Dealbreaker TV Characters

[D'Snowth]

PA Voice: Other than the two actors Snowthy mentioned, Jamie Farr actually played it on the Pilot.

I thought so too, but he said he wasn't him.

Similarly, there's been the debate over whether or not we hear Wayne Rogers's voice in "Welcome to Korea," as some sources say yes, others say no.

 

[Princeton]

Updating my list to a) revive the thread and b) to give a chance to discuss the thirty other characters on it besides Charles and Ernest T..
-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)
-Shirley/Abed/Frankie/Elroy (Community)
-Ziva (NCIS)
-Peterman (Seinfeld)
-Claire/Mitchell (Modern Family)
-Ben/Monalisa/Perd/Jeremy/Jennifer (Parks and Rec)
-Kate (ALF)

 

[D'Snowth]

As far as THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW is concerned, if there's one character who really always bothered me, it was Ellie from Season 1, because most episodes with her basically followed the same formula: Andy gets to teasing her about something, she's insulted by his seemingly narrow-minded and sexist teasing, she spends the rest of the episode holding a grudge against him while he thinks she's just being a silly female, another character (like Opie) says or does something that opens his eyes to the error of his ways, they make up and all is forgiven.

Then again, certain characters like that seemed to fall victim to this as well, like the Fun Girls (Daphne and Skippy), for example: you pretty much knew what kind of trouble they were going to get Andy and Barney into as soon as they came into the picture. Malcolm Merriwether (who was actually a decent character) had this problem too.

But Briscoe and Helen, I'm kind of indifferent to them myself. As far as Briscoe is concerned, I mean, Denver Pyle did a great job with that character, and he does have some pretty funny moments (the scene where he keeps yelling at the dinner table comes to mind), but much of the time, yeah, he does come across as another stubborn mountaineer. Helen, on the other hand, I wouldn't say she's a good or a bad character, but she could be rather bland at times, and it's clear the writers weren't even really sure what to do with her sometimes - especially when you consider that, much like Klinger, she was only intended to be a one-shot character, and the writers couldn't even think of a decent name for her, so they just gave her an odd-sounding name like Helen Krump as sort of a joke anyway.

 

[D'Snowth]

In rewatching reruns of LAW & ORDER: SVU, there's two characters that are somewhat dealbreakers for me, and I'm glad they were barely even used for just one season. . . .

First, we have Dani Beck, the lady detective who served as Stabler's temporary replacement partner while Olivia was off on an undercover assignment, who always tried too hard to not get emotionally involved with the cases she was assigned to work on, but obviously, it was clear the main reason she was added to the show was during that time where Stabler was getting divorced from his wife, so Dani became his new love interest - even though they had zero chemistry, much like Andy Griffith and any of the love interests on his show.

Then there was Dale Stuckey, the CSU technician who was always so cocky and overzealous that he'd end up bungling something up for the detectives which would compromise their investigations in one way or another, then he ends up turning into a classic case of somebody whose feelings were hurt by those around him so he turned into a murderer because he felt he was bullied. At least, unlike Dani, he was only a minor, recurring character, but any time I see his face, I just cringe.

 

[Princeton]

As far as THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW is concerned, if there's one character who really always bothered me, it was Ellie from Season 1, because most episodes with her basically followed the same formula: Andy gets to teasing her about something, she's insulted by his seemingly narrow-minded and sexist teasing, she spends the rest of the episode holding a grudge against him while he thinks she's just being a silly female, another character (like Opie) says or does something that opens his eyes to the error of his ways, they make up and all is forgiven.

Then again, certain characters like that seemed to fall victim to this as well, like the Fun Girls (Daphne and Skippy), for example: you pretty much knew what kind of trouble they were going to get Andy and Barney into as soon as they came into the picture. Malcolm Merriwether (who was actually a decent character) had this problem too.

