Actors who really sucked the life out of a film or TV show

Ali MacGraw in Dynasty

Ali McGraw in everything she ever did.

Brandon Routh on "Legends of Tomorrow" (or anything he's ever been in. I swear, one lucky blow job to Bryan Singer at a coke party and we're stuck with him forever.)

Frank Welker in any work of animation for which he's done voices.

Dominic Monaghan

Brandon Routh is perfect as hyper-earnest Ray on LoT.

Jessica Pare as Megan on Mad Men. Nearly single-handedly killed Mad Men.

[quote] Frank Welker in any work of animation for which he's done voices.

If it wasn't for him doing Glomer on [italic]Punky Brewster[/italic], I wouldn't have had anyone to copy for the voice of Jar Jar Binks.

Harry Connick Jr. on Will & Grace.

Adam Beach on L&O:SVU. His season was the point where the show turned into complete shit and never recovered.

Danny Pintauro in anything on or off the screen

[quote]Brandon Routh is perfect as hyper-earnest Ray on LoT.

Yes - I am not saying there is an Oscar in his future, but there are a lot bigger voids on Legends than Routh. I think he does a decent job as Ray. Not everyone can pull off endearingly geeky and earnest, esp. when they look like Routh.

Michael Caine in Hannah & Her Sisters.

Michael Caine in nearly everything he does.

Yucky!

Nolan Gould on Modern Family. Takes me out of the scene every time he opens his mouth.

Colton on Teen Wolf.

Danny Cooksey as Sam on Diff'rent Strokes.

Sorry, just not a Routh fan. I really don't care what he looks like, there's just something so phony about his whole "Aw shucks" routine both on the show and in real life. You may not see an Oscar in his future, but he certainly seems arrogant enough to see one for himself.

I loved Jessica Pare on Mad Men.

January Jones was the weak link on [italic]Mad Men[/italic].

The episodes of Frasier to avoid are the ones with Mercedes Ruehl and Laura Linney. They are great in other shows and roles , but in Frasier they just didn't fit.

Matthew Perry post Friends. Black hole.

Good call. Frasier is one of my favorite shows. I've even the complete series. You are right. I can't even watch the shows with Mercedes Ruehl

I don't think Matthew Perry hadn't been terrible in everything since friends r19, but I agree that at the moment watching him is like a black hole. When he's interviewed he's very likeable, but his acting skills seem to have deserted him. He's awful on the Odd Couple. Maybe it's the script. Either way I couldn't get passed the first couple of episodes.

He was never any good then or now. He was always an untalented fraud.

Marsha Mason on "Frasier"

Jerry van Dyke as Rob's brother on "The Dick van Dyke Show"

Leif Garrett's sister as Dodie on "My Three Sons"

Gates McFadden as Dr. Crusher on "ST: TNG" (to be fair, the character was severely underwritten--she was given no personality)

Another vote for Harry Connick Jr. on "Will & Grace"

Rob Lowe on "Parks & Recreation"

The entire cast of [italic]Friends[/italic] in everything they've ever done or everything they'll ever do. They sucked the life out of a whole genre for 10 miserable years while cheerleading for and distracting the public from the Guilianification of New York City.

Jones was great in Mad Men. She's a bad actress, but that role was perfectly suited to her.

You're not quite clear on the concept of this thread, r25.

Jones was Betty.

[quote] You're not quite clear on the concept of this thread, [R25].

Oh yes I am. Even before that piece of shit show was on the air they were ruining shows left and right.

I like Jennifer and kinda like Lisa. Jennifer isn't an energy suck. She's hardly a grand thespian but she's ok and has a pulse. Matthew is an energy suck, IMO, because of the drugs and alcohol. Years and years of them. Addicts are energy sucks, with the exception of some musicians.

[quote]She's a bad actress, but that role was perfectly suited to her.

Meaning they wrote around her lack of talent.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

[quote]Jennifer isn't an energy suck.

No she just plain sucks, that's why Oscar didn't take her bait and that's why her husband finally grew a pair and walked out on her.

Any of the children/relatives on GG. Especially Blanche's fat daughter and her annoying voice.

A) Bad acting. B) Life-draining appearances on screen.

[quote] A) Bad acting. B) Life-draining appearances on screen. See how this works?

Yep. The red in that venn diagram is absolutely everything the cast of that shit-bomb had anything to do with.

[quote] Any of the children/relatives on GG. Especially Blanche's fat daughter and her annoying voice.

That's why they recast her as a skinny redhead who got pregnant by a sperm bank.

Diane Keaton in The Godfather. "This whole Sicilian thing HAS GOT TO STOP!"

As if that was going to make a difference. And btw, "Sicilian thing?"

Everybody from [italic]Full House[/italic]

I like Lisa Kudrow. Friends was an awful show but she's done a lot of good stuff since. The other surprise was Matt Le Blanc on Episodes. He's great on that.

That combination of vocal fry and upspeak drives me up the damn wall. It only worked on the last episode of [italic]Newhart[/italic] where that was the point.

That 'Hot Babe' Susan Lucci.

[quote] Any of the children/relatives on GG. Especially Blanche's fat daughter and her annoying voice.

No... it was Dorothy's son Michael, the "skinny white boy" who takes the gneukefleurkin cake for bad acting!!!

Kirk Cameron. Not cute, not talented, smarmy, homophobic, and a complete idiot to boot.

[quote] No... it was Dorothy's son Michael, the "skinny white boy" who takes the gneukefleurkin cake for bad acting!!!

That's ironic considering what a good actress Rosalind Cash, who played his wife, was.

[quote]That's ironic considering what a good actress Rosalind Cash, who played his wife, was.

No wonder she dumped his "skinny white" ass! :)

He couldn't even fake play the sax very well!

Patricia Kalember in "thirtysomething". I would groan in dread if her name appeared in the opening credits because that meant it was a "Gary/Suzannah" story that week. She was the epitome of the humourless bitch in every single scene. Who'd want that in the house?

Tom Cruise in any movie. He's a pretty face but simply can't act. In a scene where he's supposed to show anger he acts and talks/shouts like a shrill queen. He shows all the gamuts of emotions from A through B.

[quote]Diane Keaton in The Godfather. "This whole Sicilian thing HAS GOT TO STOP!" As if that was going to make a difference. And btw, "Sicilian thing?"

In the first GODFATHER, Coppola did not want to use the word "Mafia".

Emma Samms as a recast Fallon.

Susan Haskell on OLTL

Demi Moore on Will & Grace

Michael O'Leary on GL

Melissa McCarthy

[quote]He was never any good then or now. He was always an untalented fraud.

re M. Perry - I don't agree. I think he was the most innately funny of all of them and on chat shows.

Nothing any of them have ever said made me so much as crack a smile. It's like they're incapable of being genuinely funny so they just try too fucking hard and fail each and every time. Stop acknowledging their existence. It's time for them to step aside so people with talent can have a shot.

[quote]In the first GODFATHER, Coppola did not want to use the word "Mafia".

Then why all the protests from the Italian-American Anti-Defamation League over it?

Fred on "Roseanne." Stupid to write in a baby for Jackie and even worse was casting that void as her boyfriend/sperm donor.

[quote]Patricia Kalember in "thirtysomething". I would groan in dread if her name appeared in the opening credits because that meant it was a "Gary/Suzannah" story that week. She was the epitome of the humourless bitch in every single scene. Who'd want that in the house?

She WAS meant to be. They were all meant to hate her, so were we - this happens in real life. Someone we love marries someone everyone hates and they have to deal with it. I don't think her performance was bad at all - but I can see what you mean.

Hope & Michael focused shows were in my mind the worst....and Melanie Mayron ones the best.

I have to disagree with the arc episodes of Frasier featuring Mercedes Ruehl and Laura Linney. I enjoyed them immensely. On the other hand, Wendie Malick did not fit in at all with the show. She's wonderful in almost anything else I've seen her in, but she was just WAY too young to be paired off with John Mahoney. Marsha Mason had much better chemistry with JM.

Daphne's mother on Fraser. The whole story arc with her family was pointless but, by that point, they didn't know what to do with either Jane Leeves or DHP.

I liked Jean Smart on Frasier...her fucking yell. but Mercedes Ruehl was just fucking awful on Frasier.

[quote]I liked Jean Smart on Frasier...her fucking yell.

You're kidding! I loved her on Frasier - including the yell.

& a sexy bitch to boot.

sorry - I misread you.

R23, I loved Dodie!

Elle Macpherson in anything.

January Jones in everything she's in. Jennifer Aniston in everything she's in. The Two Broke Girls cast screaming their lines at the top of their lungs. Drew Barrymore (who normally doesn't bug me) in Santa Clarita Diet. Everyone is good but her.

In the 1970's early 80's, any kid with a bowl cut, esp. if he was added later in the series.

Eluzabeth Montgomery as Pandora Spocks aka Serena

Whenever Barbara Eden dressed as her evil sister

[quote]Eluzabeth Montgomery as Pandora Spocks aka Serena Whenever Barbara Eden dressed as her evil sister

Blasphemy!!!! Jeannie 2 was marvelous, dahhhhhling!

