Powerful people who favor mediocrity

[DS1]

There has been cases where people in a position of power, be it politicians, showrunners, school principles, etc, got behind mediocre, untalented individuals, and were hellbent on helping them succeed.

Why is that? Sometimes it's easy to explain, like a showrunner being so infatuated with an actress/actor that they give them the most screentime, the most lines, even though they can't act. But there are these cases that are just baffling.

I don't know how many of you watch WWE programming, but I'll use WWE as an example. The owner, Vince McMahon just loves hosses, so they get favorable treatment over smaller wrestlers. Thing is, he's at times pushed big guys with nothing going for them other than size, over other big guys who also had charisma, mic skills, and more in-ring talent. Vince supposedly love the former two, but you wouldn't know that based on who he gets behind at times (like Bobby Lashley).

Something people here might understand more easily, is the Gotham TV show. I don't watch it, but I've read there's a character called Barbara, who apparently isn't popular among most of the fanbase, that was the showrunner's favorite. I've read that said showrunner wanted to put her at the forefront. Is that true?

Is it because mediocre individuals tend to be more submissive to higher-ups, and being mediocre, are the least threatening to them? Could it also be that higher-ups view them as people they can mold into whatever they want, which isn't as easy with more talented individuals? Do higher-ups just relate to them, for some reason?

[CSTowle]

There are as many answers to this question as there are examples. With Vince McMahon and larger individuals, perhaps it has something to do with the popularity of his product peaking with the steroid era '80s wrestlers like Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior. That's a commodity that's a lot easier to come by than someone with the personality and charisma of a Rock, Stone Cold, HBK/etc. I think most fans would rather watch the larger wrestlers than smaller, more skilled wrestlers. A Kane vs a Chris Jericho or Chris Benoit, for example.

Maybe in the case of Gotham they feel the character has potential. Maybe that vocal fanbase that dislikes the character is in the minority, and focus groups show that this Barbara scores well across the board. Or maybe something we'll never know.

I'd say the only people/companies/etc. that try to tear down very talented individuals would be those competing with them. If they're working for them then they're probably making them money or helping them to further their goals more than a mediocre individual would, so I can't see people behaving like this without some other motivating factor we're not aware of. But again, that could be so many things (or several things) that it's hardly worth speculating.

[Expletive Deleted]

The executives and showrunners have different priorities and apply different standards for quality. Their vision for what their shows should be isn't necessarily the same as their audience's. Where you see someone mediocre, they see the right person for the job. Maybe they're wrong, but that doesn't mean they're deliberately making bad choices for spiteful or venal reasons.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Right, I think "mediocre" is an extremely subjective thing in these contexts. You'd need an objective measure. Like, say, a car dealership owner who favored his fair-to-middling salespeople over the hotshots that bring in the most sales. Probably not going to happen.

So, to take the wrestling example, Vince probably isn't favoring the big guys because he just likes 'em, but he's likely got some business insight or statistics to show him that their freak show aspect is a bigger draw than the flashier and more talented wrestler. After all, pro wrestling is of course completely fake and all about out-sized stereotypes and weird examples of humanity. Talent was never really the draw.

Other times a character being pushed to the forefront has everything to do with the charisma of the actor. Take Norman Reedus and Daryl Dixon from The Walking Dead, for example. That should by all rights be a bit character, but producers really believed in the actor and in this case they were right, as he's now created the most popular character on the show. Maybe on TV period.