Sitcom Arch Nemesis: Difference between revisions

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The Sitcom Arch Nemesis is a very different creature from the dramatic or action-show [[Arch Enemy]]. He usually isn't dangerous or evil, for the most part he's just very annoying -- sometimes he's actually a very nice guy. However benign or friendly he is, he just rubs a character from the show (usually the lead) entirely the wrong way, and the two will never miss an opportunity to have at each other. Often the character and his nemesis are kindred spirits and don't even realize it; these rivals are much more likely to have an [[Enemy Mine]] plot than dramatic rivals.

This character is almost never one of the main cast. Exceptions to that rule include Mimi, Drew's nemesis from ''[[The Drew Carey Show]]'', who is pretty much the second main character of the series; and Marcy from ''[[Married With Children]]'', who started out as just an ultra-nice neighbour but wound up as Al's cackling nemesis. An all-purpose jerk along the lines of Frank Burns from ''[[~~Mash~~ (TV)|M*A*S*H]]'' doesn't count, since he's hated by everyone equally.

This character is almost never one of the main cast. Exceptions to that rule include Mimi, Drew's nemesis from ''[[The Drew Carey Show]]'', who is pretty much the second main character of the series; and Marcy from ''[[Married With Children]]'', who started out as just an ultra-nice neighbour but wound up as Al's cackling nemesis. An all-purpose jerk along the lines of Frank Burns from ''[[M*A*S*H (TV)|M*A*S*H]]'' doesn't count, since he's hated by everyone equally.

== Anime and Manga ==

* In the various versions of the anime/manga ''[[El Hazard ~~the~~ Magnificent World (Anime)|El-Hazard]]'', Jinnai always has this near-psychotic hatred of Makoto, school [[The Ace|ace]] and a [[Nice Guy]] to boot, who easily makes friends with anyone, including his own sister Nanami. It also doesn't help that Makoto is too nice to notice that he's been beating him in almost every aspect ''without even trying''.

* In the various versions of the anime/manga ''[[El-Hazard: The Magnificent World (Anime)|El-Hazard]]'', Jinnai always has this near-psychotic hatred of Makoto, school [[The Ace|ace]] and a [[Nice Guy]] to boot, who easily makes friends with anyone, including his own sister Nanami. It also doesn't help that Makoto is too nice to notice that he's been beating him in almost every aspect ''without even trying''.

* Subverted in ''[[A Little Snow Fairy Sugar (Anime)|A Little Snow Fairy Sugar]]'': Greta considers Saga to be her rival in all things, but Saga, who is uninterested in rivalry, pretends to be completely oblivious to Greta's challenges and boasts.

* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia (Manga)|Axis Powers Hetalia]]''

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* In ''[[Kekkaishi (Manga)|Kekkaishi]]'', Shigemori and Tokiko spent their mornings attacking each other with gardens hoses; it's part of their feud about the 'legitimate heir' of the Kekkaishi founder. Both are rather upset that their grandchildren don't share their grudge.

* ''[[Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (Anime)|Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai]]''

** A rare mutual form can be found in Yozora Mikazuki, a [[Tall Dark and Bishoujo|brunette]] [[Jerkass]] extraordinaire, and Sena Kashiwazaki, a [[Ms. Fanservice|ridiculously hot]] [[Rich Bitch]]. Yozora loves heaping verbal, emotional or sometimes physical (by way of a flyswatter) abuse upon Sena until the latter [[Cry Cute|storms off crying]]; Sena in return loves showing off how rich, beautiful and hot (not to mention huge-breasted) she is compared to Yozora. But at the end of the day, both are [[Not So Different]], being friendless girls who tend to agree on anything they, ironically, are [[Comically Missing the Point]] on.

** A rare mutual form can be found in Yozora Mikazuki, a [[Tall, Dark and Bishoujo|brunette]] [[Jerkass]] extraordinaire, and Sena Kashiwazaki, a [[Ms. Fanservice|ridiculously hot]] [[Rich Bitch]]. Yozora loves heaping verbal, emotional or sometimes physical (by way of a flyswatter) abuse upon Sena until the latter [[Cry Cute|storms off crying]]; Sena in return loves showing off how rich, beautiful and hot (not to mention huge-breasted) she is compared to Yozora. But at the end of the day, both are [[Not So Different]], being friendless girls who tend to agree on anything they, ironically, are [[Comically Missing the Point]] on.

