The Energon Pub

So, I have semi-recently noticed that there are a number of shows that I like, while also hating the main character(s) of. I was wondering if there is anyone else who finds themselves in a similar spot?

Malcolm in the middle.
This show is just fantastic, I love the characters, I love how we never learn their family name. I love how wonderfully bizar the world is they live in, as in it's just bizzar enough to be the real world, and I can't think of a character I actually dislike, since they're all delightful.
Well, except Malcolm. I liked him at first, but I believe that was more due to him being the defacto main character and focus of the show, but I soon realized that he's actually much more the villain of the series than the hero. My favorites were always his parent, especially his dad Hal. Hal was like a more intelligent and more paranoid version of Homer, and I loved every second he was on screen. Francis's story was also more interesting than Malcolm's and towards the end of the series I actually got annoyed whenever focus would shift from Hal, Dewy, Reese, Francis, or Lois. I still don't really understand exactly why, but I just somehow stared hating him.

King of Queens.
Now, this is a show that kinda took me by surprise, well the realization that I hated the main characters at least. I remember when this first aired in Germany, I caught the pilot by accident, and I was so blown away by the fact that I landed on the channel in the exact moment that the show started that I watched it, despite not knowing what it was.
I enjoyed the pilot quite a bit and then watched the show regularly, even eagerly awaiting each new season, it was even the show that taught me what a "season" is. Up to then all the shows I watched hat already been completed and ran uninterrupted, but this was brand new at the time and so there were waiting times between each season. I enjoyed this show so much and I loved all the characters, I really, really liked how Doug and Carry seamed like an actual couple and how they both had to get used to living as one.
But as the show went on, Doug turned into this completely reckless asshole, in the beginning he was more like a stupid well-meaning goofball who could be a bit selfish at times and would accidentally make huge mistakes. But at the end of the series he was just completely malicious, and seemed like a totally selfish dick, it was as if the character had become self-aware, realized that he's the main character of a successful sitcom and decided he was god. Carry turned from this nice intelligent woman who at times had to reel in her husband or solve one of his stupid problems into a total selfish bitch. To me it felt like the writers only focused on the few moments of when she had to be the straight man, and then decided that she would be this 24/7. By the end of the show she was a total monster, she actually could only ever feel happy when other people suffered. I was surprised that the show didn't end with them actually divorcing as I couldn't see how anyone would actually want to live with either of them. I mean the last two seasons were basically just them one upping each other, and pulling the other one down.
I also ended up disliking Deacan after a few seasons, and was confused why he was still "friends" with Doug, since it looked like he actually hated Doug the last few seasons and seemed glad whenever he was gone.

So why did I stick by the show? Arthur, Spence and Danny. For me, those were the last saving graces of the show, I loved Arthur from the start, but as the show went on I found myself only really watching because of him and his high jinks. And of course Spence and Danny, who ended up being a more interesting and friendly couple to watch then the actual lead couple, and they weren't even a couple!

So what are your shows you dislike the main character of, or am I the only one with this disorder? XD

How I Met Your Mother. I hated Ted with a passion. Everything that guy did pissed me off. Loved the other four characters though.

Sons Of Anarchy. Although I started off liking the character of Jax, by the end of the series I couldnr wait for him to die.

Ironhidensh wrote: Sons Of Anarchy. Although I started off liking the character of Jax, by the end of the series I couldn't wait for him to die.

Agreed, mostly. The whole story of that series stopped being good after season 4. I got pissed after Clay killed Piney and basically got away with it, and when Opie died, I just thought, "why am I still watching this?" But for some reason I did. Hours I will never get back.

The Wonder Years.

Kevin was always such a weak, whiney little jerk off who always treated his best friend Paul like crap. I absolutely loved the show though.

Green Arrow.

I enjoyed many of the story lines, and I liked the plot twists, but I hate Oliver Queen. It's like they're trying to do the Batman/Bruce Wayne with him. He comes across as too brooding, too protective, too insecure and overall, too emo.

*Note that I've yet to get around to watching the most recent season, but I find it unlikely to change.

**Second note: I also like that I can fast forward through all of the flashbacks because they have almost 0 consequence on the current story.

Which season you on? As season 2's flash backs set up the villain really well.

ZeroWolf wrote:Which season you on? As season 2's flash backs set up the villain really well.

Finished Season 2 a while back. I decided that I could start skipping the flashbacks about halfway through and it didn't seem to have much impact.

I'm working through The Flash before getting caught up.

Smallville - For the love of Jor-El Clark, suck it up and fight already!

Warehouse 13 - No way in hell Pete and Myka would ever be Secret Service, they are sooooo stupid, even for a sy-fy show.

Arrow - Look Ollie, if I wanted this much family drama, I'd watch a telenovela.

Mkall wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Which season you on? As season 2's flash backs set up the villain really well.

Finished Season 2 a while back. I decided that I could start skipping the flashbacks about halfway through and it didn't seem to have much impact.

I'm working through The Flash before getting caught up.

You need to watch season 3 of Arrow though, Flash and Arrow have a two part crossover half way through Flash. Which means I have to finish season 2 of Arrow and most of season 3 before I can continue watching Flash.

I do like the flashbacks in Arrow, sure, they currently undermine the whole "stranded alone on an island for 5 years" thing the character and the show was so proud of, but they do seem to nicely mirror the present and give a bit more depth to it all. And yes, that show has waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much family drama and the intrigues and morale, it's gotten really, really out of hand.
I do find it funny though how they try to make Green Arrow more appealing to the general masses, by dropping the green from his name, and trying to make him a sort of Spider-Man/ Batman Hybrid thing.

