Totally Britta-ing It: 8 Problematic Characters Their Show Doesn't Know What To Do With

By Joanna Robinson | Lists | January 15, 2014 |

By Joanna Robinson | Lists | January 15, 2014 |

Cece Parekh — New Girl
I read on a highly disreputable/no-doubt-it-gave-my-laptop-scabies gossip site just now that actress Hannah Simone might be pregnant. I hate speculating on hypothetical buns based on the size of hypothetical ovens. However, let’s just throw that out there as an explanation why successful model Cece has been plumped behind Nick’s bar over on New Girl. The other explanation is that now that she’s not dating Schmidt, we have no way of organically keeping Cece in the plot of the show. What about her great friendship with Jess? Why has that been almost completely shoved to the side in favor of the (admittedly adorable) Nick and Jess stuff? I say “almost” because we got a glimpse of it at the tail end of Jess’s “what am I going to do with my life?” two weeks ago. The show has always had a problem with Winston and I’m disappointed to see Cece shunted into that “we have no idea what to do with you” category.

Deputies Rachel Brooks And Tim Gutterson — Justified
At least we got to see Rachel and Tim this week. They had, what, five lines between them? Official count and recap to come. I get it. They’re not the main characters. It’s far more important to spend time with Raylan and Boyd, but come on. When Jacob Pitts gets a chance (ahem, “Decoy”), he basically runs away with every scene. Erica Tazel? I feel like she hasn’t even been given a chance. I want at least a bottle episode for the two of them this year or, better yet, a spin-off. You know you’d watch The Rachel And Tim Show. Don’t lie to me.

Shoshanna Shapiro — Girls
Dear god, when did “adorably bubbly” turn into “nattering idiot?” The new season of Girls is off to a somewhat bumpy start (always excepting the lovely Adam Driver) and in the quartet of somewhat unlikable (but that’s part of the point) ladies, Shoshanna has shot right to the top. Wasn’t she the best one? What happened?

Kalinda Sharma — The Good Wife
Once a favorite character and an Emmy-winning role something has gone seriously sour on the Kalinda front. Maybe it’s lingering trauma from last season’s abusive ex debacle but I miss the old times. What I’m saying is that the new asshole, Damian? He shouldn’t have an intact window left in his car by now. Maybe it’s the fact that Kalinda and Alicia aren’t really friends anymore. Maybe it’s that they’ve given all the fun and sassy investigative plots to Robin, but there really should be more for Kalinda to do. She was there first.

Lip Gallagher — Shameless
Did we really spend all of last season watching Lip follow through on an emotional arc that landed him in college only to see him walk away after one episode? I get that the college angle takes him out of the main action of the show, but we should at least gotten to see him game the system for a little longer. Maybe I’m misinterpreting what we saw last week’s excellent premiere, maybe Lip isn’t coming home. But if he is, the goddamnit. I get that the Gallaghers are screw ups, but this is beyond frustrating.

Britta Perry — Community
The show is freshly back in Dan Harmon’s capable hands and I get that it will take more than three episodes to determine what the plan is for the Greendale Six but thus far Britta is getting the shaft. At least the show is self-aware enough to see it. In the first episode there was a great joke about how her character went from a strong cool lady to, basically, a mess and a synonym for f*cking up. You can’t lay all of that at the feet of Guarascio and Port. This isn’t just a Gas Leak Year issue. It’s been an issue ever since the show decided to swap Annie for Britta as Jeff’s love interest. Gillian Jacobs is lovely, give her more to do. Fingers crossed that they will.

Joel Graham — Parenthood
I can’t with this entire character assassination. I just can’t. It’s egregious.

Bonus:

Every Single Person Who Is Not Mindy Or Danny — The Mindy Project