22 Loathed Main Characters That Shouldn't Have Made It Past The First Episode
A while back, we wrote about some of the most hated main characters on TV, and we asked the BuzzFeed Community for their own submissions — so now, we're back from more!* Here are 19 absolutely insufferable TV show leads.
*With help from this Reddit thread rounded up in the last post.
1.Kate from Lost
"I don't even care that she killed her horrible father, but then all of the people that she got killed/put in harm's way while trying to avoid arrest is unacceptable. Then on the island all she did was whine about wanting to be included in everything, which in one case led to them getting captured. Then off the island, she uses Aaron, who isn't even her son, as an excuse to get out of trouble, and hides him from his grandmother. She was just so selfish."
"I can't argue with her reasons for killing her father; I'd go as far as to say she had a very good reason to do so (for a TV show, of course). But then she spent the entirety of the show saying she was innocent and being so upset whenever she had to face the consequences for her actions. SO ANNOYING. And don't even get me started on how she kept ping ponging between Jack and Sawyer depending on who she was pissed with at the moment. Ugh."
—ns67
2.Elena from The Vampire Diaries
Suggested by rosysage76
"Not a single other character in that show makes bad decisions not only for herself but for other people as consistently as she does."
"I hated how everyone was always protecting her, sacrificing themselves for her… but what does Elena do? Whine, put her self in dangerous situations and just make it harder for everyone else. Also she was a complete douche for entire Stefan/Damon thing."
"She’s a bit bland, but the main thing I didn’t like about her was how she always made everything about herself ([for example,] Caroline’s mom is dying and Elena made it about herself [and] even has a 'romantic scene' with Damon right after). She also refuses to take accountability for her actions (she hurt her friends when her humanity was off, and when they brought it up to her when her humanity was back on she told them not to expect an apology, because she was too busy wallowing in self pity). She also left her boyfriend for his brother."
3.Lynette from Desperate Housewives
"Lynette was the ABSOLUTE WORST! She was selfish, manipulative, domineering, unreasonable…I could go on and on. She never respected her husband, Tom. Made him get rid of his daughter after she got the girl’s mother killed! She spent years complaining about Tom and when they finally broke up, she did everything she could to sabotage his new relationship. The woman was the EPITOME of toxic!!!!"
4.Hannah From Girls
Suggested by aleeh4b6e65068
"I watched the first episode and was like 'Nope, not for me, life is too short.' When she told her dad that he should be grateful that she’s not a drug addict? I couldn’t even begin to understand her thought process."
"The character was not that interesting. At least to me, she seemed [like a] one-dimensional narcissistic, privileged first world baby who flips out every time life is more complex that she had thought."
"The whole set of characters was incredibly self-centered, shallow and uncaring. The way they portrayed friendship was disheartening; everything was about serving their own egos."
5.Bones from Bones
Suggested by u/Ultimate_Consumer
"She is one of the worst main characters ever. She’s portrayed as this intelligent, calculated, by-the-book person. Yet she regularly wants to break US law because it will finish the case, or gets to decide when she wants to be 'non-emotional' and that things shouldn’t be a big deal, but burns people for being emotional or irrational. I’ve been trying to keep watching the show but the writing lets her get away with so much garbage that I can’t do it. Every other character just sucks up to her in every way. Blows my mind the show had as many seasons as it did."
6.Jess from New Girl
![<div><p>"Jess was very frustrating because almost every issue she had was self inflicted. [The] show could've run better without her."</p><p>—<a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristancruse" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:kristancruse;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">kristancruse</a></p><p>"The first two seasons, yay. It was a great mashup of different personalities bouncing off each other, then coming together to make it work. Then, the writers seemed to waaaaayyyyy 'over-quirk' Jess. She slowly became very annoying [and] clingy, almost a parody of herself."</p><p>—<a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/morgan_le_slay" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:morgan_le_slay;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">morgan_le_slay</a></p><p>"SO many of the episodes at the start of the series were [like this]: Jess wants to do something, either out of impulse or to try to force the universe to be the way she wants it to be. The guys collectively tell her, 'No Jess, that's a bad idea.' Jess does it anyway. Tsunami of consequences. No lessons learned.</p><p>Her relationship with Nick (and Nick wasn't perfect either) felt constantly sabotaged by Jess, often due to the formula above. ... As the show went on she continued to be the 'quirky' one that everyone else often had to navigate around, and late in the game when she had Jury Duty (AKA Zooey Deschanel was pregnant) and she was gone for a long stretch and Megan Fox was around...the show didn't miss a beat and, in a lot of people's opinions, was better."</p><p>—<a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=74679X1524629&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeed.com%2Fhannahmarder%2Floathed-main-characters&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FAskReddit%2Fcomments%2Fxr9p1s%2Fcomment%2Fiqeghcz%2F%3Futm_source%3Dreddit%26utm_medium%3Dweb2x%26context%3D3&xcust=6907790%7CBF-VERIZON&xs=1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:u/RKO-Cutter;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">u/RKO-Cutter</a></p></div><span> Fox</span>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/7k4ih6I9WhARxmELMi9sqQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTE3MDc-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/buzzfeed_articles_778/beca5867984c97edf9e37c3456a49c17)
"Jess was very frustrating because almost every issue she had was self inflicted. [The] show could've run better without her."
