Top 10 Most Shocking Betrayals in Sitcoms

After Dan Conner’s near-fatal heart attack in Season Eight, Roseanne finds out he’s been breaking his strict, life-saving diet. But there’s more than potato chips and ice cream to fight over. His betrayal brings up years’ worth of resentment and leads up to what is probably their most vicious fight ever. Although they still manage to get in some fun one-liners, by the end, the set is destroyed and their marriage is on shaky ground. For longtime viewers, it was an unbelievable way to end a season. Though Dan would cheat on Roseanne in the controversial and later retconned ninth season, this fight feels raw and authentic in a way only “Roseanne” could do at its height.

Lucille and Buster Bluth are probably closer than a mother and son should be. He’s been coddled to the point of incompetence. But Lucille’s dominance is challenged when Buster ends up in a secret relationship with her best friend and social rival, Lucille Austero. Things are frosty between the Lucilles even when they have nothing to fight over, but this just adds some more weight to their standard insults. What’s most shocking here is how wild and convoluted their affair is. Buster makes several romantic gestures at Lucille purely by accident, and through a series of misunderstandings and Freudian hysteria, ends up with her for most of the first season.

Speaking of another family who lost everything, the pampered Roses slide into poverty kicking and screaming. The entire premise of “Schitt’s Creek” rests on the theft of millions of dollars and the loss of every expensive wig and abstract art piece they hold dear. In the show’s very first scene, we’re watching their belongings be repossessed by government agents. As it turns out, their business manager has embezzled millions. This leaves them broke and subject to seizures of every asset they own, except, of course, the town of Schitt’s Creek. Considering how hilarious the outcome was, this is one sitcom backstabbing we’re not mad at.

Dorothy, Rose, and Blanche win tickets to a movie premiere party where they will get to meet star Burt Reynolds, but they don’t have an extra ticket for Sophia. She’s not pleased, but the girls gloat and insist she’ll get over it. When they’re arrested on suspicion of being “ladies of the evening,” Sophia is called to bail them out. But after spending the episode being left out, she ultimately has her revenge. She steals the tickets and goes to the party in their place. Yeah, it was kind of mean, but who cares? She gets to meet Burt Reynolds.

Ron Swanson is not a sentimental man. His co-workers are not co-workers, or friends, they are work proximity associates. But in the time jump between the last two seasons, he left his job and is no longer on speaking terms with Leslie. So, when the feuding ex-work proximity associates found themselves locked in the Parks Department offices overnight to resolve their mysterious feud, we finally learned what we suspected all along. Ron does indeed have a heart, and Leslie broke it by forgetting about a lunch date. To a man who loves diners as much as Ron, this was the ultimate betrayal.

For years, Gary has ignored his own sense of self to prop Selena up and has gotten nothing but disrespect in return. That continues in the series finale. “Veep” went full dark at the end, with the show’s most innocent character taking the fall for all the criminal double-dealings of former VP and ascending president Selina Meyer. When she has to dodge a huge criminal charge, she seems almost sorry to make Gary the fall guy. She’s not sorry enough to stop herself, of course. Selina’s double talk and hint of remorse about it just make it all the more cold. While she bathes in the glory of her alleged sacrifices, FBI agents lead her right-hand man away.

Although his father hasn’t been in his life for years, when he blows back in and tries to pick up where they left off, Will is receptive. They even plan a trip together. All that changes when his father packs up and leaves again, even trying to go while Will is out. Despite his promises to be better, he still can’t deliver. Will’s emotional reaction with his Uncle Phil spoke to the pain of having a parent who is still alive but unwilling to be a parent. It also showed young Will Smith’s range as an actor.

The entire premise of this fantasy sitcom originally rested on Michael, a supposed angel, having created a utopian afterlife. He is super nice, with an almost squeaky-clean image. But in the first season’s now iconic finale twist, it is revealed that Michael is actually a demon. The four regular characters are really just trapped in an experiment in “The Bad Place,” where they are meant to torture each other for eternity. Though the show is way more interesting than good and evil, it’s hard to look at Michael quite the same way after that. What else is this man capable of behind that friendly smile?

You want to strike dread in the heart of every fan of “The Office?” Just say the words, “Scott’s Tots.” Seriously, we don’t even want to write about this one. But there’s no way to do a list of sitcom betrayals without it. Sometime before the series, clueless Dunder Mifflin boss Michael Scott promised a bunch of underprivileged children he’d pay their college tuition. He foolishly believed he’d be a millionaire by the time he had to make good. Well, the day comes, and we are forced to watch him break the news that these kids, who perform and make speeches about his generosity, don’t have college funds.

The rationale for this potentially relationship-ending betrayal literally introduced a new phrase into the show, and culture at large. “We were on a break” was what Ross would say whenever his controversial one-night stand was brought up again. After a fight in Season Three, Ross and Rachel came to an understanding about the future of their relationship, just not the same one. Mistakenly thinking that Rachel was already with another guy, Ross had a casual fling with Chloe from the Xerox place. Was it cheating? The jury seems to be out on that, but it devastated Rachel nonetheless. It would take literal years for them to repair the relationship.

Which of these betrayals made you forget you were watching a comedy? Let us know in the comments.