Random Regrettable Characters Who Nearly Ruined Good TV Shows (15 items)

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  (#3) Piper Chapman

  • Orange Is the New Black

  This is Piper's story to tell, so what do we do when the main character of a drama is also the least interesting? Orange Is the New Black is filled with three-dimensional, well-written characters. Initially, Piper is our protagonist; however, it quickly becomes clear that she is totally self-absorbed and toxic to everyone in her life.

  Thankfully, the writers and creator Jenji Kohan realized this rather quickly and began to really focus on the many other interesting inmates at Litchfield Penitentiary.
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  (#11) Ted Mosby

  • How I Met Your Mother

  Like Piper Chapman, this is Ted's tale to tell. It's hard to dislike the main character and still enjoy a show. Thankfully, HIMYM's supporting cast picks up the slack. It takes the storyteller nine seasons to finally answer the question, who is the mother? The answer turns out to be a waste of time.

  Also, should Ted really be telling his children all about his youthful escapades?
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  (#14) Negan, 'The Walking Dead'

  Should a villain as cruel and heartless as Negan really be smiling so much? Jeffrey Dean Morgan goes way, way, over the top in portraying TWD's most vile villain. With all the dramatic lean-backs, ear to ear grins, and loud pontifications, Negan's ramblings became tiresome and ineffective somewhere around the mid-point of Season 7.

  Audiences seemed to agree; the show's ratings hit a 5-year low with Season 7's finale.
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  (#2) Hannah Horvath

  • Girls

  Hannah is supposed to represent the feminist movement, a symbol of strength for women everywhere, but for many, she was just "a prototypical millennial." Some even believed her actions were a reflection of actress and show creator Lena Dunham, who was has received her share of public criticism.

  Hannah's best friends are also pretty much the same way. Somehow the lack of any true foil for Hannah worked on Girls. 
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  (#7) Skyler White

  • Breaking Bad

  The internet hate machine became so intense towards Skyler White that the actress who portrayed her, Anna Gunn, felt the need to write an op-ed piece in the New York Times, which addressed the double-standard toward female characters:

  As an actress, I realize that viewers are entitled to have whatever feelings they want about the characters they watch. But as a human being, I’m concerned that so many people react to Skyler with such venom... Because Skyler didn’t conform to a comfortable ideal of the archetypical female, she had become a kind of Rorschach test for society, a measure of our attitudes toward gender.

  Skyler did not become universally hated on Breaking Bad until she found out that her cancer-stricken husband was not only making and selling drugs, but also becoming a ruthless kingpin in the process. She had understandable moral objections to her husband's new trade, but some argued that Walter, despite the fact that he was putting the family in danger, was the show's "hero," so anything or anyone who got in his way essentially became the bad guy.
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  (#8) Samuel "Screech" Powers

  • Saved by the Bell: The College Years, Good Morning, Miss Bliss, Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Saved by the Bell

  The utopian existence that was Bayside High was more believable than Screech being BFFs with all the cool kids. But, in the early seasons, Screech was often treated as just another member of the gang rather than simple comic relief, and his character had some surprising moments of humanity.

  However, later on, the show used Screech more and more for cheap laughs - a schtick that got old fast.

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