39,327
edits
The Scrappy/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions
update links
No edit summary |
(update links) |
||
Line 13:
*** That was actually Real Life Writes The Plot -- the actor who portrayed Doyle was revealed to have a drug addiction problem, and had to be let go. Wesley was an improvised replacement, and his catching on and becoming a mainstay of the show was in nobody's plan.
*** Ironically, Wesley's ''continued existence'' is an aversion of this trope -- he was originally planned to die several episodes into his tenure on season 3 of Buffy, but fans actually liked seeing him be the [[Chew Toy]] so the show writers kept him around to pratfall some more. So he only lived long enough to become a Scrappy because he wasn't originally a Scrappy, and then he grew out of being a Scrappy again in the exact opposite direction.
** Connor, during the fourth season of ''[[Angel]]''. Apart from actually behaving remarkably like Scrappy-Doo in battle, Connor was generally despised by fans for making Angel unhappy ([[Wangst|moreso]]). His personality boiled down to "hateful" and "gullible", and refused to see Angel as a good person and didn't question Cordelia's change in personality, culminating in a scene where he {{spoiler|helps Evil Cordelia murder an innocent girl, even after his dead mother told him not to.}} Connor was not universally hated, though, and his popularity has increased significantly since the publication of the Joss-blessed "Angel: After the Fall" comic, in which he [[Rescued
*** The differing fan opinions on Connor are largely a function of time. For most of season 3 and his appearances on season 5, fans generally liked him because he was mostly doing likeable things. The season 3 finale and season 4, on the other hand, had Connor being universally loathed because he was not only an unbelievable [[Jerkass]] during that plot arc but he actively betrayed the team.
* Any replacement for Mr. Grainger in ''[[Are You Being Served?]]'', although fan opinions differ as to exactly when the replacement characters became intolerable. Few would argue that the wooden and taciturn Mr. Grossman was anything but horrible. There's no question over Old Mr. Grace, though.
Line 73:
** Leia was also despised by many for [[Satellite Character|being useless]]. Thankfully the writers finally [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|took the hint.]] Oddly enough, Blue was even more useless than Leia, but didn't garner such hate, thanks to being eye candy.
** Imogen Moreno is shaping up to be this way for Season 11. Most of the hate coming from Eclare fan girls, the fact that she's been shoved down our throats before she was even introduced formally on the show, and just generally annoying.
** KC, once he left Clare for [[All Guys Want Cheerleaders|Jenna]] the writers [[Took a Level In Dumbass|seemed to forget he was ever in the school’s gifted program]], then when Jenna gets pregnant he abandons her, then they get back together but after Tyson is born he leaves her at home with the full burden of raising the baby while he has at least an emotional affair with Marisol (coincidentally this made Jenna [[The Woobie|more sympathetic]] [[Rescued
* Joseph Quinn of ''[[Dexter]]'' His appearance in season three smacked of "NEW SEASON NEW CHARACTERS" if not [[Remember the New Guy?]], his purpose from the beginning seemed to be to provide sexual tension with Debra (not fulfilled till season five,) and by season four he took hold of the Idiot Ball and refused to let go, between constantly leaking department information to his reporter girlfriend and constantly niceing up to Dex so he wouldn't rat on him for taking money from a crime scene.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'':
** Adric. Apparently, the purpose was to create a character who reflected their prime fan base, so the production team came up with [[This Loser Is You|a snotty, pompous, whining, arrogant and almost entirely unbearable maths geek]], and then gave the part to a [[Promoted Fanboy]] who had only acted in television once and (to speak generously) failed to distinguish himself in the role. It doesn't help that, despite being incredibly arrogant about his intelligence, he has a tendency to either screw up the Doctor's plans or, as in one notable case, gets suckered into helping the bad guy's [[Evil Scheme]], despite it being very transparently evil, thus making his reported intelligence something of an [[Informed Ability]].
