What Once Beloved TV Character Now Strikes You As Being Annoying? (2 Viewers)

[David Deeb]

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Ugh and agreed. However, I'm not sure either of those were "beloved" to begin with.

 

[jimmyjet]

jimmyjet, on 14 May 2013 - 12:48 PM, said:

...aitf, with all its bigotry displayed.

I don't even want to get into this (especially since I'm not much of a fan of All In The Family) but AITF is not a bigoted show, it's a show about a bigot. There's a massive difference.

hi travis,
i stand 100% by what i said. please re-read it. the show displays a bunch of bigotry.

when you say that aitf is not a bigoted show, its a show about a bigot - i take that to mean that you are stating that the opinions of the owners of the show do not agree with the comments of its characters ?

well, i never said they did. i dont want to hear a bunch of bigoted comments, whether it be from archie or meathead. i dont find it the least bit funny. and how that show could ever be compared to ozzie or beaver is beyond my wildest thoughts !!

i find absolutely no value to it. the reason why ozzie, beaver, father knows best, etc. were popular is not because our families could match up to them. but because they stood for the values that people at the time TRIED TO MAINTAIN, even if most families fell short of it.

aitf is just a bunch of stupid, bigoted comments. if they wanted to make satirical fun of bigoted thought, one 2-hour movie would suffice. and maybe i could have enjoyed it, in that frame. but every week, for a buch of years ?

i have never seen it actually stated by anyone, because it hits too close to home for most most people - but one reason why it was so popular was because it allowed people to feel better about their own bigotries. in other words, i aint half as bad as archie, so i must be okay type of reasoning/rationalizing.

 

[TravisR]

jimmyjet, on 14 May 2013 - 12:48 PM, said:
I don't even want to get into this (especially since I'm not much of a fan of All In The Family) but AITF is not a bigoted show, it's a show about a bigot. There's a massive difference.

hi travis,
i stand 100% by what i said. please re-read it. the show displays a bunch of bigotry.

I think we have a different idea of what "displaying bigotry" means. Based on your post, I'm assuming that you consider any bigoted comment to be displaying bigotry. If you have that broad of a definition then you're right. I don't look at it that way though. For me, the show would have to endorse the comment to be displaying bigotry. In the case of All In The Family, Archie is shown to be an ignorant dope and the audience laughs at him because of his dumb comments.

 

[jimmyjet]

hi travis,

well we agree on that.

i dont have anything nice to say about the show, so i will walk away from the topic of aitf.

happy to talk to ya about anything else.

 

[Ejanss]

I think we have a different idea of what "displaying bigotry" means. Based on your post, I'm assuming that you consider any bigoted comment to be displaying bigotry. If you have that broad of a definition then you're right. I don't look at it that way though. For me, the show would have to endorse the comment to be displaying bigotry. In the case of All In The Family, Archie is shown to be an ignorant dope and the audience laughs at him because of his dumb comments.

In the original British "Til Death Do Us Part"--which was more about simply the humor of the crowded lower-class household and the generation-gap clash--Warren Mitchell was "Alf Garrett", and the humor was about the rant of the typical lower-class Brit-bigoted dad from Wapping: Foreigners, Europeans, East Indians, the Labour Party, Liverpool supporters, etc. (And even Carrol O'Connor didn't originally think the show's humor could translate.)

Norman Lear was simply taking the concepts of long-running British shows and trying to Americanize them by making them "RELEVANT". (Ie., long-winded, leftwing-righteous and network-baiting.)
And to look at the "racial humor" of Sanford & Son, you wouldn't think that the original British Fred Sanford equivalent in "Steptoe & Son" was played by Wilfred "Grandfather McCartney" Brambell.

 

[dhammer]

First thought Gilligan comes to mind. Who would have put up with him? He was nothing compared to Dr. Smith from Lost in Space. It is beyond credulity to think the other castaways would not have killed or abandoned him. He constantly betrays and imperils them and their children and by the end of the show they are laughing at what a "character" he is.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Dr. Smith.

Oh, I could see how many would find him annoying, but most
fans of the show like myself regard him as our favorite character.

Now that you bring it up, Gilligan is one of the most annoying
characters that I can think of.

 

[Ockeghem]

Ron,I really liked Dr. Smith in the first (b&w) season of Lost In Space. When he wasn't being a buffoon, he could be quite chilling, especially whenever the director(s) used some ECUs on him.

 

[Ron1973]

Ron,I really liked Dr. Smith in the first (b&w) season of Lost In Space. When he wasn't being a buffoon, he could be quite chilling, especially whenever the director(s) used some ECUs on him.

