The Rise of the Antihero on Television
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For much of its early history, television tended to favour clearly likeable protagonists, characters an audience could root for without reservation. Over time, a different kind of lead began appearing more often, someone morally compromised, sometimes genuinely unpleasant, whose story worked precisely because the audience's sympathy was never fully guaranteed.
Writing this kind of character well requires a careful balance. An antihero has to remain compelling enough that audiences keep watching despite themselves, usually through some mixture of competence, wit or a glimpse of buried decency that keeps outright rejection from ever quite settling in fully.
What made the antihero feel new was less the flaws themselves than the format's willingness to sit with them unresolved. Earlier television tended to punish or redeem a flawed character quickly, while this newer approach let complicated people simply remain complicated, often for entire seasons.