Congratulations to Patrick Jane, Temperance Brennan, Felicity Smoak, and Dean Winchester for making it to round 4. Today ends round 3 and since the winner in this contest will also be in tomorrow's contest, there might be a slight time delay before round 4 is posted. It will depend on if any of the polls are really close or not. Similarly, the rankings for round 3 will be slightly delayed. Thanks to everyone who continues to vote and comment. You are making my hellatus. Until tomorrow, happy voting!
Previous contest results - Final rankings for all characters out in the second round now up. Final rankings have been moved to the top. Inital rankings below.
Polls end - Sunday around 5:00 pm CST
Prediction contest results - Again no one had a perfect bracket yesterday with the majority missing the second poll before it even came up. Currently Famous 4 It is leading the competition with 9 misses with Janna right behind with 10. Congrats!
TV Talk Topic - Today we're talking character arcs. What have been the best character arcs for the shows you watch? What have been some of the worst or which have made your favorites out of character (OOC)? Are there any characters you feel have no arc at all? Are there any character arc themes you feel have been overplayed? Have there been characters you hated at first but then came to love? Have their been characters you loved but gre to hate? What kind of character arc would you like to see for your favorite characters in the future? Are there any planned arcs you are excited about?
TV Topic - Character Arcs
ReplyDeleteOverall I think that Parker from Leverage, Walter from Fringe, Michael from Burn Notice, and Angel and Cordelia from Buffy/Angel had the best character arcs. All of these characters started at one end of the spectrum and by the time their shows ended, they were much more well-rounded and able to enjoy close relationships with others. Another good overall character arc was Kyle from Kyle XY. Characters arcs I hated include Buffy in season 6, Willow becoming a witch, and Spike getting chipped in Buffy. In fact, none of those worked for me even years later, whereas I absolutely hated Sam's descent into demon blood addiction but it did lead to a powerful redemption arc for the character. I still think season 4 is the worst season of SPN I've watched after 8, but at least I felt it worked itself into a compelling character arc. It was also better than Diggle from Arrow and Sheldon from TBBT, since I feel they haven't even really had a character arc yet, good or bad. I really hope that changes with Sheldon this season, as his solo trip should be eye opening. Juliette from Grimm has also gone nowhere fast and was saddled with two of the worst character arcs ever. First was love spell and then amnesia. Neither made her grow as a character, they took an eternity to resolve, and were fast forwardable much of the time. I still wouldn't mind if she decided to leave Portland. It wouldn't affect the story much and it's not like she ever spends time at her job anyway. Characters I start liking and eventually grow to hate are almost always done in by love geometry, will they-won't they, or shifting them from a strong character into merely one half of a couple. Max on Dark Angel may be the biggest. Once they went with the lame story line of her not being about to be with the man she loved, she turned into one big whiny witch, who made life unpleasant for most people, including me. Not good when you are itching for the main character to die. Characters that I hate at first and then grow to love are much less frequent, but it does happen. Harold Abbott from Everwood, Evan on Royal Pains, Argent on Teen Wolf, and even Walter on Fringe count. I didn't like Walter in the first couple of episodes, but then he started growing on me until he became my favorite character. Well him and Peter - sucker for those family bonds you know. As for future arcs, I am glad to see we are going to get one for Katrina now that she's out of Purgatory.
My picks: It's all easy today.
ReplyDelete1. Olivia - Fringe was great. Olivia was good. I don't watch BatB.
2. Tyrion - This was going to be a none vote but since it is the last remaining cable show in the contest, I decided to give it a nod.
3. Barney - Beckett was ruined by Caskett for me and Barney makes me laugh.
4. Regina - She was one of 2 reasons for me to watch OUaT as long as I did and Friends is still overrated to me.
__
ReplyDeleteTyrion,
__
Regina
Love you, Vincent. But Olivia Dunham is incomparable.
ReplyDeleteRegina Mills and Tyrion Lannister for me today (without hesitation).
ReplyDeleteChandler.
ReplyDeleteOlivia
ReplyDelete-I can't decide.....I need the day to think about it. Damon and Tyrion are both
such interesting and juicy characters
Kate
Regina
Olivia,sorry to see you go!