Madonna in anything

Twacy Mo'gan, "30 Rock." Just goes to show even Fey can be a dipshit sometimes.

This is going back in time to something most people won't even remember, but the guy who played Sela Ward's sister's boyfriend in Once & Again, really sucked the life out of every scene he was in. It was such a good show that his terrible performance really stood out.

This might jolt your memory >>

R70 What do you mean, Steven Webber? He's been a piece of ass for many, many years- not just "that guy".

Nancy Travis on Becker

A second vote for Tracy Morgan - in anything! He is the unfunniest actor I've ever seen.

I stopped watching The Carol Burnett Show when Tim Conway became a regular. I never found anything he did funny. Harvey Korman would always break character when in a skit with Conway and start laughing. I always thought he was laughing to be sympathetic because Conway was so pathetic.

Cody Horn as the useless, sour-faced bitch wasting screentime in Magic Mike

Scott Patterson in Gilmore Girls - you want me to believe someone like Lorelei would really be happy with this miserable SOB?

R23- " Jerry van Dyke as Rob's brother on "The Dick van Dyke Show"

ITA! What was worse is that they devoted two 2-part episodes to him. I didn't find him funny at all.

R62=Dawn Lyn.

Elisha Cuthart from Happy Endings owns this thread.

True as that may be r44, Cameron was the reason the show rated through the roof. Teenage girls and gay boys tuned in in droves just to watch him.

R75, yes. Cody Horn was painfully bad. It was sad and hilarious how bad she was. Hope she marries well, be acting is not in the cards for her.

Cody Horn has family members in the entertainment industry. She's one of the bad examples of Hollywood nepotism.

R44 and R79, like any closet, self-loathing homosexual - Kirk Cameron is literally a maggot who hides behind his religious views of "no sex" as a way to avoid HAVING sex with women. Yes, this stance can be taken into a marriage as well - sex should only be used for procreation and never for pleasure. When he falls off the wagon he searches out the largest BBCs to gape him into next week and then likely threaten to destroy them in some way to cover up his sins. Total piece of shit. And he blames his lack of career on the far left, faggot-loving Hollywood machine. He and Mike Pence are good buddies I am sure. I was shocked when he didn't lend his "celebrity" to Trump.

R12, agree, but then so do both the s---t girl, and the fat S-- boy on Modern Family, too.

Yes r82, this is DL, we're all aware of his history. The fact that he's a POS doesn't change the fact that he was a heart throb in 1987 and that he was the only reason pre teen kids tuned into that very average, unfunny show. Do you really think anyone was watching to see Carol or Ben?

r11 Michael Caine? Really??

I concur about Harry Connick Jr. Unfunny, didn't mesh with the cast, no chemistry with Debra Messing. They kept bringing back his character although he didn't click with viewers.

As much as I like Jennifer Coolidge, she is awful on 2 Broke Girls. That accent, those painful line readings, the canned laughter. All unbearable.

Shari Shattuck on Y&R. Brenda Epperson was one of the best recasts on soaps in my opinion; Shattuck was one of the worst.

LOL R84 - you are correct. He was the only eye candy on the show. I am still shocked that it was ever a hit to begin with. These days he looks like a chemo patient. He is not ugly, but looks sick nonetheless.

[quote]January Jones was the weak link on Mad Men.

She was perfect as Betty. January Jones may be mediocre in other parts, but she embodied the character of Betty.

His evangelical PR clones claim that he would be at the level of Tom Hanks if only he was not bullied by the liberal Hollywood machine. Hilarious.

Anything with Rose McGowan

Both of the sons on ModernFamily.

The son Eddie on Fresh off the Boat

And Brad Pitt (and his horrible accent) in Inglourious Basterds

Yeah, for a brilliant ensemble cast, "Fraiser" bombed on some of their guest star choices: Ruehl, Linney and Marsha Mason were terrible choices for their respective parts. Mason's Sherry could have been one of the show's most memorable recurring characters, but Mason was the wrong choice. And the guy that played Daphne's husband was terrible, as was the actress who played her mother.

Totally agree about Cruise, exhausting to watch to the point of nausea. Single handedly sunk the standards for the whole generation that came after him.

January Jones was fantastic on Mad Men. She was terrible in that X-Men movie, but she's pretty good on Last Man on Earth.

The kid who plays Manny on "Modern Family", I guess chosen for his particular look, cannot convincingly say his lines.

Ben Affleck

Kyle Maclachlan (in anything except David Lynch)

I'm rewatching UGLY BETTY and I'm in the middle of the awful third season. I'm not bothering to look up her name, but the bland blonde who plays Molly, Daniel's drippy kindergarten teacher girlfriend, sucks the life out of every scene she's in.

Daryl Hannah in "Steel Magnolias" was out of place and annoying. By far the worst in the film, and miscast.

Heather Graham in Sex and the City was memorably bad

Heather was also horrid in the second season of Twin Peaks.

We hate Heather.

r65 nailed it.

Oh I assume you're referring to me r65 & r102.

Rude!

[quote]Adam Beach on L&O:SVU. His season was the point where the show turned into complete shit and never recovered.

r8, Adam Beach did indeed suck the life out of every episode of SVU in which he was featured but the show didn't jump the shark after his single season. I remembered that as happening after Meloni left but watching reruns of those post Meloni shows, that's not when it went to shit. The one or two seasons with Danny Pino are fine. But after Mariska got him canned because he stole every scene from her and then SVU became Olivia! while she became fat is when the series became unwatchable.

I loved The Wire but every now and again they'd put some person in to the show with zero acting experience. Sometimes they nailed it (the girl who played snoop, the guy who played the pastor) but often they were awful. You could tell a mile off they weren't actors. The stilted delivery of their lines would be so distracting they'd ruin the whole scene.

Starting around Season 3, Chris Colfer as Kurt on Glee. He was so unwatchable I found myself fast-forwarding every time he was in a scene.

Cathy Cahlin Ryan, who but for marrying Shawn Ryan would never have had what little career she has. Jeezus, every scene she had in [italic]The Shield[/italic] came to a (literally) screeching halt when she opened her harridan mouth. Even her dialogue-free scenes were awful, because her dishwater-dull appearance makes me lose the will to live.

She also tried her best to kill the otherwise excellent [italic]Redbelt.[/italic] Thankfully, she only had two scenes, each of them with poor Chiwetel Ejiofor, who did his best to carry her. [bold]SPOILER ALERT[/bold] No wonder her character's hunky husband killed himself.

The guy that played McManus on Oz.

Elisabeth Röhm on Law and Order.

Tracy Morgan sucks in roles but I think he's a hilarious troll on talk shows. Black folks should make him give back his black card though. He's shameless coonery.

Well, they certainly aren't talking about ME, R103!

Ted McGinley. Does it require any explanation why?

Sure r106, but you were watching season 3 of Glee.

Rooney Mara. Bitch always seems pissed off in everything. Look, the remake of Nightmare on Elm Street was no great shakes, but it would have benefitted from a much better leading lady as Nancy. How she has an Oscar nom is beyond me. Horrible, dull actress.

Brad Pitt in 12 Years A Slave. WTF was that?!

Kean Reeves in Dracula.

Helen Hunt in Mad About You

Helen Hunt in Mad About You

[quote]Keanu Reeves in Dracula.

I would say Winona in the same movie, and since her part was more important, it really hurt the film.

Keanu also was a void in Dangerous Liaisons, but his part was small enough where it did not really matter.

Winona Ryder in Age of Innocence.

Toni Colette in Emma.

I am not a jinx!

Ice T on Law & Order.

The worst.

Here's one:-

Helen Hunt in Mad About You.

Chris Colfer on Glee. He oozed sensitivity and vulnerability. Also, as much as I loved Roseanne, i wish they had toned down Estelle Parsons.

I love that Carole Shelley episode. It was all set up for a terrific meltdown from Kelsey Grammer and John Mahoney.

Most of the guest stars on Will & Grace were horrible, the worst of which was recurring character, Leo.

[quote] Most of the guest stars on Will & Grace were horrible, the worst of which was recurring character, Leo.

Leslie Jordan and Molly Shannon were great though.

David Leisure, the Isuzu commercial guy who for some reason was considered funny and was cast in a lead role in "Empty Nest." He wasn't funny in the least and certainly wasn't a "sexy" lady killer. I don't know what they were thinking. A black hole walking and mugging.

Ray Buktenica who played one of Brenda Morgenstern's boy friends on "Rhoda." (See David Leisure above.)

Anything and everything that Valerie Harper's ex-husband Richard Schaal ever did on TV.

r93 I too LOVED Betty Draper! Her cold-bitch persona and fabulous clothes. Damn, makes me want to buy a fainting couch!

Cybill Shepherd in Cybill

Michael J. Fox in anything. Soul sucking reached its zenith in Back to the Future.

R128=Eric Stoltz

The actress that played Susan on Seinfeld. I completely agree with Jason Alexander when he said her timing was off. She was jarring to watch.

This thread is owned by Harriet Harris.

I know it's the popular thing to say that cousin Oliver sucked and ruined The Brady Bunch, but I loved when he came onto the show.

