It just wouldn’t be a normal sitcom if two characters didn’t have
some sort of inexplicable hostility between each other. Sometime it is
within the main cast, and sometimes with a recurring guest star. Often
they are in-laws who never learned to get along. Other times they are
just friends who got off on the wrong foot and remained antagonistic.
The thing that annoys me about this cliche, is that very often no matter
how much hatred these two characters have they will almost always be
friendly at some point before the end of the series. It’s as if the
writer’s can’t come up with a way to get keep them rivals so they give
up on it even if it hurts the characters (or even the show) a bit.
Of course in TV Tropes these are rivals or “arch enemies”. And of
course they are not limited to sitcoms. But we will ignore drama’s for
now.
Before I start my list, here is one huge exception:
Seinfeld
I give this show a lot of credit. There were times when if this were
another sitcom, Newman would have become friends and even a permanent
part of Jerry and their little group. At the very least he would have
made a regular part of the cast and appeared in every single episode.
But this is one show that did not give in to that, and Jerry and Newman
were rivals for the whole run of the show. Of course every character had
their own rival. Elaine had Sue Anne Mishky, Kramer had Mickey, George
had various people including Lloyd Bruan, and Jerry had Kenny Bania.
And yes this is not the only show to keep a good rivalry going. Check
out Married..With Children. But most series are unable to do this and
fall in thos cliche. Here are some examples :
Happy Days
Here’s one many may know know. When Happy Days was first on, Howard
hated Fonzie. He thought that Fonzie was a thug and was annoyed anytime
Richie did anything with him. When Fonzie rented that apartment adjacent
to the house, well, hijinks! Of course as time went Howard learned that
Fonzie was a decent guy and had tremendous respect for him. The series
didn’t forget those early days earlier, in a clip show Fonzie brought up
that Howard hated him early on. Howard apologized, saying that it was a
different time.
The Cosby Show
yes I am aware of recent news which makes talking about this show
a little taboo. But I am not talking about the actor, so see no reason
not to mention this. If you’d like, feel free to skip ahead. When
we first met Elvin everyone, especially Cliff, hated him. Sondra was
dating him on and off, and on and off, and he was basically a jerk. But
later he matured, became a series regular, and everyone liked him.
ALF
A real quick one, but it was clear early on that Kate was not fond of
ALF. She wasn’t thrilled with Willie wanting to keep him hidden and
when she got mad at him she really got mad at him. Care to guess how
long that lasted?
Benson
I have talked about this before, but it bears mention here. In the
pilot, Benson and the German housemaid Ms.Krause didn’t get off on the
right foot. And after that they continued to bicker with each other.
Though there were times it was clear they did respect each other, they
still teased each other. In the final season Kraus’s character was
diluted, and she ended up working as Benson’s aid. Sure they would still
do the occasional insult but it was clear they were friends who
respected each other and days of being bitter rivals was long gone. This
is one time when I can accept the change, since the characters evolved
and it sort of made sense. There was also Clayton who spared with Benson
on more than one occasion.
Three’s Company
They went through this with both landlords I think. Please correct me
if I am wrong but Mr.Roper hated Jack at first as did Mr.Furley. They
kept a close on him as he lived with two single girls. Both managed to
be won over by his charm in the end.
Roseanne
This is one which I always felt was forced, as if a writer somewhere
decided they had to have this conflict. At first when this show came on
Dan had no great love for Jackie, nor she for him. As the series evolved
they learned to appreciate each other, and I never could understand why
the animosity was there in the start. Except that maybe Dan thought she
was a pest, I don’t remember.
Family Matters
Gee, I wonder who I am going to talk about here? Yeah pretty much
every Winslow hated Steve Urkel when he first appeared. He was the pest
who couldn’t take a hint that he was not welcome. Except that as time
went on he became more welcome, even living with the Winslow’s late in
the series run. Heck, even Laura who insisted that she would never have
feelings for Steve started to toward the end!
Mr.Belvedere
This is another one I can forgive since it shows the growth of the
characters. But when Mr.Belvedere first moved in, neither Wesley or
George were very fond of him. Wesley was the bratty kid of course so
that was no big thing, but George not liking Belvedere was a little more
cliche. Why did George hate him anyway? I never watched the show enough
to understand it, but that rivalry didn’t last. As for Wesley, he grew
up and they agreed it was possible to be friends who drove each other
crazy with pranks and gags.
Full House
Ok, I may be way off on this. All I am going on are the few early
episodes I remember and a line of dialogue. When Jesse and Joey first
met, they didn’t like each other. They both cared for Danny and his
family so were happy to put up with each others idiosyncrasies. Like how
upbeat Joey was compared to Jesse being more moody. When they became ad
partners, Danny commented on how remarkable it was that they hated each
other at first but now where business partners. This is another change I
am Ok with since in the first season the writers tried so hard to make
these characters different that they weren’t likable. Maybe that’s why
Kimmy Gibbler got a larger role, they had to have someone annoying for
Jesse hate (even if that made NO SENSE IMHO).
