There are TV characters we love and characters we love to hate — but what about the characters we're supposed to love but who are actually completely insufferable? Usually the protagonists and stars of series are supposed to be beloved by the audience. A lot of times, main characters are created to kind of act as the audience. We relate to them and feel seen by them. But that doesn't always work out as intended. In fact, these 20 TV show characters are actually really annoying.
Not all of them started out that way. Some of them grew to be unwatchable the more screen time they got. Others were hard to watch right from the start. And others we may have liked at the time, but upon rewatching it's been revealed that actually they're kind of the worst.
Who else agrees that these characters are insufferable? (Oh, and minor show spoilers ahead.)
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Ross From 'Friends'
Even the biggest Friends fans will probably say that Ross is their least favorite character. Although Ross was paired up with fan-favorite Rachel, his personality was so grating it was hard to root for the couple. At his core, Ross was self-centered and an entitled cheater. It didn't matter if he thought he was "on a break" or not — Rachel deserved better.
Carrie From 'Sex and the City'
Sex and the City may have been about four women's romantic exploits, but it was also about the power of female friendship. Unfortunately, Carrie was a pretty terrible friend. Carrie prioritized herself almost always — even when her friends were often going through bigger issues than she was.
And we'll never forget how she vilified Charlotte when Charlotte didn't want to loan Carrie money. Carrie was wildly irresponsible financially, and why should Charlotte be punished for that?
Ted From 'How I Met Your Mother'
Ted was the ultimate "nice guy." He thought he was an amazing romantic partner and that any woman who dared to want something different from him was the problem. Not only did he over-romanticize his first date with Robin (he said, "I love you," like an hour in), but he also did a lot of terrible things to perfectly nice women over the course of the show. Remember when he broke up with the same woman twice — both times on her birthday? Terrible.
Plus, he thought he was smarter than his friends, and that just made him come off as pretentious and annoying.
Vanessa From 'Gossip Girl'
There are a lot of frustrating characters on Gossip Girl, but fans pretty much unanimously disliked Dan's girlfriend Vanessa. One of the chief complaints was that she was so self-righteous, and yet she happily remained in the Upper East Siders' privileged circle.
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Dawson From 'Dawson's Creek'
It's rough when fans hate the character after whom a show was named, but something about Dawson from Dawson's Creek irked many viewers. He was another pretentious, so-called "nice guy" who actually wasn't that nice to many of the women he dated on the show. In fact, he even frustrated the actor who played him. "There was so much about Dawson that annoyed me," James Van Der Beek said in a 2018 Entertainment Weekly interview.
Rory From 'Gilmore Girls'
Rewatching Gilmore Girls as an adult makes us realize the characters are way more flawed than we originally thought — especially Rory. Her mother may have left a life of luxury and wealth behind to become her own person, but Rory ran right back to that world when she could. And Rory very often took her privilege for granted. Dropping out of Yale and moving into her grandparents' rent-free pool house was a particular low.
Don't even get us started on how she acted in the Netflix revival. She was lazy about work, cheated on her boyfriend, and still blamed everyone else for her own problems.
Owen From 'Grey's Anatomy'
For a show that loves to kill off its main characters, Dr. Owen Hunt has been spared season after season on Grey's Anatomy. Owen may be a good doctor, but he is also infuriatingly self-righteous and entitled.
To start, he got married twice to women who didn't want kids and then got mad when they didn't change their minds. More recently, he illegally prescribed medicine to patients, which almost cost him and current wife Teddy their careers. He'll put his ideals over everything — even when he's in the wrong.
Maybe Grey's Anatomy season 20 will finally be his time to go.
Piper From 'Orange is the New Black'
Netflix's Orange is the New Black started with Piper entering prison while being woefully out of touch with that world, but as the series wore on, her story became less interesting than those of the other characters. It became annoying the show would focus on her when there were so many more interesting backstories to explore. And it didn't help that Piper was petty, selfish, and steeped in privilege that she refused to acknowledge.
