Which formerly lovable TV hero became too much of a jerk?

[benwolf]

According to io9.com, “It's the transformation of a character in a TV show from nice or funny or relatable to a-hole.” I vote Walter White in "Breaking Bad"...from weak, passive teacher with cancer to homicidal drug kingpin. Of course, that's an intentional transformation...I'm sure there are some good unintentional ones?

 

[michael hagerty]

Absolutely Walter White. Also Michael Bluth in Season 4 of "Arrested Development".

 

[BD Sullivan]

In the last few years of Seinfeld, George Costanza went from just being a sad sack to a sad sack who the lazy writers (especially post-Larry David) just made into an angry ranter.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Andy Taylor became kind of irritable during the last couple seasons of "The Andy Griffith Show".

 

[michael hagerty]

Andy Taylor became kind of irritable during the last couple seasons of "The Andy Griffith Show".

Yes. Someone else noticed. Not only that, but when I watched it again recently, there were a couple of times where I thought Andy's attempts to teach Barney a lesson were just a little on the mean side.

 

[joeybabe25]

How about Jethro Bodine? For the first few seasons he was a lovable dunce.

Later he became more ajusted to the Hollywood lifestyle and wanted everything, to be a brain surgeon, an agent to the stars, and became somewhat irritating.

 

[DToTheJ]

In the last few years of Seinfeld, George Costanza went from just being a sad sack to a sad sack who the lazy writers... just made into an angry ranter.

I would say Homer Simpson parallels this to a tee.

 

[davalvideo]

Alan Harper on Two and a Half Men. Before his brother Charlie died, Alan could be caring, compassionate and likable. Since his brother's death, the writers have stripped away every redeeming quality in Alan, and now he's nothing but a pathetic, sometimes dishonest and always selfish mooch. There's nothing to like about him any more IMHO. He's basically a loser.

 

[Markxxx]

While Barney was there, Andy wasn't always as self-righteous. Once Barney left Andy would never do anything wrong, but while Barney was there, Andy, while never doing anything outright wrong, would "bend" rules when there was a greater good at stake.

 

[Markxxx]

Max Baer must've had issues playing the character later on, because he was written out for a good part of the series in the later part. They had Jethro hiding because he thought a girl from back home was trying to marry him.

Also Drysdale too was awful at the end. In the beginning Drysdale was money hungry but first and foremost a businessman, he understood spending money to make it.

 

[KeithE4]

Hawkeye Pierce changed from a likeable wiseass to a sactimonius jerk after Alan Alda became "Creative Consultant" on M*A*S*H.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Max Baer must've had issues playing the character later on, because he was written out for a good part of the series in the later part. They had Jethro hiding because he thought a girl from back home was trying to marry him.

Also Drysdale too was awful at the end. In the beginning Drysdale was money hungry but first and foremost a businessman, he understood spending money to make it.

Baer didn't appear in the abysmal 1981 reunion movie, but has since reconciled with his image--probably when he realized he could make some $$ from it. Tying this with the Andy Griffith Show, I know when the movie Cinderella Man (directed by Ron Howard), Baer was plenty PO'ed because it portrayed his father--former heavyweight boxing champ, Max Sr., as a jerk.

Speaking of jerks, Raymond Bailey, who played Milton Drysdale, was supposedly not too popular with castmates because of his prickly personality.

 

[firepoint525]

I would say Fonzie, in the later seasons of Happy Days, to the point that Richie decked him once, and tried to deck him again, in one of the later episodes. But Fonzie never grew (and thus maybe never grew up) like some of the other characters did. But of course, Happy Days had far worse problems in their later years than just a Fonzie who never grew up.

 

[onairb]

I would say Fonzie, in the later seasons of Happy Days, to the point that Richie decked him once, and tried to deck him again, in one of the later episodes. But Fonzie never grew (and thus maybe never grew up) like some of the other characters did. But of course, Happy Days had far worse problems in their later years than just a Fonzie who never grew up.

