History Analysis / CreatorsPet

* The Pet is also a CanonSue. The audience sometimes tends to associate Canon Sue with Creator's Pet, and although that isn't always the case, if a show intentionally shows that a character is "flawed" just because, rather than deconstruct the issue, it's merely an attempt to get the viewer to feel sorry for their problems.

** This can be botched, however, and could potentially cause other characters, or the show itself, to become a collective Scrappy, effectively dooming it. Such dangers occur if the solutions presented are quick fixes designed solely by the writers to tell the audience that [[PanderingToTheBase "we know you don't like So-And-So because they are often in the right about things, so here's a segment where they are proved wrong!"]], and given the history of writing, particularly in television, prolonged development is often eschewed for that quick fix. Plus, if the Creator's Pet is a CanonSue, it's impossible to do this sincerely.

* The Pet is a MoralGuardian or a SoapboxSadie, to which they rally against just about anything. The arguments in these cases isn't that they shouldn't be objective, but rather that they tend to be intolerant to other opinions and [[ArgumentumAdNauseam merely badger the other characters endlessly until they cave in]]. It's worse when the Pet is "right" about their opinion, and they often are.

Now that it's clear how a Creator's Pet comes into action, what needs to be done before the general discussion becomes when the show [[JumpedTheShark]]? Well, it's pretty complicated because once a Creator's Pet has been confirmed, the methods [[AuthorsSavingThrow are difficult to pull off]].

As stated on the main topic, the Creator's Pet has to fill a complete set of criteria in order to be viewed as such (i.e. the fans hate them, but the writers and/or producers don't, and as such, they'll be crammed into scenes). It's pretty clear what makes a Creator's Pet, but how does a Creator's Pet come into existence? How can they wind up as one of the worst possible designations? There are quite a few examples as to how and why, and it all boils down to the audience and the scenario, although these can be universal.

Now that it's clear how a Creator's Pet comes into action, what needs to be done before the general discussion becomes when the show [[JumpingTheShark Boned the Fish]]? Well, it's pretty complicated because once a Creator's Pet has been confirmed, the methods [[AuthorsSavingThrow are difficult to pull off]].

* The Pet is a MoralGuardian or a SoapboxSadie, to which they rally against just about anything. The arguments in these cases isn't that they shouldn't be objective, but rather that they tend to be intolerant to other opinions and [[ArgumentumAdNauseum merely badger the other characters endlessly until they cave in]]. It's worse when the Pet is "right" about their opinion, and they often are.

As stated on the main topic, the Creator's Pet has to fill a complete set of criteria in order to be viewed as such (i.e. the fans hate them, but the writers and/or producers don't, and as such, they'll be crammed into scenes). It's pretty clear what makes a Creator's Pet, but how does a Creator's Pet come into existance? How can they wind up as one of the worst possible designations? There are quite a few examples as to how and why, and it all boils down to the audience and the scenario, although these can be universal.

* The Pet is a MoralGuardian or a SoapboxSadie, to which they rally against just about anything. The arguments in these cases isn't that they shouldn't be objective, but rather that they tend to be intolerant to other opinions and merely badger the other characters endlessly until they cave in. It's worse when the Pet is "right" about their opinion, and they often are.

* The first is just getting rid of the character. Either they decide to write the character out [[PutOnABus by setting up an instance where they have to go somewhere else that won't be documented by the show]], hopefully allowing RetroactiveContinuity to take its course and erase the character from existance in that universe... or they just go ahead and [[KilledOffForReal kill the character]]. In these scenarios, [[DroppedABridgeOnHim the deaths tend to be abrupt]] and merely service what is supposed to be done, and often have no relevancy to the story itself. But, considering how extreme these methods are, as well as how attached the producers are to the Pet, you can probably guess why you don't see abrupt deaths often.
* The second is [[CharacterDevelopment developing the character]], or at least admitting the faults they present. This works out better because the audience can finally see what is "wrong" with the Pet and, by making a conscious effort to work things out, the character winds up shedding the problems they presented and become a more universally approved entity. If the writers are able to avoid the trappings they fell into when the character was a Pet, the probability of the character becoming tolerable, even endearing to the audience can improve dramatically.

** This can be botched, however, and could potentially cause other characters, or the show itself, to become a collective Scrappy, effectively dooming it. Such dangers occur if the solutions presented are quick fixes designed solely by the writers to tell the audience that [[PanderingToTheBase "we know you don't like So-And-So because they are often in the right about things, so here's a segment where they are proved wrong!"]], and given the history of writing, prolonged development is often eschewed for that quick fix. Plus, if the Creator's Pet is a CanonSue, it's impossible to do this sincerely.

** This can be botched, however, and could potentially cause other characters, or the show itself, to become a collective Scrappy, effectively dooming it. Such dangers occur if the solutions presented are quick fixes designed solely by the writers to tell the audience that "we know you don't like So-And-So because they are often in the right about things, so here's a segment where they are proved wrong!", and given the history of writing, prolonged development is often eschewed for that quick fix. Plus, if the Creator's Pet is a CanonSue, it's impossible to do this sincerely.

* The Pet has immunity to their surroundings. For example, in a CrapsackWorld, most people tend to be [[ButtMonkey outright failures]], but a Pet always seems to succeed. And, even if they feel that the Pet can't win, the worst that happens is that [[AlwaysSecondBest they finish second]]. In summary, if bad things happen to most characters, yet the Pet doesn't take any brunt, and in the off chance they do, it's a terrible tragedy. Ironically, this typically goes hand-in-hand with the next example...

Once a Creator's Pet has been identified, there are few ways to reliably [[AuthorsSavingThrow prevent the show]] from JumpingTheShark. Depending on what the Creator's Pet is hated for


PutOnABus is one method, another is [[KilledOffForReal killing]] [[DroppedABridgeOnHim him off]] outright. Some shows may substitute AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence if his "pet" status gets absorbed into {{canon}}. While it is at least possible for the Creator's Pet to be RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap, it's rare and takes considerable writing talent. Lastly, if the character is too important to get rid of, he could become TheArtifact. The Creator's Pet is, at it simplest, the intersection of TheScrappy and MarySue.

Be '''VERY''' careful if you do one of these to a character who isn't actually hated. Sometimes certain types of fans may hate on a character for their own selfish reasons. If the series is notorious for a BrokenBase you probably won't be pleasing anyone.

Once a Creator's Pet has been identified, there are only a few ways to reliably [[AuthorsSavingThrow prevent the show]] from JumpingTheShark. PutOnABus is the easiest, followed by [[KilledOffForReal killing]] [[DroppedABridgeOnHim him off]] outright. Some shows may substitute AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence if his "pet" status gets absorbed into {{canon}}. While it is at least possible for the Creator's Pet to be RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap, it's rare and takes considerable writing talent. Lastly, if the character is too important to get rid of, he could become TheArtifact. The Creator's Pet is, at it simplest, the intersection of TheScrappy and MarySue.

Once a Creator's Pet has been identified, there are only a few ways to reliably [[AuthorsSavingThrow prevent the show]] from JumpingTheShark. PutOnABus is the easiest, followed by [[KilledOffForReal killing]] [[DroppedABridgeOnHim him off]] outright. Some shows may substitute AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence if his "pet" status gets absorbed into {{canon}}. While it is at least possible for the Creator's Pet to be RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap, it's rare and takes considerable writing talent. Lastly, if the character is too important to get rid of, he could become TheArtifact.