"The first two seasons, yay. It was a great mashup of different personalities bouncing off each other, then coming together to make it work. Then, the writers seemed to waaaaayyyyy 'over-quirk' Jess. She slowly became very annoying [and] clingy, almost a parody of herself."
"SO many of the episodes at the start of the series were [like this]: Jess wants to do something, either out of impulse or to try to force the universe to be the way she wants it to be. The guys collectively tell her, 'No Jess, that's a bad idea.' Jess does it anyway. Tsunami of consequences. No lessons learned.
Her relationship with Nick (and Nick wasn't perfect either) felt constantly sabotaged by Jess, often due to the formula above. ... As the show went on she continued to be the 'quirky' one that everyone else often had to navigate around, and late in the game when she had Jury Duty (AKA Zooey Deschanel was pregnant) and she was gone for a long stretch and Megan Fox was around...the show didn't miss a beat and, in a lot of people's opinions, was better."
7.Penny from The Big Bang Theory
"I know it's supposed to be stereotypically hot girl next door the nerd falls for and eventually win over. However, by the time she and Leonard are in their final relationship she’s a very emotionally abusive partner. She’s constantly talking down to him, belittling his interests and hobbies. She’s constantly reminding him how much she’s out of his league and is 'lucky' to have her, that she could replace him instantly while he could never get another hot girl. Her past sexual exploits are always brought up and used to humiliate him."
8.Rachel from Glee...
Suggested by camilladaniele
"I watched it at 12 and thought, 'oh, poor Rachel is just a misunderstood quirky talented girl.' Watched again a couple years later and nope."
"I don't get how she had any friends. Especially after sending Sunshine ... to a crack house...wtf was that?"
"Every time they said she was the best singer, it ruined the reality for me. MAYBE she was the best technical singer in-universe, but Mercedes’ voice was just much nicer to listen too. Everyone else’s voice was so much nicer to listen too. I hated her, but I also hated the hard on the creators/writers had for her."
9....and also Will from Glee
Suggested by u/Famous-Honey-9331
"I loved Glee as a teen. As an adult rewatching it, and now a qualified teacher, Will’s relationships and behavior with the children makes me uncomfortable."
"Rachel was awful and the show knew it (most of the time). Will was actually the worst. Dude was an absolute scumbag."
"His 'rapping' was a crime against humanity."
10.Mateo from Superstore
"He is straight-up just a bad person for no reason. He treats EVERYONE horribly, even after they all do everything they can to stop him getting detained by ICE. In Season 6, he was so excited to kick Jonah while he was down because he was getting something out of it that he was taking away from Jonah.
I can never forget when he tried to make Garrett (who is in a wheelchair) shovel outside and then said 'I want you all to remember this next time you say Garrett can do anything.' Most screwed up joke I’ve ever heard."
11.Jim from The Office...
