonna be about David Boreanaz.

Maybe it’s just the role in Boston Legal, because her laugh on Six Feet Under was as you describe. I find it odd that her voice and even mannerisms are much like Candice Bergen’s. I remember Joanna from Blade Runner and have liked her since then, but I can accept she’s a little weak compared to the other Boston Legal cast.

I agree, including his appearances in Seinfeld. He is the reason I find the show impossible to watch.

I’m going to pretend you didn’t write that. :smiley:
But in that vein (pun intended) I’d like to nominate Seth Green in anything since Buffy.

Oddly enough, that’s exactly what I thought.

Aw, c’mon… David totally merits a “Most Improved” award. In only nine years, he’s become a nearly passable actor!

  1. Cybil Shepherd wrecked both Moonlighting and her short-lived comedy Cybill – both of whom had outstanding supporting casts. I didn’t much care for her in Texasville or Last Picture Show, either.

  2. Honesty compels me to admit what I could not do so before, and I’ll probably never repeat this again in life, so pay attention: Avery Brooks annoyed the hell out of me on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Weakest link in that ensemble. I mean, I’m black, he’s a black commander – of course I wanted to like him. But damn, he grated on my nerves after awhile. His emoting and delivery is at least as ridiculous as Shatner’s. His “acting” style worked for him on Spencer for Hire as a streetwise slickster Hawk. But he never seemed comfortable with some of the material he had to say on Trek. Sometimes he overcame it, but there were times when he delivered lines so bombastically I just wanted to smack his ass silly and scream, “Stop trying to out-project Michael Dorn!”

  1. Scott Bacula. Enterprise. 'Nuff said.

I came in here considering whether or not I was going to bring up Timothy Olyphant, and there he is in the OP. I don’t hate him, I guess it’s just that everybody else on the show is so good… Television Without Pity calls him “Clench Eastwood”.

Avery Brooks’ monolouge at the end of the DS9 episode “In The Pale Moonlight” was one of the most chilling and electriyfing moments in television.

I never saw him as trying to out-emote anyone.

To me, the reason he is such a terrible actor is because he over annunciates every single word.

Speaking clearly is great. But not every word needs to be its own little paragraph. Kind of like Joe DeLucio of MPB (Mississippi’s NPR). Dude, you’re a frickin’ radio newsreader, not a text-to-speech program.

Do.
You.
Under.
Stand.
What.
I.
Mean?

-Joe

Okay, I admit Benny Russell’s breakdown in Far Beyond the Stars is beyond embarassing and the perfect example of what you’re saying here but, that said, Sisko is second to Kira only in the Pantheon of Trek Awesomeness and you, sir, are dead to me. Dead.

And as for the Boreanaz haters: are we forgetting Blucas?

I’ve been turning this over and over since I read the OP a while ago.

There has to be a weakest link in any group. It’s logical. I regard The Sopranos as the ultimate show ever to grace the small screen. Ever. There are so few weaknesses in it at all. But if I have to name one, I think I’m forced to admit it’s Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti. There’s just something about his physical presence that doesn’t measure up to the menace Christopher is supposed to have. Michael is a good actor so I credit this to a casting issue.

Please forgive this blasphemy, but if we can criticize Deadwood then what’s next?

Now now. I think David Boreanaz had flashes of brilliance between Buffy and Angel, but I think any fans can agree that he was at his absolute golden best when he was playing Angelus. As a completely amoral, sadistic villain, he looked like he was having the time of his life, and actually came alive as a result. But from his first appearance in Buffy season 1 to the later seasons of Angel, I really think he improved a lot as an actor.

Elisabeth Rohm, Law & Order.
sigh of relief at her departure