All the other actors had grown up, and weren't as appealing at that time.

Ben Affleck in "Argo".

Enjoyed the film, except when Ben appeared, at which point he sucked all the energy out of the picture.

Like a film vampire.

R104, I did not know Mariska got Danny Pino fired. Would Scanavino have been hired if they hadn't decided to can Pino?

[quote] The actress that played Susan on Seinfeld.

Wasn't she just awful? Especially in repeats. Her attempts to play droll fell flat. That episode where she was supposed to be copying Elaine's mannerisms was just tedious to watch when it should have been great.

Johnny Galecki destroyed Roseanne.

"Howard" on the Newhart Show and Mr. Haney on Green Acres.

[quote]I know it's the popular thing to say that cousin Oliver sucked and ruined The Brady Bunch, but I loved when he came onto the show.

I posted about kids with bowl cuts in general being a void, but relatively speaking cousin Oliver was not that bad. Cousin Oliver did not kill the show, it was running out of gas on its own (not that it was every great).

[quote]The actress that played Susan on Seinfeld.

Seems you weren't the only ones.

Helen Baxendale was truly awful in FRIENDS. To be fair, there's only so much you can do with such an underwritten character, but still, I can't understand why she was cast in the first place. Her performance was so wooden. It was particularly ridiculous that we were meant to believe she & Ross had this whirlwind romance when there was so little chemistry between them.

Ooh, that is awful to do to that Seinfeld girl, true or not. I don't get that show anyway -- and, oddly enough, I love Larry David and "Curb..."

Back to topic: I was surprised how truly awful Kirstie Alley was in her guest spot on "The Middle" recently. Nuts or not, she is usually funny at least but not here. She looked so damn lost.

With the exception of Joe E. Tata, the rest of the cast of Beverly Hills 90210.

I agree with the assessment of Mercedes Ruehl on Frasier. It was such a great character and the episodes were well written, but there is something so off about her timing and her delivery, it's like they filmed the rehearsal ... she's just not bringing it. And she won an Oscar?

I don't think Alexander said anything too awful. He just pointed out that as an actress her approach didn't work well with the rest of the cast. It's true, it was obvious to any fan who watched her very first episode. If anything the fault is Larry David's and whoever else decided to bring Susan, of all of George's girlfriends, back. Her timing was so off she was grating to watch and really did suck the life out of most of her scenes.

R24, Rob Lowe on Parks & Rec is LITERALLY fine. Will & Grace had some good guest stars too, Michael Douglas, Matt Damon and Will Arnett among them.

Sofia Coppola in Godfather 3. Her wooden performance and her Valley Girl accent made her scenes unbearable.

Also.......Helen Hunt on Mad About You

Winona Ryder and Brad Pitt in everything.

The old lady who hung around with the kids on 90210

R149 - Miss Carteris, if you nasty

How is it possible that John Travolta in Hairspray has not been mentioned.

Lily Tomlin in anything that isn't a comedy.

Marc Blucas on Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Riley.

A slab of white bread with a slightly porcine countenance and no flavor whatsoever.

Felicity's parents - especially her mother. It was bizarre how wooden they were and how they didn't seem to fit as her parents whatsoever.

The father was on thritysomething and was good, so I don't blame him as an actor. I don't know who played his wife maybe she was just a very bad actress.

But look at the sort of dead looks they're giving her. The photo perfectly illustrates my point.

I'm posting this for nostalgia purposes & because I hate to leave Felicity here on a sour note & he had such a great smile. No wonder Felicity fell for him.

Kerry Washington in Django Unchained. A complete void.

Ross Martin ("Artemis Gordon"), "The Wild Wild West."

The never-seen wife or nephew, "Columbo."

Dennis Dugan ("Richie Brockleman"), "Rockford Files," "Columbo," etc.

Carol Kane ("Simka"), "Taxi."

Jane Adams ("Mel"), "Frasier."

I must have no concept of bad acting. I can't think of any "life suckers" and I liked, or at least didn't mind, anyone I've seen listed in this thread.

R159, are you Peter Travers?

Was ALBERT NOBBS (Is that the name?) a film or TV show?

Her character worked in shorter scenes, but later in the series when the elevated her role after Rhoda left and tried to have longer scenes with her and Mary, Georgette could bring the show to a screeching halt.

[quote] The never-seen wife or nephew, "Columbo."

And then they cast Kate Mulgrew as "Mrs Columbo"!!!

Talk about miscasting!!!

Any of the actresses in sitcoms that rely on silly high voices to be funny.

The one in the middle >

Vic Morrow, "Twilight Zone: The Movie"

George Clooney on The Facts of Life

Amy Yasbeck on Wings.

R156 is making me want to watch FELICITY again. I could never believe she would be torn between Ben and Noel. Scott Speedman is SO much hotter than Scott Foley.

Whoever played Lori on the Walking Dead. Awful actress.

And speaking of Felicitys! I quit watching ARROW because of that God-awful Felicity character. A "Mary Sue" if I've ever seen it. I really feel like I'm losing my mind when I hear people going on about what a great character she is. Same thing with The FLASH with the geeky Hispanic guy--he's like the male "Felcity Smoak" and I'm out. It's like every superhero show has to have one--the clever geek with a secret--SMALLVILLE's Chloe or the obviously closeted dude on SUPERGIRL. They are inauthentic and annoying and take me right out of the show.

Patrick Warburton in A Series of Unfortunate Events. I wish someone else had been cast in that role.

Beverly Garland with that little girl killed off one of the most popular loved TV shows CBS ever had.

What was MacMurray thinking? Didn't he know they were killing his golden goose?

He must have been screwing Garland. No other reason for her ending up on that show. Not a drop of charm or appeal.

[quote][R156] is making me want to watch FELICITY again. I could never believe she would be torn between Ben and Noel. Scott Speedman is SO much hotter than Scott Foley.

I can see the appeal of both. But Ben would have been my choice too.

She was such a psycho. Remember those tapes she used to send to some friend who we never saw?

& here's Noel.

The Felicity intro >>

The tune is so unmemorable. There IS NO tune.

Lens in Girls.

I remember thinking that Felicity was such a novel, smart, intriguing show during the first season and then completely loosing all interest by the end of the second. It was a whiney snoozfest all in all. They can't blame everything on the horrid haircut either. Of course, Dawson's Creek was so much worse.

That's horrid, R175.

[quote]I remember thinking that Felicity was such a novel, smart, intriguing show during the first season and then completely loosing all interest by the end of the second.

I never bothered watching the third season. Everyone in the world warned me off it.

I never liked Daphne on Fraiser

[quote]I never liked Daphne on Fraiser

She was awful but she was sort of swept along by her better co-stars.

The gurl (Roz) who worked at the radio station made up for a lot.

R114 "Brad Pitt in 12 Years a Slave"

No shit. It took you right out of the movie. I kept waiting for one of the extras in the scene to point at him and say, "Hey, isn't that Brad Pitt?"

I always hated that evil twin crap as well.

And I think the all time champion of sucking the life out of something was Dick Sargent in Bewitched.

Terrible in every way.

Funny, I preferred him to the first husband.

I didn't know that about Susan on Seinfeld. I thought it was deliberate. I thought the whole joke about their relationship was that there was no chemistry and it was so obvious to everyone. It would explain his coldness when she died.

I watched "About Last Night" recently, and didn't remember how bad the acting is throughout.

Jim Belushi is practically the only one speaking for the first 5-7 minutes of the movie with his annoying monologue, "Was she a pro? At this point, we don't know."

Rob Lowe delivers his lines as if he's reading from the page, and Demi Moore overacts and emotes all over the place in her first failed Oscar-baiting attempt.

Elizabeth Perkins is the only one who gives a believable performance, and has the best lines.

The guy who played Professor Pepperwinkle on the Superman TV series. Couldn't keep up with George Reeves and Jack Larson.

[quote]I didn't know that about Susan on Seinfeld. I thought it was deliberate. I thought the whole joke about their relationship was that there was no chemistry and it was so obvious to everyone.

She started out as an NBC exec and then they made her a Lesbian, right? There was never any chemistry and it must have been obvious. I think that was part of the joke.

Jerry never had any chemistry with any of the women he ever dated either.

Jack Davenport in "Swingtown". I thought that the show really was given the short stick. It was a mid-summer replacement but had such tremendous potential. Molly Parker, Lana Parrilla (in her best role ever) and Miriam Shor were all fantastic. Hell, even Grant Show was great and looked hot. Had it been picked up by HBO or Showtime it would have lasted at least 4 seasons. The kids were somewhat annoying, but Jack was totally the pits. He was just fine "The Talented Mr. Ripley" but was expending too much energy trying to master a Chicago accent to act in this short lived series.

[quote] Hell, even Grant Show was great and looked hot.

OMG. SO true.

Sex and the City - when Berger limply entered Carrie's pink little bubble he most definitely sucked the life out of everything, even her hair went flat when he was around. Another vacuum was that Russian drip, and the way the girls would say his name "Aleksandr Petrovsky" they nearly chanted it. Aidan was a broom.

