Rescued From The Scrappy Heap / Live-Action TV

Hated characters who've subsequently been Rescued from the Scrappy Heap.

A No Recent Examples rule applies to this trope. Examples shouldn't be added for 9 months. This is measured from the point when the character was introduced or became hated.

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• 24:
  • Tony during the first season was more or less nothing much more than a typical Jerkass who generally found any excuse possible to go up against Jack with a lot of it being mere jealousy. To say fans hated him back then is an understatement, with some even wishing he'd been The Mole just as an excuse to kill him off or otherwise get rid of him. Around midway through the season he started transitioning to Jerk with a Heart of Gold status, as he ultimately showed sympathy to Jack's plight in season 1 in spite of their hostility and he proved himself to be one of the few agents that wound up being trustworthy for the whole season with things culminating in a well received scene where he saved Jack's wife from an assassin.
  • Beginning in season 4, the producers took great lengths to rescue Chloe from the pit of fan hatred (even earning the nickname "Jar-Jar" on one forum) that she'd fallen into after her debut the previous season. She was given better makeup and wardrobe, they toned down her abrasive personality, and ultimately gave her a Crowning Moment Of Awesome — a scene where she mowed down terrorist assassins with an M-16. It also helped that her "I do things my way and don't listen to authority" attitude, which was directed at well-liked characters like Jack in season 3, were later redirected at unsympathetic characters. More simply put, she could still be a pain in the ass, but if she is a pain in the jerkass character's ass, driving the unsympathetic character up the wall, you love her for it. This was later lampshaded in the final episode of 24. In that episode, Jack actually said something along the lines of "When you first came to CTU, I never thought it was going to be you that was going to cover my back all those years." to Chloe during their final conversation. Chloe later has the final line of the series, "Shut it down" before the 24 countdown clock times out.
  • Kimberly used to have loads of hatred for being the Damsel Scrappy but this changed as she grew up. When this happened is debatable, though - most would argue Day 7, when she apologises to Jack for how she acted after he came back from the dead, or Day 8, when she tells him to go back to CTU regardless of whatever plans he had with her, but some say Day 3, when she was working for CTU and managed to make herself useful more often than not. It also doesn't hurt that she Took a Level in Badass on Day 7, and was able to get out of a terrorist's grasp using nothing more than a pen.
  • For the first quarter of Day 6, Tom Lennox wasn't much more than the typical pain in the ass government employee, and just about everyone watching was quick to dub him one of the worst characters on the show as early as the season premiere. During the remainder of the season, his character was quickly established as one who in spite of some of his questionable tactics truly did care about the fate of the country and after seemingly crossing the Moral Event Horizon by agreeing to take part in an assassination attempt against the current President later proved himself by revealing he was attempting to expose the conspirators all along; ultimately he even went on to serve as the Morality Pet to a much more gung-ho extremist President later on. Despite the fact that the sixth season is consistently seen as one of the weakest, even its detractors generally agree that he was one of the few real bright spots in it.
  • Charles Logan first seemed like nothing more than a weak-willed politician who existed to provide Jack with an impediment in Season 4. Notably, if it weren't for his indecisiveness, Marwan would've likely been caught earlier in the season and Jack wouldn't have been forced to go into hiding. However, in Season 5, the viewers find out he was the Big Bad behind David Palmer's assassination, and fans immediately took to him. It got to the point where fans favorably view him as Jack Bauer's Arch-Enemy. Gregory Itzin's deliciously hammy portrayal no doubt helped.
  • Ryan Chappelle was probably the epitome of Obstructive Bureaucrat in the show's early seasons. Most of his screentime involved him getting in the ways of Jack and (especially) Tony, to the point where his reluctance to aid led to one of Jack's suspects dying from blood loss. However, after Stephen Saunders ordered the President to execute him (for fear that Chappelle discover something in Saunders' accounts), fans immediately felt sympathy for the man, particularly when he let Jack fulfill the deed with minimal resistance. it's now regarded as one of the most powerful moments of the show.
    • To put it simply, he was completely unlikeable until his Alas, Poor Scrappy sendoff, but that sendoff was so powerful that it makes fans look back on him much more fondly in hindsight.
  • Larry Moss was basically an FBI version of Chappelle in Season 7, holding Jack's feet to the fire for his constant disregard for protocol. This didn't endear him to a good number of the fans initially, but he grew on many as the season wore on. It likely started when he proactively led the countercharge to take back the White House from General Juma's men (notably against the orders of the hesitant Vice-President), and amplified when he aided Jack and Tony in taking down Jonas Hodges. When Tony killed him later on in the season, quite a few fans despaired.
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: On the Marvel Cinematic Universe page.
• American Idol: Haley Reinhart managed to pull herself out on Season 10. At the beginning of the season, she was criticized for her appearance adding more to her staying power than her voice. That all changed when she started to deliver stellar performances and gained a possibly insane fanbase.
• Joshua Rush rescued himself by appearing on Andi Mack as Cyrus Goodman.
• Arrow:
  • Thea Queen started as The Scrappy, but later redeemed herself, fell back into Scrappy territory, and then rescued herself again:
    • After getting in a car crash while high on Vertigo kick-started some much-needed Character Development by having her begin working with Laurel at C.N.R.I. and subsequently begin developing a relationship with Roy Harper. It also helped that her relationship with Oliver had become less frosty as the season went on, as they both began understanding what the other had been through in the five years that Oliver was missing.
    • However, her behavior in the second half of the second season after discovering that Malcolm Merlyn was her biological father, which caused her to quickly return to an It's All About Me attitude and refuse to forgive anyone for keeping the secret from her, wound up firmly placing her back into Scrappy territory.
    • Then comes "Canaries", the thirteenth episode of Season Three, and she is rescued seemingly for good, what with Oliver telling her the whole truth (except for her having killed Sara) at last, her lovingly accepting him and even thanking him for saving her life, and her coming to her senses about Malcolm and turning against him for having manipulated her into abandoning the people she loves. Come "The Return" and she chewed Malcolm out for turning her into a murder weapon, also administering a beatdown to Slade Wilson.
    • Not to mention becoming Speedy at the end of Season 3.
  • A lot of fans feel that this show rescues Nyssa Al-Ghul. Nyssa debuted in the not-so-popular Batman "Death and the Maidens" story arc in 2003 as a previously unknown daughter of Ra's who becomes his "true heir". The storyline was very unpopular for a number of reasons, most of all for killing off a beloved Batman villain for a short time. Nyssa rarely appeared after becoming the new Demon's Head and was killed quietly in four panels during the "One Year Later" event. However, fans seem to like her character here much better. It helps that the show's version of Nyssa is not her father's enemy, but is instead a loyal and honor-driven character more like the classic version of her sister Talia, a much more popular character in the comics.
  • Season Three introduced Chase, an obnoxious, cocky DJ working at Verdant who was teased as a love interest for Thea. Nobody wanted another Romantic Plot Tumor when there were way more interesting storylines developing, so fans were thrilled when it was revealed that Chase works for the League of Assassins.
  • Laurel Lance began the series as the Scrappy of the Arrow fandom in the first two seasons often due to her hypocritical actions and her less-than-stellar romance with Oliver which for many fans caused them to latch on to the Olicity pairing instead. Comic book fans likewise couldn't stand her due to her being significantly less awesome than her comic book counterpart Black Canary. Even when she did finally don her costume in season 3, many fans hated that this came about due to the death of her more beloved sister instead. However, as the season progressed and she gained some much-needed Character Development and Badassness, a lot of fans started to warm up to her. Come Season 4, a combination of much more closely resembling her main comic counterpart, significantly better acting than when she started, and firmly situating herself as the Cool Big Sis of the group won over a lot of fans to her side (it also properly helped that Felicity become a significant Base-Breaking Character during this time). It's pretty telling that a lot of the Arrow fandom seems to have reacted in sadness and anger at her death in season 4 episode 18 rather than the glee she properly would have gotten if she died at the start of the series.
