Yeah, he almost ruined that movie for me: fine, give him five minutes for mild amusement, then kill him messily. Sadly, he seems to have built an entire career {well, two Rush Hour movies} in doing exactly the same bad copy of a bad copy {Martin Lawrence} of a bad copy {Eddie Murphy} of a 30 year old Richard Pryor sketch.
That’s a beautiful summation of why that little bastard is so annoying.
Am I the only one who liked Fabienne (Bruce Willis’s girlfriend in Pulp Fiction)? Her scenes may pale in comparison to the rest of the movie, but what doesn’t?
They need some way to get Butch to retrieve his watch, and a ditzy girlfriend is as good as any. Plus, she gets to cry when they’re in an incredible hurry, forcing Butch to go console her and ask her about pancakes. I think it works.
I know that there were a few more, but I can’t think of any offhand.
And, in all fairness, Xavier’s paralysis wasn’t normally an issue. He got around pretty well.
He wasn’t tacked on, though. Fonzie was an integral part of the show from the very start.
Everything, that is, except True Lies. He positively steals entire chunks of that movie.
“Roseanne” had characters that arrived yet the show went on. Fortunately, several of these tacked-on characters came and went. I guess you can’t blame the show for trying.
There were new babies, and boyfriends moving into the house, and gay friends of Leon, the Needle Butt neighbor, etc., but to me the most annoying tacked-on characters occurred when the two teenage girls and their clueless father moved in next to the Conners. There were several uninteresting plotlines involving them, including one where the slut teenager leaves Darlene stranded in Chicago, where the slut teenager hits on David, and when the Conners go to California with them. I think the slut teenager was meant to be a foil for Darlene, since Becky was gone (like when the previous neighbor, Needle Butt, was meant to be a foil for Roseanne). But it never quite worked out.
The romantic sub-plot in Midway with Charlton Heston’s son in love with a Japanese girl really blew.
Tied for the Andrew-and-Alex routine on Family Ties is the Nicholas-and-Will routine on Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Both births were a result of the actress getting pregnant, which is better than the old “hide the stomach and don’t mention it” way of dealing with the problem (think Julia Louis-Dryfess on Seinfeld).
I disagree. I would rather have them hide it than introduce a horrible new cute kid character.
Shows have missed a great bet by tying the a birth by the female lead to the addition of another annoying child on the show. What they should do is have the TV mom miscarry. Massive free publicity for a Very Special Episode, an instant Emmy, and no diaper jokes.
Given past precedent, I don’t think any show (outside of a soap opera) will every do anything like that for a long time. On Moonlighting, Cybill Shepherd was pregnant and, instead of hiding her behind a desk for half a season, they were initially going to work the baby into the show’s storyline. However, due to delays caused by infighting among the cast and the producers and a long writer’s guild strike in 1988, the TV pregnancy of Shepherd’s character (Maddy Hayes) ended up lasting almost a year beyond the time Shepherd gave birth in real life. So, backed into a corner, the writers had Maddy miscarry in an episode that turned off many of the show’s fans and, for all due purposes, mortally wounded the series which was canceled six months later.
On “Married…With Children”, the writers made Peg pregnant when Katie Segal became pregnant. She suffered a miscarriage, and the writers made it so Peg’s pregnancy ended up being a dream.
On “Married with Children” Katy Segal’s pregnancy was written into the show; and, when she miscarried in real life, they turned it all into a dream. The fact that they could make such a hokey story really work shows how good (if warped) that show was.
When Lauren Lane, who played C.C. Babcock on “The Nanny” got pregnant, they spoofed the “hiding the stomach” strategy: In her first scene, she was in a loose coat with a shoulder hangbag about the size of Kansas, talking about “I was watching an old Seinfeld and Elaine was–I don’t know, about 19 months pregnant and she was carrying a pillow to hide it, like that would fool anybody.” Then she turns to go out, all the while switching her enormous sholder bag from one arm to the other in front of her bulging stomach. While walking out, she grabs a huge spider plant and faces the audience, holding it in front of her, says “this needs water” and walks out holding it.
Later, she comes in with a poster for Mr. Sheffield, the Broadway’s producer’s new show, and holds it over her stomach. The title? BABY (which is an actual Broadway musical).
Ummm … define “integral.” IIRC, Fonz was an ongoing but minor character when the show first aired. The show focused on Ritchie, and Fonz had on only occasional moments on camera. I think (if I remember correctly; it’s been a long time, and I’m not inclined to research it) Fonz didn’t become a cental character until the second or third season.
I totally agree, folks may not like the acting or the dialogue, but the character was crucial to the plot. Butch wold never have forgotten the watch himself, it had to be someone else.
And, to his credit, Henry Winkler refused to let the producers turn Happy Days into The Fonzie Show.
No, we needed Brazil. They were ready to rhumba.
Since one-half of the category is the worst tacked-on subplot, I’m surprised nobody’s gotten around to the New Testament yet. Revelations strikes me as especially superflous.
That actually happened? Wow. I thought I dreamed that episode.
Did Bruce Willis actually play the dead fetus?