Grant really shone as a middle aged 70's stud. Great body, amazing ass and maybe even more handsome than the Melrose days..

More Grant:

He looked like he stepped out of a 1977 Playgirl Centerfold.

>>>>

Bite your tongue, r131! Harriet Sansom Harris as BeBe Glazer is one of the greatest recurring sitcom characters EVER!

Gavin MacLeod in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"

Gavin MacLeod in "The Love Boat"

Sela Ward on CSI: NY. I usually like her in everything, but she was not a good fit for that gritty show. Too smug and too glam.

Dick Sargent

Oh. God. Y. E. S.

R198, I only saw that CSI a few times, watching only because Sela was on. I could never get past my perception that she felt she was above the material. I agreed with her, but her telegraphing the essential shittiness of the show didn't make it easy to watch. I gave up in her third or fourth episode.

[quote]Gavin MacLeod in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"

AYFKM? Murray was terrific, especially when responding to Ted.

[quote]Gavin MacLeod in "The Love Boat"

Anyone who watched the Love Boat long enough to feel able to criticize it doesn't have good enough taste to criticize anything.

Am I the only one who HATED Elizabeth McGovern on Downton Abbey?!

Also most child actor twins ( Full House, 7th heaven...)

Speaking of... the Cast from Hell. Starring in the Topic From Hell.

HOW MUCH would they have to pay me to sit through this? It would have to be cash or at gunpoint and then a very big gun.

I used to like Claire Danes.

She was okay in ten minutes of "The Hours", I think. But insufferable otherwise. Dull, dull, dull.

r205 = Jordan Catalano

Claire is a cunt and a serial cheater who feels no remorse (look up her comments from Howard Stern). Can't stand her and her ugly crying face.

R207 = Mary-Louise Parker

r69-yes! and that donkey looking wife on vikings. horrible actress

Clare Danes is remarkably talented in "My So Called Life," but I haven't liked anything else she has done.

She has the same affected mannerisms as Paltrow in interviews.

What is Claire Danes' natural hair color?

I thought Travolta did a great job in Hairspray, R151! He actually made Edna quite endearing.

R153, Riley was an amazingly dull character. The drop in quality between seasons three and four of Buffy was huge. It was never a perfect show, but until season four I never found it boring.

Dennis Farina on Law & Order. I was so glad when they wrote him out.

Whoever put there said January Jones - have you never had an old-line Wasp friend? Maybe she's not a good actress in general, but her Betty Draper was so wonderfully chilly, sad and nuanced. I felt like I was at a country club brunch every time she was on screen.

That said, let's nominate Sean Hayes and throw him into oncoming traffic once and for all. He literally deflates every thing he's on like a sad old party balloon.

Eddie Cibrian in CSI: Miami.

^^ Hes gorgeous & talent free.

Hes awful on Rosewood too.

George Takei on Star Trek.

Did he *ever* do anything else?

Blabbed a lot on facebook and the like. Ugh.

R210 I like Homeland and think she is great in it.

I find her to be the white version of Viola. Finishing school speech, dull obvious choices but a sense of grandiosity every time she speaks or gives a speech at an awards show. Doesn't help that I knew a producer who met with her about a project and despised her after five minutes.

[quote]I thought Travolta did a great job in Hairspray, [R151]! He actually made Edna quite endearing

He completely misunderstood the character and played a woman self-consciously and as if he wanted to make sure you knew he wasn't gay. Like Harrison and Burton in Staircase.

[quote]He completely misunderstood the character and played a woman self-consciously

I'm not sure I know what you mean.

George Takei on everything. His appearance on Big Bang Theory.

What is it with that creepy queen voice?

[quote]Like Harrison and Burton in Staircase.

PLUS the fact they weren't very good actors, with a very limited range.

Harrison and Burton could act rings around Travolta.

God, I loved SWINGTOWN and I agree that Jack Davenport was the week link. It was the first (and last) CBS scripted drama I liked since the early days of PICKET FENCES.

It's a shame Netlfix or another streaming service wasn't around back then, because it would have been a success anywhere other than an old people network like CBS.

[quote]God, I loved SWINGTOWN

I've got the DVDs. I gave up on it . I'll give it another chance.

Dana Delaney on "Desperate Housewives".

Elizabeth Mitchell on "Lost".

Madonna on "Will & Grace".

Every time Karen tried to "Lez It Up!" on "Will & Grace." Unfunny and inauthentic.

And of course, R220, we know exactly to whom you refer.

[quote]Every time Karen tried to "Lez It Up!" on "Will & Grace." Unfunny and inauthentic.

She was awful. Shrill, silly voice does not = funny.

Claire Danes, R229, continuing the discussion posted before mine.

Megan Mullally was okay as Demi and Rob Lowe"s friend in About Last Night.

*Catherine Keener played a waitress in the movie.

The chubby blond guy on SNL in the Early 2000s who played "Drunk Girl".

He sucked the life out of the show in his every appearance.

Gale fucking Gordon

The whining, shrill, unfunny Ross Mathews when he's a guest on any game or talk show. You see Ross Mathews and you understand why "they" hate us.

Stephen Spielberg's stepdaughter? on Grey's Anatomy.

Totally disagree about January Jones on Mad Men. Example of perfect role for right actress. Loved her as Betty and i hope that she gets another role that shows her talents. Incredible beauty that works against the girl.

Courtney Thorne-Smith on Melrose Place. I couldn't stand her whining and her cringeworthy "drunk" scenes.

R185 you're talking about the sexual chemistry between susan and George, everyone else, including George Alexander, are referring to the actresses comedic timing. She would stuff up the rhythm of the scene regardless of which cast member she was playing against.

R233: Jeff Richards.

R236: Jessica Capshaw.

And as long as we're talking Capshaws, Kate in "Indiana Jones / Temple Of Doom."

Mariska Hargitay on Law and Order SVU. Just a terrible actress. The show has gone so downhill since she became the focus.

Piven in Selfridge.

The closest thing to a black hole on earth.

It's like he's about to suck in the entire planet.

If ever a role needed a William Powell it was this one.

I'd say he slept with a Hollywood producer to have a career but who would want to sleep with a lump of paste wearing a hairpiece.

[quote] And as long as we're talking Capshaws, Kate in "Indiana Jones / Temple Of Doom."

I recently watched a DVD of one of the Indiana Jones Movies...I think it was "The Last Crusade". One of the extras on the DVD was a video (coming from the AFI I think) of the trio of actresses from the first 3 movies. (I think the video was done before the 4th movie came out, perhaps as a lead up to that film.)

They each talked about their character and their experience on their movie.

Karen Allen was a delight. She looked absolutely great in a completely relaxed way. At home with herself. She talked about her character and how she fought for her with Spielberg, etc.

Kate Capshaw (clearly Mrs. Spielberg at the time of the interview) was all glammed and said she liked the physical comedy part of Willie Scott, etc. She ended her bit by saying quickly ... "I told them there was too much screaming!" as an excuse, I suppose for that awful character.

Alison Doody who played Elsa in the Last Crusade, kept saying that Sean Connery got her part as the real important dynamic in that film was between Indiana and his father. She apparently was very inexperienced when she did the film.

Karen Allen was the most interesting, wonderful to see. Lively, smart, and very lovely. Not all glam, but really attractive. She came across as a very likeable person.

At the end of the trio talk, Harrison Ford walked up in Indiana Jones garb (hat, etc.) and kissed each woman in turn. Then stood in a group of all 4, with his arms around Allen and Capshaw.

So glad they brought Karen Allen back for the last movie.

Cheryl Hines in Curb Your Enthusiasm OWNS THIS THREAD. I can't believe she hasn't been mentioned yet. I know she's playing the "straight" role but she's just terrible at it, a bland, blank void in the center of a classic show. I've seen her in other things and she's awful even in funny roles. Her career is a mystery to me.

Anything after Coal Miner's Daughter...Sissy Spacek. Caryn Johnson

Jamie-Lyn Sigler

Emma Samms as Fallon in Dynasty...she absolutely ruined the role and the show. And her mutant American accent.

[quote]Cheryl Hines in Curb Your Enthusiasm OWNS THIS THREAD. I can't believe she hasn't been mentioned yet. I know she's playing the "straight" role but she's just terrible at it, a bland, blank void in the center of a classic show.

I don't agree. I missed her when she went.

200 year old Miss Joan Crawford taking over for her 24 year old daughter's character on The Secret Storm. I pity the poor guy who played the husband and had to look into that old bat face and probably had to kiss her as well. I remember my father was home from work one day when my mom and I were watching and when we told him the character she was playing was supposed to be 24 he burst out laughing.

r243 I agree about Karen Allen. A terrific actress who should have had bigger roles. She worked steadily but after the '80s she didn't get the big roles.

She was the ONLY good thing about that awful Crystal Skill film.

Love Karen Allen. So pretty and with a great whiskey voice. I always thought that she, Brooke Adams and Margot Kidder should have made a film together where they played sisters.

NICOLE KIDMAN. Ugh. She tried so hard in, Eyes Wide Shut; to be sexy, to be drunken, and to be high. She fails on all levels. Even Tom Cruise was better than her! Which says a lot! The most over-rated actress.

