Common Causes of Character Loathing

On the LJ community, fanthropology there was a recent discussion about trends that cause character loathing on TV shows.

One of the major reasons for character loathing that I have seen in fandom has been character saturation. A new character saturates the show after being thrown onto the canvas way too quickly, instead of being gradually introduced.

This has happened on several shows I've known. On Boston Public, during the show's second season two new character's were brought on, Ronnie Cook and Danny Hanson. While these characters weren't that bad, they dominated the ensamble show, drowning out the characters we had gotten to know the previous season such as Lauren Davis, Harry Senate and Scott Guber. Because of that, no one in the fandom

Character saturation can be made even worse when the character being saturated is a Mary Sue. I've seen this most often on Daytime where all too perfect, beautiful females given front burner storylines before the audience has even had a chance to get used them. On General Hospital this was the with several characters, Chloe, Hannah, Kristina, and Sarah. However, the worst example I've seen has been with Emily Quartermaine.

About two years ago the character previously played by Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia), was recasted with Natalia Livingston, an actress whose skills were limited. Livingston's Emily was hastily thrust onto the show in an emotionally charged breast cancer storyline.

In comparison to Amber Tamblyn's spunky, somewhat rebellious version of Emily, Natalia Livingston's Emily is almost a saint, a pillar of the community, who all look up to. The character seems to continuously end up a victim, having survived cancer, then a rape. Not surpisingly NuEmily seems to be loathed throughout General Hospital fandom, more so than some of the show's other recasts, such as Lucky, AJ and Nikolas.