You make a good point about Fonz, but the episode where Richie punched Fonz(but didn't 'deck' him) was the two-part opener of the final season, in which Richie (briefly) returned home, before leaving for good. It was Richie who was written as a jerk in that story, until he finally realized his mistake, and got eevryone's blessing to..well, go be Ron Howard and move to Hollywood.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Hawkeye Pierce changed from a likeable wiseass to a sactimonius jerk after Alan Alda became "Creative Consultant" on M*A*S*H.

Amen to that! I stopped watching 'M.A.S.H' after Alda went on his once-a-week tirades on the show. I was hoping the end of the show would have the North Koreans kidnap Hawkeye.

Regarding Andy Griffith; the show went down hill after Barney (Don Knotts) left. We've all heard tales of how difficult Griffith was to work with anyways; not only on this show but also Matlock.

While I wouldn't call Helen Crump a hero, she became more of a 'harpie' as the show progressed from black & white to color. To this day I can't understand why Elinor Donahue was fired after the first season (1961) and later replaced with "Helen."
I always thought there more chemistry between Sheriff Andy and Ellie than Andy and Helen.

 

[blackgold]

I think that it inspired Max Baer to make his 1975 movie "The Wild McCullochs" with Forrest Tucker, Dennis Redfield(as the troubled son Steven who went to jail for murdering a man and ended up hating his Dad, who was played by Tucker himself) and William Demarest as a priest who doesn't absolve the daughter for her sinfulness.
And of course, Max played J.J.'s rival Culver Robinson, a wayward trucker.

 

[firepoint525]

I would say Fonzie, in the later seasons of Happy Days, to the point that Richie decked him once, and tried to deck him again, in one of the later episodes. But Fonzie never grew (and thus maybe never grew up) like some of the other characters did. But of course, Happy Days had far worse problems in their later years than just a Fonzie who never grew up.

You make a good point about Fonz, but the episode where Richie punched Fonz(but didn't 'deck' him) was the two-part opener of the final season, in which Richie (briefly) returned home, before leaving for good. It was Richie who was written as a jerk in that story, until he finally realized his mistake, and got eevryone's blessing to..well, go be Ron Howard and move to Hollywood.

I got the impression that Fonzie was trying to hold Richie back, whereas Richie had matured and had moved on, while Fonzie, despite what else he had been doing, was still (mentally, at least) in high school. But you truly can never go home again.

 

[LKellerIII]

I think that it inspired Max Baer to make his 1975 movie "The Wild McCullochs" with Forrest Tucker, Dennis Redfield(as the troubled son Steven who went to jail for murdering a man and ended up hating his Dad, who was played by Tucker himself) and William Demarest as a priest who doesn't absolve the daughter for her sinfulness.
And of course, Max played J.J.'s rival Culver Robinson, a wayward trucker.

Max Baer Jr (his father was heavy weight boxing champion Max Baer) has an interesting bio. After Beverly Hillbillies typecast him as a hillbilly hick, he found little work as an actor in the late 60s and early 70s, and finally had to resort to casting himself in Macon County Line (1974) which he produced. He was quoted as saying he would have to become a door-to-door salesman if Macon flopped, but it was a low-budget movie that earned big money. Baer parlayed that into a fortune making a number of other low-budget action films during the 1970s, and also directed and wrote scripts.

 

[MCarney]

Regarding Elinor Donahue, she left in part because of personal problems (including some illness and a divorce), as well as a lack of chemistry with Andy Griffith. I agree that Helen became a harpie in the color episodes. Helen didn't come on board for a few seasons so they tried other women as a possible girlfriend for Andy - Joanna Moore (Tatum O'Neil's mother) was one of them for several episodes.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Hawkeye Pierce changed from a likeable wiseass to a sactimonius jerk after Alan Alda became "Creative Consultant" on M*A*S*H.

I was hoping the end of the show would have the North Koreans kidnap Hawkeye.

Well, he was recovering from a nervous breakdown in the finale.