ReplyDeleteTyrion
Regina
I'm dashing on an errand and will return with appropriate rambling on the topic, but I did want to quickly clarify...when you mention Willow's witch arc. Do you mean over the entire run of the show or the addiction witch arc?
ReplyDeleteOnly Beckett and Chandler for me today.. :)
ReplyDeleteParker turning from a liablity to the team to its leader sure was a great arc over the show...geez...I miss Leverage
ReplyDeleteSo far Olivia is in the lead...
ReplyDeleteI knew this was coming, when favorites go head to head, but for now my loyalty is with Vincent, yep I'm a Beastie, vote went with Damon although he's starting to bug me I still had to hang in with him, easy vote for Beckett, and I voted for Regina cause she's a pretty awesome character, I agree Parker sure turned her character around from really an unpredictable hot head to someone who really had a lot of herself to give once she came out of her shell, that's a show I believe was cancelled way to soon, Leverage was really a good show!!!
ReplyDeleteWoah Buffy lost? Damn.
ReplyDeleteOnly Olivia and Tyrion for me. They are the only two characters remaining that i can still support in the competition..
ReplyDeleteOlivia and Regina.
ReplyDeleteThat's what i said. I thought she was in the lead. But that was yesterday. :(
ReplyDelete1. Olivia
ReplyDelete2. Tyrion
3. ---
4. Regina
Knew Bones vs. Michael was a long shot but I am a proud Dominion fan. ha The fans really did vote hard and we made it past 3 rounds when I originally only hoped for one.
ReplyDeleteTV Topic:
Ack! Too many questions! I honestly can't think of much to say about it. All I can think of is Elena's arch from bad vamp to cling on to Damon vamp. I didn't like her with her emotions off, but I don't really like her now either, not since she was human.
Character archs overdone? Hmm I've never had a problem with any archs except sometimes I don't like it when they make a good character go bad/evil for a little bit. Ex. I didn't like Supernatural's basically 1 episode arch of Cas playing God.
Arch I'm looking forward to/hoping for? Right now? Alex accepting his role on Dominion and I look forward to the day when he and Michael are really working as a team. Though them not always seeing eye to eye right now is fun to watch.
I mean Willow ever becoming a witch. I liked her as a computer nerd instead.
ReplyDeleteIt's one of the shows that I miss the most. I will probably rewatch it during the winter hiatus.
ReplyDeleteI was going to say unless all the batb fans went to SDCC without wifi then Olivia might have a chance,but only an hour after your post i see Olivia is losing... :(
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, totally forgot Juliette's archs. Yep, I didn't like those either.
ReplyDeleteMichael was a big surprise in this contest.
ReplyDeleteOh - Also, I don't like archs that don't do something for the story/character or take them back to a state of less growth. No one step forward, two steps back please.
ReplyDeleteI still maintain that Parker has one of the finest character arcs around. I miss Leverage so much. I really wish TNT had renewed the show and made it ony about Parker, Eliot, and Hardison.
ReplyDeleteI did like her more after she found out about the Grimm world. I've been mostly meh with her character overall.
ReplyDeleteAs I said before, it wasn't a surprise to me after I joined Twitter and began tweeting and following the show, some actors, fans, etc. The fandom surprised me by being so strong already. There are a lot of Cas fans and sci-fi/fantasy fans in general working together to promote this show like crazy.
ReplyDeleteAnd the character Michael is pretty much at the center of attention. Most people I've tweeted with that love the show love him.
That really would have been something, for sure they really were why I tuned in each week:-)
ReplyDeletehaving a harder time then i think is healthy reconciling Olivia Dunham losing to V Keller
ReplyDeleteI liked Woo's arc on Grimm this season if they don't hurry and tell him about the world of the Wesen and Nick being a Grimm I'm going to scream!!
ReplyDeleteNot telling Wu was a huge mistake that makes me angry every time I think about it. They better rectify that early in this season.
ReplyDeleteVoted Vincent and Tyrion. Both great character actors. I have seen others works that they have been, not just BatB and GOT.