    • The writers have finally seemed to understand, after lackluster ratings during season 5, with an upward spike, admittedly helped due to the gigantic crossover event, yet overall praise of her return in a pivotal part of the 100th episode, even if by dream. Come mid-season finale, the internet exploded with the final two words of the episode, "Hi Ollie!"
  • Felicity was received a lot warmer during Season 7, due to her interesting dynamic with Earth-2 Laurel and being a lot more supportive and less critical of Oliver than before. The finale in particular had many people feel sorry for her, and her presence has been missed by some fans during Season 8. However, the fans never really got to actually liking her again in the end, at most tolerating her presence because they knew there was no chance of the show going with another of the more popular Oliver ships anymore. The Season 8 / Series finale did have many people being very overjoyed about her return and they were glad for her and Oliver finally received a happy ending, despite all the issues before.
  • Dinah Drake was initially received very lukewarmly due to coming out of nowhere and replacing both Laurel Lance, as well as Black Siren. In Season 6, she was disliked even more due to becoming extremely self-righteous and outright cruel towards her friends in pursuit of a selfish revenge quest. However, as of Season 7, she was received much more positively due to realizing the error of her ways, acting as a Reasonable Authority Figure as the new captain of the GCPD and even forming an unlikely bond with the aforementioned Black Siren. Her future counterpart has also been received quite warmly.
  • William Clayton, Oliver's illegitimate son. Sure as a child, he got a lot of screentime even though he barely contributed to the plot, he served as reason to cause unnecessary conflict between Oliver and Felicity and to distract Oliver from his duties as the Green Arrow. Not helped by the fact he was confirmed to never take up his father's mantle as the Green Arrow. However, the flashforwards to 2040 show William as an adult with a chill, likeable personality, with hacking skills on par with Felicity and a humorous Sibling Yin-Yang relationship with his half-sister, Mia.
• Battlestar Galactica (2003): Anders and Cally in the reimagined show. Anders was disliked for distracting Starbuck from Lee, but got his own characterization arc after realising he was a Cylon and turning out to be more important for several reasons than it first appeared. Meanwhile, even those who liked Lee at first went off him after too much smugness when he left the armed forces. Cally replaced Boomer in the chief's affections and seemed (realistically) tough and bad-tempered. She got her own episode though just before Tory offed her.
• The Big Bang Theory: Amy Farrah Fowler was something of a Base-Breaking Character in her early appearances, partially due to having no character outside being a Distaff Counterpart of Sheldon, and her status as Sheldon's "love interest" caused some backlash from Shenny shippers. As time went on she developed into a much more rounded character in her own right and her relationship with Sheldon gained momentum, which brought some development to Sheldon, and the fanbase began to warm to her.
• Bones: Could qualify as a Trope Codifier or Trope Maker with the number of characters that have been rescued from becoming The Scrappy, it's hard to know where to start. We could start with Zach Addy, who started off as an adult Cousin Oliver but as season one progressed, became a very strong character who lasted for 3 seasons before being Put on a Bus. Then there was Dr. Saroyan, who started off as a taskmaster of a boss and a Jerkass, but after nearly getting killed midway through season two, her popularity soared. Then there's Dr. Sweets, who was just like Zach, but with more social skills. Fans didn't really like him until he offered valuable contributions to the Gormagon case. (Incidentally, this was about the same time Zack left.) Some of the Squinterns have become popular after their inauspicious debuts, like Dr. Edison, Vincent Nigel-Murray (who ended up being killed off after 3 seasons), and Arastoo Vaziri. Oh, and let's not forget Caroline Julian, who has made her fair share of fans after her inauspicious debut. In short, no matter where you look, Bones is definitely a Trope Codifier for this.
• The Boys (2019):
  • In the comics, Soldier Boy is a fairly irrelevant character with a silly costume. He is also a massive coward with zero combat prowess who mostly just shows up to be degraded and humiliated in some way. In many ways, he's the complete opposite of what makes Jensen Ackles' portrayal of the character so beloved.
  • The Deep. He isn't disliked in the comics, he just doesn't do anything. He barely speaks, and essentially just a living prop inside a diving helmet, whereas in the show he's a far more fleshed-out character.
  • Black Noir. While he isn't disliked either in the comics, the twist revealing that Noir is a clone of Homelander, and also the one responsible for everything horrible Homelander supposedly did is a controversial one, especially once it's revealed that Noir in the show is a Black guy named Earving and is given a sympathetic backstory and an almost child-like personality.
  • A-Train. While he's still a massive douche, in the comics, he was one of the three Seven members that sexually assaulted Starlight her first day, openly mocked her for it during her first official meeting, and eventually tried to outright rape her when the two were alone. The show's A-Train may be insufferable, but he isn't a sexual predator whereas the comic version is so unbelievably unlikable that it's almost comical.
• Breaking Bad:
  • Skyler gradually underwent this over the course of the show, partially due to backlash against the contingent of fans who hated her so ferociously during the early seasons. It's no coincidence that as Walt falls deeper into the Heisenberg persona, Skyler's opposition to his behavior becomes more and more sympathetic. And when push comes to shove she chooses Walt and protecting her family from the truth, over just handing him over to Hank. Even though the decision means destroying her relationship with her own sister, possibly forever.
  • Hank began as Walt's obnoxious DEA brother-in-law, which inevitably grated on people. Starting in Season 2, after he shoots Tuco and slowly starts to have a nervous breakdown, he became a fan favorite due to actually displaying some competency and Hidden Depths.
  • Marie got rescued, arguably, in season 4, when she shows her genuine love for Hank and tries everything to improve his situation and only gets coldness and distance. Then it happened for real in season 5 when she finds out the whole truth, and slaps Skyler and even tries to take Holly out of the house. And then follows up by telling Walt point-blank that he should just kill himself if he really wants this to end well for everyone.
  • Possibly Todd in Season 5B, when Character Development turned him from just a Replacement Scrappy for Jesse into an incredibly compelling, disturbing individual with a personality beyond "opposite of Jesse".
  • Some of the people who began to dislike Jesse after he sided with Hank in order to try and bring Walt down began to sympathize with him again once he was turned into a slave for Jack's gang, and was forced to watch Andrea get murdered.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • Wesley was probably The Scrappy, and seemed to remain under this shadow at first when transferring over to Angel. However, he quickly improved, and after a couple of seasons and a great deal of character development, he was one of the most fleshed-out and well-rounded characters on either show.
  • Connor, after the Wolfram & Hart Deal with the Devil that Angel made, came out a much nicer, sane, laid-back fellow after having new memories and a new upbringing put in. Even after he got his old memories back, he still was much improved. However, his case is very much downplayed. After a full season of being an extremely unlikeable main character, he only appeared as his more kind and laid-back self in two episodes of the final season.
  • Dawn actually achieved this for some in Season 7. With a bit of Character Development, less emphasis on the Distress Ball, and contributing more to the group — the hate towards her lessened. Season 7 is divisive but people who don't like the season do list Dawn's character as having improved, no longer just there to be rescued and give Buffy unconditional love but fulfilling the role of a full member of the Scooby gang.
  • Tara was originally despised for replacing Oz as Willow's Love Interest, but over time the fans came to love her and then revolted when she went off the show and was followed by, Kennedy, who was despised through the rest of the series and into the comics despite several attempts to make her a character most fans would consider really cool were it anyone else. Part of this was achieved through character development that gave Tara a strong friendship with Buffy, making her a surrogate big sister/mother for Dawn and a more confident person that helped her be more than just a Satellite Love Interest.
