Saturday, March 31, 2007

TWQ: Useful And Useless TV Characters

TWQ (The Weekend Question) asks about those supporting tv characters that appear in our favourite shows.

Can you name the most useful and useless tv characters in any programme and why? List as many as you wish.

My answers are:

Useful:

Chloe O' Brien (24) : Jack Bauer may have saved the world a few times, but would he have done it without computer genius Chloe to guide him round? She could sort out any computer problems!

Chloe Sullivan (Smallville) : Would there be a Superman had not Chloe rescued him? This computer genius is the best actor in the series, and the best suited for Clark.

Penelope Garcia (Criminal Minds) : Computer experts seem to be dominating the list, but they keep the main characters going. She must have the fastest computers there are! The others get to the unsub extra fast with Penelope's help.

Useless:

Lana Lang (Smallville) : It's no surprise that she tops the list, as she serves no purpose at all. Let's hope Clark tires of her really soon.

Clare (Lost) : This place would have been reserved for Shannon from the same series, but is not here for obvious reasons. All Clare does is hold baby Aaron, who will virtually never age as each week we watch is just a day on the island!

Ian (Desperate Housewives) : This boyfriend of Susan with an awful English accent surely needs to be dispatched somehow!

Now it's over to you...

16 comments:

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Oh Dear....Well first, let me say that Michele sent me this early A.M. here in Los Angeles...it's about 2:50 in the morning...
Let me think. Useful...probably all the characters on LAW & ORDER...they all serve a useful and needed purpose...(I'm not sure I am doing this right, Jean-Luc....)
And the most Useless...Well, to me, a program like "DEAL OR NO DEAL" is completely useless and the guy who is the MC is useless as are those girls who stand there with suitcases...Help Me! And I think the Contestants are USELESS, too! (I don't know if this one is right either but it's what came to mind, immediately! (lol)

The Mistress of the Dark said...

Oh dear. I don't watch enough telly to answer. Though I think Mr. Humphreys from Are You Being Served was useful. His antics got the cast out of trouble many times.

Jaime said...

Yikes! I don't watch much tv, but I totally agree with you about Chloe and Jack.

Maybe the least useful characters in tv were the redshirts from Star Trek.

Anonymous said...

i'm hoping to watch 24 on dvd, if i ever get through lost!
i only watch 2 shows, grey's and sopranos, so most useful would be addison and christina, they rest of the cast can be filed under useless (starting to wonder why i watch this show) and for sopranos, camela is the most useful, she holds the family together, whether any of them want to admit it or not and useless, would be anthony junior, that kid needs a good kick in the ...

Gyrobo said...

I for one think the redshirts who died throughout the Star Trek series were particularly useful characters.

Everyone loves coal, but does anyone really appreciate the canaries, and their weak lungs?

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

most needed character on everybody loves raymond? father, frank barone

lease needed? raymond!

smiles, bee

Linda said...

Wow! This is a tough TWQ ... hmm ...

Useful: Alan Shore of Boston Legal as I think he holds the entire show together and he and Denny Crane play off each other perfectly!

Useless: Ryan Seacrest of American Idol; dawg, that dude has got to go as he is jez not doin' it for me!

Professor Xavier said...

Useless - Heroes: The Indian scientist. I just can't stand that guy.

Useful - The Soup - Lou, the dog. He provides the show with soul.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Hi Jean-Luc...Michele sent me back tonight/this morning....I am afraid I haven't come up with anything better...OH! I just thought...in the USLESS Catagory...Vanna While on whatever that game show is....I mean they could move those letters electronically....! (LOL)

The Mistress of the Dark said...

Let's see if I can come up with some more...Wilson on Home Improvement was useful. He always got Tim out of trouble.

Panthergirl said...

Oh god, I am so with Naomi on the Deal or No Deal thing. What IS the appeal of that show? It's so random and ridiculous.

Anyway...

USEFUL: McDreamy
USELESS: McSteamy (nice to look at, but totally without merit as a character)

carmilevy said...

Useful: Dr. Crusher. Gaaa...
Useless: Webster. What ever happened to him anyway?

Minerva said...

Minerva said...

Hmmmm...
Tricky for someone who only watches one or two series a week!

Most useful...
House's cane in House. This tiny piece of wood comes to stand for humility, pain and pride all in one mere prop. Massively underpaid compared to all the other props in the series.

Most useless.
Not quite a series but any other judges who share the front table with Simon Cowell when we ALL know that it is Simon's programme, Simon's production company, Simon's music company and that Simon, above all, makes all the decisions....

Pat said...

Tony Soprano and his nephew most useful and the most useless the writhing bimbos in the strip club. That is in ' The Sopranos' obviously.
Did you ask for two?
In East Enders most useful Phil's new squeeze and his son(what a story line!) and most useless the husband who runs the supermarket(I love the actor - not the character)
and Dawn's father.
I'm sure Michele would agree

Tawnya Shields said...

I'm with you on Garcia on Criminal Minds. They need her and better not ever let her go and Clare on Lost is indeed baggage She really does not do much.

My choices for useless is Paul (Rene Auberjonois) on 'Boston Legal'. Nice guy but rarely ever does anything but stare at the antics of the other attorney's.

Second place is Murphy on The Dresden Files. She really never solves the crimes and always gets in the way of Harry the Wizard. Even arresting him sometimes. Geesh lady!

The most useful:The ghosts on 'Medium' they are the one who truly are the heros in helping Allison find who killed them.

Second place goes to John Locke on 'Lost'. He's one big secret like the island but he is tough and a true survior. He's the lone wolf but hey he's always there to kick butt when needed. He's my favorite.

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