Yeah, I stopped watching Smallville about half way through, which is when I realized he'll never put the costume on, which always annoyed me because he already looked perfect for the role.

Couple of shows mentioned in here I never watched or even heard of XD

I can't believe people are talking about smallville and not mentioning Lana, one of the worst characters to ever grace the small screen. I almost quit the show because of her.

The costume thing wasn't really the shows fault though, that was the result of the lawsuit between DC and the estate of super mans creators.

I personally believe Arrow is CW attempt to do Batman but without the tricky business of the batman TV rights.

I don't get that though, they own all of DC, and most of the villains they've had in the show are Batman villains anyway. So if they wanted to make Batman, why not just use Batman.

I honestly have no idea but last I heard of the batman TV rights was when Chris Nolan killed the grayson TV show off as he didnt want his batman to compete with a TV batman

Mkall wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Which season you on? As season 2's flash backs set up the villain really well.

Finished Season 2 a while back. I decided that I could start skipping the flashbacks about halfway through and it didn't seem to have much impact.

I'm working through The Flash before getting caught up.

It's better to alternate between episodes. It's how they're aired, and pretty clearly how they were written as well.

Also, the flashbacks are important, since without them, you don't really get a sense of why Deathstroke had super strength and such hate-on for Ollie.

Dead Metal wrote:I don't get that though, they own all of DC, and most of the villains they've had in the show are Batman villains anyway. So if they wanted to make Batman, why not just use Batman.

You remember the Bat Embargo from way back when? This is that, specifically because of the new movies coming out.

As for Arrow, I started to realize how much less I like Ollie in how he reacted to Wildcat. "He killed a drug dealer, it doesn't matter that it was six years ago and traumatized him to the point where he quit being a vigilante, it makes him a bad guy!" Man, it must be real easy to talk down to people from atop your mountain of corpses. He snapped a dude's neck in the first episode! He's killed dozens of people by the end of season 1, and then decides that since he's decided to not kill anymore, it makes him the gold standard of morality amongst vigilantes...while also neatly ignoring his own massive body count.

And yeah, the fact that they're giving him so many of Batman's attributes bugs the hell out of me.

Shadowman wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:I don't get that though, they own all of DC, and most of the villains they've had in the show are Batman villains anyway. So if they wanted to make Batman, why not just use Batman.

You remember the Bat Embargo from way back when? This is that, specifically because of the new movies coming out.

Which would be OK and all, but Deathstroke made an appearance in this, along with the Batman cartoon at the time.

As for Arrow, I started to realize how much less I like Ollie in how he reacted to Wildcat. "He killed a drug dealer, it doesn't matter that it was six years ago and traumatized him to the point where he quit being a vigilante, it makes him a bad guy!" Man, it must be real easy to talk down to people from atop your mountain of corpses. He snapped a dude's neck in the first episode! He's killed dozens of people by the end of season 1, and then decides that since he's decided to not kill anymore, it makes him the gold standard of morality amongst vigilantes...while also neatly ignoring his own massive body count.

And yeah, the fact that they're giving him so many of Batman's attributes bugs the hell out of me.

Yeah, that bugs me too, but the funniest instance of it was with Huntress, after killing like 20 face less goons in the same episode, he stops her from killing her father who's the mastermind behind it all, because that would make her a murderer and that's bad, because he has to go to prison to get real justice. WTF?! Just five minutes before that he was putting arrows in people's eyes and chests, he even snapped someone's neck right after shooting his buddy.

The show is kinda like the reverse Agents of SHIELD, it started out good, but then started getting bad towards the end of the first season, which is where SHIELD finally got good.

I still need to re watch shield, I gave up on it before its first mid season break...nnow I hear it's awesome

ZeroWolf wrote:I still need to re watch shield, I gave up on it before its first mid season break...nnow I hear it's awesome

Yeah, it's pretty good now. The excuse they gave for why most of the first season sucked was because they had to kill time before they could do much because of Captain America 2. Which is a sh**ty excuse actually.
But yes, the show picks up greatly near the end of season 1 and just keeps getting better. Season 2 is loads of fun.

Dead Metal wrote:

Shadowman wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:I don't get that though, they own all of DC, and most of the villains they've had in the show are Batman villains anyway. So if they wanted to make Batman, why not just use Batman.

You remember the Bat Embargo from way back when? This is that, specifically because of the new movies coming out.

Which would be OK and all, but Deathstroke made an appearance in this, along with the Batman cartoon at the time.

Beware the Batman wasn't part of nor restricted by the Bat Embargo 2.0, Arrow and Flash are. It's why they've referenced every major city in DC except for Gotham and Metropolis. A couple of villains slip through the cracks here and there, usually justified by having been a villain for Ollie in the comics. (There was a time where he had a pretty serious rivalry with Slade and Ra's al Ghul)

The Simpsons. We've heard everything these characters are going to say or do a thousand times over now and I'd honestly prefer a series without the title characters.

Basically, any show I like that isn't Transformers.

I hated Angel and Cordelia on Buffy,the Vampire Slayer but I liked them all Angel.

Just started Arrow season 3, yeah, I'll be dropping this show once I reached the two part crossover with The Flash. Man, this show just goes downhill, it's like the reverse Agents of SHIELD, in that it just gets worse while the other gets better.