Characters That Annoy Me

I must admit, if these were real people (except for Chris Harrison) I'd be less harsh. But we all have those shows we love counterbalanced with characters we love to hate. 

Dawson Leery from Dawson's Creek

It's a shame that James Vander Beek's latest role, where he plays a spoof of himself to thwart his reputation as Dawson Leery, was zapped along with the show Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23. Now it looks as though the melodramatic, uptight, sappy Dawson will stigmatize his actor forever. Dawson makes, creates, and critiques films; because of this immersion he perpetually overanalyzes insignificant events, hides from more important duties, and often leaves his friends to make sense of the world for him.

 

Andie McDowel

Also from Dawson's Creek, she appears in the second season as an also uptight, driven, bib-wearing eventual love interest of Pacey Witter. Her grades are immaculate, and she seems to be well-liked by those around her (I can't figure out why), but when she starts showing signs of severe depression, she behaves maniacally, forcing Pacey and others to piece her back together. It is not her issues that make this character bothersome to me. In fact through her situation Pacey proves himself to be dependable--he appears on my most loved characters list--but she is terribly selfish, before and after she receives abundant help. Also, I could do without her fake grin and those bibs. 

Roger from Doug

He was insecure himself. Every kid in town knew that, or at least that's what they learned from their moms, but they still had to deal with his torments, his name-calling, and his green skin and orange hair. He reminded me of my own bullies, always aiming for weak spots; for Doug, it was always about his love for Patty. The foremost reason why Roger bothers me, however, is his laugh, probably because my twin bullies with side pony tails cackled just like him. 

CeCe from New Girl

She is the tall model best friend of Jess Day. She contrasts Jess's quirkiness, and she is more grounded than other characters, or seems to be, what with the eye-rolling and such, but I find her to be rude. She falls in lust with Schmidt and soon it becomes, sans her admittance, real love but she dumps him to live a conventional Indian life, as if baring her skin modeling led us to believe she would do such a thing. In the meantime Schmidt has to learn to move on, and begins dating an old friend. What bothers me most is that CeCe calls off her wedding plans and immediately expects Schmidt to dump his fun girlfriend and be with her. How conceited. Likewise, she uses Jess as a buffer. CeCe seems more put-together in light of Jess and is constantly reminding her of the status quo while Jess remains loyal, even at the cost of her own life goals (refer to CeCe's wedding episode). Maybe the characters in her world sometimes deserve to be given reality checks, but if she doesn't like their behaviors so much then she needs to find new friends and learn to be less rude.

Hannah Horvath from Girls

I've read many reviews of Lena Dunham's HBO series because the fresh-out-of-college-and-aimlessly-searching thing really hit home. It is a time when twenty-somethings are trying to grow into adulthood behaviorally, relationally, spiritually, financially, etc, and they don't generally do a very good job of it. Hannah Horvath embodies this type to the nth degree. She is careless, impressionable, and selfish. She rarely picks the better of any two decisions. 

But I'll soon tell you why she is also on my list of favorites.

Pam from the 7th and 8th seasons of The Office

Again, another selfish character. In these later seasons Jim builds a company, because of which he must travel to Philadelphia and spend part of his time away from Pam. It is a big professional improvement from working in sales at the Scranton branch of Dunder-Mifflin Paper Co. There, he was content but not challenged or happy. Pam, without her full consent, lets Jim work on this new company. Their marriage falters, Pam feels lonely, and so Jim comes home and turns down bigger opportunities in Philly to support her and their children. Pam is happy at Dunder-Mifflin and in Scranton, and it isn't until a long time later that she finally allows Jim to have his dream. 

Pam can't see beyond her unhappiness or that Jim has talents that exceed the mundane office life that led him to use his creative energies playing tricks on Dwight instead. Did she think they would all be 60 and doing that very same thing? Things change, Pam.

Stephanie, Michelle, and Danny Tanner from Full House

Danny Tanner raised brats, and Stephanie and Michelle Tanner are proof. Michelle meddles in her big sisters' business constantly, makes excuses for herself, and father Danny rarely has a reprimand for her behavior. Stephanie lies perpetually, mostly to compete with her big sister DJ. Her middle child syndrome surpasses even mine. 

Chris Harrison from The Bachelor and Bachelor Pad

His most noted line is, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last rose of the night." As if we can't count, Chris. He only reinforces the contenstants and never gives real advice. "Whatever the circumstance, you gotta do what's right." Duh, Chris. "Look, we've spent some time together, and I know that you're here to find love...".

If I were hosting the show, I would antagonize the contestants a little more, maybe give them a smaller budget for dates, like $15, introduce other bachelors and bachelorettes that have nothing to do with the original casting, introduce family members sooner, hold the show in the dead of winter, take away the tanning beds, make the bachelor spend money on the ring from his own pocket (then we'd see how serious he was), have contestants attend church together and raise their own money to go to the Bahamas and Switzerland. Other than all of that, I'd stay the heck out of the bachelor/ette's business and make them choose for themselves like real people do. 

Big Bird from Sesame Street

Seriously, talk about the puppet that gets the most air time and doesn't deserve it. It was this big guy (girl?) and his skinny ankles and rotund tummy that led me to start questioning how valid these animals were. I couldn't figure out what he was--maybe a grown-up chick that never developed into a chicken but instead had a case of giantism? And how were the real people on set okay with this? Was it an adult thing not to question these important matters? I don't know. He had a way of talking down to kids like me, too, like we couldn't learn our ABCs without his high-pitched voice and association words. With him, every situation became a proverb. I never felt fully safe in the hands of his teaching skills or the way he sang and danced, and he led me to believe that you could get to China through a drainage hole. You can't, Big Bird. You just can't. 

Characters I love, coming soon.