** To a lesser extent (in that no one appears to have [[Revenge Fic|written fiction actively killing her]]), Mel also suffered from this, largely due to perceived miscasting, as the actress playing the character (Bonnie Langford) was known primarily from on-stage pantomime and her acting style (and character) was seen as contrary to the show's strengths. It didn't help her case that the two seasons she appeared in are generally considered [[Seasonal Rot|the worst in the show's history]], either. To be fair though most fans agree that she was [[Rescued
** Donna especially got a lot of heat for being a scrappy at first. Her first appearance was composed of her mostly shouting and slapping the Doctor, and her abrasive personality was a major turn-off for a lot of people. She was also played by [[Catherine Tate]], and people who didn't like her comedy show felt they'd dislike her on principle. When she returned as the official companion in series 4, people were not happy. However, she soon became a crowning example of [[Rescued
** The Doctor himself hasn't escaped Scrappy-dom, either; the Sixth Doctor (as played by Colin Baker) is considered a Scrappy by certain parts of fandom. These fans find him to be obnoxious, abrasive, and an empty attempt by the producers to make the show [[Darker and Edgier]]... not to mention his costume. This mainly applies to his television portrayal, however, which debuted in a particularly difficult era of the show's history which affected the way he was introduced and presented. It's widely agreed that the various [[Expanded Universe]] media featuring Six (along with a less gaudy suit) has largely contributed to him being [[Rescued
* ''[[Drake and Josh]]'':
** [[Bratty Half-Pint|Megan]] is hated by pretty much everyone. She's a [[Villain Sue]] in a show without any heroes, so all her schemes target her two brothers, Drake and [[Butt Monkey|Josh]]. Megan never gets caught, never gets punished, and there are quite a few examples of her benefiting from her schemes, just plain coming out on top in an episode she's barely in. The writers tried to balance this out by giving Drake and Josh a few [[Kick the Dog]] moments towards her, making her schemes more [[Disproportionate Retribution]] than anything, but by then Drake and Josh's pranks were seen as [[Pay Evil Unto Evil|justified revenge]] for everything she had done to them so far.
Line 124:
** Maya, the [[Too Dumb to Live]] plague-creating "heroine" who was introduced to us in Season 2 became [[The Scrappy]] of the show in record time. Her entire lengthy story was a [[Trapped by Mountain Lions]] plot and had fans begging for her death at the hands of Sylar even before the two characters met. Here's a hint for the writers: If a character dies and is [[Death Is Cheap|brought back to life almost immediately afterwards]], and the fandom is ''angry'' that the character is still alive... you know you've got a Scrappy on your hands.
** Another Scrappy on the show would not so much be a character but multiple characters played by the same actress. These would be the multitude of Ali Larter clone characters. Once the first character ran her course fans were happy to see her character's storyline come to a close and Ali Larter to be done on ''Heroes'', but WAIT ''Heroes'' fans were introduced to a concept that no matter how many characters played by Ali Larter die, there could always be another one in hiding. In the promos for season 4 it is shown that Ali Larter's many characters have become a [[Creator's Pet]] as the next season centers around her. Unless she is in a whipped cream bikini there really isn't a reason to keep her around, her acting is horrible. The only good thing about this Scrappy is you actually get to watch her die multiple times on the show and though each one is exciting for the fans, it is bittersweet because the fans know she'll always return as Gina, or Brenda, or Cookie, or Lanora, or any other name and random power you can put on her.
** To a lesser degree, Mohinder fits this bill as well. While he's always been a relatively useless character - not because of his lack of powers but because of his amazing ability to consistently trust the wrong people - he truly became [[Too Dumb to Live]] in Season 2 when ({{spoiler|he joined The Company to act as a deep-cover operative and help bring it down from the inside and ''then'' turned traitor on Noah Bennet despite having seen countless examples - both in Season 1 and Season 2 - of The Company being hopelessly corrupt and self-serving.}})Worse, Season 3 has paired Mohinder and Maya, which almost everyone can agree is a match made in Hell. EVEN WORSE, Mohinder suddenly gains Spider-Man like abilities and an inexplicable compulsion to steal people and encase them in cocoons. Maya missed an opportunity to [[Rescued
** Monica Dawson who appeared in the show's second season. Micah's cousin who was a Katrina victim with the power to imitate any movement she saw. Her storylines were considered some of the worst in the show's history and people are also upset that she lived while more popular characters died. She was written out after the season.
** Claire's flying boyfriend West was also not well liked.
Line 130:
** You be hard pressed to find anyone who likes Bob Bishop. What he did to Elle before the series alone is enough reason to hate him.
* Both Richie and Tessa got this treatment from a portion of the ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]'' fandom. It was a sort of [[Broken Base]] situation, with some fans liking them, but just as many giving them the Scrappy treatment.
** Richie arguably becomes [[Rescued
* ''[[Homicide: Life
** Detective Paul Falsone gets some of this treatment, with many finding him a bit smarmy and repellent. He wasn't helped by the fact that his character arc in the first season that he becomes a regular led to fan-favourite Detective Mike Kellerman's departure from the show. A [http://web.archive.org/web/20070816033058/http://www.teevee.org/archive/1998/03/27/ 1998 essay] on TeeVee.org effectively summed up why this character was so disliked.
** Laura Ballard and Rene Sheppard also receive some of this treatment, both being seen as indicative of the production team's caving into [[Executive Meddling]] by putting two 'supermodels with guns' in the show, in contrast to the show's more down-to-earth depiction of women in the police force prior to their introductions.