  • Until the Guarded comic storyline. A million respect points for salvaging what Slayers had become by having them become Bodyguard Babes, and working with Buffy who is currently Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life.
• Cheers: Frasier Crane was hated in his debut due to being the hypotenuse in a Love Triangle with the show's Fan-Preferred Couple Sam and Diane. Kelsey Grammer claims that people would come up to him in the street and curse him out for coming between them. He not only managed to become an integral part of the main cast but also the star of arguably the most successful spinoff in TV history.
• Chuck: Shaw after his Face–Heel Turn, although arguably this was a case of They Plotted a Perfectly Good Waste.
• Criminal Minds: David Rossi, though not hated, was a Replacement Scrappy for Jason Gideon, who was considered the main character of the series until his departure. Unlike Gideon, who was a stoic but still caring Team Dad, Rossi's dynamic with the rest of the True Companions was strained at first due to his unfamiliarity with the BAU's current "team" structure, and he tended to come off as distant and somewhat cold in comparison. However, he soon warmed up to the team and very much grew into the role of Team Dad himself; by the time of the later seasons, he's become just as popular as Gideon, probably even more so.
• Days of Our Lives: Chelsea was an extremely hated character when she first appeared. She was an arrogant Jerkass, rude to everyone around her (even her best friend Abby), responsible for killing her little brother, and tried to break up Bo and Hope's marriage. When she started dating nerdy Nick, she became a much better person. She went from being the most hated character on the show to one of the more popular characters.
• Degrassi: The Next Generation:
  • Liberty was unpopular during the show's first few seasons, due to her Shrinking Violet personality, unsettling obsession with JT, and the fact that many felt Sarah Barrable-Tishauer was the weakest actress of the young cast. Her later genuine connection and relationship with JT, pregnancy storyline in which she makes the visibly devastating decision to give her baby up for adoption, and conflict with Mia (who herself was another Scrappy due to being a Creator's Pet) saw her redeemed in the eyes of many. Years after her exit from the show, Liberty was one of the few characters brought back for the highly anticipated 500th episode special.
  • Imogen was widely hated upon her introduction in Season 11 for being a Stalker with a Crush who spent much of her screentime doing everything she could to interfere with the Official Couple Eli and Clare and the fact that a sizable portion of the fanbase saw her as a cheap imitation of the beloved Ellie character. That she had almost no defining characteristics of her own outside of her infatuation with Eli certainly didn't help. Her later relationship with Fiona, which saw her become noticeably more well-rounded and mature, combined with her genuinely sad backstory and parental situation (her mother walked out on her, her father has Early-Onset Dementia), saw viewer sympathy surge. Today, Imogen is seen as one of the few characters where keeping her on the show after she should have theoretically graduated is seen as having been worth it.
  • The ultimate embodiment of this trope on the show belongs to Holly J. Initially introduced in Season 7 as a bitchy, cruel, and spiteful bully who seemed to go out of her way to screw people over, took pride in their misery and her own cruelty, and who never seemed to suffer any actual punishment for any her actions, she quickly garnered hate from every corner of the fanbase. You know a character is hated when they're enemies with Mia and Mia comes off as the sympathetic one. Her arcs in Seasons 8 and 9, which saw her become a Fallen Princess, and developing a relationship with fan favorite Declan, respectively, which in turn resulted in massive amounts of character development, maturity, and compassion for others, caused fan perception of her to do a complete 180. It also helped that the writers kept giving her very good material to work with and that Charlotte Arnold was repeatedly singled out by reviewers as the show's strongest actress. Holly J basically became the face of the show for Seasons 9-11 and today, Holly J is universally regarded by fans as one of the best characters of the entire franchise. Like Liberty, Holly J was also brought back for the 500th episode special, to the rejoicing of many.
• Doctor Who:
  • Big Finish audio appearances have been responsible for salvaging many characters from the TV show who were either underserved by the writers or got a cold audience reception:
    • Adric, the most well-hated Doctor Who companion of all, seemed to manage this in the 2008 audio The Boy that Time Forgot, a tribute to the character and his status within the show's history, in which he is played by quality actor Andrew Sachs as opposed to the wooden Matthew Waterhouse; before that, his larger, more active role and Heroic Sacrifice in his final story went some way to redeem him, although that falls more under Alas, Poor Scrappy. Waterhouse himself has since returned to play Adric in Big Finish stories set prior to his demise, which are widely regarded to be considered some of their best productions, not least because of a better-written Adric and because Waterhouse has genuinely improved as an actor since 1982.
    • They considerably improved the reputation of the Sixth Doctor among the fanbase (they got rid of the hideous coat and gave him a blue one, for a start). To display just how much he has been rescued, it is now the case that the man who was once almost unanimously agreed by many to be the worst Doctor, now rates very highly on fan polls, and is almost unanimously agreed by many to be the best Doctor of the Big Finish audios.
    • The Sixth Doctor's companions managed to get some boosts to their reputations as well.
    • Peri isn't as abrasive or as hapless as she was in the TV stories (and her accent slips less too), and her originally tone-deaf Parent Service elements are handled with a lot more competence.
    • Mel has been updated into a funny Badass Bookworm with occasional moments of both Action Girl and Deadpan Snarker, often given her actor, Bonnie Langford, a chance to play on her experience in Pantomime. And she doesn't scream as often either.
    • The Seventh Doctor started his tenure as an annoying, over-the-top pratfalling clown with a tendency towards irritating mixed metaphors, who irritated many of the viewers. After his first season didn't go down that well, the production team decided to sober him up, taking away his more annoying quirks and adding a more mysterious, brooding depth to him. This met with widespread fan approval; however, it was arguably too late to save the series, which was cancelled after his third season. This Character Development continued in the Doctor Who New Adventures novels, which greatly increased the character's more sober, introspective Anti-Hero nature to widespread approval (although it's also often argued that, at worst, the novels had a tendency to take it too far with the Darker and Edgier stuff, and sometimes wobbled into making the character an unlikeable Knight Templar bastard). His Big Finish Doctor Who episodes largely take place between TV show episodes, and somehow, the writers took his first appearances as a bumbling goof and used that characterisation in two of the most well-loved audio episodes ever: "Bang-Bang-A-Boom!" and "Unregenerate!".
  • When Donna Noble made her first appearance in "The Runaway Bride", many fans were put off by the shrill, abrasive nature of the character (Given that she was played by comedian Catherine Tate, at least the British fans knew what to expect). The announcement that she would be a regular member of the cast during the 2008 season was met with mixed reaction at best. A few episodes into the season, however, she had undergone deliberate Character Development, and about half of the fandom had warmed up to her and even praised the "shrill, abrasive nature" that earned Donna so much hate in her debut. As of the end of Series 4, certain fans even considered her if not the Best Companion Ever, then at least the best modern companion.
    • It was partly helped by circumstances. When Donna first appeared, that "shrill, abrasive nature" was levelled against the Doctor himself (including slapping him.) This isn't a smart thing to do around Whovians. By the time the show came around, that nature was being pointed toward the actual enemies of the series, so she probably started getting liked more when she started hating the right people.
    • One of the more interesting things about this example was that the other characters acknowledged that this had happened and in the end, her fate worse than death was to be returned to her Scrappy-state. Some of the fans that once disliked her were instead upset that such an anti-climactic fate had befallen her.
    • In many ways this also extended to Catherine Tate herself, since before her return to Who, she was something of a victim of typecasting in roles that had a limited appeal. Donna started out as such a character, then changed incredibly.
    • Tate also picked up the Doctor Who Magazine's Greatest Contribution Award for 2008 for her performance. With twice as many votes as her nearest competitor, Russell T Davies, who had definitively proven Doctor Who was back and popular by leading it to its first #1 at the top of the weekly viewing figures in its history. If that's not proof of how well the character turned around, what on Earth is?
