Wednesday, 24 October 2012

TV Characters I Love to Hate! - 2 of 2


It’s arrived! Part 2 of the most fondly hated characters on television. Did your favourite make the list? 
 

6. Sideshow Bob, voiced by Kelsey Grammer – The Simpsons (1989 – present)

The Simpsons has been one of my favourite TV shows since childhood, and the inimitable Sideshow Bob is one of the series’ most iconic characters (only Montgomery Burns offers serious competition for Supreme Springfield Villain).

Bob’s obsession with Bart was genuinely a little scary when I was younger (when you’re a ten year old, it’s understandable that seeing a funny-haired giant of a guy terrorising a young ten year old cartoon kid could be quite unnerving).

In later years the series employed his character in a variety of different ways, but it’s in those early episodes that the seed of my hatred for Sideshow Bob was planted.

Watching him walk repeatedly into rakes is at times a kind of therapy for my troubled soul.

7. Jessica Fletcher, played by Angela Lansbury – Murder she Wrote (1984 – 2006)

Because she absolutely drives me ten shades of nuts. Angela Lansbury is a very talented woman, but even she can’t make me feel any love for the meddlesome, busybody Jessica.

The character has been enduringly popular, and somehow I’ve become one of those who just can’t help watching Murder she Wrote. But I just wish that once, just once, she would fail to catch the killer or, better yet, become the killer!

For all those who think I’m merely jealous of the fact that her character is a successful author known wherever she goes, I don’t have such loving resentment for Castle (but then how could anyone resent Nathan Fillion?).

Of course, I will be watching her in the Christmas specials that are sure to be on every day during the Christmas holiday, without fail.

But obviously I won’t enjoy them...

8. Sue Sylvester, played by Jane Lynch – Glee (2009 – present)

It’s a good thing Buffy’s Principal Snyder and Glee’s Sue Sylvester never crossed fictional paths – Glee Club would be singing far more morose covers if they had.

Essentially a dictator in a tracksuit with a whistle in hand, Sue is without a doubt the gym teacher from hell, a blonde, acid-spitting Minotaur with a long-running resentment for every living thing (including you, the viewer!). On many an evening I’ve switched off an episode of Glee, only to realise she’s managed to lower my self-esteem. 

She’s also the author of many of the greatest put-downs of all time. A compilation of her ‘greatest hits’ is available on YouTube – in particular, jump to 06:08 in order to hear one of the funniest and most unexpected insults I think I’ve ever heard.

9. Arvin Sloane, played by Ron Rifkin – Alias (2001 – 2006)

It was a close one between Arvin and Lost’s Benjamin Linus, but I decided at the last minute that I quite like Ben after all (he did, after all, redeem himself somewhat in the series finale).

I have no problem love-hating Arvin Loane, especially considering the many horrors he subjected Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) to throughout the series’ run.

So feel happy, Arvin. You really earned your space on this list.

10. Ms Morello, played by Jacqueline Mazarella – Everybody Hates Chris (2005 – 2009)

I know this list has been a little heavy on public school figures, but if there was ever an argument for home schooling, she’s probably it.

Whereas the other teachers on this list have earned their spots for their complete allergy to empathy, Ms Morello makes the list because she says some of the most outrageous things I’ve ever heard while also believing herself to be the most open and heart-warming person alive. No doubt she sees herself as the most generous, inclusive being (and no doubt sleeps peacefully) but insults Chris in every lesson without even trying.

And the fact that she does it all in that chocolate-brownies-baked-in-the-Florida-sunshine voice just makes her even more hilarious. 



What are your thoughts on the final ten? Disappointed that Patty Hewes from 'Damages' or Dan Scott from 'One Tree Hill' failed to make the cut? 

Let me know your thoughts!  

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