Fresh Prince
Oh yeah, you may have guessed this would be on here. When Will first
moved to Bel Air his Uncle Phil was not pleased. Especially when Will’s
urban attitudes clashed with the snooty Bel Air environment. Despite all
the suggestions that Phil hated Will it was subsequently shown as the
series evolved that he was fond of him. Phil was the real father Will
never had. By the finale Uncle Phil said he basically considered Will
his son. But man it didn’t start that way.
Saved By The Bell
No I am talking about Screech. Believe it or not, when this show
first came on Slater and Zack were not the best of friends. They were
rivals for Kelly, and did not get along. For about five episodes or so,
before Slater moved on from Kelly and they all became friends with each
other. It’s to bad, because keeping Slater and Zack rivals may have made
the show more interesting.
Friends
This is an interesting example because it seemed to go the way of the
cliche, only to have the series reverse course and make the character
unliked again. I am of course referring to Janice who Chandler hated
even though he dated her, and kept asking her out. Then suddenly he
decided he was in love with her! After they broke up, Chandler went back
to hating the woman and that remained for the rest of the series.
Sabrina, The Teenage Witch
Sabrina had an antagonist for a few years named Libby. A real witch
(pardon the pun) who was also quite selfish. I wondered why they wrote
her out until I saw one episode where Libby seemed to be softening and
becoming part of Sabrina’s circle of friends. Good call on the writers
if they realized their antagonist wasn’t working anymore. By the way I
am not forgetting Boy Meets World I am just not familiar enough to
discuss it. I know Cory and Mr.Feeney were often at odds and ended up
friendly but does that count?
The Nanny
This one pissed me off, and I wasn’t even really a fan of the show!
But one of the regular jokes on this show was that the butler Niles and
the business partner of Maxwell’s, CC, hated each other. They bickered
and teased each other, and some of the funniest one liners came from
these squabbles. Then when the series was winding down, it suddenly was
revealed that Niles was in love with CC. Then they ended up in bed
together, which was never explained. Then they were married and she was
pregnant….WTF?????
Will & Grace
When this show first came on it was clear Will and Karen had nothing
but bad feelings for each other. I just KNEW that it wouldn’t last. The
writers tried for the first season or two to keep them at odds. The only
reason Will tolerated Karen was because he was her lawyer. And Karen
tolerated Will because she liked Grace. But I was proven correct in the
end for as time went on Will and Karen go along just fine. The problem
is that unlike with Benson, the change was much more forced and took
some away some of what made the show unique and not just another
“Friends” rip off. Karen would go on to picking on nemesis Beverly
Leslie.
Drew Carey Show
I admit, I never watched this one. But one thing I did know was that
Drew hated Mimi and she hated him. They played pranks one each other all
the time. I checked to see if they became friends and it does seem like
they cooled off when Mimi married Drew’s brother. But since I was not a
fan I really can’t say much about that.
Coach
Coach Fox had a jealous hatred for the women’s Basketball coach, Judy
Watkins. Of course the softened until she vanished from the series.
Their rivaly was pretty good for awhile there though.
The Office
Yeah yeah, it just never lasts does it? Dwight was constantly the
butt of Jim’s jokes with various pranks over and over. Despite that they
became friends and in the final episode Jim was his best man. I did not
watch this show so I won’t pretend I did and maybe this change came
naturally. If I am wrong feel free to correct me.
Everybody Loves Raymond
I decided to include this as an example of a time when the writers
force the rivalry even it it’s stupid. In one episode Ray had an
encounter with a cookie lady named Peggy (long story watch the episode).
Now it made sense for Ray to hate her at first, but they kept forcing
the issue even though it was made clear Peggy wasn’t really mean at all.
While the whole point of this article is how annoying it is when a good
rivalry vanishes, that doesn’t mean I like it when the writers force
the characters to hate each other either.
Scrubs
I decided to include this because I had a feeling people would be
commenting if I did not. One of the running gags of the show was that
The Janitor hated J.D. Hate may not even be a strong enough word. It
started in the pilot with a penny in a door, and from that one it was
one mind game after another. Can you guess who were friends by the final
episode? Yep.
The Big Bang Theory
I seem to always say this when we get to this series, but alas I have
to say it again. This cliche is alive and well, as we saw when Sheldon
went from hating Will Wheaton to being friends with him. To be fair I
was getting tired of the “Evil Will Wheaton” episodes. Also, when Amy
first came onto the scene no one liked her except Sheldon. Care to guess
how long that lasted?
Honorable Mention. Sanford & Son
Every list I found of good rivalries mentioned Fred Sanford and his
sister in law Aunt Esther. Problem is I don’t know if that lasted or
faded, and quite frankly don’t care enough to find out. But from what I
read it was one heck of a rivalry and I thought it was worth a mention.
Did I miss any? Please comment and let me know
Well my friends this was my first article for 2015. I am actually
looking for new ideas to focus on this year, maybe something away from
sitcoms. Possibly something focusing more on individual characters. Or
cartoons from the 80’s. Whatever the case, no matter how many times I
think I can’t come up with new ideas it seems more are waiting somewhere
in my head. So I guess I will be around for awhile. In a few months I
will be hitting my 500th blog, and believe me when I say that is a major
milestone for me. But for now, here’s hoping you all have a happy and
healthy new year!!!!
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