  • Although Jenna Coleman's performance was praised by most people, a fandom drained with Arc Fatigue for Steven Moffat's Living MacGuffin female characters found "Impossible Girl" Clara Oswald to be a "generic companion" Flat Character, dressed in a melodramatic mystery arc we'd already seen several times before in this era. Due to the nature of the arc she was introduced in (her first two appearances were as different characters who died helping the Doctor — but implied to all be the same woman) as well as the main Smith-era arc still not having been resolved and the 50th-anniversary special Wham Episode being set up, she was stuck doing nothing or having her character reset to zero for most of Series 7B, and conflicting production instructions meant different writers interpreted her in very different ways. The nature of her relationship with the Doctor (who didn't trust her, but was obsessed with her anyway) also meant he ended up acting like a creepy old man — but with this presented as a romantic ideal, and when her actions in the Season Finale and the follow-up specials easily made her one of the most powerful companions ever, she garnered Mary Sue accusations. However, Series 8 completely overhauled her character, giving her a different job, a genuinely dramatic Part-Time Hero plotline, and a complicated, Hubristic relationship with time travel, making her much more flawed, unique, and interesting. The elements of her relationship with the Doctor that came across as unintentionally creepy were brought to the forefront and handled more deftly, without sacrificing the heartwarming qualities of their friendship. The recasting of the Doctor with a much older man moved their relationship away from the standard 'two young hot people in love' idea towards a more complex portrayal of the potentially devastating consequences of the traditional Doctor-Companion Undying Loyalty. This continued into the well-received Series 9, in which she became his Distaff Counterpart for better and for worse; although her ultimate fate ( she was Killed Off For Real, but due to the Doctor's mad attempt to rescue her she can have infinite adventures in the last moment of her life, complete with her own TARDIS and companion) caused a Broken Base, it was a loooooong way from where she started as a character in more ways than one.
  • Nardole (Matt Lucas) was just a cowardly comic relief one-off character in the post-Series 9 Christmas Episode "The Husbands of River Song". No one in the fanbase expected, much less wanted, him to become a secondary companion in Series 10 (with Bill Potts the principal) and reactions were split between "Ugh, not him again!" and "Huh, wonder how they'll manage it?" given his fate in that special — and given that there were several one-off characters introduced in previous Twelfth Doctor episodes that fans would have loved to see again (Shona from "Last Christmas" being particularly popular). However, his return as a cyborg Morality Chain with a Mysterious Past, timid and oft-maligned by the Doctor yet able to hold his own in snarking and capable of great intelligence, loyalty, and backbone as needed, made him a funny and endearing companion who also enhanced the Doctor and Bill's dynamic, making for one of the best-received TARDIS teams of the revival.
• Downton Abbey: This show has a huge turnover of characters who alternate between Scrappies and Ensemble Darkhorses. Well-liked character in series 1 (Bates, Lord Grantham) have seen their popularity wane come series 3, whilst other characters such as Thomas and Edith have been Rescued from the Scrappy Heap thanks to Character Development and Break the Haughty.
• Drake & Josh and iCarly: An interesting meta-example happened across these two shows. In iCarly, Miranda Cosgrove plays the friendly and nice titular protagonist Carly, a character that is immensely popular within the fanbase. This is in stark contrast to her stint as the infinitely bratty and mean-spirited Megan on Drake & Josh, (which directly preceded her role in iCarly) where she was completely and utterly loathed by viewers. It just goes to show how much an actor's likability depends on good writing. Even Miranda herself seems to be aware of it, considering Drake & Josh doesn't appear on her resume.
• The Dukes of Hazzard: Some (although not all) of the people who view Coy and Vance as Replacement Scrappies admit to warming toward the characters around the midway point of their run on the show when they have some powerful moments in the Darker and Edgier episode "The Great Insurance Fraud". Coy's actor puts on a particularly convincing performance of someone traumatized by (wrongly) thinking that he caused a fatal car accident. The tension and emotion they display in the Dating Catwoman episode "Coy vs. Vance" is also decently remembered.
• Farscape: The last two seasons had a couple examples of potential Scrappies who were rescued from the heap. Jool was initially a very annoying, shrill, and obnoxious character who underwent somewhat drastic character development over the course of the 3rd season and her brief appearance in the 4th, though for reasons unknown she devolved into a sex-starved Xena clone in the miniseries. The changeover appeared to occur around the time she began to be given duties approximating that of medical officer.
  • Sikozu, who joined in the final season, was initially dismissed as a Dropped a Bridge on Him-style replacement for Jool (even down to the red hair and obnoxious attitude) but was almost instantly rescued from the Scrappy Heap when she finally appeared on screen, most certainly around the time she let her hair down later in the first episode of Season 4.
  • Noranti, the crazy old woman added in the Season 3 finale episode, was most definitely a Scrappy at first, until hidden layers to the character were revealed, and the writers scaled back the "crazy old woman" in favor of making her closer in spirit (if not necessarily in looks and behavior) to Zhaan.
• The Flash (2014):
  • When first introduced Eddie Thawne wasn't viewed too highly, being a smug Pretty Cowboy Cop, known for keeping track of his arrest record and his role as romantic rival to Barry. He even hated the Flash mostly due to Iris' fascination with him. It seemed his only role was to be the asshole that Iris would eventually leave for Barry. Thankfully he Took a Level in Kindness very shortly after, became a friend and mentor to Barry, eventually coming around and recognizing The Flash as a hero, assisting him in any way he could. This support doubled when Barry eventually let him in on the secret. By the time he was fully redeemed in the eyes of the fans, and, while generally consensus in the fandom was that while Eddie was part of The Team, Barry and Iris were meant to be together, and those who initially wanted him out of the picture unfortunately got their wish, as in the finale, he killed himself to save everyone from the Reverse Flash, which solidified his departure from being the show's Scrappy. So much so, that his death was one of the reasons Barry questioned his role as Central City's hero.
  • Julian Albert shakes off much of the hate he got in "Monster" due to much-needed Character Development in the form of Break the Haughty and Hidden Depths. While forcing Barry to quit his job as a CSI tech in exchange for not ratting on Caitlin/Killer Frost while criticizing Barry's sense of justice and morality two episodes later seemed to have erased any ounce of goodwill, this was soon resolved with the reveal that "Alchemy" was simply Savitar using his body as a vessel, and Julian had no idea about it, handily clearing up all the apparent inconsistencies in his characterization and allowing him to make friends with the team. Unfortunately his continual tendency to grab the Jerkass Ball after joining the team, and especially, his action of removing Caitlin's suppressor to prevent her death disregarding her will, turning her into Killer Frost, never redeemed him to more than Base-Breaking Character.
  • H.R. Wells was initially disliked for being a false scientist and being just a gimmick to keep Tom Cavanagh on the series, but people warmed to him when he could show he was a creative, intelligent strategist and that he was very good-hearted. Outsmarting Savitar at the ending by switching his appearance with Iris skyrocketed his popularity with fans and some even prefer him over Eobard Thawne or Harry Wells.
  • Inverted with Ralph Dibny. At first, he was warmly received, but his popularity kept waning as time went on. Many, many, many fans and critics alike turned on him after the episode "Null and Annoyed". Not only was it another personal growth story for Ralph after he's had so many this season, he spent the entire episode being obnoxious to the other team members, especially Barry, who most people sided with even though he was supposed to be in the wrong. Many people pointed out that his screentime could have gone to Iris, who had just decided to be a journalist again, or Cisco and Caitlin, who have been sidelined for Ralph all season. His sob story about cracking jokes during times of crisis also wasn't well-received. Having said that, most did not want him to die at DeVoe's hands.
    • Played straight in Season 5, Ralph has won back support after his polarizing run in season 4 as a Plucky Comic Relief character. Season 5 shows his entire arc of Character Development in Season 4 pays off, as he is far more serious and competent as both a superhero and a detective, and is a straight Nice Guy.
