TV series are full of heroes and villains or protagonists and antagonists, but sometimes, the characters the audience is supposed to love become the most annoying. Sometimes the audience of a popular series will in love with the monsters, criminals, and antiheroes, while other times they will feel miffed by the supposed “good guys”. While some characters are fan-favorites from the get-go, there are a lot of television characters who never truly ingratiate themselves to the fans.
When the audience collectively decides that a character is annoying, it’s often a result of how they treat the fan-favorite character in the series, or it can also be a result of their stagnant nature in the series. The most annoying characters in TV feel like they do not have true arcs or have repetitive natures in their scenes. Though it boils down to taste and preference, these ten TV characters fans are the ones the audience is supposed to root for that they cannot stand.
DEBRA MORGAN: DEXTER
Played by Jennifer Carpenter
Debra Morgan has a knack for annoying the Dexter audience. She irritates viewers as the foil to Dexter’s brilliant best-laid plans, but her incessant tone and lack of self-awareness, has also allowed her to get under the skin of many Dexter fans. Her storylines see her relatively resistant to change, which is a common theme in television character arcs, but she’s often perceived as whiny, always seeming to complain about something new. It seems like even Dexter gets exasperated with his annoying little sister.
PIPER CHAPMAN: ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK
Played by Taylor Schilling
Piper Chapman is the protagonist of Orange Is The New Black, and typically, the audience is supposed to root for the main character. However, it’s not clear whether this protagonist of Orange Is the New Black is supposed to be well-liked by fans since the series debuted at a time when unlikable protagonists were all over the television. Piper surely gets under the skin of the audience.
She is so full of herself, under the belief she’s better than the other women in the prison who don’t have college degrees, and in a show with such a diverse group of characters, that makes it hard to root for her. Piper also seems to hold no accountability for her actions, as she constantly winds up cheating on her significant other, regardless of their gender. Piper’s prison mates give her a pretty hard time, so watching this Netflix series means that the audience doesn’t always have to like her, but appreciate her arc in the larger story.
NANCY BOTWIN: WEEDS
Played by Mary-Louise Parker
Nancy Botwin starts out on the show as the pitiful widowed housewife moving her way up from dime bags to ounces in the drug world. The audience is supposed to root for her success and for her to be able to provide for her family in the wake of losing her partner. When she was small potatoes, Nancy was actually once likable, but her narcissism and small success quickly spin out of control, and she turns into a complete egomaniac.
The audience definitely isn’t shaming her life choices as she’s still fun to watch, but Nancy certainly holds nothing back when it comes to her intimate affairs with several different men (and women!) throughout the series. With every season of Weeds that passed, Nancy Botwin became more and more insufferable with her ego and attitude. The hit series has had tentative plans to return for a sequel titled ‘Weeds 4.20‘, which is in early development with STARZ.
CRAIG MANNING: DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION
Played by Jake Epstein
. While some fans adore him, especially at the start of his time in the Next Generation series, others want to skip through his story as quickly as possible. There’s something about Craig Manning that just doesn’t sit right. He’s the troubled teen who lost his mother and ended up stuck with an abusive biological father, which nobody deserves. It seems Craig’s little sister and stepfather, Joey, are his only saving graces… except, of course, for all of his romantic interests, which is where the annoyances come in for the audience.
Craig has a propensity for cheating, two-timing Ashley and Manny during Degrassi:The Next Generation‘s third season. Despite Manny falling for him very quickly, he never treats her the way she thinks he will. He also brushes Ashley’s feelings aside repeatedly. Craig’s tendency to never learn to appreciate the women in his life makes his character arc less than stellar.
FIONA GALLAGHER: SHAMELESS
Played by Emmy Rossum
As the main caretaker in Showtime‘s hit series Shameless, Fiona Gallagher starts off empathetic. She carries a large load on her shoulders as she’s granted custody of her younger brothers and sisters. Fiona begins a downward spiral in season four when she accidentally leaves a pile of cocaine sitting out, which her 4-year-old brother Liam ingests, landing her in jail.
Fiona’s indiscretions don’t end there– she also sleeps with her boss-turned-boyfriend’s brother, impulsively gets married (and then divorced), and leaves her siblings high and dry on multiple occasions. Fiona ends up being a horrible caretaker despite seemingly wanting to hold her family together, but Fiona also made Shameless into the great show it was in its early seasons. As the show progressed, she simply became more frustrating of a character for the audience to watch.
