Quote: Rood Eye @ 29th June 2019, 5:39 PMNot for the first time in a BCG discussion, we need to define our terms.
Sitcoms over the years have had their fair share of bastards, monsters and complete and utter c-words but I'm struggling to think of one I'd describe as "despicable".
In a bona fide sitcom, I'd expect even the baddies to be funny.
If the writer believes him/herself (rightly or wrongly) to to be a serious dramatist, then unpleasant people are very likely to appear.
However, there is still a gap between "unpleasant" and "despicable".
A despicable character deserves to be hated (and not in the jovial sense in which audiences hate pantomime villains).
I'm not saying such characters have never existed in sitcom but a great many of those mentioned above don't qualify, in my opinion.
Hmm, had the same thought myself ... this thread might be experiencing a touch of 'mission creep', but it's fun to reflect on sitcoms old and new and play Spot the Bastard, so why not?
I really cannot think of a sitcom character who, in real life, would probably end up behind bars, excepting Jill Tyrell from 'Nighty Night' and one or two residents of Royston Vasey and the odd visitor to that local area - the boy-burying Herr Lipp, for example.