ReplyDeleteHmmm with the exception of Beckett, the voting today was for the characters I liked from what I saw of their respective shows, not necessarily because they are a favorite. Sadly, I think tomorrow will be my last vote for the competition :-(
ReplyDelete1. Vincent
2. Tyrion
3. Beckett
4. Chandler
Today's Topic: My favorite character arc of last season was Bellemy on The 100. For most of the first half of the season I wanted to strangle him but by the end of the season he became my favorite character. I also enjoyed Clarke's transformation from "Perfect Princess" to "Practical Survivor", how Octavia grew up and Jasper's self confidence grew. Unfortunately, I hated Raven's love triangle and the break up aftermath arc. Since she was announced as a regular for S2, I hope she gets back to her bad ass ways ASAP.
Another of my favorite character arcs from last season was Ward on Agents of Shield. He became 100 times more interesting (and sexy) when he was revealed as Hydra. I am glad that his character will still be a part of S2 - I'd really like to see May kick his ass again :-) but I'd also like to see a slow (and painful) redemption arc.
Can't have a discussion on OOC behavior without mentioning Sam flat out not looking for Dean in S8 of SPN. Worst. Character. Arc. Ever. Didn't get much better in S9 but after reading some of the interviews coming out of SDCC, I am optimistic that S10 will be back to the Sam we love and with Dean's demon character arc, I am hoping we can get his POV more often. I am really looking forward to the Demon Dean character arc and I hope that with it, we can get more info on the Men of Letters too - perhaps using this to get more of Sam's POV.
The one character arc I am not looking forward to is the change in Allison in S3 of Teen Wolf. I'm still in S2 but I heard she becomes a full hunter and I'm not looking forward to that. At the end of S1 when she went after Derrick and flash bombed Scott I was throwing socks and screaming "you bitch" for like five minutes....from the spoilers I've read she does worse than that in S3. Who knows, maybe by the time I get to S3 I'll be cheering her on but right now, I'm more attached to Scott and Derrick than I am her so they win!
As for characters that have been woefully lacking a real character arc, Juliette from Grimm has to be my top pick. Clueless in S1, spellbound/amnesia in S2 and a pretty prop in S3 are a waste of a great actress' talent. Truble had a better arc in four episodes that Juliette has had in three seasons. Renard hasn't fared much better being the black sheep of the family and a baby daddy. And don't even get me started on Wu. S3 overall felt messy - too many characters and not enough development of any of them (notable exceptions were Monroe and Rosalee).
Olivia , Tyrion and Regina today. So far only one of my characters (Felicity) has made it to the quarters so i hope for another one to make it. (So far so good for Tyrion and Regina)
ReplyDeleteI know right, they stood quietly by as the poor man, checked himself into the psch ward thinking he had lost his mind after the things he'd seen,you're right they had better rectify this early in the new season!
ReplyDeleteI agree that most of the main characters on The 100 had great character arcs even in a short season. I can't wait to see what happens next. I disagree about Jasper, whom i think has gotten 9 times as annoying and quite frankly is the one character I wouldn't mind dying. That's only if we get Raven reunited with Abby and kick butt again, because this Raven can go too. I agree on Ward as well. I loved when he was revealed as Hydra although I would rather they switch the somewhat tired redemption arc and make him grow more and more evil. I'd like for him to think he has no where else to turn and therefore use Hydra as a family. I think it would be more interesting to watch someone fall into evil in small steps.
ReplyDeleteSeason 8 SPN might as well be subtitled Out of Character Favs Blow Up Canon as Showrunner Rubs Hands Gleefully. The whole thing is a mess and I have relegated it to the darkest timeline. It would be cool to get a role reversal of sorts with Dean as the mytharc and Sam the POV. Not that I'm risking Carver to see it happen. Not sure where you are getting your info on Allison though. That sounds more like season 2 Allison than season 3. She is a hunter in season 3 (when the PTB remember) but that is a good thing. Personally I think Jeff Davis missed out on some tremendous character arc possibilities with Allison, who could have been trained to be matriarch and become a powerful character in her own right. As for seasons 1 and 2, I am no fan of Kate or Gerard so I have a hard time with Allison led by them. Derek and Isaac both have great lines about Allison's shifting alliances in season 3.
Trubel really did have a better character arc than Juliette who remains useless to this day. If they need to kill off a charcter as a cliffhanger, I vote for her. Renard, on the other hand, seems just as stuck as Juliette but he has a far more ineresting back story which I hope they take advantage of. I agree that season 3 was largely a mess. It felt liek they were stuck and didn't hit gold until they brough Trubel on. I hope Wu finds out about Wesen soon and then teams up with Trubel under the tutelage of Renard while the other characters have a time out for being such douches.