DEAN FORESTER: GILMORE GIRLS
Played by Jared Padalecki
Season one of the hit series Gilmore Girls introduced Rory’s first boyfriend, Dean Forester. He appeared in the first episode of the series and became Rory’s crush just as she left her old school for a private school education. The two develop a sweet relationship, but Dean just doesn’t make the cut for Rory. While Jess and Rory connect over literature and writing, Dean tries his best, but Dean always comes up short.
Dean always seems to be brooding, but not in the stereotypically mysterious and sexy way that TV dramas go for. There’s nothing mysterious about Dean. He’s almost too safe, but not with his future wife Lindsay, who he ends up cheating on with Rory. Dean has entire episodes in which he dictates what’s right and wrong to Rory, especially when she develops an attraction to Jess, but he falls back into a secret relationship with Rory right after getting married. The audience sees him as a hypocrite.
PEYTON SAWYER: ONE TREE HILL
Played by Hilarie Burton
This classic 2000s teen-drama features some complex characters, including Peyton Sawyer. Adored by most fans, it’s Peyton’s helplessness and moody attitude that land her on the list of annoying TV characters. Though she had a very sarcastic way about her in the first season of One Tree Hill, Peyton was very sour and took it out on those around her.
Peyton’s creativity and love for music brought a lot of interesting storylines to the show
She does sleep with Lucas when he’s dating her best friend Brooke and betrays her again years later when she professes her love for Lucas, only after encouraging Brooke to date him once again. Peyton and Lucas wind up together in the end, exiting from the show in season 6. While Peyton’s creativity and love for music brought a lot of interesting storylines to the show, she and Lucas leaving the series helped pave the way for fresh characters.
CARL GRIMES: THE WALKING DEAD
Played by Chandler Riggs
Though it may be harsh to include a child on the list of TV characters who annoy the audience, the apocalypse holds everyone accountable. The Walking Dead made Carl have to man up quickly as he watched his mother die and helped deliver his baby sister, but his hardened exterior and awkward demeanor made him unlikable. So did his penchant in the early seasons for running headlong into trouble without any protection in a world filled with the undead.
To the writers’ (and Carl’s) credit, as the series progressed, he actually grew into a much more likable character. Part of that is a result of him forming a friendship with Michonne and learning more skills that would help him surviving in a world full of zombies. Carl also heroically sacrificed himself so his family could continue to live.
SOOKIE STACKHOUSE: TRUE BLOOD
Played by Anna Paquin
Sookie Stackhouse, the protagonist of HBO‘s vampire hit series True Blood, seemed to bother both characters in the show and viewers alike. Pam said it best when she declared: “I am so over Sookie and her precious fairy vagina and her unbelievably stupid name. F— Sookie!”
Sookie was the lead in a series inspired by supernatural romance novels. Because she was the lead, the majority of the romantic stories revolved around her. That could be frustrating for the viewers who didn’t understand why so many characters were interested in her or who wanted to see other characters get their time in the spotlight. In addition to that, Sookie also didn’t seem to understand that she wasn’t invulnerable and would constantly threaten people more powerful than her. While it was likely meant to make her appear brave, it made her appear thoughtless.
MARNIE MICHAELS: GIRLS
Played by Allison Williams
She’s narcissistic, completely unaware and oblivious, and a serial cheater
Though Lena Dunham’s esteemed HBO comedy Girls seems to poke more fun at its characters than take them seriously, Marnie never fails to be the person equivalent of nails on a chalkboard among the group of main characters. She’s narcissistic, completely unaware and oblivious, and a serial cheater. Girls made a good case for Marnie becoming worse and more annoying as the show continued.
Marnie keeps incredibly shallow relationships with all of the other characters in the show. She remains in romantic relationships when it’s clear they’re going nowhere, even getting involved with people who already have romantic partners, or who she knows her own friends are interested in as well. She’s also incredibly controlling, taking charge of vacations, girls’ nights, and other people’s birthday parties, unable to let anyone else be the boss. While in other shows, there would be a character arc about letting go, Marnie never gets that in Girls, making her the show’s most annoying character.