• Game of Thrones
  • Sansa Stark was unpopular in early seasons because she had many intentionally unsympathetic character traits (quite simply: she's a well-meaning but naive and pretty shallow teenager). When she simultaneously becomes more compassionate and tolerant and more proactive and manipulative in the King's Landing court, she starts to garner more appreciation from the audience. The downright brutal Break the Cutie routine she undergoes also won her more sympathy for her plight. Later, being tormented and abused by Ramsay Bolton, escaping to reunite with Jon, doing whatever she can to take back their home, her revenge on Ramsay, and receiving a non-emotional reaction from Bran (who is no longer himself due to having become the Three-Eyed Raven), and a No Sympathy reaction from Arya (who became very cynical in her six years away and is incredibly suspicious of Sansa for much of Season 7) garnered Sansa's character more sympathy from some viewers (while recognizing Arya and Bran have gone through a lot themselves). In her teased conflict storyline with her sister Arya, who is usually a fan favorite, even some viewers who are not big fans of Sansa's character found themselves siding with Sansa against Arya.
  • Ros' severe Break the Cutie in Season 2 got her more sympathy from viewers who were annoyed by her presence.
  • Some viewers disliked Shae in the beginning and considered her a Satellite Love Interest to Tyrion Lannister. After witnessing her newfound badassery in Season 2 and taking on a protective role for Sansa, many critics began to like her. Sadly, she begins to slide back into it with Season 4 by becoming a Clingy Jealous Girl once Tyrion is forced to marry Sansa and betraying both of them later on before dying at Tyrion's hands because she tries to kill him.
  • Theon Greyjoy pissed a lot of fans in Season 2 by betraying the Starks to side with his father and his people who, save for his sister, blatantly do not give two shits about him. His horrific tortures at the hands of Ramsay Bolton in Seasons 3 and 4 earned him a lot of sympathy and getting his marbles back and helping Sansa escape Ramsay in Season 5 also earned him back the love of fans. A lot of fans were saddened when he dies midway through the final season via Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Many fans rejected Ed Skrein's characterization of Daario Naharis. When Michiel Huisman was recast in the role and gave Daario a completely different personality, critics of the character generally approved of the change.
  • Within two episodes of Season 7, Euron Greyjoy was able to overcome a great deal of the criticism of his weak appearance at the Kingsmoot, no doubt due to his audacious sense of humor and punk-rock getup and Asbaek's genuine screen presence. Then in the next episode, he proved himself to be badass and ferocious by ambushing his niece Yara's fleet and killing two of the Sand Snakes, who are two of the most hated characters on the show.
• Glee: Used on purpose with Quinn. Quinn began as a shallow, nasty, Ice Queen Alpha Bitch who was just a Romantic False Lead for Finn — the Official Couple being Finn and Rachel. Quinn was also a spy for the Big Bad, Sue. She was so unlikable that you didn't feel sorry for her when she got pregnant due to this making her a Straw Hypocrite (she's president of the celibacy club) and got the baby while cheating on her boyfriend with his best friend. Over time, however, she turned into one of the most sympathetic characters in the series, turning into a Fallen Princess. Some people still hate her but even those who despise her admit to feeling sorry for her during episode 10 when a crying and desperate Quinn begs for her bigoted parents to forgive her only for them to promptly kick her out of the house.
  • Sadly, Quinn's been arguably pulled back in and out of the Scrappy Heap in the second and third seasons, though many of the fans blame the writers' attitude toward the character (as a dumping ground for random bad storylines) rather than hating Quinn herself.
• Vanessa was universally hated among the Gossip Girl fandom to the point that they eventually wrote her out. Only, in the last season she appeared the writers seemed to think the fans would enjoy seeing her being treated like crap and went with that full force. The result was that people began to sympathize with her and turned their hatred towards Dan who was the character who treated her the worst (while sanctimoniously telling her that she was an awful person even though he was the one treating her badly). It didn't help that Dan was already borderline Scrappy (and became the Wesley full force once Vanessa was gone).
• Barbara Kean from Gotham has to be one of the all-time champs. She was utterly despised throughout much of the first season for being an idiot who did nothing but get Gordon in trouble, and be a complete hypocrite about her anger over him cheating on her despite doing it first. Then the end of the season made clear that this was all completely intentional, and she's actually an Ax-Crazy psychopath who was just waiting to be unleashed. Suddenly you have Erin Richards gleefully chewing the scenery as a character people very much Love to Hate, and in Season 2 she's being regularly referred to as one of the best parts of the show.
• Grey's Anatomy: Subverted Trope by Izzie Stevens, who earned a reprieve from the Scrappy Heap in her cancer storyline, which actually saw her become a pretty sympathetic character. However, a combination of the storyline dragging on without resolution and actress Katherine Heigl's extremely obnoxious real-life behavior have catapulted her back onto the Scrappy Heap in spectacular fashion, probably for all time.
• Grimm: Adalind Schade floated in and out of Scrappy and Creator's Pet status for more than half the show's run. A Smug Snake through the first couple of seasons, she had a striking talent for picking up the Idiot Ball and was often the textbook personification of Epic Fail. She came close to being pulled from the heap in Season 3 after the birth and subsequent kidnapping of her first child garnered her sympathy, especially since she appeared to take a level in kindness in the scenes with Meisner.
  • Then, her desperate actions to get her child back by using a spell to trick Nick into sleeping with her and rob him of his powers sent her across the Moral Event Horizon and back to the heap.
  • Rather amazingly, the resultant second pregnancy, this time with Nick's child, gave rise to an incredibly successful redemption arc, which started in the Season 4 episode "Iron Hans" and continued without letup through the end of the series. It helped that her rival Juliette was busy going through a Face–Heel Turn and traveling much further across the Moral Event Horizon than Adalind ever did at about the same time. By Season 6, after earning her way to Second Love status, she was a beloved character, and the overwhelming majority of fans wanted her to be the endgame in Nick's romantic life, which she was, and according to the Distant Finale, was still with Nick 20 years later.
• Hannibal:
  • The series did this with Frederick Chilton, of all people. In the first season, he was portrayed as little more than an incompetent Smug Snake psychiatrist. In the second season, when Will Graham came under his "care", Chilton seemed to be gearing up to be even more of an epic Jerkass than before. Which... he still more or less was, but the showrunners took care to spotlight the more hilarious aspects of Raúl Esparza's performance, leading Chilton into Love to Hate territory. Then he got ahold of the Smart Ball and became an unlikely (albeit self-serving) ally of Will's, at a time when most of the rest of the cast was still treating Will as delusional about Hannibal. And then they basically dedicated an entire episode to Chilton being snarky about Hannibal Lecter's culinary interests, at which point he was officially rescued. By the time Hannibal sprang the trap he'd set for Chilton all along, fandom exploded with theories on how Chilton could still be alive.
  • Alana Bloom was a very likable character in the first season due to her always showing concern for Will's well-being, and is the only one who sincerely tries to help him compared to the others who would either manipulate him or suspect him. But then in the latter half of the second season, after Will tried to have Hannibal murdered by proxy, she became very resentful of Will, and would always regard him with hostility from then on. And during this time, she entered into a romantic relationship with Hannibal, becoming so invested in her feelings for the latter that she absolutely refuses to hear anyone out who would start to believe or consider that Will may be right about Hannibal being a killer. Of course, almost everyone found it hard to continue seeing her as sympathetic at this point and grew extremely annoyed with her. Near the season finale however, she was slowly redeemed in the eyes of the fandom when she finally suspects Hannibal may be more than who he seems, which led to her finding out that Will was right all along, and she completely acknowledges her fault in this. She is then fully rescued by the Season 2 finale, when she confronts Hannibal at gunpoint and does not even hesitate to pull the trigger, only failing to get a bullet on him since he saw it coming beforehand. Her character Taking A Level In Badass in the third season by plotting to take down Hannibal cemented the fact that she is well-beloved by all fans again.
