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(#1) Frank Gallagher
- Shameless, Shameless
It's all right there in the title of the show, Shameless, which perfectly describes Frank Gallagher (William H. Macy). You can usually find Frank face down in the ground after getting hammered at any time in the day or night. He uses disability checks to fund his alcoholism. But Frank is a father of six, so how do his children stay alive? It's all thanks to his oldest child, Fiona (Emmy Rossum), who takes care of her five siblings. Frank's best parenting advice? "The best gift you can give is neglect. Neglect fosters self-reliance."
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(#2) Gemma Teller Morrow
- Sons of Anarchy
Jax (Charlie Hunnam) may be old enough to take care of himself, but that doesn't stop Gemma (Katey Sagal) from butting into his business 100% of the time. We follow their relationship as adults, but get glimpses from their shared past. It's obvious that things weren't great in the Teller household. Throughout her marriage to Jax's father (Victor Newmark), Gemma was cheating on him with his friend, Clay (Ron Perlman), whom she later ends up marrying after Jax's father dies.
Then, Gemma tries to get custody of Jax's children, and it seems like she will stop at nothing to keep her grandchildren in her life. After all, she kills her daughter-in-law, Tara (Maggie Siff), when she thinks Tara is trying to keep the kids from her.
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(#3) Nancy Botwin
- Weeds
It should be noted that Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) starts off as a good parent. Maybe not as amazing as her husband, Judah (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), who's pretty much the Father of the Year, but still, she's a good attentive mother who loves her children. As time goes on, Nancy gets deeper into her drug dealing empire, effectively becoming an all-around bad human being, let alone parent.
Her bad influence eventually rubs off on her children. Silas (Hunter Parrish) ends up joining her business and Shane (Alexander Gould) ends up killing someone. Silas blames his brother's behavior on their mother:
Shane, if Mom would have worked at the Gap instead of selling drugs, do you still think you would have killed somebody?
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(#4) Clifford Blossom In 'Riverdale'
In Riverdale, you see very little of Clifford Blossom (Barclay Hope), father of Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) and Jason (Trevor Stines). However, you do see enough of him to know he's a terrible father in every way possible. He is self-centered and only cares about two things: money and himself.
His children are not a priority. Worse, he even murders one of them for discovering his secret illicit drug trade that he operates under the guise of a maple syrup company. It's only after he kills his son, Jason, that his daughter is taken into protective custody.
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(#5) Livia Soprano
Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) is not the best father figure, but then again, he didn't have any good examples of good parenting in his lifetime. He takes after his own dad in joining the mob and both are involved in countless burglaries and murders.
But his mother is an entirely different story. Sure, Tony's dad was a crook, but he loved his children. The same can't be said for Livia (Nancy Marchand). Over the course of the series, we get bits and pieces of Tony's childhood, during which his mother is blatantly cruel toward her children, both physically and verbally. And her cruelty in Tony's adulthood is the stuff of TV legend. Then again, why look too far for documentation of her lack of maternal instincts when she has made her own thoughts on children explicitly clear? "Babies are like animals," she said. "They're no different than dogs."
And then, of course, there was the time when she kinda-sorta tried to have her own son whacked.
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(#6) Aaron Echolls
So many things can be said of Aaron Echolls (Harry Hamlin). Famous actor, abusive father, murderer. Yes, things were often grim in the Echolls household. Aaron is easily one of the worst fathers in TV history. Not only is he sleeping with his son's girlfriend, who is way underage, but he also takes her life. Aaron also attempts to take out Veronica (Kristen Bell), his son's other on-and-off girlfriend.
Fortunately, Veronica survives. It is also later revealed that throughout Logan's life, Aaron would punish him with a belt to the back.
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(#7) Perry Wright In 'Big Little Lies'
To outsiders, Perry (Alexander Skarsgård) seems like a dream come true - a good looking, young, rich guy who is the perfect dad. But Big Little Lies has taught us looks can be very deceiving. Not only is Perry verbally cruel to his wife, Celeste (Nicole Kidman), but physically abusive as well. To make matters worse, we learn he is a rapist. Perry is the scummiest of scum and definitely not fit to be a father to his two boys.
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(#8) Poodle In 'The Mick'
Though her presence is sparse, you learn very quickly that Poodle (Tricia O'Kelley) - the mother of Chip (Thomas Barbusca), Ben (Jack Stanton), and Sabrina (Sofia Black-D'Elia) - is a selfish and terrible mother. She is self-centered and concerned only with her money and what people think of her. She's quick to judge her sister, Mickey (Kaitlin Olson), but when the FBI barge in to haul in her and her husband, the two flee the country and leave their children in the hands of her boozy sister.
Though Poodle doesn't appear on the show often, we do get further details that put her parenting in even more dubious light - like the fact that she could have had more contact with her children, but simply chose not to.
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(#9) Elena Di Nola In 'Jane the Virgin'
Rafael (Justin Baldoni) seems to be living the perfect life, growing up in one of the wealthiest families. But we eventually learn things weren't the healthiest in his childhood. In fact, it turns out that his mother, Elena Di Nola (Fabiana Udenio), was a criminal mastermind known as Mutter. Fortunately, she left the family when Rafael was only 4 years old.
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(#10) Ashley Marin
- Pretty Little Liars
Most Pretty Little Liars fans love Ashley Marin (Laura Leighton). After all, she's the cool, fun mom. Her heart is always (well, usually) in the right place when it comes to Hanna (Ashley Benson). Hanna gets herself into a lot of trouble and her mom is always trying to keep her safe. But in reality, Ashley probably wouldn't be seen as a fit mother.
After Hanna is caught stealing, Ashley sleeps with the scumbag Detective Wilden (Bryce Johnson) to clear her daughter's name. She swipes money from an old woman and decides to keep it when the woman dies. She also hides murder evidence for one of the many slayings that happen in the town. Ashley may not be the world's worst mother, but she isn't going to win any parent of the year awards.
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About This Tool
The ultimate responsibility of parents is to ensure healthy growth and guide their children to form a sound personality and independent living ability. However, not all parents can be regarded as role models. Many parents on television use extreme methods to raise their children, and the methods they use often cross legal and moral boundaries. They use some misleading methods to prove their love for their children or want to get rid of the pressure of parenting.
The random tool lists the 10 worst TV parents who have been criticized for their unorthodox or even extreme parenting methods, they exploit, ignore their children, or cause mental harm to others.
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