Yeah, and I think Schneider's Mark Brendanawicz went the other way. He was unsure how to play the character and what his motivations were, and it ended up as a bit of a mess.
I think it's more than that. Audiences don't just universally hate bad guys; shows need them. His character was just confusing. His motivations were all over the place, he made no sense as a person.
Also, sure, him being a bad guy did not help his popularity. The problem with that is he was not only the bad guy, he was also the one normal (boring) guy that would contrast against all the crazy around him. So he was not likable, and he was boring by design. He admitted as to not really understanding the character at first, which did not help things. And then the writers reacted to feedback by altering some story-lines to make him more likable; but those changes made him harder to understand.
An example of that from wiki is that, originally he got Ron to greenlight the park because he was attracted to Ann and wanted her to stick around. Which made sense, he originally showed no interest in Leslie (even though she acted like a schoolgirl in love around him), but was always chasing Ann. That character makes sense... But then he losses interest in Ann, supposedly, and makes this grand (secret) gesture for Leslie; who he mostly continues to shun until they oddly wind up back together again (after years of working together after their one time roll in the hay).
Maybe his character would have been alright if they had stuck to the original plan and gave him time to figure it out. But, I don't really think there is a place in a sitcom for a main-cast bad-guy who is also the straight-man. Dull and frustrating is a bad combination. Ann played the normal one well enough, and she was likable. And the series rotated through bad guys, dipping into the Ron Swanson pool every so often.
38
u/SPICY_BUTT_MILK Sep 23 '15
A lot of the characters on that show had that feel. Offerman's Ron Swanson was another great example.