March 26, 2024: Important T.V.-related questions!

Rescue one t.v. character from their on-screen death.
Who are you saving? pic.twitter.com/rMi9rzDGNa

— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) March 23, 2024

This one stands out for me, not so much because they killed him off but because of the way they killed him off.  It was gruesome, upsetting, and undeserving of the character.  It was the one and only time the death of a character affecting me so deeply as a viewer that I actually stopped watching the show.  And, it turns out, I wasn’t the only one.

Who is a t.v. character you hated at first but ended up loving? pic.twitter.com/YIRbwZAPzM

— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) March 26, 2024

To be honest, this one was a toss up between Jamie Lannister and this guy…

Not surprised to see a lot of followers answer Dark Matter’s THREE for this one.  I recall perusing the internet the day after the show premiered and reading almost universal dislike for the character.  The plan, of course, was to introduce these characters – seeming cliches because of their lack of backstory – and then gradually subvert audience expectations.  Like my college psych professor once told me, former friends make the worst of enemies while former enemies make the best of friends.  That’s exactly what I was looking for, a redemption in the eyes of the viewers that would have them eventually fall in love with the character.  But seeing all those negative reactions to the character, I’ll admit I was a little concerned.  And I admitted to actor Anthony Lemke that I’d feared I’d gone too far.  But he just laughed it off.  He’d read the scripts for the next nine episodes, knew what we had in store for our audience, and he wasn’t concerned in the least.  He knew that they’d eventually fall in love with his character.  And he was right.  They did.  By the end of season 3, viewer scores put THREE and Android as the audience favorites.

Who is a t.v. character you initially loved but ended up hating? https://t.co/OAQDdp58GY pic.twitter.com/jqOtH9Fn5h

— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) March 27, 2024

This one stands out because it was the most recent.  Loved this character in the beginning of Better Call Saul as I’d already been introduced to him in Breaking Bad and, throughout the BCS’s first five seasons, I loved his character.  Then, in season six, the show and character take a very dark turn and so much screen time is spent detailing Saul’s mean spirited targeting of Howard Hamlin, a good-hearted character who effectively has his life destroyed.  Bleak.  And off-putting.

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And how would you respond to the aforementioned questions?

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