TVSquad

I like Samantha Who? I think it's a quirky and fun show with a pretty clever premise. What I don't get about it is Tim Russ' character. Don't get me wrong, I like Tim Russ. As a sci-fi geek, I think I'm pretty much required to. After all, Star Trek: Voyager came on while I was in college (I know, I'm aging myself here), and I'm glad to see him getting the work. I'm just not sure what the point of his role is.

As Frank, the doorman of the building Sam lives in, he has a working knowledge of what kind of a person she was pre-amnesia, but only Dena really didn't know "bad Sam." Samantha didn't seem to have any sort of special relationship with Frank then, and the writers haven't developed one now.

Did they just forget about him, or quickly realize they didn't know what to do with him? It's a weird thing on an otherwise solid show. Can you think of any other cases like that?

In its first season, Ryan was kind of that character on The Office, though he served a purpose in that Michael had a man-crush on him. Same for the aunts in the first season of Pushing Daisies. Not about the man-crush, but the weird lack of an active role on the show. But they've come into their own as important cast members this year, as did Ryan.

I know shows have dropped characters completely when they realized they didn't know what to do with them, but Frank is back this year and still in the main credits, though with again very, very little to do. At least it's a paycheck, right Tim?