** To a lesser extent, Kobato Hasegawa, a 13-year-old [[Elegant Gothic Lolita]], and Maria Takayama, a [[Nuns Are Mikos|10-year-old nun]], who engage in outright childish fights over the attention of the former's older brother, Kodaka.

* The Evil Organization Florsheim from ''[[Astro Fighter Sunred]]'' are the sitcom arch nemesises of Sunred, who finds them all incredibly annoying for constantly picking fights with him. Florsheim, on their side, are [[Contractual Genre Blindness|Contractually Genre Blind]] and know that as an Evil Organization they must fight the superhero in order to [[Take Over the World]]... But they're ''really'' bad [[Harmless Villain|at the whole 'being villains' part]].

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* In ''[[News Radio]]'', Jimmy James had Johnny Johnson.

* In ''[[Dads Army (TV)|Dads Army]]'', Captain Mainwaring (the pompous, upper-middle-class bank manager whose power and authority as Home Guard platoon leader has gone straight to his head) has Chief ARP Warden Hodges (the pompous, lower class greengrocer whose power and authority as Chief ARP Warden has gone straight to his head).

* In ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'', the [[Magnificent Bastard]] [[Anti Hero|Alex Russo]] has [[Alpha Bitch|Gigi]].

* In ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'', the [[Magnificent Bastard]] [[Anti-Hero|Alex Russo]] has [[Alpha Bitch|Gigi]].

* In ''[[Cheers]]'', Sam's nemesis was the rival bar "Gary's Old Town Tavern".

** Also John Hill, owner of "Melville's" the restaurant upstairs.

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* The UK version of ''[[The Office]]'' had Tim vs. Gareth. The US version has Michael against Toby and Dwight against Jim; in the former case, Toby looked upon Michael's "rivalry" with a measure of disbelief, and in the latter case, Jim uses it as an excuse to constantly pull pranks on Dwight. A somewhat more straightforward rivalry in the US version was Dwight vs. Andy, first when Andy attempted to usurp Dwight's position as Michael's favorite and later when both got involved in a love triangle with Angela. They have since become fairly good friends.

* In ''[[Grounded for Life]]'', Finnegan had O'Keefe as a nemesis. Their children were dating. Also, Finnegan's bar had "McGinty's".

* In the latter seasons of ''[[3rd Rock From the Sun]]'', Dick had Vincent Strudwick. Tommy dated Strudwick's daughter Alissa, making them [[Star Crossed Lovers]].

* In the latter seasons of ''[[3rd Rock From the Sun]]'', Dick had Vincent Strudwick. Tommy dated Strudwick's daughter Alissa, making them [[Star-Crossed Lovers]].

* Jake "the Klingon" Klinger, rival plumber to Ben and sci-fi fanatic, in ''[[Two Point Four Children (TV)|Two Point Four Children]]'' (although he retained his ''[[Star Trek]]'' based nickname, the show he had allegiance to changed in every appearance).

* In ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' Ted has a big beef against the rival architecture collective "Sven."

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* ''[[Lizzie Mcguire]]'' has Lizzie and school bully Kate Sanders.

* In ''[[I Dream (TV)|I Dream]]'', Natalie was this, mostly to Amy. Though when they're forced to work together they do end up getting along in the end. If only until the next episode.

* ''[[~~Thirty~~ Rock (TV)|Thirty Rock]]''

* ''[[30 Rock (TV)|Thirty Rock]]''

** Jack Donaghy and Devon Banks.

*** More recently, Jack and teenager Kaylie Hooper.

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* Pawnee and Eagleton, Indiana, particularly as seen in Leslie Knope and Lindsay Carlisle Shay in the ''[[Parks and Recreation (TV)|Parks and Recreation]]'' episode "Eagleton".

* [[Married With Children|Al Bundy]] was constantly mocking neighbour Marcy D'Arcy for her [[A Cup Angst|flat chest]] and boyish figure, routinely made [[Animal Motifs|jokes comparing her to a chicken]] and hated her [[Straw Feminist]] beliefs. Marcy in turn constantly mocked Al for his hair loss, [[Perpetual Poverty|miserable, low-end job]] and [[Speed Sex|inability to satisfy his wife]], despised his [[He Man Woman Hater]] tendencies and [[Spanner in The Works|ruined more than one of his]] [[Get Rich Quick Scheme|Get Rich Quick Schemes]].