![<div><p>"[Jim] led on a bunch of girls (Katy, Brenda, Karen, etc.) knowing he was in love with an engaged woman he continuously flirted with (Pam allowed this though). Treated them like disposable humans. Broke up with Karen and asked Pam out the same day. He’s living his best life, [with] no remorse, while there is a girl completely heartbroken over him.</p><p>[Jim] left his wife taking care of a baby and a toddler and maintaining a house ([that] he bought without telling her) to pursue his dream. [He] made [his] wife believe he was having a bad time at work to not make her 'feel worse' about being alone with the kids. [The] whole time he was being driven around in limousines and meeting his sport idols. One bad day, [he] went into total dick mode over a dance recital she didn’t record when he should’ve been there in the first place.</p><p>[Jim] made Dwight believe the office was contaminated with radiation, got him to waste money on a work bus, [and] made him drive it to a pie stand. [He] bossed him around like an animal all day to fix his marriage problems. All while Dwight was going through a crisis thinking the radiation made him infertile.</p><p>There’s more but I’m tired, lol. <i>The Office</i> is my favorite show. Jim isn’t the worst, I just seriously don’t comprehend why he is so loved."</p><p>—<a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=74679X1524629&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeed.com%2Fhannahmarder%2Floathed-main-characters&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FAskReddit%2Fcomments%2Fxr9p1s%2Fcomment%2Fiqgt2v5%2F%3Futm_source%3Dreddit%26utm_medium%3Dweb2x%26context%3D3&xcust=6907790%7CBF-VERIZON&xs=1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:u/SpiderTingle;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">u/SpiderTingle</a></p></div><span> NBC</span>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/kTO4k8GTOlW9Wm1dKVCcpg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTE3MDc-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/buzzfeed_articles_778/52c84f031ed016a86e4657f103825237)
"[Jim] led on a bunch of girls (Katy, Brenda, Karen, etc.) knowing he was in love with an engaged woman he continuously flirted with (Pam allowed this though). Treated them like disposable humans. Broke up with Karen and asked Pam out the same day. He’s living his best life, [with] no remorse, while there is a girl completely heartbroken over him.
[Jim] left his wife taking care of a baby and a toddler and maintaining a house ([that] he bought without telling her) to pursue his dream. [He] made [his] wife believe he was having a bad time at work to not make her 'feel worse' about being alone with the kids. [The] whole time he was being driven around in limousines and meeting his sport idols. One bad day, [he] went into total dick mode over a dance recital she didn’t record when he should’ve been there in the first place.
[Jim] made Dwight believe the office was contaminated with radiation, got him to waste money on a work bus, [and] made him drive it to a pie stand. [He] bossed him around like an animal all day to fix his marriage problems. All while Dwight was going through a crisis thinking the radiation made him infertile.
There’s more but I’m tired, lol. The Office is my favorite show. Jim isn’t the worst, I just seriously don’t comprehend why he is so loved."
12....and Andy from The Office
"Aside from when he became manager of the branch in the late seasons, he was very unlikable during the whole series. When I first watched the show, I just figured he was kind of a side character that had some funny bits, but on my second watch through I realized how annoying and terrible it would be to work with a guy like that. I grew to despise him."
13.Richard from Silicon Valley
"He lost himself and his friends actual billions through a long and continued series of awful business decisions, yet is too prideful and up his own ass to take a step back and realize it. The whole show is watching a man obliterate once-in-a-lifetime opportunities over and over and over and over. At this point I'm hate-watching Richard as much as I am actually enjoying the side characters."
14.Beth from Yellowstone
"She was always a witch, but in a way you kind of wish you could be: blatantly blunt with no fucks given. They’ve made her so snarky now, I can’t even stand her. Every time she has something to say it turns into a monologue that’s supposed to show the audience just how badass she is."
15.Rick from The Walking Dead
"What a tool. Actually, the entire group. Everything that group touched went to hell. They'd stumble upon a camp of people living in peace and harmony with their own set of rules and they'd leave them in ruins. I made it through 4.5 seasons when I realized it's the same story over and over again. And man I could not stand to hear him yell 'Carl!' Also, why was he so mad his wife was with Shane? They assumed he was dead and they were facing the apocalypse and that's what Rick was mad about? I have no idea how people stuck with this show."
"He would also be all shocked pickachu face when his unsupervised son would go do something stupid and his entire plan would be to yell 'CAUURRRL!' over and over in a sound-responsive zombie infested area."
"I just really really hate how hypocritical he is, specifically at the farm when he saved the kid and then does this weird execution only to…torture the guy??? His character just really annoyed me when he’d preach about empathy and whatever, then give second chances to people who don’t deserve it while doing the opposite to others."
16.Lilly from How I Met Your Mother...
