Annoying Characters

Characters are difficult to write, especially for a TV show since they have to remain lovable and endearing for a long amount of time through ups and downs, twists and turns, and whatever adventures and/or mishaps they may get into.

I have said so many times in the past that the plot is what always brings me back to a show, but characters are a very close second. If I don't find the characters endearing, then the show automatically loses my interest. You have to stay invested in these characters lives, you have to care about the decisions they make, feel their hurt, share in their joys, get angry when they are, burn in second-hand embarrassment when they do something stupid, and all that stuff. When you experience that, you know that you have come across an well-written character.

I have watched several shows in the past that have been amazing, fantastic, mind-boggling superb… but there was one character that was flat and they always made me groan every time they were on screen.

Now, when I say "annoying character", I don't mean those that are written intentionally to be annoying like Professor Umbridge from Harry Potter or Joffrey from Game of Thrones, I mean those who are written as the protagonist or the best friend or love interest, sometimes the antagonist (but not usually) and turn out to be the most irritating person on the planet! They aren't meant to be annoying, but as a result of sloppy or lazy writing, that's how they come out.

For some reason, this happens the most with female characters. With all the feminist issues today, it is really difficult to write an interesting and strong female character. They are either written as simply the love interest with no personality at all, or if they are around for an extended amount of time, writers often don't know what to do with them and end up making them really obnoxious.

I've come up with only two examples of some severely annoying characters just because I know that my commentary on the subject may get a bit lengthy:

SAM PUCKETT from iCarly

So I didn't watch a whole lot of this show when I was young, but apparently it was SUPER popular. I did watch it a little though, I remember it pretty well. It's a pretty funny show, following in the footsteps of Drake and Josh, one of the most hilarious shows of my childhood. It sort of has the same spirit and odd humor that D&J had, but then there's this character… Sam. Grrr! She rubs me in all the wrong ways! So, I think what the writers might have been going for was a tom-boyish, sarcastic, mischievous sort of character… but it totally bombed. She comes across as a trouble-maker who gets everybody else into trouble, who insults everybody, who picks on people for absolutely no reason, who mooches, who is happy to let others take the blame for her wrong doings, and to top it all off, she feels absolutely no remorse and never learns her lesson. One of the worst episodes was one where she hacked into the school system to change her's, Carly's, and Freddie's grades. Then she made Carly and Freddie swear not to tell, so the guilt ate Carly and Freddie alive and they literally tormented themselves the entire episode. The two of them even got caught hacking into the system while trying to change the grades back and got in trouble for it. Finally at the very end, Sam confessed and got detention, but THEN she hacked into the system again and changed her detention hours! Seriously! After all that, she didn't learn a thing! She just got right back to it! And that's how it is all the time!
She does such horrible things and even openly proclaims that she doesn't care that it hurts other people. She is so mean! She always insults everyone, especially Freddie. He never does anything to her and she simply insults him nonstop every time they're around one another. It's borderline abuse, I tell you! See, I might be able to let it slide if he hit her back with something, like some sort of witty banter or something. Beatrice/Benedick style, ya know? But no, she only attacks him and he just takes it. Sometimes other shows have awful characters who do awful things, for example, Barney from How I Met Your Mother. He almost has no moral compass. He does so many terrible things all the time (serial womanizer, lying, deceit), but he still manages to remain one of the most loved characters on the show? Why? Because while he has his flaws, he has other redeeming qualities that are as equally prominent as his bad ones (love for his friends, quirkiness, loyalty).
All of Sam's antics are meant to be funny, but when it comes down to it, they're not. She's a bully. I think the writers might have been aiming for a sort of Megan character like in Drake and Josh. Megan was mean, did terrible things, and never learned her lesson, so they might've been trying to do something similar here. The thing with Megan though is that she was so exaggerated. She wasn't just mean, she was evil. It worked because she was a little girl with so much power and deviousness. It was on the fence of believable and ridiculous. With Sam, you actually see her type in the real world whereas it's harder to find a nine-year-old who has video monitors hidden in her room.
The reason Sam irks me so is because this is a kid/tween show and she is meant to be a role model for the viewers. Now, I've never been so on board with the preachy cheesy kids's shows with the "shove-it-down-your-throat" morals and picture perfect role models, but this girl is just ridiculous! Kids might be attracted to her because she is funny and charismatic, that's not good! Other than her crazy, silly behavior, she's got nothing going for her. I honestly do not understand why Carly is friends with her. What does Sam ever do for her except get her in trouble? What is the appeal?

BARBARA KEAN from Gotham

This has got to be some of the sloppiest writing on a character I have ever seen. The show is great and the rest of it is super well done… but this lady, argh! They could have made her so good and so interesting, she had a lot of potential… but no. They HAD to follow all the bad cliches and on top of it all they HAD to make her a lesbian just because it's a popular trend right now. Literally, that is the only reason. It is SOOOO forced! I mean, go ahead and write gay people. Whatever, it's cool, I ain't homophobic. When it works, it works... but when you go and write THIS CRAP! No!
So let me lay it out here: She is the main character's (Jim's) love interest, in fact she is his fiancee. Yes, HIS fiancee. Let me tell you, right from the get-go you come to realize that all she is there for is to create problems. She's the stereotypical "let me in, trust me, I want to share your burden" type of love interest in you often see in drama flicks. Which I could let that fly except for when she is eventually let in (despite all of Jim's warnings that he is trying to protect her) and everything suddenly comes crashing down around her because of it just like Jim said it would, what does she do? Does she stand by her love like she said she would? Does she remain strong-willed? No! She runs away and cries about how she can't handle it! What??? This is not the kind of woman Jim needs by his side! She is whiny and whimpy and naggy. Seriously, all she has going for her is that Jim "loves her". He keeps saying so over and over again and gets really emotional when he does so… but why? Why does he love her? She hasn't given him any reason for it. She's not funny, she's not smart, she's not brave. She's kind of pretty I guess, but I've seen better. Honestly, he could find better!
But it gets even worse! Now, love triangles really are not the best idea, but sometimes they work. They're sort of overused and have SO many cliches of their own. You have to be very careful when using them. How does Gotham handle it? NOT GOOD! Not only is Barbara's ex-lover a woman, but she works with Jim and is constantly trying to steal Barbara back by trying to prove that Jim is a bad person.  In fact when Barbara runs away because of the stress Jim's job brings, she runs back to this woman and they make love. For crying out loud, that would be bad writing even if this woman were a man! I mean, Barbara never actually broke up with Jim, she only said she was leaving town and then she goes and basically cheats on him! AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO SEES A PROBLEM WITH THIS!?!?!! But people are so blinded by it because of the lesbian love! "Ooh look at the two women kissing! We can overlook the major plot-holes and character flaws because two women are in bed together! All is right in the world!". The writers flubbed up big time by making her gay. If they wanted to put a gay person in there, they should have put it somewhere else, not as the main character's love interest! Could they honestly think of no other way to make her interesting than by playing on the popular trend? "Oh she's a lesbian. Now everybody will love her!" My GOSH! It makes me so mad!