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Tom or Michael?


Guest beau_t

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Who did you prefer? Which one was the best dad? Who had the better all round character?

I personally prefer Michael. Tom was just too "perfect" for me. His "tough but fair" act is quite clichéd and annoying to watch. It's like everything he ever says to the kids is about teaching them a valuable life lesson or has a moral attached to it. "Yes Steven you WILL replace the tent pegs because life is all about being responsible and if you don't replace the tent pegs you'll end up being a drug dealer" etc.

Michael I prefer because he made mistakes with his own kids and also with the foster ones, he didn't get it right all the time and also the kids didn't always powder him with the unconditional love they seemed to give Tom.

What do you think?

Also let's try and keep "The Pippas" out of it for a change :lol: Seen so many threads turn into a "who was the best Pippa" arguement!!

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Yeh I agree, I preferred Michael and Pippa #2 ;)

I was only really big into the show from the early 90s after Tom had died though. Even though Ive gone back and watched his episodes, Michael is the original 'Dad' for me so its hard to judge really.

I agree with you though that there was more dimension to Michael - we knew more about him as a person and his history, with his kids etc. and when he and Pippa split for a while, it helped give his character more depth, we got to see more one-on-one relationships he had we the kids and Pippa. And his death was so much better written, so sad :(

ps. I thought that when Tom made his re-appearance as a ghost a couple of years ago with Sally, it was really well written and filmed.

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Tom by a landslide. In my opinion they aren't even close.

Would be interested to hear why you think that, other than the fact that one was the original.

Tom for the most part was amiable and good-natured. Michael more often than not was a bit of pill. In fact I'd probably only count Dan Baker as the only adult male in the history of the program who whined and complained more than Michael and wasn't considered to be/written to be an antagonistic character. Just never really warmed to the character of Michael Ross period.

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My first instinct is to say Michael, probably because he was the one I grew up with.But actually, I don't think there's much to choose between them.Now that I've seen a fair bit of Tom, I find I don't really agree with the "He was much more into fostering than Michael was" argument that the elder statesman fans have often come out with.I think both of them were 100% committed once they'd taken responsibility for someone but both needed to be talked into it a lot of the time:As early as the pilot, Tom's bewildered about Pippa asking Bobby to stay.I think both of them were basically compassionate and amiable, but with a rather strong stubborn streak, and both were capable of making mistakes even though they were basically good fathers.

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  • 2 weeks later...

If I were to choose which parent to have I'd choose Michael over Tom overall I think, I just preferred his nature, he was mellow and fair but could be stern when needed, whereas whilst Tom could be the typical 'daggy dad' and easy going he could be quite sharp and abrupt, plus I enjoy the fact that Tom instantly makes me think of the beginning of the show and one of the best years 1988 just as Michael was a part of the 'golden era' - I enjoy both characters.

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  • 5 months later...

Although I had posted that I like Michael better anyway, the latest episodes have really verified this for me! The way Tom treated Pippa was just horrible over the past couple of weeks. And while you could just about understand his point of view, considering what he saw, he carried on like an idiot. And then when he finally did learn the truth (not to mention realise the shameful amount of effort so many people had to go to simply to get him to listen) did he so much as apologise? I may have missed it, but I didn't hear the word "Sorry". If I was Pippa, I'd have slapped him. He seemed more concerned about not being able to beat up a much fitter guy, than the fact he had treated his wife like crap and caused such a miserable atmosphere in the family for so long.

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