There are certain characters who receive a lot of hatred from the fanbase for one reason or another. Most often, when their creators pick up on the hate, it's ignored, Rescued From the Scrappy Heap, or even played into. Sometimes, however, the creator(s) become so attached to this character that they spend increasing amounts of time focusing on him, magnifying the importance of his role, and having the other characters talk about how awesome he is, in painful ignorance of -- or sometimes in spite of -- the fans' hatred. That's the Creator's Pet in a nutshell.