But Briscoe and Helen, I'm kind of indifferent to them myself. As far as Briscoe is concerned, I mean, Denver Pyle did a great job with that character, and he does have some pretty funny moments (the scene where he keeps yelling at the dinner table comes to mind), but much of the time, yeah, he does come across as another stubborn mountaineer. Helen, on the other hand, I wouldn't say she's a good or a bad character, but she could be rather bland at times, and it's clear the writers weren't even really sure what to do with her sometimes - especially when you consider that, much like Klinger, she was only intended to be a one-shot character, and the writers couldn't even think of a decent name for her, so they just gave her an odd-sounding name like Helen Krump as sort of a joke anyway.

Ellie-I consider myself a pretty strong feminist but Ellie's thin skin when it comes to gender issues (making it about gender even when it's really not) really gets at me. I have the same issue with Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing. And it's really a shame because I've seen Eleanor Donahue in other things and loved her, notably Golden Girls and Girls Town.
Helen-What you say about her being a one-shot character sounds very similar to Susan from Seinfeld. The actress who played her was only cast because she resembled a real-life NBC executive. Remember, Susan was introduced in Season 4 where the arc was George and Jerry pitching a show to NBC but then Susan and George have a brief fling before she...switches teams, shall we say. Behind the scenes, Jason Alexander and this particular actress had really bad chemistry. Then you fast forward to Season 7 where it was decided that the arc would be George getting engaged to Susan so as you can imagine, this made things very hard for Jason (although, let's be honest, he'd burn down a restaurant if they put dressing on the salad rather than on the side) and ultimately led to her being killed off.
Briscoe-What kills me about him is the Briscoe Declares for Aunt Bee episode. He flat out kidnaps Aunt Bee and while yes the show was made in the 60's, that sort of thing is never okay. Also, Briscoe and his sons hold up Andy at gunpoint for practically the entirety of Divorce Mountain Style. But then in The Darling Baby, Briscoe says "We named the baby after you because you've done so much to help us". Briscoe never shows any remorse for these things and in all the subsequent Darlings episodes, Andy seems to have forgiven him. Rewriting the continuity of the series makes both Andy and Briscoe look really stupid.

 

[D'Snowth]

For certain. Ellie was very much ahead of her time in that respect, but I agree, she definitely had a thin skin a lot of the times, and as I said, she clearly would blow Andy's innocent teasing way out of proportion, and it was something they could've tackled in just one episode. (And let's not forget Elinor Donahue was also Felix's on-again-off-again girlfriend Miriam on THE ODD COUPLE). I also recently learned that the real reason why the Darling boys never spoke was because of some kind of contractual prohibition - I'm not sure of the exact details, but yeah, they were contractually prohibited from speaking on camera (though you can actually hear them say a few words in "The Darlings Are Coming" when Aunt Bee had made supper for them in the jailhouse).

And the Susan problem on SEINFELD was just that: a problem. I think it was clear to everybody that she and George lacked any actual chemistry with each other, but as I understand it, since Larry David intended that to be the final season, George and Susan's wedding was meant to actually be the demise of the show anyway, and it was to be just as Jerry imagined it: once George gets married and out of the picture, Jerry's world falls apart as Elaine also leaves town for another life, leaving just he and Kramer. Once the show was renewed for another season, and Larry decided he wasn't returning, killing Susan off was a way to abort that arc so the show could maintain the status quo with the foursome of Jerry, Elaine, Kramer, and George (and apparently even Larry's mother chastised him for killing that character off).

While we're on the subject of SEINFELD, what exactly don't you like about Peterman? I will say he's probably one of the most eccentric characters on the show (and that's saying a lot when you consider practically every single character, regular or otherwise, was eccentric in one way or another), but I can't think of too many instances where he was a poor character - unless it was among any of the numerous times he misinterprets/misunderstands whatever situation Elaine had gotten herself into, thus making it even worse for her,

 

[Princeton]

For certain. Ellie was very much ahead of her time in that respect, but I agree, she definitely had a thin skin a lot of the times, and as I said, she clearly would blow Andy's innocent teasing way out of proportion, and it was something they could've tackled in just one episode. (And let's not forget Elinor Donahue was also Felix's on-again-off-again girlfriend Miriam on THE ODD COUPLE). I also recently learned that the real reason why the Darling boys never spoke was because of some kind of contractual prohibition - I'm not sure of the exact details, but yeah, they were contractually prohibited from speaking on camera (though you can actually hear them say a few words in "The Darlings Are Coming" when Aunt Bee had made supper for them in the jailhouse).

