Top 10 Awful Truths About TV Characters We Love

Detective Jake Peralta is a fun and funny guy. But as entertaining as his antics are, he’s still an immature man child entrusted with a gun. Jake is an incredibly irresponsible police officer and has been repeatedly fooled by the same criminal multiple times, despite knowing he shouldn’t trust him! Jake’s immaturity also hampers his personal life. He frequently makes decisions that will affect his girlfriend and later wife, Amy Santiago, without consulting her. Plus, he often takes his best friend Charles Boyle for granted and mistreats or mocks him more than a good friend should. Admittedly, Boyle can be a little over-involved in Jake’s life, but still – it’s not a good look.

Although he’s frequently seen as the straight man amidst his admittedly bonkers family, Michael Bluth is far from the picture of stability that he seems. While he’s a better parent than anyone else in his family, that bar is incredibly low. He’s overprotective of his son and doesn’t always treat George Michael well or pay attention to his life, like frequently forgetting his girlfriend’s name. Michael also isn’t above using his family members for his own gain or ignoring their feelings when it’s inconvenient for him. Sure, he’s the most normal Bluth, but he’s still a Bluth!

The bar this show is named for has many regular customers, but easily its most frequent customer is Norm Peterson. Sure, Norm’s frequent witticisms are charming. And the fact that everyone knows his name and greets him when he arrives is fun. But our love for the man can’t disguise the fact that Norm is most likely dependent on alcohol. The guy’s bar tab is astronomically large and his love for beer is a running gag on the show, though that’s more sad than funny, at least out of context. His frequent presence at Cheers can’t have helped his oft-struggling marriage either. We love ya’ Normie, but everything in moderation, alright?

Yeah yeah, we’ll admit – we rooted for them too! This will they/won’t they couple suckered us all in while we watched the show, because of their initial romance, but as time has gone on, we’ve become less enamored with Ross Geller and Rachel Green. When they were together, the pair of them were either insufferably smug or sniping at one another. While separated, they were far too involved in each other’s love lives than is healthy. Although Ross generally comes off worse (they were definitely not on a break), Rachel isn’t blameless either and we can’t help but feel like the show would’ve been better served focusing less on them.

Given that he’s arguably the most popular character on “The Big Bang Theory,” you’d think that Dr. Sheldon Cooper would be a bit more…likeable. While it’s clear that Sheldon has some difficulty understanding social cues and getting in touch with his emotions, that doesn’t excuse the fact that he’s incredibly controlling over his friends’ behavior, running roughshod over their wants and desires, to the point where most people would unfriend him. Sheldon’s also incredibly inconsiderate to his girlfriend and later wife, Amy, on a regular basis. We get that Sheldon’s not built like most people, but you’d think that a genius would be able to figure out that the common factor in all his negative social interactions is HIM!

The poster boy for ‘60s style and coolness, Don Draper is a fantastic character with many layers. However, a lot of those layers indicate that he’s not a great person. Despite not openly harassing women like some of his colleagues, Don still mistreats practically every woman in his life in a myriad of ways, from his infidelity, to gaslighting, to exploiting Peggy’s devotion to him. Then there’s how he largely ignores his family, including his children and brother. Plus, there’s the whole, stealing a dead man’s identity thing. Don may have style, but his substance is definitely a toxic one.

Although protagonist and narrator Ted Mosby is a surprisingly scummy womanizer too, Barney is in a league of his own. While there’s no denying that Barney is an entertaining and hilarious character, he’s also incredibly creepy in how devoted he is to getting laid. The Barnacle has written a literal book on the many outlandish methods he uses to pick up women, and as funny as some of them are, the whole concept is desperate, sad, and gross when you think about it. Also, despite mostly becoming a better person over time, Barney’s treatment of the women he hooks up with is pretty abysmal too.

As tempted as we were to talk about Jim Halpert’s bullying, Michael Scott proved too tempting a target. While he may be the lead character for most of the show, manager Michael Scott is, despite what it says on his mug, not a good boss at all. He inserts himself into his employees’ lives far too much, regularly insults or embarrasses them, and has even harassed several to the point where it’s unbelievable he wasn’t sued or fired. He also regularly displays racist and sexist opinions, which must have been a nightmare for HR guy Toby…you know, even more than Michael’s hatred for him. Although, most of Michael’s behavior isn’t malicious, ignorance that what you’re doing is wrong doesn’t excuse it.

Look, we’re not defending the writing decisions of season 8 – burning King’s Landing for no adequately explained reason went too far! But even disregarding that, Daenerys Targaryen is far from the perfect empowering savior everyone wants her to be. She may have been the Breaker of Chains, but Dany also takes vicious retribution on her enemies throughout the show, practicing collective punishment and killing people without trial or even investigation. Daenerys frequently uses force and the threat of violence to get what she wants, even if she doesn’t need to. That she’s doing so in the name of a good cause is more terrifying than it is comforting.

Before we get to our top picks, here are a few honorable mentions:

Kate Austen Is a Selfish Murderer
“Lost” (2004-10)

Oliver Queen Is a Good Hero But a Bad Person
“Arrow” (2012-20)

Bill Compton Is a Villain
“True Blood” (2008-14)

Archie Andrews Is Far From a Golden Boy
“Riverdale” (2017-)

The Gang Have All Gotten WORSE
“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (2005-)

As the protagonist of “Breaking Bad,” chemistry teacher turned meth kingpin Walter White elicits sympathy from the audience. However, just because it’s Walt’s story, doesn’t make him a good guy. The legendary Heisenberg’s road to hell is paved with good intentions to provide for his family, but his simmering, newfound pride makes him willing to sacrifice nearly anything that stands in his way. Walt is a murderer many times over, even watching his partner’s girlfriend die, while also terrorizing the family he set out to protect. We’re not sure whether the fact that so many of us continue to root for Walt up until the show’s end is a credit to the writers or whether it says something about us.