I had up to that point found Nick bland but all around a charcter to root for. Not telling Wu ticked me off so badly that I was rooting for the Wesen in the Nick fights for awhile.
ReplyDeleteMe too and from what I heard of the fandom, a large part of it as well.
ReplyDeleteI like that they are no longer dragging out the secret with her more than any character change in itself. She's officially known as Research Girl with those I tweet with and in the drinking game, you take a shot every time only Juliette is capable of using Google these days.
ReplyDeleteThat's a pet peeve of mine too. Watching characters devolve is a lot like watching incompetency for me. Painful and ultimately not rewarding.
ReplyDeletelol
ReplyDeleteBeauty and the Beast - Vincent Keller
ReplyDeleteA couple of other good character arc's
ReplyDeleteRoot - POI
Sawyer - Lost
Alex - Dark Angel
BATB more votes than other sections combined from both options , they tweet for all the beasties to come vote and some only vote for BATB.
ReplyDeleteThe Berrisford Agenda will forever be one of my favorite character arc episodes. I love how much it explained Alec's character.
ReplyDeleteOlivia, tyrion (sorry Damon) and chandler for me today
ReplyDeleteI would say that it is my fav ep of dark angel, the looking back it kick started a lot of actors.
ReplyDeleteJessica Alba, Micheal Weatherly, Jensen Ackles and it also has Ashley Scott and Meghan Ory.
I miss the classic sci fi tv shows of old.
Ah. Cool. I didn't have a problem with her being a witch. They didn't frequently treat it as deus ex machina. The only problem I had with her being a witch was the whole addiction part of it. Whole idea of the 'coke' house and quitting cold turkey. It just didn't hold together for me.
ReplyDeleteHmm You and I watch a lot of similar programs. I love character arcs. I was hooked on Starsky and Hutch (have you ever seen the TV Guide fall preview picture for that show. It's hilarious.) They did an episode where Hutch was kidnapped and forcibly addicted to heroin (IIRC.) The next episode I was expecting him to, at a minimum, be coming off of sick leave and they didn’t mention it. It was like it never happened and it BUGGED THE CRAP OUT OF ME. I knew nothing about PTSD at the time but I knew enough to know that was a major event and *someone* should recognize that.
ReplyDeleteAnd now I live in the time of character arcs. It is a good thing. I’d make a lot of the same pics with regard to character arcs that I really enjoyed. Parker, but also Eliot on Leverage. For me the big character arc on Fringe was Walter and Peter. Cordelia’s arc was pretty great to watch. I don’t know that I’d say Juliette has had a character arc on Grimm. She’s had a storyline but I don’t thing the story was designed to give her character an arc. In terms of who the character of Juliette is she was the same at the end of that story as she was at the beginning. That story was similar to the Max is poisonous to Logan story in that its only real purpose was to stave off a story point. False complications derived externally. Annoying.
I like Argent’s arc on Teen Wolf, but I must note that one of my disappointments was the fact that Teen Wolf never really got to the most interesting arc (for me) of season 2. Jackson. There was potential for a really interesting journey for Jackson ( a guy who, deep down, felt he had no identity) but after hinting at that (the scene when he’s trapped in the van…felt like it was the spark to move him forward on his arc) they just dropped him from that story. It was frustrating for me.
Let’s see. Other arcs I’ve liked or hated. Reese on PoI. Joshua on Dark Angel, Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS. I’ll probably have others come to me over the next few days (or until you distract me with another great TV Topic. )
I'm sorry. I love the moments that Juliette gets in the books and gets distracted by all the history (both the gross/evilness and the cool stuff)
ReplyDeleteI still mentally "grrrrr"
ReplyDeleteOlivia, Tyrion and Chandler. I´m happy to see that it looks like Tyrion might make it to the next round.
ReplyDeleteI know they have been doing that for all the contests. If more people did that for the shows they cared about it would be a better/closer competition!
ReplyDeleteOlivia:I don't like BATB and Olivia is a great character because she's pretty strong.
ReplyDeleteDamon:this choice was hard because both characters are awesome.
Barney:I don't watch Castle and Barney is so funny. He was my favorite character of HIMYM.
Regina:She's the best female character of OUAT.