And the Susan problem on SEINFELD was just that: a problem. I think it was clear to everybody that she and George lacked any actual chemistry with each other, but as I understand it, since Larry David intended that to be the final season, George and Susan's wedding was meant to actually be the demise of the show anyway, and it was to be just as Jerry imagined it: once George gets married and out of the picture, Jerry's world falls apart as Elaine also leaves town for another life, leaving just he and Kramer. Once the show was renewed for another season, and Larry decided he wasn't returning, killing Susan off was a way to abort that arc so the show could maintain the status quo with the foursome of Jerry, Elaine, Kramer, and George (and apparently even Larry's mother chastised him for killing that character off).

While we're on the subject of SEINFELD, what exactly don't you like about Peterman? I will say he's probably one of the most eccentric characters on the show (and that's saying a lot when you consider practically every single character, regular or otherwise, was eccentric in one way or another), but I can't think of too many instances where he was a poor character - unless it was among any of the numerous times he misinterprets/misunderstands whatever situation Elaine had gotten herself into, thus making it even worse for her,

Darlings-First I feel I should say that putting aside my issues with Briscoe, the Dillards played PHENOMENAL music and that is something I'll never take away from them. As Andy Griffith himself told it, the Dillards felt a little too self-conscious about their acting skills and that was the main reason they never spoke. But metaphorically, the creators thought it was a neat little bit of irony that the characters could sing but not talk.
Susan-As far as I've heard, nobody on the show's creative side had any endgame for the George/Susan arc until more than halfway through the season. And not to further pick on Jason Alexander but in retrospect it feels like Susan was killed to satisfy Jason and nobody else (fictional or real).
Peterman-My issues with Peterman are twofold. First, my favorite Seinfeld character (not to mention in my all-time top five TV characters) is Mr. Pitt so whoever replaced him as Elaine's boss was going to be at a disadvantage. But more importantly everything about him clashes with the overall show. In other words, there's a kernel for a good character in some show but Seinfeld is not that show. I feel the same way about the backwards episode of Seinfeld: I adore it but every time I watch it I have to pretend it's an episode of another show because it's too artsy-fartsy in its concept for a show like Seinfeld (just like 30% of post-Season 7 MASH lol).

 

[Princeton]

Disney+ Edition: Coach T (Mighty Ducks Game Changers), Trent (Turner and Hooch), Ms. Grint (Big Shot) and Duncan (Monsters at Work). I know these aren't supposed to be likable characters but their relentlessness and formulaicness make them unbearable.

 

[C to the J]

As far as Grover is concerned, I see a lot of complaints in recent years about how much he's been Flanderized, and I . . . kind of have to agree with that, to a certain extent. No, Grover was never the brightest star in the sky, but it does seem like he's just gotten progressively dumber over the years - not unlike, say, Ed from ED, EDD N EDDY, or Kel from KENAN & KEL. Back in the day, I would say Grover was simply just a lot more gullible and a tad absent-minded (or even literal-minded in some cases, particularly with Mr. Johnson); modern Grover feels like he's pretty much de-evolved into a brainless joke/gag character who can't do or get anything right.

That does seem to be the case to me as of late. Sometime last year, there was this video I saw of Grover going birdwatching and he mistook a frog for a bird. You’d figure Kermit’s absence on Sesame Street would have had something to do with it. Let’s not forget the time he mistook a sphere and a cube for pyramids. I will admit, I’d tolerate his personality more if he was less shaggy and his eyes were less slanted so they don’t look like he’s gazing slightly upwards.

 

[Princeton]

I will admit, I’d tolerate his personality more if he was less shaggy and his eyes were less slanted so they don’t look like he’s gazing slightly upwards.

I've noticed that Frank's characters fall victim to unfortunate redesigns more than anyone else's. Tho Grover's redesign is better than Animal's.