The Karen Problem

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I was watching a show the other night and was just totally put off by one of the characters. Couldn't put my finger on it for the longest time. Then it hit me...the character reminds me of Karen from Californication who I absolutely positively hated.

 The problem with disliking Karen (and I’m not alone in this) is that you were supposed to like her. Her relationship with Hank was the big arc of the show. As much as you wanted it to resolve and Karen to just go away, she’d always come right back (which is why I often ended up hate-watching the show more often than not). 

 That's left me thinking a lot about characters in TV shows and books that you were supposed to love but don't. Wondering why that happens? What goes wrong? And why, more often than not, the writer doesn't adjuster their program or series accordingly.

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