TV Character's you felt were pointless/served no purpose

[Khan]

 

Kim Fields said it best: they complained that there were too many people in the cast (which led to the post-S1 mass exodus); and then, they bring on all these new people.

 

Honestly, I don't think Linda Marsh and Margie Peters trimmed ENOUGH when they came aboard in S2 to fix the show.  As much as I liked watching Natalie, Tootie and especially Mrs. Garrett, I feel like the show was Blair vs. Jo; and when the girls graduated from Eastland, that should have been the end.

[dragonflies]

I liked PIPPA, I just don't think what was her name, Cinnamon? added anything to the show

[Soaplovers]

 

It w asnt that it wasn't trimmed enough...the fact was the shoe didn't give equal balance.  Jo was over rated..imho

 

I liked the later seasons when Jo was nicer.

 

Poppa and Beverly ann.  I think having the four girls renting the house froim Mrs G without an adult there would habe been interesting...

[I Am A Swede]

I never felt that Vickie on "Falcon Crest" had much purpose. I didn't really care about her when she was on, and didn't miss her at all when she wasn't.

[Khan]

 

Cinnamon was on for two episodes only, though, so I just chalked it up to someone on the staff being in love with Stacey Q.

[Soapsuds]

Presses play button.....

 

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[Khan]

The perfect answer to anyone who says, "I miss the '80's."

[Gray Bunny]

So, in recent years I've seen a good portion of The Facts of Life in reruns, and yeah, I'd have to go with "street-wise Kelly," as they like to describe her in the episode summaries, as the most pointless of the new characters they tried to bring on during the later years. One single episode was enough; why make her a series regular? 

 

When I think of pointless sitcom characters, I think of those peripheral neighbor characters that pop in for a couple scenes but don't have an actual storyline. Like Patty Poole (Edie McClurg) on The Hogan Family/Valerie.... Ann Wedgeworth on Three's Company (along with Jennilee Harrison, after Cindy moved out and Terri moved in)... to name a couple. 

[DRW50]

 

All the primetime soaps had the young ingenue causing her parents' strife - Falcon Crest didn't need one (which someone realized) but beyond that, someone clearly cast Jamie Rose based on her striking looks without noticing that she had all the acting ability of an old can of paint. Jamie Rose gave some good unintended camp on Lady Blue and also had a decent guest arc on St. Elsewhere - that's about the best I can say. 

 

 

That video and her guest role on FoL are one of my strongest memories of the '80s, oddly enough.

 

As for Pippa, I really do think the main reason she existed is because this was when Crocodile Dundee hit it big.

[Soaplovers]

 

Yeah.. the spoiled ingenue daughter of the main heroine was big in primetime soap land.

 

I figured Pippa was added also due to Crocodile Dundee... plus, I think the show was debating the Eastland spin-off and so they introduced Pippa as a link to the school in case they went for it.  I often thought the Eastland spin off would have worked better if it were Jo instead of Blair (since Jo was studying to be a teacher.. it would make sense she would have a tie to Eastland more then Blair.. who was doing Legally Blonde before Elle Woods was even thought of).

[Khan]

 

I still crack up at the image of Jamie Rose, as her "Lady Blue" character, hanging out the passenger-side window of a car, and firing gunshots into the air as she goes after God knows whom.

 

IMO, Melissa's creation and ascendancy on FC made Vickie somewhat redundant, even if Melissa was not Angela, Chase or Richard's offspring.  I mean, once Melissa was in play, they could have killed off Vickie in some accident or with some sort of illness, and the show would have been just fine.

 

 

I could've seen a scenario where Jo ended up back at Eastland as a teacher, too.

[SoapDope]

Yes, the conflict of teacher Jo going up against headmaster Blair could have worked.

 

When I watch Facts I prefer seasons 1-6. I really like the Eastland years best, but Edna's Edible is good in it's own way. When it turned into the Over Our Heads era.....the show was coasting on fumes by that point. 

 

Next year (2009) will be the 40th anniversary of the show. It's debuted August 24, 1979. 

[vetsoapfan]

James, Cassandra, and even Carrie Ingalls on :Little House on the Prairie.

 

Carrie was there from one and almost never did anything, and after the first few seasons was reduced to not much more than a glorified extra or (at best) an under-fiver with a rare line of two. When Charles and Caroline adopted James and Cassandra, two MORE kids, there was no point whatsoever.

[All My Shadows]

I always forget about Kelly with the extremely Italian last name that I can't remember at the moment from FOL. Wasn't she on relatively early in the show's run? I seem to recall she was there when the girls were still at Eastland, before Andy showed up, etc.

I mentioned Ginny from ODAAT in another thread - I guess her point was to be Ann's friend, but they never really wrote her in the role. The worst function they tried to push was her as some sort of love interest for Schneider. I don't know.

Vera on ALICE obviously becomes an important part of the show, but in the film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and in the early episodes of the TV series, she really does and adds very little. The relationships between Flo and Alice, Alice and Tommy, and Flo and Mel were developed so well while Vera just fumbled around with throw-away lines.

SFK shares my dislike of Cousin April from "Too Close for Comfort." Her existence was pointless, her voice was unbearable. Why they brought her on as they were preparing to phase Jackie and Sara out...I'll never understand.

Don't forget, they also had Grace. I think Carrie's story is simple. She really was Laura's sister in real life, so she had to be included, but they realized that neither of the Greenbush sisters could do any real acting nor did they probably want to.

I used to hate James and Cassandra, but I now appreciate the chance to see a young Jason Bateman, pre-Silver Spoons.

[DRW50]

I'd add Kate on Knots Landing. Stacy Galina was terrific as Mary Catherine, and they clearly regretted killing her off so quickly, thus bringing her in with Claudia, Claudia having issues with her, Claudia being a control freak toward Kate, etc. This was worth maybe a season of story, at best. At best.

 

The story with Claudia's free-living long-lost son had a horrific ending which was tonally against everything Knots Landing ever was, destroyed Claudia as a character (with no recovery in my eyes - using Karen to do prop duty after a suicide attempt was, again, beneath KL), and along with the way Linda's story was wrapped up, killed the show. The "tidal energy" story was a fiasco, with the one redeeming moment being when Kate told the guy he was a lousy lay. And through all of this, Kate was just a vacuous presence, no inner life...not that you were getting a lot of that by this time anyway.

 

Her being paired with Gary, of all people, as a placeholder until Val returned spoke volumes about just how meaningless her character was by the end.