^^ Nicole Kid(ding! I'm not an actress!)man is going to ruin the new Sofia Coppola movie!

Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luther in Batman Vs Superman. He just got a razzie for it and so he should have. Whoever cast him should get their ass kicked.

Burt Reynolds in Evening Shade. I tried to give the show a chance because it was from the Designing Women people, but Burt's timing on jokes was so off and his acting was terrible.

Priscilla Barnes on Three's Company. To me, she just didn't fit in with Jack and Janet like Cindy did. And her acting was awful.

Mary Cadorette on Three's A Crowd. So incredibly boring and unfunny.

Carol Huston replacing Caitlin O' Heaney on The Charmings. The worst casting change I've ever seen. She was even more boring than Mary Cadorette.

Tennessee Ernie Ford on I Love Lucy.

Christine Lahti on SVU. Maybe on Chicago Hope, though I blamed on the writing there.

[quote] Christine Lahti on SVU

Yes! How could I forget that one?

Christine Lahti in "Running on Empty" too. God, she annoys me. Always ACTING, not a smidge of humor in her bones.

Sarah Chalke on Roseanne.

Estelle Parsons on Roseanne. Was she supposed to be her mother?

& talking about miscasting. Joan Collins as Roseanne's cousin? Gurl, please!

r261 I loved Joan on Roseanne. She and Roseanne had good chemistry ("Queen of the Bitches!")

They knew it would be campy and played it accordingly.

I thought the whole point of Roseanne is that it wasn't campy.

When it traded in reality for campy, it jumped the shark.

Burt did ruin EVENING SHADE, R255, which was a pity! The cast was incredible--Holbrook, Ossie Davis, Ann Wedgeworth, even freakin' Elizabeth Ashley! But they had to drag "star" Burt along. His flippant style just sucked!

ITA R263, jumped the shark big time. Roseanne and Dan were intelligent characters who could be respected the first couple of years. They had shitty jobs but worked hard to be the best employees at those jobs and they were good parents. All of a sudden they became stupid hillbillies wannbes and were lazy and terrible employees, who only looked for ways to loaf on their jobs as if the paycheck was owed to them and became the kind of parents people call child protection on. I think Tom Arnold did big damage with his ability to influence Roseanne. That was the beginning of the shark jump.

I have to say everyone in that pilot on Golden Girls that eventually turned into Empty Nest. When I still watched the reruns I would always skip by that one.

Anne Meara in anything she was ever in. A. N. Y. T. H. I. N. G.

Jane Leeves on Frasier. The rest of the cast was great. Leaves was a one-joke pony. She didn't have the talent the others did.

Leeves was really good I thought. What killed her was her constant tie with Niles. That was the one weak spot of a thoroughly brilliant show. Roz on the other hand was just about one of the funniest characters ever on TV.

Leeves was okay until they actually got Niles and Daphne together. That was another shark jumper. Leeves was very funny on Murphy Brown.

Speaking of Murphy Brown, when she had the kid that sucked the life out of the show. The pregnancy was funny but once the kid was born, not so much. They should have had the pregnancy be a nightmare she had.

[quote] Roz on the other hand was just about one of the funniest characters ever on TV.

She wasn't THAT great! She was FUN more than she was funny.

Leeves wasn't even fun. She was dreary and one note.

Amy Irving. If you recall.

Winona Ryder. From LUCAS to ALIEN: RESURRECTION to DRACULA to STRANGER THINGS.

Piven. Talentless ego trying to convince us he's not bald.

And Jeff Goldblum. I realize many people would disagree, but that stuttering, mugging, bug-eyed (literally, at times), me-me-me thing turns every moment into a Jeff Goldblum moment, no matter what the film and scenes are supposed to be about.

I agree about Kidman. No there there but she still

And all-time worst - Gwyneth Paltrow. Her self-absorbed inauthenticity burns holes through the screen. She's the only one who makes the insufferable Julia Roberts look merely hideous.

[quote]Am I the only one who HATED Elizabeth McGovern on Downton Abbey?!

After the first three seasons or so, I began to hate nearly everyone on Downton Abbey. McGovern was no better or worse than the rest of them.

What bothers me most is that PBS has used the success of Downton Abbey to program a succession of bodice-rippers instead of producing solid good material.

Fake Darrin is just the all-time worst.

As of tonight anyway, Michael Strahan.

Ruby Rose on OITNB

Ruby Rose sucks the life out of anything, always. Even her interviews are annoying.

I enjoyed Jane Leeves in the early seasons of Frasier. She was fun and quirky. She fit in well when she had no idea that Niles lusted after her. It was when they finally hooked up that she became unwatchable. I mostly blame the writers, because they made Daphne an unbearable shrew.

[quote]Alison Doody who played Elsa in the Last Crusade, kept saying that Sean Connery got her part as the real important dynamic in that film was between Indiana and his father. She apparently was very inexperienced when she did the film.

What does this sentence mean? I keep reading it over and over and can't make sense of it.

[quote] It was when they finally hooked up that she became unwatchable.

There are other examples of this, but I can't think of them.

You're right r279 there are lots of shows that are dependant on the will they/won't they storyline. From Moonlighting to New Girl there has been a slew of tv shows that lost their audience because the main couple got together.

R260 nailed it

How can one person nail it?

There are so many nails.

R282 Do you have any friends?

I agree with r282. There are so many shitty performances, how can you crown Sarah Chalk's Becky as the ultimate shirty performance?

Woman neighbor mr.ed.dyke.

Melissa George on Alias damn near killed that show.

Michelle Rodriguez on Lost. Enough said.

Jeff Goldblum helped to destroy Law & Order:CI. The deteriorating writing and production values did the rest.

Melissa George in anything r286. How she manages to get work is astounding. She's awful.

Faye Dunaway, Oscars telecast 2017.

THREAD

CLOSED

When they tried to give Ann Romano a bff lady friend on One Day At A Time. Ginny Robliki was her name. And she only lasted a season. She ruined the balance of the show.

Kirsten Dunst in anything

January Jones had the right look for Betty, but was not a brilliant actress, so she became stale very quickly.

IMO, the show was always more interesting when it focused on Don's work life. His home life was never that interesting. But the actress who played his daughter really grew in her role and became an interesting part of the series. And when they brought Meagen in, it was just a boring addition to an already boring facet of the show.

90% of the cast of Smash. It could have been an interesting show with a better cast and if the production team hadn't tried to make it a soap opera rather than a straight drama with music.

Deb Messing was totally lost. No dimension to her character.

Kat McPhee was terrible in the show. She was like the Andie McDowell of tv. They should have called Glenn Close in to dub her lines.

Anjelica Houston and her drag queen performance. Her sneaky assistant Ellis who was gay right up until his last appearance when he is filmed in bed with a woman.

The actor who played Deb Messing's son. You could never figure out whether he was mentally retarded or just a bad actor.

[quote]IMO, the show was always more interesting when it focused on Don's work life.

Those boring, dreary office scenes?

I never understood that show's success. It was peculiar.

Megan in "Mad Men.." Terrible actress, terrible body. Difficult to look at her-- she seemed to always be concentrating all her energy on navigating her lips around her giant teeth.

Lucille Ball in any of her horrid, unfunny sitcoms after I Love Lucy. That annoying voice, that queen Gale Gordon, Lucy having to shout over everyone else to be heard in Canada. I've stated it before and it needs repeating: how did she ever beat Liz Montgomery for the Emmy in the 60's? Talk about a miscarriage of justice.

[quote]she seemed to always be concentrating all her energy on navigating her lips around her giant teeth.

You're kidding! We love those teeth! The bigger the better!

Lucille Ball, I hated how you had to sit through all her crap so that at the end you could hear Desi sing.

Jeff Conaway in "Taxi."

The entire cast of Daphne's family, "Frasier."

John Noble as Sherlock's father, "Elementary."

Chuck Todd. Greta Van Susteren.

[quote]The entire cast of Daphne's family, "Frasier."

They all had bad versions of different regional accents and I think most of them were American. In Hollywood they had trouble finding English actors?

Grayson Hall in Dark Shadows.

[quote]The entire cast of Daphne's family, "Frasier."

What a fucking mess that was.

In fact, whenever they turned Daphne into a central character it was a disaster. They should have sent Daphne back to England and made room for a new character, much earlier on.

[quote]Those boring, dreary office scenes? I never understood that show's success. It was peculiar.

The first two or three seasons were decent. The show took place in a fun time period, the office characters were interesting, how advertising was run was interesting. It started falling off when January Jones got fat.

Betty got fat because January Jones was pregnant!

I loved fat Betty.

Loved the entire series

[quote]I loved fat Betty.

But her being fat ruined the ice queen image. Before that, you thought she chain smoked and drank coffee and was bitchy to her children. When she appeared fat, it sort of changed the character. Sort of like she wasn't in complete control as we thought she was.

Agree with R242 that William Powell would have been terrific in "Mr. Selfridge".

Alas, he's too dead...

There are several actors that would have been better playing Mr. Selfridge than Piven.