• Happy Endings: Alex. Many deemed her a boring Mary Sue type character initially, but starting with the second season, the writers began to flesh out her character more, and she became the lovable ditz viewers have come to know.
• Heroes: Most people agree that Peter Petrelli became much more likable after he was Brought Down to Normal, which forced him to actually use his brain and drop the Idiot Ball.
  • How about Hiro? Popular in volumes 1 and then deeply annoying in 3 and 4 due to his development from the first two seasons being rejected in favor of him being a childish moron again. Then redeemed in 5 due to his cancer and Charlie arcs making him more serious again and him no longer appearing in every episode.
• House:
  • Dr. Cameron was initially hard to like, but the fanbase seems to have warmed up to her (especially in comparison to her replacement on House's team, Thirteen). It was difficult to like Cameron because she usually became emotionally involved with the patients and would usually disagree with House and sometimes the rest of the team simply because whatever House had planned was immoral^note  The nature of the show makes any character who adheres to medical ethics look like an absolute moron. She was probably planned to be sort of a straight man or voice of reason, but due to the strong personalities of the other characters, especially House, she became more like a preachy, annoying character who made stupid mistakes that sometimes did more harm than good for the sake of her morals. After being replaced by the new team, she reappears occasionally but is much less irritating.
  • Chase was similarly rescued - on House's team, he was an annoying suck-up with the moral fiber of soggy newspaper who had a crush on Cameron. After he got fired? Likable, funny, doesn't give a damn what House thinks, and in a stable and sweet relationship with Cameron. Rescued from the scrappy heap and Took a Level in Badass.
  • Thirteen herself got rescued when, after actress Olivia Wilde sat out much of a mediocre Season 7 to make movies, came back in an episode that many believed to be the best of the season, with several months of offscreen character development due to being in prison for euthanizing her brother, who was dying of advanced stage Huntington's disease.
  • Foreman was rescued starting in mid-season 6 when his relationship with Thirteen ended.
• House of Anubis: Joy Mercer was originally the show's scrappy, as she was in love with one half of the show's most popular pairing. Her Jerkass tendencies didn't help matters, and eventually even the other characters on the show stopped liking her. However, at the end of the second season, she took a lightning bolt meant for Fabian, nearly dying in the process, which was an act of selflessness so great that people started to see her in a better light. In the third season, she was much more sympathetic, she gained a new look as well as a new attitude, and got involved in a wildly popular pairing, effectively redeeming her in the eyes of the fans.
• Delia in In Plain Sight. She starts out extremely annoying, with Mary (the protagonist) very much not a fan. The second episode of the final season, "Four Marshalls and a Baby", seems largely designed just to make Delia more likable. She proves herself to be very adept at dealing with baby Nora (Mary's daughter), owns a neo-Nazi with just a few lines of dialogue and an icy stare, and talks down an unstable witness. By the end of the episode, Mary is won over...and so is the audience.
• Jericho (2006): Emily became The Scrappy very quickly, and remained so for all of Season One. Although she was now in a relationship with the hero, Season Two still made a good effort to rectify this, by giving her approximately two minutes of screentime an episode.
• Joan of Arcadia: Judith from the second season started out as alternating between being annoying, a Jerkass, dangerously unstable, and seeming like she was either wanting to steal Adam from Joan or Joan from Adam. But as she got to know the other characters better and they got to know her, she calmed down a bit and revealed a genuinely sweet side to herself, culminating in the perfect date between Adam and Joan which she largely orchestrated single-handedly. And then, in a Wham Episode moment, she was murdered out of the blue.
• Kirby Buckets' older sister Dawn was initially characterized as a spoiled, insecure teenager who pulled gross pranks on Kirby and was always envisioned by her brother as an ugly dinosaur caricature called Dawnzilla. This naturally made her into a Hate Sink. However, as the show went on, she became less Megan Parker and more Meg Griffin, as Kirby’s behavior in their feud took a turn for the worse, as in one episode he nearly killed her (granted, it was an accident as he was trying to stage a rescue, but still the fact that Kirby took that risk with little concern for what could go wrong is chilling) and the Dawnzilla gag increasingly came off as mean-spirited and annoying rather than funny. It helps that she spends most of the show in B-plots with her best friend Belinda rather than interacting with Kirby in the A-plot and that Olivia Stuck got increasingly hotter as the show went on.
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: When first introduced, the character of Dominick "Sonny" Carisi was highly unpopular, coming off largely as The Generic Guy in comparison to more popular characters. As his time on the show increased, however, he was given an actual personality and backstory, distinguishing traits, and unique relationships with fellow characters, including a Ship Tease with Rollins and a Vitriolic Best Buds chemistry (or Ho Yay, depending on who you ask) with Barba, and is now probably one of the more popular main characters in the series (especially after the departure of other fan favorites Barba and Amaro).
• Lost: While it may have been planned from the beginning, Jin became a far more sympathetic and likable character after the episode "In Translation", especially in season 2.
  • Jack was Rescued from the Scrappy Heap in season 6 when he finally embraced the new craze that everyone else on the show was trying: Character Development. It was a planned arc for the character: Jack endured five seasons of deliberate Badass Decay that reduced him from Standardized Leader to The Scrappy (it was truly amazing how he would see Character Development coming and run as fast as he could in the other direction), so that when he was finally Rescued, much awesomeness ensued.
  • While arguably more developed than Jack, Kate didn't really grow with most fans until either season 5 or 6 after she became a surrogate to Aaron and her love triangle with Jack and Sawyer lost focus.
    • However, for many fans, she never quite got rescued, even though the writers obviously tried; even in season 6, she was probably the most hated character in the show (a poll on a popular fan site showed that up to 50% of voters wanted her to die).
  • Invoked with Shannon, who was initially written as unlikable, becoming gradually less useless and annoying, culminating in her flashback episode, "Abandoned", which rescued her in the eyes of most fans and then killed her off. The writers were going to try the same tactic with Nikki and Paulo, but backlash against them was much stronger, and they were written out before they got a chance.
• The L Word: Jenny was both The Scrappy and a Creator's Pet for most fans, but, when the writers caught onto just how disliked her character was, and brought her back as an all-out unsympathetic, incompetent Jerkass director in Season Five, it actually boosted her popularity. Mia Kirshner's utterly hilarious performance with the new material made her a joy to watch. Ironically, having her go crazy - and acknowledging her craziness within the show - made fans care about her a lot more than any of the previous efforts to redeem or Woobify her in earlier seasons.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000: When first introduced into the show, Pearl was rather unpopular among fans for being a smug Villain Sue mother of the established bad guy. Once she became the main bad guy, however, her character was shifted until she became more of a Distaff Counterpart of the original Doctor Forrester.
• NCIS: Ziva started out as a Replacement Scrappy for Kate. The writers attempted to rescue her by giving her a series of awesome talents and ninja skills and letting her perform a couple of selfless acts and save the day a few times, the most significant of which was when she helped Gibbs recover his memory in the third season finale, and it generally seemed to work. Ziva is now a pretty popular character and half of most of the fandom's OTP. The fact that she's now been in eight seasons and Kate was only in two probably isn't hurting her popularity either.
• Nikita: Jaden started out as a fellow trainee alongside Alex, who took a disliking to her for no apparent reason and acted like a school bully. Then comes the episode "Girl's Best Friend", where she proves willing to work with Alex for the good of a mission, gets some Character Development with her story about killing an abusive boyfriend, and finally is set up to be a full-fledged Evil Counterpart to Alex rather than just a whiny bitch. Unfortunately, she's killed off in the next episode.
