Creator's Pet/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

** A setting example in Voyager is Janeways Victorian Holonovel. Several episodes contained a small short at the beginning of a continuing story in a holoprogram that Janeway was enjoying. However, most people don't tune into Star Trek Voyager to watch Victorian fiction. It was eventually dropped without conclusion, but it lasted way longer than it should have.

*** The creepiness of a Starfleet Captain spending her off time roleplaying as a maid might have had something to do with it. They eventually changed her Holodeck pastime to having conversations with Leonardo DaVinci.

** Anastasia Dualla. Dualla was a minor character at first, not very popular with the fans but not in the limelight so it didn't matter. All of a sudden in season 2, her relationship with Billy Keikeya came to [[Dropped a Bridge On Him|an abrupt end]] (the actor left the show) and Dualla immediately vaulted into a relationship with Apollo to set up a love triangle with Starbuck, a sequence of events that seemed ''designed'' to make the fanbase hate her. And then it just wouldn't go away. The relationship was voted the "Biggest Plot Blunder" of the season on the [http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Golden_Toaster_Awards/Season_Two "fan awards" show] from the official forum polls. Rather than stop using Dualla, Moore had her marry Apollo, and promoted her to ''first officer'' of the Battlestar Pegasus. Ultimately the Apollo/Dualla relationship dragged on for all of season 3. {{spoiler|Even Dualla's eventual suicide wasn't enough to endear people to the character by that point.}}

** President Roslin appeared to be going this way in the first season, due to her penchant of being right with every single decision she made, no matter how insane it might have seemed on the surface, along with constantly being presented as the moral compass of the fleet. To the credit of Ronald D. Moore however, he realised how the writers had been putting her on a pedestal while rewatching the first season, and made sure to give her a more balanced portrayal in the following seasons.

** The rumor was that [[Executive Meddling]] had something to do with it, releasing executive producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe after he refused to accept such meddling and replacing him with someone else who would reformat the show for more "[[Viewers are Morons|casual viewing]]".

** Not to mention that Kevin Sorbo was made executive producer, at the same time the Andromeda show pretty much became the Dylan Hunt Hour. Even the actor playing Tyr decided to leave because he got tired of his character derailment to build up the legend of Dylan.

* ''[[Charmed (TV)|Charmed]]'':

** Billie from the final season. The often [[Fan Nickname|nicknamed]] "Maggot Neck", "Bimbo", and "Ultimate Retard" was loathed for many reasons - creating useless subplots that were often just [[Recycled Script|rehashes of previous storylines]], distracting focus from the titular Charmed ones, threatening the world with a spin-off, getting a character that had been around since season one (and Piper's husband) [[Put On a Bus|encased in a block of ice]] for over half the season due to budget cuts, and breaking canon by having the ability to [[Reality Warper|alter reality]] with her mind making her and her lisping sister the Ultimate Power - but no reason garnered as much hatred as Kaley Cuoco's inability to [[Dull Surprise|express any semblance of humanity]] that resulted in her character being alienating and just downright unlikable. Being Brad Kern's pet means you can get away with anything.

* ''[[House (TV)|House]]'':

** Dr. Allison Cameron was the original Creator's Pet. However, her storylines and character gradually grew less obnoxious, so of course she was then pushed aside in favor of a new Creator's Pet, Dr. Remy "Thirteen" Hadley. Ever since Hadley appeared, she's getting more and more airtime (especially concerning her personal life and diagnosis), while much of the show's fanbase seems to despise her utterly.

** And now we got yet another Creator's Pet in Martha Masters, Thirteen's replacement.

* Jennifer Keller on ''[[Stargate Atlantis (TV)|Stargate Atlantis]]''; since her inclusion in the fourth and fifth seasons, she has become the writers' favorite character. It has even been speculated that a few writers even use her to live out their fantasies. The writers are insanely defensive of this character, and it was even revealed by a producer that the more people complain the more she will be included in the episodes in an effort to make her appeal more to fans. With the exact opposite effect.

** Most of the reasons why some fans and viewers hate ''[[CSI: Miami]]'' is because they believe that Horatio is one of these. He gets more spotlight than any of the characters, and all the promos focus on him.

** Jo Danville from ''[[CSI: NY]]'' seems to be taking over the show, interrogating other people besides Flack and having several romantic moments with Mac.

** Rose Tyler was a very strange and [[Base Breaker|base-breaking]] case of this. During Series 1, most people liked and accepted her, but throughout the second, third and fourth the writers started putting her on a pedestal. Gradually, the writers [[Flanderization|changed]] her from a flawed and believable character to an [[Canon Sue|infallible saint who was The Doctor's one true love]], even continuing after she'd ceased appearing as a regular. Basically, the shilling was what ''turned'' her into the Creators' Pet.

** Then there's River Song. Despite the Doctor's [[Technical Pacifist|dislike of violence]], he approves of her use of guns and rarely complains about her threatening people. However, River was quite a good example of an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]], until the end of Series 6 where she destroyed time itself. The Doctor was ''furious'' with her, but married her anyway (and continues to act as her husband). River was sent to prison... but she is revealed to break out it of anytime she wants. Like Rose, she's an example of a character who was popular until being shilled (her arc in Series 6 alone ended up [[Broken Base|breaking the base]]).

* [[Canon Sue|Zoey]] from ''[[Zoey 101]]''. Canon: Popular, Nice, Smart, fun, leader, ANNNNND EVERY SINGLE BOY ON THE SHOW IS ATTRACTED TO HER IN SOME WAY. Fanon: Annoying, Annoyingly Perfect, Sue, Static Character, wish-fulfillment character, and..isn't it obvious that the writers adored her?

* Will Schuester, from ''[[Glee]],'' gets this big time. He takes screentime away from the kids, blatantly plays favorites, refuses to address the kids' bullying problem (even when the bullying takes place ''right in front of him between members of his own Glee Club''), and is, by all accounts, a terrible teacher and role model. Yet the characters (and the writers) treat him as if he can do no wrong. In the New York episode, he leaves the kids ''alone and unsupervised'' to come up with their Nationals performance, only to go off and sing a Matthew Morrison song (available now on iTunes!) and contemplate leaving the kids to go on Broadway. When he ultimately decides not to, the kids all give him a big group hug and act overjoyed, despite the fact that he has literally not helped them ''at all'' through the entire episode and, indeed, much of the season. There's a reason his [[Fan Nickname|nickname]] is [[Mary Sue|Mary Schue.]]

** For some fans at least, the ridiculous amount of time and attention lavished on Rachel Berry's angst, misery, ridiculously stalkery bad behaviour and obsession with getting a 'do-over' after she choked on her drama school audition in the final arc of ''[[Glee]]'' Season 3 - combined with a completely meaningless Prom Queen win gifted to her by Quinn and Santana who actually campaigned for the crown, several episodes worth of characters from perennial quiet girl Tina Cohen-Chang to rival show choir coach Jesse St James going out of their way to talk up Rachel's talent to the drama school Dean, and New Directions' entire Nationals setlist being framed as 'Rachel's second chance' even by Will Schuester - dumped Rachel firmly into [[Creator's Pet]] territory. They tried to save it with Dean Tibideaux's cool, cuttingly accurate assessment of Rachel's sense of entitlement and appallingly unprofessional behaviour, but the need to shoehorn Rachel into a victory moment and a place at NYADA no matter what caused more problems than a little [[Lampshade Hanging]] could solve.

*** Not to mention the fact that they completely shafted the show's original [[Ensemble Darkhorse]], Kurt (who aced his audition), in order to give Rachel a happy ending that most feel she did not deserve.