R305 Betty Draper was never in control. Just because she had that old money stiff upper lip didn't mean she controlled anything. The only time it appeared that she might be a rival for Don is when she shot those birds in the first episode. But after that they seemed to change her direction and she just retreated to an icy trophy wife while Don ran around doing whatever he liked. She would occasionally do something to hurt him, but mostly she was just a miserable, trapped in the burbs wife.

[quote]Betty Draper was never in control.

But she *thought* she was in control. She was probably raised going to Miss Porter's and a "lady" always maintains her composure and acts like she is in control of the situation, whether she actually is or not.

Lili Taylor on Six Feet Under was exasperating

[quote]Lili Taylor on Six Feet Under was exasperating

Strangely, I thought that the first time, but on subsequent viewings I appreciated her more.

Maybe because I knew what to expect.

r301, you are out of your fucking mind. Grayson Hall was a gem on Dark Shadows.

Karen Cellini as Amanda Carrington recast on DYNASTY. It went from it's highest rated season to being killed over night. It never recovered. I agree about Emma Samms and Harry Connick Jr.

Darrin 2 on Bewitched was on perpetual sour-puss mode and did not exactly add a lot of fun. Dick York's Darrin could also be a jerk, but he did have some good comic timing and reactions and had good chemistry with Montgomery. To be fair to Dick Sargent, the writing for the show had declined and eveyone seemed a bit bored by the time he joined the show.

The Mary Jane twat Lucy was always having on her shows.

York was a master of the slow burn which was a lot of the role. He was also clearly hot for Samantha.

Sargent had the worst comic timing of a lead in a sitcom ever.

You wonder how Samantha stayed with such a grumpy dim unfunny sexless(thank god) queen all the time.

Sargent always looked like he was smelling cookies. Angry, angry cookies.

The replacement actors in More Tales of the City.

When York left what suffered the most was the Derwood/Endora aspect of the show. You always got the feeling that Dustbin and Endora were great frenemies. Especially when Sam had Tabitha and they Dumdum and Endora were admiring the baby together. After York left there was virtually no interaction between Endora and Dustbin.

R318 stop right there. I LOVE the Michael Tolliver recast and his full frontal. But the rest killed the series. You are right. Especially Mona and Brian Hawkins.

What was the great Agnes Moorehead to do?

You can't play against a post.

Agree on Darren2. I even thought this as a child. It's too bad, because from all I've read, Dick Sargent was a great guy.

Awww the baby episode....I miss that show....

Mentioned before, but Adam Beach on SVU. His speech was so slow, his movements so awkward, I made up a fictitious backstory for his character. In my world, he was cleaning roof gutters and fell on his head, suffering a severe brain injury. He returned to work to keep his insurance benefits, and his coworkers were too kind to complain about him.

Robert Redford in Out Of Africa

Dick Sargent was a cute and from all reports great guy.

The problem was he had no discernable talent.

Watch him as well in the short scene he has with Cary Grant in That Touch of Mink.

Ouch.

While John Astin in his short scenes practically steals the picture.

Jeremy Jordan and Andy mientus in SMASH season 2

Agree with others, Daphne (Jane Leeves) was okay, not great, when she was a secondary character. When she turned into a prime mover of the plot, the show started to fall apart. The tension between her and Niles was gone and she just became a shrewish whiner. And her family was insufferably boring -- a one note addition to the plot that never went anywhere. Such a shame as the show up till then was really wonderful.

Morgan Fairchild in anything she was ever in. It was always about her hair.

The thing about Dick York was that he had a cartoonish face. It fit right in with a comedy about witchcraft. Dick Sargent just looked like any other Joe Schmo. The original Bewitched was well cast because everyone other than Elizabeth Montgomery looked cartoonish/character actor-y. It was like a cartoon come to life.

SUSAN RICHARDSON!!! She added NOTHING to Eight Is Enough!! Not a damn thing. I hate her face!! Useless old bat!!

Betty--your bitterness is unhealthy! And all because I wouldn't let you see if the carpet matched the drapes.

So Seven Was Enough, r331?

Someone beat me to it but Cybill in Cybill

Richard Beymer in Twin Peaks

Holy Christ, what a bad actor!

Granted, TP was a send-up of soap operas, and while some were turning in their performances with a wink, Beymer must have been hired BECAUSE he was as bad as most soap actors.

And it really seemed like he thought of himself as TV's Olivier.

Ham Hansis

[quote]Richard Beymer in Twin Peaks

Did you see him in West Side Story?

Helen fucking Crump on Andy Griffith Show.

Post 338 wins this thread hands down. She should have been named Helen Grump.

The child actor that played Haley and Nathan's son on One Tree Hill

The first couple seasons of Will and Grace, I thought Eric McCormack and Deb Messing were boring as hell. It should have been the Jack and Karen show. But by the last couple seasons, Messing really grew into the character and I thought she was the best thing on the show. By that time, Jack and Karen were calling it in and had gotten really stale. McCormack stayed boring throughout.

So I guess Eric McCormack in Will and Grace.

–That horrible, HORRIBLE nasal-sounding teenage boy with the Urkelesque voice and no neck on [italic]The Middle.[/italic]

–The totally unfunny Guillermo on [italic] Jimmy Kimmel Live.[/italic] He's as obnoxious as Chuy was on Chelsea Handler's old show.

–Anything with Patricia Heater in it. Whoever told this fundie cunt she could act? More importantly, with her utter lack of talent, why do people keep hiring it?

–Reese With Her Spoon.

The Michael Tolliver recast had an appealing presence but he had a leery grin that gave the character a touch of sleaze. "Sleazy Mouse" doesn't seem right. To his credit, he wasn't a snooze like the others.

Mother Mucca saved it (almost).

Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer from True Blood own this thread.

Did anyone mention Cousin Gerri?

How can this thread have gone on so long without mention of the toothy hyena Mary Murphy on [italic]So You Think You Can Dance[/italic]? Her mouth looks like the grille of a 1953 Nash; her shrieking cackle could knock owls out of trees; and her hysterical comments are completely irrelevant, unhelpful and unfunny. She is as useless as a truckload of dead rats at a tampon factory.

[quote]Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer from True Blood own this thread.

Totally agree. The actors who played Eric, Jessica and Jason made the show.

Wonder what cute chest lay underneath

Charro on The Love Boat

Rosanna Arquette, fool. It doesn't matter what she does. A horny housewife lesbian on 'The L Word'? I just remember she was trying to act really horny and come on to Shane but it was ridiculous. A complete amateur. Very unnatural saying lines and being in front of the camera. Tries too hard.

Michael j. Fox on Family Ties owns this thread. Despised him.

Both Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Lui on [i]Elementary[/i]. Miller mumbles and is barely audible and Liu has no facial expressions. Painful to watch.

And 3 makes it a majority. True Blood R343- R347 Rutger Hauer was awful as the fairy godfather and another nail in T.B.'s coffin. Erik, Pam, Jason, Jessica, Tara and Lafayette characters made the show. Sam Trammell, the hot shape shifter, was my favorite.

Johnny Depp has been a pasty faced yawn from the beginning to me. I've NEVER gotten his appeal. Playing the same off-beat, wierdo characters in that swishy British vibe way for the past 2 decades is the main reason I don't get why he's an A lister.

Scrappy-Doo

Anna Paquin had nooooo business playing a blonde southern american girl on True Blood. Absolutely HORRIBLE. Horrific accent she tried. I never made it pass the first episode.

[quote]Anna Paquin had nooooo business playing a blonde southern american girl on True Blood. Absolutely HORRIBLE. Horrific accent she tried. I never made it pass the first episode.

I agree with you on the accent. It was awful. Another actor who had no business doing a Southern accent on TV was Scott Porter on Friday Night Lights. His accent and acting were awful. He along with Minka Kelly were the worst parts of that show.

Mariska Hargiaty in SVU. Like a bad soap opera actress. Over acts and can't emote aside from changing her voice to a trembling whisper and standing with her mouth gaping. She was never that good, but she has made her show unwatchable over the last few years. One of the weaker actors on SVU, yet gets the most screen time.

R356 he is sexy though. Haha. R357 i completely agree. She sucks on so many levels. I don't understand it. What are these casting choices?

Wow. I agree with almost every choice on this thread. Some good picks, here.

Ewww, r348.

[quote] It's like every superhero show has to have one--the clever geek with a secret--SMALLVILLE's Chloe or the obviously closeted dude on SUPERGIRL. They are inauthentic and annoying and take me right out of the show.

I agree that SMALLVILLE's Chloe was badly written and unsympathetic beyond Season 2, as well as somewhat pointless in her role. However I don't believe it's fair to fault Alison Mack for that - she gave a credible performance, and while Chloe was difficult to like to care about she did seem real not 'acted' (imo Chloe should have been paired with Lex, either romantically or in business, but that's another thread).

Tom Welling was the true cardboard menace on SMALLVILLE. He must be the least charismatic lead actor of any hit teen drama that's ever been. It's baffling how he even got away with it for so long.

[quote]Alison Doody

Some names just need changin'.

In defense of Matthew Perry he was good in that Studio 60 show and his few episodes of West Wing.

