BW Media Spotlight

Someone has to stand up for these characters.

There are right and wrong ways to do the sidekick or “mascot” character. For me if the character contributes something important to the team and not just comedy I can totally accept them. Some people absolutely hate these kinds of characters and will tell you that they hated them as a kid and all kids hated them as kids.

They are wrong. I can’t say for certain that he’s lying. The video we’ll be picking apart is called “12 of the WORST TV Sidekicks WE Love to HATE but Secretly Loved”, though I don’t know if “The BEST Classic 80s TV Sidekicks” is part of a series name like the ones I do on this site or meant to be part of this video’s title alone. However, seeing little love for most of the characters, including the usual targets, I had to come in for defense. To be fair, the host of The GEN Xperience does defend a couple but if this were a stronger defense I would just make it a daily video and call it a day, not part of an unofficial article series where I beg to disagree. I also can’t defend every character on this list because a couple were for shows I didn’t really watch and one I actually agree with him on. Look, I can defend mascot sidekicks and even I have my limits. Given what I defend on this list that might surprise you.

Of course all of these characters come from 1980s productions, or in one case a show we could watch in 1980s through reruns but whose first season was in 1979. As an 80s kid myself (born in 1973–yes I am that old–but really didn’t pay attention until practically 1980) I have different memories of these characters and more fondness than he does, even on the ones that are indeed loved to be hated by other “more mature” people. Me? Disagree with the internet? Surely you jest. Watch the video for context (18:49 runtime plus whenever YouTube shoves ads in there), then read my thoughts.

Continue reading →