PerfectAnomaly
Resident Smart Ass
The writers give the characters dialogue, but it still reflects on the character. The main reason people disliked Ray so much is because of the way he was written. Yes, that was TPTB's fault and not LF's, but it still translates into a lot of people thought Ray was not a good character. I don't get implying that the writing is something seperate from the character as if the character would be a good one if not for the writing. The writing IS the character so if the writing doesn't go over on a regular basis the character will fall flat despite how good the acting is.
The gist I get as to the main reason people dislike Ray so much was not only the way he was written, but that so much was written for him, taking time away from the other characters.
Writing can only go so far. Don't the actors and their individual talents go a long way to make the character what it is? (See: William Peterson as Grissom.)
I disagree with "the writing IS the character". Alot of people think that Ray was not a good character. However, there were--and still are--people who think Sara is not a good character. People either love her or hate her; there's not a whole lot in between. Was that because of the writing? Or because of the way Jorja Fox portrayed her? When I read negative comments about Sara/Jorja, the issue isn't about how Sara is written--it's about Jorja's acting.
I would argue that it's not Sara that is the problem then. If people don't like Jorja's acting then yeah, the character won't be enjoyable, but I don't think you can call a character bad or good based solely on acting. Yes, acting is part of making the character who they are, but if the writing consistently sucks it doesn't matter how great the actor is, people are going to be turned off by the character.
A good example of this is Danny on NY. I think Carmine Giovinazzo is a great actor and he always knocks it out of the park no matter what the story line is. In the first three seasons Danny was hands down my favorite character. But since he has been tied to Lindsay and reduced to nothing more than Lindsay's husband and Lucy's father I could give two hoots about Danny as a character no matter how great Carmine plays the part. Carmine can only play what they give him to play. If what they give him sucks then the character is not going to be a good one.
My main point with Desertwind was that you can't seperate the writing out and say, "It's not the character's fault." Without the writing there would be no character. It all, including the writing, reflects on who the character is and if people like the character or not.