Line 161:
* Guido from ''[[My Parents Are Aliens]]'' who was introduced in Series 8 (the last series, perhaps not surprisingly).
* Marley And Lindsay on ''[[The New Adventures of Old Christine]]'' they're [[Rich Bitches]] who seemingly have no purpose other then to make jokes about how ignorant and "poor" Christine is, they're not the least bit funny, they're just incredibly irritating.
* Kirk DeVane on ''[[Newhart]]'' was a painfully unfunny [[Jerkass]] for the show's first 2 seasons. Midway through the second season, the writers desperately tried to [[Rescued
* Gina Russo from ''[[Nip Tuck]]''. She started as a minor foil for [[Chick Magnet|Christian Troy]] when he began attending [[Tropaholics Anonymous|SA Meetings]], but she quickly became a semi-regular, showing up at the most inopportune times to cause Christian and Sean grief, such as forcing Christian to wait on her hand and foot as she prepared to give birth to a baby she thought was his ([[Chocolate Baby|It wasn't]])). She was annoying, verbally abusive ("asshole" being her favorite insult,) mildly psychotic, and manipulative, and thanks to Ryan Murphy's inability to let plots die, she [[Yo-Yo Plot Point|kept coming back.]]
* Nikki from ''[[Numb3rs]]''. She's got a 4 year degree from the streets of Compton, yo!
Line 167:
** On the flipside, Malex fans hate her mother and [[Die for Our Ship|Ryan]] for getting in the way of the two girls relationship.
* ''[[Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue]]'':
** Carter Grayson. His preference for using blasters and [[Dull Surprise|having the personality of a wooden board]] were the major reasons why he was so hated. However, over the years and thanks to [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara]]'s review of the season, he was [[Rescued
** Vypra, also from the same season, was not so lucky. The large reason why she was so hated was due to her portrayer's [[Narm|notoriously bad acting]], even ''[[Up to Eleven|worse]]'' than the typical ''[[Power Rangers]]'' fare.
* ''[[Power Rangers Operation Overdrive]]'':
Line 237:
* If [[YouTube]] comments are anything to go by, Tommy's first girlfriend August is really, really hated by fans of ''[[3rd Rock from the Sun]]''. Basically, it's because she is shallow and manipulative while acting like she is ''so'' far above that kind of thing. This is played for [[Hypocritical Humor]] and [[Comedic Sociopathy]], but it still makes her [[The Obstructive Love Interest]].
* ''[[Torchwood]]'':
** Owen, an apparent attempt to create a [[Ted Baxter|Jack-the-Lad]] type character that failed dismally. In the story world he's supposed to be some kind of [[Casanova|love god]], but the actor playing him is strangely froglike and charm-free. It doesn't help that when we first see him he's getting women to sleep with him by using a special spray he nicked from Torchwood supplies that made him irresistible (which more than a few fans saw as essentially Owen raping unwilling sexual partners). However, in the second series, the writers acknowledged all of this and early on took constant digs at him. [[Rescued
* Kim Bauer from ''[[24]]'', owed heavily to her [[Trapped by Mountain Lions|irrelevant plotlines]] that only [[Filler|take time away from the main story]] than anything she actually does. Of course, in the early seasons, she was [[Too Dumb to Live]] too, to the point that she was the original [[Trope Namer]] for [[Damsel Scrappy]].
* ''[[Victorious]]'':
Line 247:
* Joxer from ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'', at least between seasons 2 and 4 for hogging screentime. When the fans finally started to tolerate him around season 5, the writers killed him off.
* Despite being the main reviwers on the show, [[X-Play|Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb]] could qualify. Post-[[Seasonal Rot]], they suffered from massive [[Flanderization]] that made them seem to worship Microsoft, no matter how bad their games are, as well as massive backlash from the [[He Panned It, Now He Sucks]] train of thought (though to be fair, many of these are fueled by the fact that they have massive [[Bias Steamroller]] going in regards to certain genres of games, and in some cases, [[Did Not Do the Research]]).
** Ever since the G4/Tech TV merger, '''everyone''' seems to have become a scrappy. The exceptions seem to be Kevin Pereira (who [[Rescued
** No discussion of G4 TV scrappies is complete without Olivia Munn, who was clearly hired as [[Ms. Fanservice|eye-candy]] all the while she had little to no geeky knowledge.
*** Olivia may qualify for the [[Universal Scrappy]] title since despite being arguably as hot as the surface of the sun, her abysmal lack of talent makes her ill-suited for any role that requires speaking.
Line 253:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:The Scrappy]]▼
[[Category:Live Action TV]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scrappy, The/Live Action TV}}
| |||