• The Office (US): Andy Bernard was introduced as a thoroughly unlikable sycophant with rage issues. While he's continued to be portrayed as a comically awkward character, his portrayal became more sympathetic during his engagement to Angela (who cheated on him and was otherwise emotionally abusive), and by the time he ended up a main character, he was one of the most likable characters on the show, to the point that the fans were absolutely outraged by the treatment he received in the series' final season that had him as the Designated Villain.
• Once Upon a Time:
  • Though they've only been in two episodes, Cinderella and her Prince didn't impress anyone the first time around, mainly due to their idiotic behaviour and rather wooden acting. The next time they appear, the actors seem to have taken a few acting lessons, and manage to deliver an extremely sweet scene concerning a proposal at a busy restaurant. Perhaps they hold the record for how quickly two characters manage to redeem themselves.
  • Henry received far more praise from his critics after "Operation Mongoose". Here he is repeatedly given moments of awesome, his actor demonstrates that he can act and the ending paves the way for future plotlines involving him.
  • Zelena was seen as a large Villain Sue for much of her appearances. Season 5 morphed her into a gleeful troll whose snark was considered to be funny. The second half rescued her even further by giving her a redemption arc that made her a well-developed and somewhat sympathetic character like the rest of the main cast.
  • Milah was despised for leaving Rumple for a life of adventure simply because he was a coward who she loved to disparage. Her reappearance in Season 5 did a good deal to humanize her and make her somewhat likable that her final fate is a complete tragedy.
• Parks and Recreation:
  • As part of Season 1's Early-Installment Weirdness, Andy Dwyer was written as an immature and idiotic Hate Sink, serving as Ann's lazy, deadbeat boyfriend whom she needed to drop so she can be with Mark. In the second season, after Ann broke up with him, he was reworked into a more sympathetic character who had some social problems but became more mature and self-sufficient and got some Ship Tease with April. He quickly became one of the show's most popular characters as a result while Mark simultaneously became its biggest Scrappy.
  • Craig Middlebrooks, when first introduced in Season 6 as the new member of the Parks and Rec staff, was an annoying, constantly screaming, always antagonistic drama queen. This came to a front when he selfishly became angry that Ben and Leslie were having triplets, taking away from the fact that he successfully ran the auction without them, which angered many of the fans. By Season 7, he was much more tolerable, likely due to him calming down immensely after undergoing therapy during the Time Skip, or compared to the rest of the office, was hardly seen at all, or maybe a mixture of both, whatever way they did it, his reception was generally better received during this season.
  • To a lesser extent, Chris Traeger. Fans generally felt that he was a bit flat and his overwhelming positivity and propensity for being Innocently Insensitive to be grating. In Seasons 4 and 5, opinions began to turn more favorably for him with the show deconstructing his Pollyann-ish traits into a load of personal problems that made him a more Rounded Character, and his going to therapy further solidified his rescuing.
• Person of Interest: Detective Joss Carter was originally an underdeveloped By-the-Book Cop who was concerned with chasing the main characters and bringing them to justice. However, over time, she became one of the most beloved and respected characters on the show who in her final two episodes slipped into the role of The Chessmaster so effortlessly, almost all remaining critics and fans who used to find her the weakest aspect of the series were won over. Judging by the reaction to her demise in the Season 3 episode "The Crossing", many consider her The Heart of the show, the one who humanized the other amoral protagonists and brought the best out of all of them.
• Power Rangers:
  • Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue: Carter Grayson was originally considered a bland, uninteresting character. However, over time, he has become a Memetic Badass. The episode "Yesterday Again" showed that He Really Can Act. Also in comparison to the past rangers in the "Forever Red" episode, he does come across as too reliant on his weapons, but few other rangers had the same "go in guns blazing" mentality. So Carter doesn't use the typical strategies other Rangers use but instead just shoots at the bad guys or tries to run them over with the rescue jeep.
  • Ricardo "Rick" Medina is an interesting case. Originally playing the hated Cole in Wild Force, he was almost completely forgotten. Then, when Saban announced that Medina would be returning in Samurai, the fans almost went irate. This all changed, however, when his character Deker showed up. (That, and Medina himself was less of a jerk in Real Life as well.)
  • Blake Foster (Justin from Power Rangers Turbo) is another odd case. Justin was hated for being an annoying brat. However, ever since he finished puberty, fans are much more loving of Foster, especially since he has expressed his appreciation of the fandom. Justin himself was redeemed fairly well in the Power Rangers in Space Reunion Show appearance, where he comes to save the day.
  • For one with a much faster turnaround, there's Alpha 6, also from Turbo. He was introduced as Alpha 5's Totally Radical, slightly ruder replacement. In the changeover to Power Rangers in Space, 6 had some emergency repairs that removed those traits and made him a straight Expy of 5, making him much more acceptable.
  • Back in the franchise's early years, before they began their Discard and Draw approach each season, any time an actor left, their replacement was hated on sight. However, given time and a little Character Development, most are able to shed their Suspiciously Similar Substitute origins and become well-liked on their own merits. Rocky, Adam, Kat, Tanya, TJ, and Cassie. The only one who didn't get this was Aisha, who had the unfortunate problem of spending most of her tenure Out of Focus (though her actress is a fan favorite, at least.)
• For a time in 2003-04 after the death of longtime announcer Rod Roddy, The Price Is Right rotated among several guest announcers before picking Rich Fields as the successor. The most hated by far was Daniel Rosen, for not only his utter lack of enthusiasm but also his Astro Turfing of fan forum Golden-Road.net. However, Rosen later went on to become one of the rotating announcers for The Price Is Right Live!, a mock version of the show put on in some casinos.
• Raven's Home: Tess, though never technically an official Scrappy, was definitely a Base-Breaking Character: Half the fans hated her, the other half related to her and liked her. As seasons progressed, though, she was given more Character Development beyond just being the annoying next-door neighbor that follows the twins around, and fans are now much more agreeing and accepting of her. It helps that she has some much more good qualities when compared to the likes of characters such as Curtis and the Guntz, Sierra, and Ramon, and that Sky Katz got increasingly hotter as the show went on.
• Revolution:
  • Despite being one of the scrappiest of scrappy characters on television, Danny manages to pull this off in one of the most spectacular ways possible. Miles is knocked out by a chopper missile during an attack on a rebel HQ while attempting to take it out. Danny makes a run for the rocket launcher, and successfully destroys the chopper carrying the amplifier, resulting in the other chopper losing power and dropping as well. Unfortunately for Danny, he is torn to shreds by stray machine gun bullets not ten seconds after. To reiterate, Danny not only saved everyone at the rebel HQ but destroyed Monroe's only power amplifier, so possibly thousands of other lives as well. Later, according to Jason, the story of Danny's last stand has spread and inspired many other people—possibly other defectors from the militia—to join the rebels, reinvigorating their cause after it was nearly destroyed.
  • Charlie is (albeit slowly) starting to get rescued too. She's not whining nearly as much as she used to, and she's finally starting to live up to her title of being the Action Girl for the series, alongside Nora.
• Robin Hood and Downton Abbey: An interesting meta-example happened across these two shows. In Downton Abbey, Joanne Froggatt plays the plucky and down-to-earth Anna, a character that is immensely popular within the fanbase. This is in stark contrast to her stint as the infinitely irritating Kate on Robin Hood, (which directly preceded her role in Downton) where she was completely and utterly loathed by viewers. It just goes to show how much an actor's likability depends on good writing. Even Jo herself seems to be aware of it, considering Robin Hood doesn't appear on her resume.
• Royal Pains: Evan was The Scrappy for most of the show by being the annoying younger brother to Hank. Evan's main concern seemed to be expanding Hank Med against Hank's protests. Though since he started dating Paige, he's become a much more likable person, improving his character immensely.