There was such a marked difference in "serious Smith" and "buffoon Smith." I love both ends of the show, serious and campy, but think of how great it could have been if it hadn't became "monster of the week" and "bumbling Smith" each episode.

 

[JMFabianoRPL]

I think it's time to reverse the question, and see who you think were "annoying" characters that you grew to love?

 

[jcroy]

I think it's time to reverse the question, and see who you think were "annoying" characters that you grew to love?

Beavis and Butthead.

I use to find B&B really annoying.

As I got older, oddly enough I find their naivety and cluelessness somewhat enviable.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Mary Richards. She's wasn't all that.

 

[Brian Himes]

Well, like most people, my tastes have changed over the years as I have gotten older.

Shows/characters that I enjoyed as a kid but now find annoying are The Beverely Hillbillies, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, Gomer Pyle, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy and Gilligan.

Shows that I found annoying as a kid and still find annoying as an adult, I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners. I've tried and tried and tried to get into these shows because they are considered genuine classics, but I just can't. I find Lucy Ricardo to be a meddlesome trouble maker who if she had an ounce of brains would be even more dangerous than she already is. Now I can't speak for the character of Lucy Carmichael on The Lucy Show becasue I haven't seen all that many episodes of that series. I did watch it as a kid, but as it wasn't in syndication that much when I was young, I was only able to catch a few episodes. The kaleidoscope opening I remember more than the series itself. Now, I do like Here's Lucy. Mainly because that is the Lucy that I watched the most. I saw lots of that series (mainly the last three years) when it first aired. The Honeymooners falls into the same place as I Love Lucy. Tried and tried to get into it but just I just don't get it. I think it has to do with Jackie Gleeson's Ralph. He just comes across to me as just mean. I would also have to include I Dream Of Jeannie in this category. I just never liked the show.

Shows that I found annoying as a kid but really enjoy as an adult, All In The Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, and Good Times (Except J.J. who was and always will be annoying). These shows, at times, genuinly shocked me by their frank and sometimes brutal portrayal of real life. That scene in Good Times when Penny's Mother unplugs the iron and starts walking towards her while Penny pleads for her not to hurt her still bothers me. I would have to include The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda in this category as well.

Shows that I loved and as a kid and still love as an adult would include Bewitched, MASH, The Brady Bunch, The Bob Newhart Show, The Odd Couple, WKRP in Cincinnati and Soap.

Some shows that I didn't watch as a kid but would like to see more of them if they were to ever continue or start up on DVD are Chico and the Man, Welcome Back Kotter (although I did find this one annoying as a kid, I'd really like to view this one with adult eyes. Season 1 wasn't that great, but I've heard it got better in seasons 2 and 3.), Alice (I have seaons 1-3 and I'm finding Flo and Vera to be rather annoying), and One Day At A Time (I have season 1 and would like to see more).

 

[jcroy]

and Good Times (Except J.J. who was and always will be annoying).

When I was a kid I didn't watch Good Times regularly, but I did like the J.J. character at the time.

(I haven't seen Good Times since).

 

[Gregory V]

I like Hawkeye when there's a comedy episode of M*A*S*H but when Alan Alda wants to go for an Emmy, it can be rough.

I didn't mind Alan Alda in the first couple of seasons...but Hawkeye in general,and Alan Alda in particular, then the entire tone of the whole show began to annoy me.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Mrs. Ann Romano, One Day at a Time. At first I thought she was a kind, loving Aunt Bea type character, but after a while, I got the idea that she had a chip on her shoulder.

 

[JMFabianoRPL]

Mary Richards. She's wasn't all that.

I like her...but of course I prefer Rhoda!

 

[tonysam2]

Till Death Do Us Part isn't one bit funny but repulsive as hell. I don't like it at all.

The character who irritates me to no end is Dennis the Menace. I wish somebody would remove his vocal chords.

 

[jperez]

Ted Bessel's (That Girl) character in the short lived early sixties series, 'It's a Man's World', became totally obnoxious to me right away: he's always talking, always wisecracking, in a show that has otherwise a great posthumous reputation and provoked an unsucessful campaign to keep it alive after its network pulled the plug after just 17 episodes.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Been going through Saturday Night Live DVD Seasons while
running on the treadmill.

Recently, I watched an episode hosted by Louise Lasser.

She was horribly unfunny. Almost whining through all her skits.

....and then it dawned on me how much I disliked Mary Hartman,
Mary Hartman. Never got its appeal.

So, yet another television character that I was annoyed by.