Sitcoms hit an interesting spot in morality for their protagonists. As with nearly any piece of fiction, the average sitcom wants its protagonist (or protagonists) to be sympathetic and relatable, which is hard to do if they're terrible people. At the same time, some sitcoms instead draw humor from their protagonists doing bad things and getting away with them.
Furthermore, the looser grip on reality held by the average sitcom means that a character may not be judged as harshly for doing something awful in a sitcom as they would be in the real world, while still being sympathetic. The result is that while some sitcom protagonists make for excellent role models, others are simply bad people.
10 Good: Chidi Anagonye Shows The Value Of Wisdom & Decisiveness
In The Good Place's earliest stages, before the revelation that the entire afterlife system is flawed, the assumption is that each of the protagonists has done something to earn their spot in the Bad Place. Chidi Anagonye is the strangest, being a very moral professor of philosophy who always advocates for the right thing, before it is revealed his indecisiveness caused pain to everyone around him.
Chidi's character development sees him learn to reconcile his immensely moral and wise nature with the reality that he sometimes has to make decisions decisively, and cannot spend eternity pondering every correct answer. Through both his insightful and kind nature, and his willingness to grow, Chidi is a good role model.
9 Bad: Basil Fawlty Is Deliberately A Stuffy, Unpleasant Individual
A key example of a sitcom protagonist being beloved and even sympathetic despite their worst aspects, Basil Fawlty, the lead character of Fawlty Towers, is a satirical version of a social-climbing, right-wing, middle-class individual. He layers veiled contempt on the guests of his hotel, abuses his staff, and often shows his dislike for his wife.
While he is portrayed as put-upon, ragged, and fond of going on ever-quotable and amusing rants, ensuring that audiences like him, there is no doubt that many would not want to know somebody like Basil Fawlty in real life. For everything that makes him a good sitcom protagonist, he is a poor person to look up to.
8 Good: Leslie Knope Balances Her Life Without Sacrificing Her Dream
If there is one trait many people wish to have, it is ambition in the selfless sense, something that Parks and Recreation protagonist Leslie Knope displays in spades. Leslie wishes to advance her career and achieve higher office, but purely from an altruistic desire to do right by people, rather than for her own benefit.
Furthermore, Leslie, throughout the show, struggles with balancing her personal life and her high career dreams, at one point breaking up with her future husband because their relationship might call her suitability into question. Ultimately, Leslie is shown to succeed in this, achieving a happy family life, and possibly achieving office as high as President of the United States.
7 Bad: Jeremy Usborne Is A Slacker & Petty Criminal
Peep Show makes little attempt to make its protagonists sympathetic, instead telling a story of how the mundane pressures of everyday life tend to leave ordinary people heavily flawed and miserable. Much of the comedy comes from the bad things that happen to protagonists Mark and Jeremy, rather than their successes.
While neither protagonist is a good role model, Jeremy Usborne beats out Mark through his lack of desire to even attempt to fit into everyday life, instead preferring to live off of the reluctant goodwill of those around him, and engaging in crimes that range from the petty, to more serious acts like drug dealing and attempted robbery.
6 Good: Lee From Not Going Out Is A Model Of Self-Improvement
In its initial incarnation, Not Going Out tells the tale of Lee, a slacker who imposes upon his landladies, coasting by on wit and charm and not much else. The show has changed a lot over the years, however, with Lee undergoing lots of character development.
In its rebooted format, Lee is a family man who retains a lot of his old personality, but has overcome his lazier nature, and his emotional guardedness that made it impossible for him to get close to anybody. Instead, while still flawed, he has clearly attempted to improve himself in nearly every respect, and made better the lives of those around him for it, thus being a clear sign of how people can always do better.
5 Bad: Michael Scott Is Immature & A Bad Boss
The Office is a show that is split between having Michael Scott be a benevolent boss whose well-intentioned misadventures drive the action, and by being a cluelessly harmful boss whose antics cause him to take an unintentionally antagonistic role to the rest of his employees.
While ultimately he is a likable character, and one of the most iconic of recent television, there is no denying that Michael Scott is not an example of how to treat friends, colleagues, or subordinates. Despite some truly heartwarming moments from him, there are nonetheless better protagonists to look up to.
4 Good: Amy Santiago Shows You Can Lighten Up & Keep Your Principles
Amy Santiago of Brooklyn Nine-Nine is beloved by fans as a female sitcom protagonist, because her central arc is not overly related to her romance. While the love and eventual marriage between her and Jake Peralta is a major plotline of the show, Amy's character arc focuses on her overcoming the barriers facing women, both institutional and social, in fields like the police, and doing so without compromising her principles.
While this does intersect with her marriage and pregnancy, there is so much more to her arc than simply the issues involving her romance. Furthermore, Amy undergoes a lot of positive character development over the show, becoming a lighter and more fun person to be around, but without changing herself fundamentally for others.
3 Roy Trenneman Is Chauvinistic & Static
British sitcom The IT Crowd has a fierce cult following and is beloved still by a wide audience. While some of it has aged very poorly, something that seemed intentionally dated from the start is Roy Trenneman's behavior.
Despite sympathetic moments, and fantastic delivery by Chris O'Dowd, Roy is depicted primarily as a backward sexist who believes he knows what women really want, gets it wrong, and refuses to learn from the inevitable suffering this causes him and others. Funny as he is, he is not one to emulate.
2 Good: Chandler Bing Overcomes His Demons
Friends, despite its fantastic characterization, is not a show with character development as a top priority. What development there is tends to go to one of two characters, Rachel or Chandler. In Chandler's case, he begins the show as an insecure, slightly bitter, lonely man who struggles to admit the vulnerability to get close to people, prone to mocking his friends.
While his fundamental personality remains the same, many of Chandler's storylines focus around him confronting his inner demons and the scars left by his traumatic past, and coming away from it as a better person. It's behavior we all wish we could do more of, and Chandler shows that it can be done.
1 Bad: Ted Mosby Is Obsessive & Stuck In The Past
The nostalgic and backward-facing nature of How I Met Your Mother is clear from its premise, with its framing being Ted telling his children the story of how he met their now-deceased mother. However, this didn't become prominent for many until the finale, which demonstrates Ted ignoring all of his and Robin's character development by still being hung up over her.
Fans went back and found dozens of other times where Ted's obsessive and nostalgic nature makes things worse for himself and others, but the core of it is still being in love with his best friend's ex-wife years after the two of them agreed they were not compatible.
0 Comments