Herman (Herman and Katnip)

Herman the Mouse is the main protagonist of the 1940s to 50s show Herman and Katnip. He is the mortal enemy and arch-nemesis to the more clownishly dim-witted Katnip and the leader of his four loyal cousins. He is voiced by Arnold Stang.

Why He Sucks

 * 1) He is a Gary-Stu, one of the most irredeemably sadistic Gary-Stus ever made.
 * 2) He never, if ever, gets his comeuppance for his cruel actions against Katnip, who is a thoroughly sympathetic scapegoat & torture-victim that is always perceived as the villain. Instead, Herman wins in every episode, making him a huge Karma Houdini.
 * 3) Speaking of which, Herman is someone we are supposed to root for since he is obviously ripping off the idea of the heroic ideal of Jerry the Mouse from Tom & Jerry, but he is barely well-intentioned and doesn't really have anything we should like about him defeating Katnip daily, much to the point that he usually comes off as more of an irredeemable villain than the titular Katnip is made out to be.
 * 4) *This is especially evident where Katnip in an episode is either sleeping or simply doing his job without bugging anyone while Herman or even his cousins are causing trouble around wherever Katnip goes.
 * 5) *Speaking of which, there were shorts where Herman and his inconsistently young cousins pick on Katnip whether he is not around or even when Herman is still torturing Katnip, just to make him even more 'likable' than he already was.
 * 6) In fact, he is so cruel, malicious, and sadistic that he even makes the worst version of Jerry look like an absolute angel in comparison.
 * 7) He is also very manipulative towards his ineffectual enemy, much to the point that it always comes off as mean-spirited at best to downright cruel and completely harsh at worst. Especially where the attacks he pulls on Katnip are way too murderous and underhanded to come off as morally righteous. And worse, none of the attacks he pulls on them are funny at all, and instead, they come off as extremely hurtful and it makes Herman more hateable than forgivable.
 * 8) With that said, he never gives Katnip, an ill-starred and fallible bungler of a guarding housecat, any mercy and always has him either murdering Katnip or making him suffer a lot of the time.
 * 9) Because of this, he isn't likable in any way, shape, and form.
 * 10) His weird voice that has a vague hinting of a Brooklyn accent in it is very uncomfortable to hear.
 * 11) * His singing is very bad, thanks to his accent.
 * 12) His attempts at humor or witty lines always fail and fall flat on his face because of lacking any real comedic touches with his sayings (e.g "There is more than one way to skin cat" from the episode "From Mad to Worse", even for a cartoon mouse. That comes off as extremely disturbing).
 * 13) His design might be okay, but it comes across as unimaginative and lazy just like Katnip.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Despite being one of the biggest Gary-Stus around, he can be rational and show common sense towards Katnip's foolishness.
 * 2) He was shown to be briefly likable in shorts that don't revolve around him being against Katnip, especially in some cartoons where he is paired with Henry the Rooster where he helps the rooster stand up against his utterly abusive wife Bertha/Chickenpie. (Unfortunately, where he was still paired with Katnip, he suffered from more Flanderization by becoming more of a ruthless, sadistic jerk than before)
 * 3) While lazy and unimaginative, his design comes off as either cute, poorly done, or just okay, depending on your view.

Trivia

 * Itchy from Itchy & Scratchy is based on Herman because of Herman's sadism and his cruel & manipulative tendencies towards Katnip.