[quote]Anna Paquin had nooooo business playing a blonde southern american girl on True Blood. Absolutely HORRIBLE. Horrific accent she tried. I never made it pass the first episode.

One of the most baffling pieces of miscasting ever - she was just wrong in every way for a role that required a fairly uncomplicated 'type' - blonde twentysomething with a great body, able to do a decent Southern accent. Hollywood must have been crawling with other options - I can only think the producers fell in love with idea of having an Oscar winner as the show's lead.

Re: Alison Doody. It blows me away that she was Peter Jackson's dream choice for Eowyn in the Lord of the Rings movies - he even personally went to offer the part, and she turned it down anyway. The thing is - her Indiana Jones role was a LONG time before that, and she didn't look like as she did in that film anymore, even back when Jackson was casting. She was far too old. Miranda Otto was also too old, but more believable than Doody would have been.

Paquin didn't really nail the Belle accent for darling young Rogue of Singer's XMEN, either, but that didn't matter so much as she did find and convey the emotional center of the character as she was scripted.

The ruination of Rogue in those movies, a total departure from the books/series, is another tale entirely.

never talk snack about Carole SHELLEY OP!!!!!!!!!! she is the class and grace, and a great of our stage. s

[quote]The son Eddie on Fresh off the Boat

Selling toxic masculinity to people of color is racist, sexist and homophobic.

[quote]Stephen Moyer from True Blood own this thread.

I agree with this. I watched that limited series Shots Fired on FOX and Moyer was the worst cast member on that show.

Emma stone in the amazing spider-man 1&2,Just annoyed me in every scene!

Aubrey Plaza & Rashida Jones in Parks & Recreation. Acting equivalents of a Stop sign.

Sophia Coppola in Godfather III. It was mediocre anyway, but she really destroyed it.

The daughter with the kids on Grace & Frankie. A totally unnecessary, humorless character. I hope they write her out.

Joe Mantegnas character in Criminal Minds. His wonky eye & boring delivery...just a distracting & unnecessary character.

The actor who plays Tom Yates on House of Cards.

[quote]The chubby blond guy on SNL in the Early 2000s who played "Drunk Girl".

I hated that guy too.

r371, thankfully Tom Yates reaps his just reward in the show's latest finale.

Jessica Pare on Mad Men. That bitch and her teef just about killed the show.

R327 do you mean Chris Farley? He had some good characters.

[quote]Jessica Pare on Mad Men. That bitch and her teef just about killed the show.

Her teef weren't what they were looking at when they cast her.

[quote]Aubrey Plaza & Rashida Jones in Parks & Recreation. Acting equivalents of a Stop sign.

Aubrey was OK in small doses early on, but she and Andy as a couple were kind of obnoxious. Andy was so dumb, that it is hard to believe April would not have been irritated with him. After season 1, Pratt might have been my least favorite part of the show. The character probably should have been written off after he and Anne broke up. They also kept Rob Lowe's character on after her really served no purpose. He was funny at first, but after his initial story line ended, he seemed kind of forced into the plot.

(I am watching the show on Netflix now. I am on season 5, and I will probably finish it out, but it has kind of run its course.)

Carole Shelley was a temp replacement (and a bad one) as Iris on Another World.

Johnny Depp in more or less anything, but specifically the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN movies.

Instalments one through three are lavish enjoyable romps if you cut schticky Jack Sparrow out of them. The fourth movie and subsequent admittedly weren't good with or without Sparrow, but his convoluted & silly story Arc didn't help.

Why fanboys and frauen went so ga-ga over the Jack character I will never understand. Sparrow isn't attractive to watch (or nuanced unless you get deep into the absurd lore of POTC) and Depp doesn't perform well playing him, so why?

R252 Kidman can be passable to good with apt direction, and when she has something to prove.

Her U.S. breakout role in Van Sant's TO DIE FOR was sublime, she brought her A-game to the shoot and it shows. I'm not a fan of hers and don't believe she's one of the 'greats', but IMDB does not lie. She's given some good performances.

I have to agree about Elizabeth McGovern in Downton Abbey--out goes the oxygen!!

If I may add a few:

Sharon fucking Stone on SVU!

Lily on Modern Family--I somewhat agree about the boys being life-suckers, but WTF is up with Lily? She's the only child actor I've ever seen who gets worse as she ages! Girl cannot read any lines convincingly.

And I'm surprised no one has mentioned the one I feel is the poster girl for sucking the life out of a film: Andie MacDowell in 4 Weddings and a Funeral. Often hilarious film that falls flat every time she delivers a line, or appears on screen. Awful.

The child/teen actor who plays Henry Mills on "Once Upon a Time."

R233 there have been some terrible SNL cast members through the years from inception to the present day. Jeff Richards is among the worst (as is his former costar Jimmy Fallon) but he still contributed as much as (or more than) alumni Chevy Chase, Rob Schneider & Adam Sandler (who NBC ordered Lorne Michaels to fire), and current member Kenan Thompson. That being said the SNL format is notoriously stale & limiting, and it's hard for good comics to perform well on it either; remember, this is the show that couldn't do a damm thing that worked comedically with future breakout comedy stars like Janeane Garofalo, Colin Quinn, Mark McKinney and the wonderful Joan Cusack.

R186 Jim Belushi may be a successful businessman and even a fair-middling musician, but he is not the natural actor or comic his brother was and it's sad to see him strive to be. Jim is only hurting himself trying to walk John's footsteps.

[quote]The child/teen actor who plays Henry Mills on "Once Upon a Time."

He has been basically SORASED and recast, and show probably has bigger problems such as the strange message of Gold and Belle, in that it does not matter how much he abuses you, but except for the first season or two he definitely stopped the scene any time he "acted". Classic case of someone who was natural as a child, but lost any of that naturalness once reaching adolescence. It did not help that the gave him some bad plots and dialogue. Sadly, he had the prominent role in the season finale when it was also the last episode for Dallas, Goodwin, and Morrison.

Still, the writing for the show is its big problem. The writers are so enamored with Gold and Regina that they always get viewed as redeemed without really facing any consequences. They even had a Evil Queen clone that they felt needed a happy ending. Lazy and predictable writing.

On a superficial level, I will miss Dallas. They gave him an episode this year, where he actually showed some good acting chops. Also did a good job being dashing and singing in the musical episode. Makes you realize how much of that cast was underutilized. I am probably done with the show, but it could be an interesting train wreck next year.

Kenan Thompson was an awful child actor imo. Somehow, Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider loved him during the 90s. I wonder if he blew through the money he made as a kid and he took the SNL job because of that.

Leslie Jones is probably the worst current SNL cast member. She flubs her lines and is awful in most sketches.

Really almost any child actor on a soap in the 70's and 80's (and probably still true today. Doubly true if they have a bowl hair cut.

Here's an oldie:

Nanette Newman, although her shallowness as an actress worked to her favor in one movie, The Stepford Wives.

Rosie O'Donnell in [italic]Gimme A Break![/italic] (a textbook lesson in how not to save an ailing show) and the [italic]Flintstones[/italic] movie

Kirk and Leslie from the first season of [italic]Newhart[/italic]

The original Philip from [italic]Maude[/italic]. He must not have been the best they could do if they replaced him.

The original Cecily from [italic]Road to Avonlea[/italic]. See above.

And speaking of [italic]the Facts of Life[/italic], what did the boyfriends from the last season add to the show besides proof of heterosexuality (Scott Bryce in drag singing "I Feel Pretty" notwithstanding) and a sense of closure for Jo's story arc?

R381 Agree 100% about Andie McDowell in FWAAF.

In fact, she is awful in everything shes ever done, including commercials. She has to be the poster child for casting couch decisioning, as she has no discernible acting talent whatsoever.

Wilford Brimley is another kiss of death presence on screen. Hes a wet blanket with a walrus moustache.

That fucker is *still* alive too. He looked to be about 80 when he did Cocoon, 30 yrs ago.

I still haven't gotten over the concept that Kirk Cameron is literally a maggot

Cloris Leachman.

[quote]Chris Colfer on Glee. He oozed sensitivity and vulnerability.

And boogers out of a nose that looked like Vivian Vance's.

I binged watched Big Little Lies over the past couple of days and I thought Adam Scott was awful and sucked the life out of the scenes that he was in.

Gavin fucking Macleod. How did he ever have a career?

R389 I like Wilford on Our House back in the 80's with Deidre Hall, Shannen Doherty and Chad Allen, I loved that show. It should have been on longer then 2 seasons.

I love Wilford. No one says diabetes like Wilford. He's especially good at playing bad guys cause it's so against type.

I liked Wilford Brimley when he was paired with Debbie Reynolds as the lead's characters parents in In and Out.

R338 The actress who played Helen was having an affair with Andy Griffin, that was the only reason she lasted as Andy Taylor's girlfriend. She was a humorless sour bitch who was always pissed at Andy for one thing or another. Elinor Donahue was much better as Ellie.

I loved Elinor Donahue as Ellie. Getting rid of her was the only mistake the show ever made. The writers of Cheers had Shelley Long watch all of the Donahue episodes of Andy and told her to modernize her a bit but that's who they had in mind.

