Polarizing TV characters

[Totenkindly]

You know -- ones where half the fans love them (or at least "get" them), and the other half of the fanbase despises them?

Making a list right now on IMDB, but am curious as to ones I might have forgotten and what suggestions people might have.

Currently I've thought of:

1. Skyler White (BB)
2. Michael Dawson (Lost)
3. Andrea (TWD)


Some of the controversy has been pretty heated. I think Anna Gunn (Skyler) has actually gotten death threats (?).

 

[EJCC]

Zoe Barnes from "House of Cards" came to mind right away. Although I think she started to make more sense to the general viewership, midway through the first season.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

You know -- ones where half the fans love them (or at least "get" them), and the other half of the fanbase despises them?

Making a list right now on IMDB, but am curious as to ones I might have forgotten and what suggestions people might have.

Currently I've thought of:

1. Skyler White (BB)
2. Michael Dawson (Lost)
3. Andrea (TWD)


Some of the controversy has been pretty heated. I think Anna Gunn (Skyler) has actually gotten death threats (?).

I put Skyler in the same boat as Lorie from Walking Dead (although I don't watching that show anymore).

Hate em both.

Zoe Barnes on the other hand is awesome (if a little Machiavellian when it comes to taking your clothes off to get what you want).

Shay from Game of Thrones has kind of always been annoying.

 

[Totenkindly]

Yeah, I'm not sure if Zoe would be considered "controversial" that way. She seemed to be a fan fave overall and everyone was shocked at the trip she took.

hahaha

 

[EJCC]

Yeah, I'm not sure if Zoe would be considered "controversial" that way. She seemed to be a fan fave overall and everyone was shocked at the trip she took.

hahaha

Really? Clearly I need to read more about the "general" opinions on these folks. I just know that my friends who watched the show all really hated her initially.

@ bolded

"Zoe Barnes really took the fast train to success. Good for her."

 

[Totenkindly]

Really? Clearly I need to read more about the "general" opinions on these folks. I just know that my friends who watched the show all really hated her initially.

@ bolded

"Zoe Barnes really took the fast train to success. Good for her."

Hey, don't listen to me. If you think I'm wrong, feel free to challenge. I really want to know what the overall consensus is. In fact, the thread can just stand on its own. I just am trying to wrack my brain in order to create my own personal list elsewhere too, so maybe people here will think of some I forgot.

I liked her and saw her as flexible and ambitious, and she was always more being used by Frank than she was using him IMO. But maybe others differ on that.

EDIT: Another great twitter quote:

Really jarring to see Zoe Barnes using iOS 6. Frank should push her to update.

— Sam Faulkner Biddle (@samfbiddle)

Oh, I had forgotten to list Diane Chambers from "Cheers." I liked her, but she was also very hateable. It was nice to see her in the finale, yet people were probably relieved about how things ended with her and Sam.

 

[/DG/]

Peggy Hill from King of the Hill

 

[EJCC]

Hey, don't listen to me. If you think I'm wrong, feel free to challenge. I really want to know what the overall consensus is. In fact, the thread can just stand on its own. I just am trying to wrack my brain in order to create my own personal list elsewhere too, so maybe people here will think of some I forgot.

Well I can only speak for the people I know. General consensus in my friend group was that she was incredibly annoying and problematic initially, but as the show went on she was revealed to be a reliably pragmatic character, great at using the system to get things done in the quickest and most direct way possible. I thought she was pretty interesting once the show started exploring that depth.

(p.s. I'm still not sure what the significance of her gross apartment was supposed to be?)

Megan Mullally's character on "Will & Grace" is another one -- never watched that show, but people seemed to think she was either awesome or horrendously annoying.

And, of course, Ana Lucia from "Lost". I never understood why so many people hated her.

 

[chickpea]

Zoe Barnes from "House of Cards" came to mind right away. Although I think she started to make more sense to the general viewership, midway through the first season.

I'm definitely with you on this one. I spent most of the 1st season saying "ugh! i do not like that girl!" and was maybe a little excited when her ending happened. she just gave me secondhand embarrassment to watch.

Peggy Hill from King of the Hill

Hahaha yes. I simultaneously love and hate Peggy.

How about Betty Draper from Mad Men. She's very widely hated but I actually think she's one of the most interesting/relatable characters. I fucking hate Joan on the other hand. And Don.

 

[Galena]

How about Betty Draper from Mad Men. She's very widely hated but I actually think she's one of the most interesting/relatable characters. I fucking hate Joan on the other hand. And Don.

I can't marathon the show, for all its quality, because of those two. Small doses. Betty I haven't seen the problem with, either.

 

[Nicodemus]

Hannah from Girls. She seems to be hated with a passion by many a people.

 

[Totenkindly]

As a side issue, this is now raising the question of:

1. Why are so many of these disliked characters WOMEN? (I think only one man has been mentioned.)

2. Are there any similarities between all the women being mentioned here?

... curiouser and curiouser....

 

[chickpea]

(p.s. I'm still not sure what the significance of her gross apartment was supposed to be?)

I think her apartment was supposed to show that although she's completely obsessed with her career, and it's all that she really has going on in her life, she has no real success to show for it beyond recognition and a false sense of power.

Hannah from Girls. She seems to be hated with a passion by many a people.

I hate to love Hannah. She hits too close to home in some ways. But yeah people hate everyone on Girls lol. I'll keep defending it though!

 

[Z Buck McFate]

And, of course, Ana Lucia from "Lost". I never understood why so many people hated her.

That surprised me too- I think it was the second season (?), I remember reading something about how she polled as the least favorite character on the show and that people actually hated her. I didn't get it. She's always been one of my favorites.



As for hated male characters: Pierce from Community (Chevy Chase). eta: Although I'm not really sure there's a big "love him" side, for Pierce, so "polarizing" is questionable.

 

[HongDou]

Izzie Stevens from Grey's Anatomy? From what I remember the viewers seemed to either love her and relate to her or hate her. I'm with the former.

 

[EJCC]

That surprised me too- I think it was the second season (?), I remember reading something about how she polled as the least favorite character on the show and that people actually hated her. I didn't get it. She's always been one of my favorites.

Yeah -- the only thing I saw that was worthy of dislike, was just how typecast Michelle Rodriguez was. It was practically the same role she's played in everything for the past 5-10 years.

As for hated male characters: Pierce from Community (Chevy Chase). eta: Although I'm not really sure there's a big "love him" side, for Pierce, so "polarizing" is questionable.

Yeah, no one likes Pierce. Hell, even Dan Harmon doesn't like Pierce.

 

[Flâneuse]

Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City. I've heard a lot women say they love the character and relate to her immensely, and I've heard many others call her a horrible, selfish, shallow person. I haven't watched most of the shows people are mentioning so I can't say if she's similar to the other female characters mentioned.

 

[EJCC]

Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City. I've heard a lot women say they love the character and relate to her immensely, and I've heard many others call her a horrible, selfish, shallow person. I haven't watched most of the shows people are mentioning so I can't say if she's similar to the other female characters mentioned.

This is definitely a trend I'm noticing with polarizing female characters: when they're seen as flighty, selfish, shallow, etc. Hannah from "Girls" falls into that, and although this was before my time, I've heard Ally McBeal was the same? As are several of the female leads from Grey's.

Ooh just thought of another guy: Fitz, from "Scandal". Speaking of self-involved. UGH.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Jar Jar from Clone Wars. I hated him in the films but I find the character quite endearing in the series. Not sure other people would agree.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Also, Neelix from Star Trek Voyager. Come to think of it, just about every character on Voyager.