• Scandal: Quinn Perkins started out as being hated, due to being the Naïve Newcomer and generally sticking out like a sore thumb. Season 2 fixed this by revealing that she is actually Lindsay Dwyer, a woman who is wanted for murdering 7 people. She did no such thing, but there are corrupt powerful people out to make her the patsy. Quinn is now considered The Woobie. In addition, she is receiving training from Huck and is turning into a female version of him.
• Shameless (UK): Kelly Ball started life off as Kev's annoying sister. After annoying everyone in one episode per series (2-4), she was promoted to the main cast as Shane Maguire's girlfriend and has shed her previous image.
• Skins: Series 3 introduced Cook, who was initially regarded by fans as an unlikeable hedonistic thug with no redeeming features. Series 4, while not removing the thuggish image, redeemed Cook in the eyes of many fans by portraying him as a loyal friend and a caring older brother.
• Smallville: The Wonder Twins only appear in one episode, but many fans feel that they're more competent, nuanced, and funny than they ever were in the cartoons. The promos announcing their guest role weren't well-received, but many fans ended up considering the episode they appeared in as one of the best episodes of season 9.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation: Then there's Wesley Crusher himself. During the run, Wesley had his Pet-ness toned down at least somewhat as the show went on. Even Wil Wheaton himself relates that he insisted the writers bring the character back down to more realistic levels or he'd quit. This wasn't enough to save him, though, and he ended up being Put on a Bus.
  • All of Wesley's reappearances were better than almost any episode he had a major role in during the first four seasons. One of them (" The First Duty") is generally considered to be one of the show's best episodes.
    • "The Game" is another decent example. A popular episode, Wesley manages to serve as a non-irritating protagonist (aided by Ashley Judd) and isn't even the one to save the day.
  • Wesley's brief appearance on Star Trek: Picard completes the rescue process, as he's now depicted as a wise, philosophical Traveler of space-time who fully understands the gravity of his responsibilities.
  • The Ferengi were intended to be the next Big Bad race akin to the Klingons from TOS, but their first outing went so badly that they were immediately demoted to low-level joke villains. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fleshed out Ferengi culture enough to make them interesting.
  • And for a specific Ferengi, Nog annoyed viewers to no end in the early seasons of the show, but he went on to become one of its most sympathetic characters.
  • Jake and Rom as well - to a certain extent, anyway. Jake grew up along with Nog and Rom became more likable when it turned out that he could do things besides screw up.
  • Julian Bashir was intended to be a Scrappy eventually rescued by humanizing flaws.
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Riley redeemed herself from Scrappy status, partially thanks to the revelation that Riley was from the future, and partially from the character development that led to her death.
• True Blood: Jessica quickly shed her Scrappy status after she visited her family in season 2 and met Hoyt.
  • Jason got rescued in season 2 during the Fellowship of the Sun arc when he came to Sookie and Eric's aid while they were being held captive by Steve and his followers. His attempts to mend fences with both Sookie and Bill earned him the love and respect of fans. He also became popular during the Maryann arc when he joined with Andy in helping to save Sam from Maryann's followers and attempting to take back the town.
  • Same goes for Tara, who despite Rutina Wesley's strong acting performance was deemed "too angsty" and not relatable enough. In season 5, she becomes a vampire, with Pam as her maker, had several awesome moments and of course The Big Damn Kiss with Pam.
  • Eric's vampire sister Nora was partially rescued from the heap halfway through season 5 after she lost her insane religious devotion. Seeing her cry for a vision of her maker Godric being obliterated by Lilith made her a lot more sympathetic.
• The Umbrella Academy (2019): In the first season, Luther gathered a lot of haters due to acting like a self-important and incompetent leader to his team, his incestuous romance with Allison, his decisions to side with their abusive father over his siblings and his decision to lock Vanya up, which caused her to snap and cause the apocalypse. Season 2 goes above and beyond to fix this: he no longer sees himself as the team leader and is much more cooperative, he moves on from Allison after she becomes Happily Married to Ray, he no longer cares to stick up for their father, and very early in the season, he apologizes to Vanya for his actions, saying he deeply regret doing what he did.
• The Vampire Diaries: Caroline and Tyler, who in the first season were, respectively, a Dumb Blonde Alpha Bitch and a Jerkass who almost date-raped his girlfriend in the very first episode and quickly went Out of Focus for half a season. Fast-forward about 25 episodes, and the first one is a certified Ensemble Dark Horse and the second is quickly catching up, thanks to both of them becoming supernatural creatures, going through Character Development and starting a sweet relationship which some fans start to actually prefer to the Love Triangle between the leads.
  • Though Tyler went back down once he became a hybrid. This was made worse by the fact that he was sired to Klaus
  • Also Stefan himself was considered rescued when he went through a Face–Heel Turn. Now he's good again but still shows signs of being a Magnificent Bastard.
  • Matt as well in Season 3 after he takes on the role of Only Sane Man.
    • The Originals the moment they got their own show. A while back they were a base breaker for the VD crowd in that some found them entertaining villains while others hated them because of their overexposure. Once their backstories and motivations became more fleshed out on their show they've been rescued to the point that some people consider them more likable than the Vampire Diaries' main cast.
• The Walking Dead (2010):
  • Carl was introduced as a Bratty Half-Pint who was always whining about how he wasn't allowed to use a gun, constantly disobeyed his parents, and indirectly caused the death of Dale. After a bit of growing up, he mellowed out considerably, maturing enough for his father to trust him on the field. His transition from Tantrum Throwing to responsible adult won over many fans who initially disliked him.
  • Hershel wasn't quite The Scrappy in early Season 2, but his Ungrateful Bastard tendencies and also referring to Glenn as only "the Asian boy" and disapproving of his relationship with Maggie meant he wasn't universally beloved despite being one of the main characters, as well as his being Genre Blind about the walkers. After the mid-season finale, however, he realizes the true state of things, develops Undying Loyalty to Rick, befriends Glenn, and ultimately mellows out to become the Team Dad of the group and one of the most beloved characters of the entire series.
  • Michonne's sullen personality, permanent scowl, and refusal to explain her mistrust of the Governor to Andrea early in Season 3 did not make a good impression on fans, but she eventually won a lot of them back by showing a more human side towards the end of the season. Her Character Development in subsequent seasons eventually lead to her becoming one of the show's most popular characters.
  • Father Gabriel was a Dirty Coward priest who left his congregation to be eaten alive by walkers. He's very distrusting of Rick's group, and even after they spend weeks defending him from the undead, he refuses to so much as lift a finger to help them. Once they reach Alexandria, he has the audacity to betray the group to Deanna, tries to get them kicked out, and deliberately taunts a grieving Sasha. He was reviled both In-Universe and out until it was revealed that he's a Death Seeker suffering from deep guilt. After an intervention with Maggie, he apologizes profusely to Rick, starts holding mass in the town's church, helps Rick and the others fight a horde of walkers, and has his very own CMoA when he shoots a Saviour in cold blood, whilst reciting a passage from the Bible. His Badass Preacher status not only won over the fans, it won over Rick, who is more than happy to let Gabriel babysit his infant daughter.
  • Morgan was an extremely divisive character in Season 6 due to his turn to pacifism and the show once again exploring a survivor trying to avoid killing humans at all costs. Season 7 completely undoes it, and makes Morgan into a much stronger and likable character (albeit at the cost of some of his sanity) who finally accepts that killing is sometimes necessary.
• The Young and the Restless: With no help from the writers what so ever, Sharon Newman. The character remains a fan favorite through some of the most infuriating, Squick inducing and reviled plotlines, all due to Sharon Case's amazing ability to act above them. So less Rescued and more Refuses to Sink Into the Scrappy Heap.

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