Another fan of Wilford. He was awesome in The Thing. Very sinister.

[quote]It should have been on longer then 2 seasons.

Sorry.

what happened to the kenan from this amazingly un-pc sketch from my youth?

[quote]In fact, she is awful in everything shes ever done, including commercials. She has to be the poster child for casting couch decisioning, as she has no discernible acting talent whatsoever.

I actually think she was fine in Sex, Lies & Videotape - Soderbergh was able to use that weird stilted quality of hers for the character. Peter Weir also used it effectively for her uptight character in Green Card. But no one else has been able to make her come off as well as in those two films.

Soderbergh has a particular gift for getting good performances out of bad actors. See Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight.

Brimley was also quite good in the two seconds of screen time they gave him in "The China Syndrome."

[quote] Wilford Brimley... looked to be about 80 when he did Cocoon, 30 yrs ago.

He was 51 when Cocoon premiered. Tom Cruise will be 55 on Monday. Something to think about...

[quote]She has to be the poster child for casting couch [bold]decisioning[/bold]

Do you also conversate?

Estelle Parsons in Roseanne. She was a stage actress and all of her lines were like she was playing to the back of the theater - but she shouldn't have as it was TV. She never grasped that.

Everyone other than Kathy Burke in Gimme Gimme Gimme

Everyone (but especially Jane Horrocks) other than Joanna Lumley and Kathy Burke in Ab Fab

Jim Parsons is obnoxious in just about everything he does. His welcome has been very worn out, he has very little range. The sooner they bury all iterations of Sheldon, the happier this viewer will be.

So glad to see Cybill Shepard get a few mentions. The woman's comic timing was non-existent. It boggles the mind how she ever had a career outside of modeling.

Jenna Elfman is another one whose presence yields an instantaneous fail. Why do they keep giving her chances?

Cybill Shepard wouldn't be so bad, in fact she'd be good, if she realized what she was good at. Being the straight woman holding the rest of the cast together. She just always wanted to be the madcap, zany, funny one. That was just something beyond her range. She's. Not. Funny.

Yvonne Stahovski - Dexter

I watched "Serpico" for the first time this week (always catching up on the classics) and, while Al was great, I could not believe Lumet cast the two lead women he did. Trust me, you wouldn't know their names; neither went on to stardom of any sort that I know of. The dancer character was okay but the live-in was just horrible and unattractive to boot. All the gorgeous women in Hollywood and NYC and that's who they chose? Wonder if Pacino was fucking either or both.

I agree with you on that R411. I hated her character and I wish she would have been killed off. That said, I thought Stahovski was great as one of the villians on The Handmaid's Tale.

[quote]Jim Parsons is obnoxious in just about everything he does. His welcome has been very worn out, he has very little range. The sooner they bury all iterations of Sheldon, the happier this viewer will be.

I used to think he was pretty funny and talented as Sheldon, but that has faded over time, esp. once he started doing more and more commercials where he was basically playing the same character.

[quote]Jenna Elfman is another one whose presence yields an instantaneous fail. Why do they keep giving her chances?

$cientology.

And Jennifer Carpenter is the one who truly sucked the life out of Dexter. My God.

Jennifer Carpenter was probably the grounding force behind Dexter. Annoying, mean, earthy Deb loving him like a sister was humanising. Then, they had to bring in an incest subplot for NO REASON.

I loved Jennifer Carpenter in both Dexter and Limitless. I pictured her as I read the latest Dennis Lehane novel.

[quote]Good call. Frasier is one of my favorite shows. I've even the complete series.

Oh my god, me to. I've it as well.

I only saw the first season as I couldn't bring myself to watch the rest, but I thought Judith Light was really bad as the mother in Transparent. Her older Jewish lady schtick and accent were too heavy handed, and she didn't come across realistically as someone who'd been living on the west side of L.A. for 40 plus years (assuming that the character was from NY with that accent).

Cousin Geri on Facts of Life

The original Phillip on [italic]Maude[/italic] and Cecily on [italic]Road to Avonlea[/italic] until they were replaced with people who could act.

What a silly comment about AbFab. Lumley's is the only good performance bar Kathy Burke's? What utter tosh!

It says a lot about American broadcast television, that they would have approved that stupid puppet show with her this year, R415. Did ANYONE besides Elfman who was grasping at the last straw of her career, or the "creative team," think that this was a good idea? Trump could have done better.

Minka Kelly on Friday Night Lights. Everyone on the show was good except her.

Meadow Soprano. Ruined every scene she was in. Round peg, square hole.

[quote]Minka Kelly on Friday Night Lights. Everyone on the show was good except her.

I agree. I also thought Scott Porter was awful in many of his scenes. He did an awful Texan accent.

When they brought the baby brother (Jamie?) onto the last seasons of Malcolm In The Middle.

He was cute, sure, but completely threw off the family dynamic and served as nothing but dull irritating filler.

Has anyone mentioned the AWFUL best friend in Terms Of Endearment?

It's such a good film, but she was DREADFUL.

Just watched Let's Make Love with Marilyn Monroe. Man, does Yves Montana suck! Ugly, not funny, no charm, can't sing or dance, And wasn't he in On A Clear Day You Can See Forever? Awful there too.

Melisandre in Game of Thrones. Wooden, wooden, wooden. And did she get work done between seasons? Her face looks very plasticky and smooth now. Sam always sucks the life out too, but that's probably the character.

And the guy who plays Shadow in American Gods. He may be the hero, but he is dull. The one good thing is he makes everyone around him look better.

Montand was a great actor -- just extremely miscast in both of those roles.

And Patsy in "Terms..." is a classic case of a potential starmaking role being ruined by a limited actor. They wanted Kim Basinger for the role but she turned it down for a lead in a Burt Reynolds bomb. Hard to picture but if you think about it, Winger and Basinger would've matched up as friends. And Patsy is clearly meant to be fucked up a bit and Basinger could've captured that.

There was another example in Spielberg's high profile "Always", the remake of some 40s movie with Holly and Dreyfuss. And a new discovery, a buck named Brad Johnson, I think, who made so little an impression, he disappeared soonafter. Great looks, bland name, no star power. I loved Kael's review of him and his blank perfect features (and I paraphrase, too lazy to look it up): "You look at him and think, 'Can he sing?'"

Karen Lynn Gorney in Saturday Night Fever.

Jane Leeves was simply not at the same level of talent as everyone else on Frasier. I love the show but skip over watching repeats that feature Daphne. And when Daphne and Niles married, the show basically ended...

I don't think the father's as great as DLers make him out to be. One note actor and a boring note at that.

It was Frasier and Niles who carried that show.

Ray Donovan's wife. The actress and the character were just screeching nags, plus no chemistry whatsoever between her and Ray. Never got past a few episodes of Season 1 because of her.

[quote]Melissa George in anything [R286]. How she manages to get work is astounding. She's awful.

She was quite funny in the movie Sugar and Spice. But, she's still pretty awful. I thought it was crazy when NBC put her as lead in that short lived about a heart surgeon.

Funny, wasn't there a Melissa George back in the 70s who also couldn't act (despite being British)? Was in "Straw Dogs" and, yes, "Mandingo" among many other gigs. Just awful.

Did we do Jerry van Dyke in Coach?

Jerry van Dyke in "The Middle" too. He hasn't gotten any better.

R436, that was Susan George.

ahh, yes. I remember Emma Thompson once saying something along the lines of "Is there nobody in England who can;t act?" and I remember thinking, "Don't forget Susan George".

R430 Brad Johnson messed up another movie, a quiet little gem with Bridget Fonda, Jim Broadbent and Russell Crowe. Forget the name but he just brought every scene to a standstill when he appeared.

I think Lily is redeemable on Modern Family. Her sardonic attitude was pretty funny when she was little. Luke is the real problem. Actually all the kids, except Joe for the moment, are not working. There's too much effort to keep them in the script. This show has run its course and should've been cancelled two seasons ago. Blackish is going to have the same problem when the two youngest kids get older. The oldest son has been a dud right off the bat. They even try to make a joke about it on the show.

Eric Braeden as TGVN.

I'm probably one of the few people to say this but I thought Jenna Fischer was awful on The Office. I get that she was supposed to be the straight man in a crazy environment. She got very robotic wooden performances.

He's not A list but he's been busy enough to count. Michael Fucking Lembeck. Ever since One Day at a Time. He's ruined every fucking scene he's ever been in.

Nicole Kidman, Big Little lies

You bumped this to say that, r445?

NOT true.

Heidi Swedberg as Susan Ross in Seinfeld.

Tyler Posey in Teen Wolf

Jonathan Groff in Looking

Alfred Enoch How to get away Murder

Bryshere Y. Gray in Empire

Ben Robson in animal Kingdom

Chris Colfer in Glee

Alfonso Herrera and Tina Desai in Sense8

So many more in past I don't even remember right now

Cameron Mathison on in All My Children...and he was on every day...I blame him for collapsing the whole franchise. Just awful.

Leslie Jones on SNL

[quote]Jonathan Groff in Looking

Really? I thought he was the only good thing in it.