Once Upon A Time is the only one of these I've seen, so Regina gets my vote.
ReplyDeleteChoosing between Tyrion and Damon has been the toughest so far..I love them both a bit too much. Went with Damon in the end, but that's just because I had to pick one..
ReplyDeleteBarney and Chandler got the other two votes.
Vincent, Damon, Beckett and Chandler. Not a huge HIMYM follower and don't watch the other shows so another easy voting day for me. Devastated that my Elijah didn't make it through but he will be around another year to try again!
ReplyDeleteSad to see Michael go, but I was surprised he was even in the competition never mind the fact he got as far as he did.
ReplyDeleteI just voted for Regina today, Once Upon A Time is the only show from up there that I still watch. I used to watch The Vampire Dairies but didn't vote for Damon because I stopped liking him early on.
Today's TV Topic: For me, Once Upon A Time has some of the best character arcs, especially for villains and recurring characters. Ruby/Red, Pan & Zelena are my favourites. I don't really like any of Emma's arcs, especially the whole falling for Hook thing, I just don't find it believable at all. For me as well, Elena on The Vampire Diaries has had several arcs that were just out of character for her, which is the main reason I stopped watching.
I find that I hate characters I used to like a lot more than the other way around. Characters I liked and grew to hate are: Elena (TVD), Damon (TVD), Hook (OUAT), Emma (OUAT), Kyle (The 4400), Diggle (Arrow), Roy (Arrow), Laurel (Arrow), Francis (Reign), Allison (Teen Wolf), Isaac (Teen Wolf), Sookie (True Blood), Bill (True Blood), Tara (True Blood), Jason (True Blood).
The list of characters I hated and grew to like is much shorter: Thea (Arrow), Gaius (BSG), Anastasia/The Red Queen (OUATIW), Jeremy (TVD), Kenna (Reign), Jackson (Teen Wolf), Jessica (True Blood).
As for arcs im hoping for/looking forward to, of course i'm looking forward to the arcs of Elsa, Anna & Kristoff on Once Upon A Time, i'm also looking forward Regina's arc after Marians return, and Penny's arc on The Big Bang Theory with her new job and the wedding. I'm also looking forward to seeing what happens with almost every character on The 100, impossible to predict after that finale! I'm also interested in seeing Katrina's arc on Sleepy Hollow since shes in the real world now. I can't wait to see what happens with Alex and Michael on Dominion when the trust between them is broken. I want to see Ethan get a love interest on the show too but it's a bit late in the season for that now. Hopefully it will be renewed! There are a number of arcs on Teen Wolf im looking forward to and hoping for and most of them involve Lydia.
The Gerard story line is what I was thinking - that's what I get for reading Wikipedia out of context ;-) Can't stand Kate. Kate is to Teen Wolf what Adalind is to Grimm for me. After her first appearance, every time she was on screen I wished someone would just kill her.
ReplyDeleteLOL - yes, Team Grimm needs a time out. I like the actress that plays Juliette but for most of S2 and S3 I spent most of the time thinking Nick would be better off without her. I have a feeling that she is going to be even more annoying in S4...we've seen at the end of S3 she was getting a bit tired and less tolerant of the Wesen world and now with Nick's powers gone, you know it's going to cause friction between them as he tries to get them back (cuz ya know he eventually is). I like your idea of Renard being a mentor - would definitely open up his character to more possibilities and we can hopefully leave the baby daddy story line behind us!
Warning - Teen Wolf spoilers for season 3 ahead.
ReplyDeleteI am actually very excited to see how the adults from the Ark adjust to life on the ground and how that spurs their character arcs. I think Kane had a pretty good arc ins eason 1 and he is one of those characters that I once hated but now really like. I feel I understand his motives more now. I think I grow to hate or at least get bored with characters than the opposite too. I never liked Laurel from Arrow but I don't hate her either with intense passion either like most of the fandom. Mostly I don't care whether she lives or dies. I think she is a prime example of a character whose potential was wasted. Same with Allison. Didn't hate her. Didn't care when she died, except for the continued imbalance of females dying on the show. Isaac I cared even less about given that he is basically just pretty wallpaper anyway.
