As a general rule, the anime staff has to produce enough episodes of a particular region until the next main series games are developed and released. In some of these series, the writers do not leave enough loose ends or plot twists to develop storylines out of them. This was perhaps the reason why Kanto, and even Johto, had a lot of episodes that did not affect the canon.

The timeline from Gen I anime to Gen II was 2.5 years, and the Kanto League was finished at least 9 months before the Gen II games would be released in Japan. This was why the Orange Islands saga was made, a Gen I saga that had an abundance of episodes that (because of its nature as a "filler arc") did not drastically affect the canon too much.

Even though AG and DP focused on secondary storylines and developed extraneous characters to their fullest, these series also had a lot of filler episodes. This was especially apparent in AG when Ash did not have a formal rival until Morrison was introduced a few episodes before May's Grand Festival was started. The timeline between AG and DP, and DP and BW were four years each. The writers needed to stretch out both sagas at least that much until the next generation of games were released. This was why both AG and DP had a lot of filler episodes near the end of their runs.

Filler episodes are important for extending the life of a series that could have very well go into hiatus until the next games were set for release, but even so, the majority of fans still dislike the presence of filler all together. In some anime series, such as Naruto and Bleach, the filler material is introduced and developed abruptly, often in the middle of canonical story arcs. Therefore, I can see why some people do not like filler episodes.

Pokemon, however, does not have a linear storyline and unlike the former two examples, it is very flexible in its storytelling. As long as Ash fights the gym leaders and wins his badges, it does not matter how the episodes are presented. It is for this reason that I do not dislike the filler episodes in Pokemon. The filler episodes and characters may not have any true relevance to the storyline in the anime, but they are still important for providing entertainment to an audience and extending the vitality of the series for at least one more week.

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