Andy From 'The Office'
Andy's character only worked when he was more of a background person. When the show promoted him to boss after Michael quit, he quickly became one of the most obnoxious characters on the show — and not always in a funny way. He treated his girlfriend Erin like she was expendable, and he was always running away from his responsibilities to chase misguided dreams of stardom. Andy was much of what makes the later Office seasons harder to watch.
Will From 'Glee'
A lot of Glee viewers disliked Rachel, but the most annoying character was actually her teacher Will Schuester. He was way too involved in his students' lives, often inappropriately so. He blackmailed Finn into joining the glee club, designed overly sexual school performances, and cheated on his girlfriend (and co-worker) Emma. If he was a real teacher, he would have been fired.
Hannah From 'Girls'
Girls was all about showing the flawed nature of its characters, but Hannah was one of the worst. She was self-centered and a terrible friend while thinking she was morally superior to everyone else. However, by doing things like networking at her editor's funeral, she proved that she was focused only on herself always.
Ezra From 'Pretty Little Liars'
Ezra started dating his student Aria (who was also a minor) while secretly psychologically torturing her and her friends. And he had the audacity to act like Aria's parents should have accepted their relationship? Not only was he insufferable, but he also should probably should have been in jail.
Dawn From 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'
Buffy's little sister Dawn was a source of annoyance for many fans. Not only did she come out of nowhere in season five, but many viewers believed she was overly whiny. That can be an easy younger sibling stereotype to write for, and it often got in the way of fans just trying to watch Buffy be a vampire-slaying boss.
Walter From 'Breaking Bad'
When Breaking Bad first came out, one of the most-hated characters was Walt's wife Skyler. But in the years since, many fans have shifted to realize that Walt was the insufferable one. Sure, Skyler may have stood in the way of her husband's drug success — but as she should! Why should she have put up with a man who was putting their family in danger? Justice for Skyler.
Kate From 'This is Us'
This is Us explored the complex backstories of all its characters from childhood into adulthood, and there are a lot of reasons the Pearson kids turned out the way they did. But watching Kate was extra tough because the decisions she made were often born out of jealousy or insecurity in ways that affected the people around her as much as herself. A lot of fans still can't forgive her for rehoming the dog her dad died trying to save. After all that, she just kicked the dog to the curb?
Fitz From 'Scandal'
It wasn't just the cheating that made President Fitzgerald Grant insufferable on Scandal. It was the murder and the espionage and the woe-is-me charade while he was doing the cheating and hurting both his wife and Olivia Pope. As NPR's Linda Holmes wrote in 2013, he was "the most dumpable man on television." Mellie and Olivia both deserved better.
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Jess From 'New Girl'
New Girl may have been centered on Zooey Deschanel's character Jess, but fans quickly grew to love the ensemble cast in a way they just didn't always love the main character. Jess was that early 2010s version of quirky, "adorkable," and self-absorbed to a fault. In the end, she honestly was just not that interesting, and her storylines annoyingly took away from the side plots fans cared about more.
Jughead From 'Riverdale'
In one of Jughead's most famous monologues on Riverdale, he proclaimed, "I'm weird. I'm a weirdo. I don't fit in. And I don't want to fit in." That was the problem with his character: He often acted like he knew better and was better than everyone else because he could supposedly be self-aware and self-deprecating. In reality, however, he was just pretentious and cocky and annoying.
Amy From 'The Secret Life of the American Teenager'
It's understandable that Amy complained sometimes about being pregnant at 15, so that's not what made her an annoying character. What made her insufferable was that she expected her parents and her boyfriend to do everything for her during and after pregnancy. She wanted them to help care physically and financially for her child so she could keep living a regular teenage life. Her family and friends were as supportive as they could be, but she needed to take more responsibility as the series wore on.
Kate From 'Lost'
Evangeline Lilly, the actor who played Kate on Lost, said she was always trying to make her character less whiny, though she didn't always succeed. She told The Independent, "I always thought she was obnoxious … as the show went on, I thought she became more and more predictable."
Fans have long felt similarly, so at least they share their frustration with the actor herself.