As for characters I liked, I adored Thea once they stopped making her the bratty teen partier. By mid-season she was often my favorite character of an episode. Tommy is probably the character that I had the steepest adoration curve with. Ana quickly became a favorite for me on Wonderland as well. In fact she and Will were the only reasons I kept watching. I like a sassy villain and I found I liked her even more when she mellowed a bit. I really want them to have their own spin-off. I too look forward to Katrina's arc on SH and Lydia's continued exploration of being a banshee on Teen Wolf.
There's always next year is my favorite mantra now. :-)
ReplyDeleteKate annoys me to no end. I was ecstatic when Peter killed her and wish someone would off Gerard for being the king douchebag. Definitely think we should leave baby daddy behind and take Adalind with it. I agree that Nick will try to get his Grimm powers back but I'm not sure if there will be friction with Juliette or not, because I think her biggest problem was that Nick slept with someone else and she can't even get mad at him because he thought it was her. What I am hoping is that it will cause her to use all those Google skils to track down Adalind and send someone after her to off her.
ReplyDeleteIt is always fun to watch the series again and see all those people who have gone on to better things. Meghan Ory is always a delight.
ReplyDeleteAh the 70's. I'll never understand its TV or fashion or actually music to be honest. They were not the best at follow-through TV-wise for sure. Same thing happened anytime someone was shot. I was a big fan of both Eliot and Hardison's character arcs on Leverage as well, even if Parker's was the most dramatic. I do agree on Juliette by the way. It was written as a character arc for her, at least from the interviews they were giving, but it never did anything to change her character so it did come off as a plot device instead.
ReplyDeleteJackson was supposed to get a pretty decent storyline if I remember right but then the actor was offered a role on Arrow and left TW. That's why his exit is so abrupt. They weren't planning on it. As for the others, Reese really grew on me and while Gobbs did as well, he will never be even close to my favorite character on NCIS. Joshua I go back and forth on. Sometimes I love him. Others it's too goofy for me.
I like the history. I just don't care who is doing it. It could just as easily be Monroe, Hank, or Rosalee for me.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest problem is that once they decided she was a witch that's how she handled everything. It was like computers were foreign to her all of a sudden. Plus I like there to be more than one normal in my supernatural world and I really liked Xander AND Willow fulfilling those roles. I hated the addiction storyline the most but I really didn't like any of it.
ReplyDeleteVoted Vincent and Tyrion. Abstained from other 2 since I don't watch them. Both actors that play V and T are great at it and I would love to see them in other things.
ReplyDeleteTyrion and Barney for me today.
ReplyDeleteVoted for Vincent and Beckett. I started watching Fringe though after reading some of the comments here. I have only watched the pilot so far but it's promising to be a great series.
ReplyDeleteOlivia, Tyrion, Beckett and Chandler, all 4 are great characters and I'm glad there are two strong women among them.
ReplyDeleteVincent, Beckett and Chandler, it's seriously getting so hard to choose :(
ReplyDeleteI wasn't implying that Gibbs was your favorite, merely stating that he isn't mine. Abby was and always will be my favorite on NCIS. Second favorite changes by episode. I agree that Joshua taking charge was a great leap forward.
ReplyDeleteNow a Juliette tracks Adalind down and hires an assassin to take her out is a story line I can get behind!!!!
ReplyDeleteAlso keeping my fingers crossed for a couple Mama Grimm episodes next season (sans baby would be best but it's not like she can drop her off at daycare).
I love Mama Grimm. I hope she hands the baby off to Meisner and comes take charge of Portland. She and Trubel would get along well.
ReplyDeleteI like it - they could have their own spin-off!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Grimm spin-off is called Two Grimms and a Baby - Mama, Teen Grimm, and Adalind's wacky baby.
ReplyDeleteLOL! That would be EPIC!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about show's shrinking their mundane cast. It's a concern for me with both Teen Wolf and Grimm...and even Arrow
ReplyDeleteI think it is important to retain fully human characters to be the audience's voice and representative. That's the number one reason why I am so adamant that Stiles needs to stay fully human. No werewolf bite for him. I really enjoyed 3B, but I am equally glad there is no lingering nogitsune power in him. Same thing goes for Hank on Grimm. From what I hear about Arrow, it does seem like they are rushing everyone to their own secret identity. Soon Quentin will be the only one left without an alias. (Please don't tell me if he already has an alias.)
ReplyDelete