* [[Married With Children|Al Bundy]] was constantly mocking neighbour Marcy D'Arcy for her [[A Cup Angst|flat chest]] and boyish figure, routinely made [[Animal Motifs|jokes comparing her to a chicken]] and hated her [[Straw Feminist]] beliefs. Marcy in turn constantly mocked Al for his hair loss, [[Perpetual Poverty|miserable, low-end job]] and [[Speed Sex|inability to satisfy his wife]], despised his [[He-Man Woman Hater]] tendencies and [[Spanner in The Works|ruined more than one of his]] [[Get Rich Quick Scheme|Get Rich Quick Schemes]].

* ''[[Coach]]'' has Hayden and Judy.

* ''[[Freaks and Geeks]]'' subverts the trope by originally having Kim Kelly be Lindsay's nemesis but they become best friends. It's played straight with Sam and Alan White.

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** Professor Farnsworth's rival "Wernstrom!"

** The ongoing and largely unexplained hatred of Zoidberg on Hermes' part. It was shown on subtle occasions that Zoidberg was something of an annoying leech to him, as well as his incompetent qualities that Hermes barely tolerates the rest of the team for. Add to that his sheer lack of backbone and he's the ideal stress ball for a traditional bullying employer.

*** This is on odd case however. Yes, Zoidberg could be annoying sometimes but he never offended anyone directly since it was more of a case of [[What an Idiot]]. While the others accepted this, Hermes, for some unexplained reason, constantly goes "Bananas" on Zoidberg, even when the latter did nothing.

*** This is on odd case however. Yes, Zoidberg could be annoying sometimes but he never offended anyone directly since it was more of a case of [[What an Idiot!]]. While the others accepted this, Hermes, for some unexplained reason, constantly goes "Bananas" on Zoidberg, even when the latter did nothing.

** Zoidberg did have one with the medical robot in "War is the H-word".

** Leela and Zapp Brannigan.

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* ''[[Angela Anaconda (Animation)|Angela Anaconda]]'': "Oh no, it's [[Alpha Bitch|Ninny-Poo]]."

* Bessie Higgenbottom of ''[[The Mighty B]]'' has three of these. The first being [[Alpha Bitch]] Portsia. The second being Portsia's [[Yes Man|Yes Girl]] Gwen. The third being [[The Rival|Anton St. Germain]].

* ''[[My Gym ~~Partners~~ a Monkey (Animation)|My Gym Partners a Monkey]]'' [[The Protagonist|Protagonist]] Adam Lyon has Principal Pixiefrog, Bull Sharkoski and Chad.

* ''[[My Gym Partner's a Monkey (Animation)|My Gym Partners a Monkey]]'' [[The Protagonist|Protagonist]] Adam Lyon has Principal Pixiefrog, Bull Sharkoski and Chad.

* Trudy Beekman from [[Archer]] who's [[The Ghost|never actually been seenl]] on the show, but Mallory almost constantly complains about her.

* ''[[Doug]]'' Funnie and Roger. Also humorously echoed in Doug's dog Porkchop and Roger's cat Stinky.

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'''Richard''': Is [[Bill Bailey]] ready for this? }}

** In fact, Mitch Benn's next arch-nemesis was [[Stephen Fry]], King of [[Twitter]], which was a [[Running Gag]] in the 2009 series of ''[[The Now Show]]''.

* In a rare case, [[Dan Quayle]], quasi-unintentionally, started a feud with [[Murphy Brown]], who served as a liberal [[Archie Comics|Archie Bunker]] and pretty much had a [[Ripped ~~From~~ the Headlines]] feud going on with most everyone in Washington.

* In a rare case, [[Dan Quayle]], quasi-unintentionally, started a feud with [[Murphy Brown]], who served as a liberal [[Archie Comics|Archie Bunker]] and pretty much had a [[Ripped from the Headlines]] feud going on with most everyone in Washington.

* In ''[[Night Court]]'', Judge Stone had a low-key rivalry with Judge Wapner from ''[[The Peoples Court]]'', as well as a one-upmanship contest with another prank-obsessed judge.

* ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' often referred to Ricky's rivalry with fellow mambo singer Xavier Cougat.

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[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Sitcom Arch Nemesis]]

[[Category:Trope]]

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