![<div><p>"[She] left her fiancée right before their wedding by going to school across the country, then expected Marshall to immediately welcome her back when she failed and ran back to him, <i>and</i> expected to just continue planning their wedding as if nothing happened. Then once again chose her career over family when she tried dragging Marshall to Italy, only for her to get mad at Marshall for doing the same thing.</p><p>Not to mention the fact that she actively sabotaged Ted's relationships she didn't deem worthy of her and Marshall growing old with. ... [She] also hid massive credit card debt from her husband, forced him to stay at the soulless corporate job he hated, and then later gave him shit when he started to actually like that corporate job."</p><p>—<a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=74679X1524629&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeed.com%2Fhannahmarder%2Floathed-main-characters&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FAskReddit%2Fcomments%2Fxr9p1s%2Fcomment%2Fiqedpw0%2F%3Futm_source%3Dreddit%26utm_medium%3Dweb2x%26context%3D3&xcust=6907790%7CBF-VERIZON&xs=1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:u/ShawshankException;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">u/ShawshankException</a></p></div><span> CBS</span>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/eu2YQogmrGEhZoG3A5ydrA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTk2MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/buzzfeed_articles_778/d27c90ebfd278047f5160eec3c70e81f)
"[She] left her fiancée right before their wedding by going to school across the country, then expected Marshall to immediately welcome her back when she failed and ran back to him, and expected to just continue planning their wedding as if nothing happened. Then once again chose her career over family when she tried dragging Marshall to Italy, only for her to get mad at Marshall for doing the same thing.
Not to mention the fact that she actively sabotaged Ted's relationships she didn't deem worthy of her and Marshall growing old with. ... [She] also hid massive credit card debt from her husband, forced him to stay at the soulless corporate job he hated, and then later gave him shit when he started to actually like that corporate job."
17....and Ted from How I Met Your Mother
![<div><p>"I stopped watching the show cause of how whiny, 'woe is me Robin won’t love me,' [Ted was], after she made herself very clear what she was and wasn’t looking for."</p><p>—<a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristancruse" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:kristancruse;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">kristancruse</a></p><p>"A typical self proclaimed 'nice guy.' ... I remember he went to great lengths to steal client information from a matchmaker agency, because he thought she was 'the one.' He also went back to a girl who he dumped on her birthday because he was worried that what if she was 'the one'… then he dumped her again on her birthday because he didn’t want to 'waste her time.'"</p><p>—<a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=74679X1524629&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeed.com%2Fhannahmarder%2Floathed-main-characters&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fuser%2Fmeowmeowwong%2F&xcust=6907790%7CBF-VERIZON&xs=1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:u/meowmeowwong;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">u/meowmeowwong</a></p></div><span> CBS</span>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/EIwg0O9CdIixZku2gSa5tA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTE3MDc-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/buzzfeed_articles_778/3203727f37fd9cb2b604197333d977cf)
"I stopped watching the show cause of how whiny, 'woe is me Robin won’t love me,' [Ted was], after she made herself very clear what she was and wasn’t looking for."
"A typical self proclaimed 'nice guy.' ... I remember he went to great lengths to steal client information from a matchmaker agency, because he thought she was 'the one.' He also went back to a girl who he dumped on her birthday because he was worried that what if she was 'the one'… then he dumped her again on her birthday because he didn’t want to 'waste her time.'"
18.Clarke from The 100
"Step 1) Clarke has a terrible plan.
Step 2) Terrible plan creates a new enemy.
Step 3) Clarke promises to fix it.
Step 4) Clarke screws someone over to fix it.
Step 5) See step 1."
19.Zack Morris from Saved by the Bell
Suggested by radst1984
"There's a TV show called Zack Morris is Trash. Some guy basically breaks down each episode of Saved By the Bell and points out every single heinous thing Zack does to his friends and classmates."
"What a narcissistic asshole."
"Literally, how was he never expelled?"
20.Lorelai from Gilmore Girls
"I would argue that Lorelai is worse than Rory on Gilmore Girls. The entire show is basically one big lesson how to NOT parent. You should never treat your child as your adult best friend in the way Lorelai did. Though, Lorelai also had horrible parents, so it's kind of a long cycle of it in that family."
"I stopped watching that show because as I grew up and became more emotionally mature, I realized how immature Lorelei was."
21.Sookie from True Blood
Suggested by andread14
"Sookie was an idiot who thought she was smart."
"Sookie and Bill were so annoying and boring but surrounded by such interesting characters! I read a lot of the book series and she’s a drag in the books, too."
22.And finally...Tweety Bird, LOL
"I always hated that obnoxious little bird."
"I always feel sorry for Sylvester because that little bird is so obnoxious."
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