I remember there was an episode when Omar Epps character pulled a House like stunt at another hospital he was working at and was immediately fired. Not only that, he got blackballed from every other hospital in the state. He had to go back if he wanted to continue his medical career.
House was clearly a functional addict. He couldn't pop vicodin like candy I doubt he'll be able to wake up in the morning.Originally Posted by PCN24454
See, this is where I struggle with the question. Because in the case of the Mentalist, that’s the premise of the show. The show and character obey the internal logic and you are asked to buy into it. Like Columbo long before had a preternatural sense that wasn’t “believable” but it obeyed the rules of the Columbo universe. Or Murder She Wrote where she encountered 250+ murders, many in one small town.
I think this is whether you believe the premise of the show more than the character.
Sitcoms have wacky neighbors and secondary characters like Urkel or Kramer, so I don’t find them unbelievable as long as they follow the internal logic of their shows, too.
The OP question implies these unrealistic characters hurt an otherwise good show. So I infer he means that all the other characters are realistic and one stands out as different. Not sure how many shows fit this.
I mean there is Mork and Mindy, that is a good show because one character is unrealistic.
There came a time when the Old Gods died! The Brave died with the Cunning! The Noble perished locked in battle with unleashed Evil! It was the last day for them! An ancient era was passing in fiery holocaust!
Yeah, OP even mentions that these unrealistic characters can be good and worthwhile in their own right, they're just unrealistic.
To me some of the best comedy out there could also be ones that commit fully in grounding the unrealistic in realism. Sure, Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie (unless I'm mistaken with OP's intentions, could probably be the poster children of this thread) are fundamentally about the fantastic, but much of the humor came from realism creeping in, like hiding their powers from normal humans, or Samantha's family finding the suburban human world so mundane.
You are right, actually. The thing with the Mentalist is that it was a procedural, basically a murder every episode that Patrick would solve using his skills and usually make the killer confess by tricking them, but some episodes were better constructed than others, so sometimes it was believable and others just didn't make any sense.
So it's not unrealistic in general, but doesn't fit with all the other characters in the show?
Last edited by Kirby101; 01-25-2021 at 08:18 AM.
There came a time when the Old Gods died! The Brave died with the Cunning! The Noble perished locked in battle with unleashed Evil! It was the last day for them! An ancient era was passing in fiery holocaust!
No, like with my example of Monica on Friends, she fit in very well with the other characters. She just didn't act like someone who was obese as a child/teenager. Her back story didn't connect with the way she behaved in present day.
But it doesn't just have to be something like that. There are several good examples listed in this thread.
His job isn't real. They made it up for tv but yea it's believable enough I guess. Alot of people out there right now probaly think hospitals have a doctor who only takes hard cases other doctors can't figure out. Anyway his behavior was the unbelievable part. He made no attempt to hide his drug use. He assaulted people,broke protocols in insane ways, and kept his license. He would have to deal with circumstances once in awhile but yea not really. I guess the in story excuse would be he was indispensable and Cutty protected him. Cause as Immortal weapon said Foreman pulled a house one time and lost his job. Was blackballed and Cutty/House were the only ones who would hire him.
Anyway one of my favorite shows of all time. Only medical drama I ever got into. But the shit he got away with stretched credibility right out the gate.