Dealbreaker TV Characters

[Princeton]

By which I mean characters that can literally make or break your ability to enjoy the show they're on. I have quite a few:
-Mr. Carlin (Bob Newhart Show)
-Wojo (Barney Miller)
-Niles (Frasier)
-Suzanne/Etienne (Designing Women)
-Briscoe/Helen/Ernest T. (Andy Griffith)
-Charles (MASH)
-Uncle Matt (Fraggle Rock)
-Pearl/Bobo (MST3K)
-Erin/Ryan/Kelly/Charles/Robert/Plop (The Office)

 

[Princeton]

^Y'know, if this was 2004 and Matbo started this thread, we'd be well into Page 8 by now.

 

[animalrescuer]

Angelica- Rugrats
Penny- The Big Bang Theory

 

[D'Snowth]

Hold it there, pardner . . . you don't like that nut Ernest T. Bass?

 

[MuppetsRule]

By which I mean characters that can literally make or break your ability to enjoy the show they're on. I have quite a few:
-Mr. Carlin (Bob Newhart Show)
-Wojo (Barney Miller)
-Niles (Frasier)
-Suzanne/Etienne (Designing Women)
-Briscoe/Helen/Ernest T. (Andy Griffith)
-Charles (MASH)
-Uncle Matt (Fraggle Rock)
-Pearl/Bobo (MST3K)
-Erin/Ryan/Kelly/Charles/Robert/Plop (The Office)

So is your list characters that MAKE a show or characters that BREAK the show? Maybe I'm missing something.

 

[Princeton]

So is your list characters that MAKE a show or characters that BREAK the show? Maybe I'm missing something.

Aha, maybe I wasn't clear, hence the low post count. Break, not make.

Hold it there, pardner . . . you don't like that nut Ernest T. Bass?

A little goes a long way. Plus, I feel that Fritzell/Greenbaum didn't write every single Ernest T. episode (not counting Malcolm at the Crossroads cuz by then they had left the show), that would have freed them up a little bit more to write more original stories.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Charles Winchester did not break M*A*S*H.
He filled a useful role to be a foil against Hawkeye and BJ. Overall I think he was a better character than Frank Burns, who was just a sniveling mess.
In time, Winchester even joined Hawkeye and BJ in their practical jokes, which Frank could never do.

 

[Princeton]

In time, Winchester even joined Hawkeye and BJ in their practical jokes, which Frank could never do.

By then, it was too little too late. He had already established himself as actually surpassing Frank in his pomposity. Charles and Frank both had the same entitlement issues and endured the same level of abuse from their bunkies, yet Frank would never outright give them the silent treatment whereas I can think of at least three episodes where Charles did.
Plus, as much as he denied it and as much as the show established Charles as being from the New England section of the USA, Stiers played him with a flat-out English accent and it's beyond distracting. And this was his first success as an actor so it's not like he was above getting a little redirection. Talkin' 'bout clout.

 

[scooterfan360]

Charlie from two & half men, his selfishness and irresponsibility and treatment of the girlfriends that he did have made me not watch the show. And Martin from Martin, his god's gift to the world attitude and how he constantly downed Gina's friend Pam, turned me away from the show. And finally will from the fresh prince of bel air, the reckless way he was , and how he always downed Carlton for not being like him. He made me want to reach into the TV set, and slap him.

 

[D'Snowth]

I can tolerate both Frank and Charles in moderation, as they both can be genuinely unlikeable characters. With Frank, he was certainly a character you love to hate, but he really was turning into a genuinely crazy character toward the end of his stint once Margaret stopped having anything to do with him. With Charles, David Ogden Stiers had a way of delivering that "Boston Bull" of his that made a lot of the things Charles did and said so unintentionally funny, but he also often went out of his way to be pompous and condescending towards others in camp whom he held contempt with (which was practically everyone but Margaret).