People Are Getting Pretty Heated About The "Beloved" TV Characters They Actually Hate, And The Takes Are Spicyyy

"She had the opposite of a redemption arc and actually got worse as the show went on."

Listen, I'm not here to try and cancel any TV characters. I'm all for letting people enjoy things, and of course, I realize that TV show characters are A) fictional, and B) written to be flawed and human. BUT, I also love a heated debate and some online discourse.

NBC / Via media.giphy.com

So, when I stumbled upon the Reddit thread started by u/Randomthings1106 that asked people to share which beloved characters they actually find annoying, my interest was piqued. Let me just say that I do NOT agree with all of these takes. Some I can totally see, but others hurt my feelings just a little bit. Anyway, let's see what you think. Here are 17 popular TV characters that people are actually pretty sick of:

1. Eddie Munson, Stranger Things

Netflix

"He was introduced as a weird bully with some power trip thing over Dustin. Then, he was a dick when he was on the run and the main characters tried to help him. As a result, I didn't particularly care for the character, or care that he redeemed himself at the end."

—u/mrchol

"He was so cringe to watch on screen."

—u/One_Battle_9579

"He's hardly a character and was only put there to become beloved and die immediately. In my opinion, there wasn't enough time to actually love him as a character since there wasn't enough time for any authentic development."

—u/e_chi67

2. Jess Day, New Girl

Fox

"Someone told me I reminded them of her. I watched two episodes, had an existential crisis, and vowed to not be an insufferable nitwit. They said they meant it as a compliment because they loved her. It was devastating to my self esteem."

—u/hellorhighotter

"The best episodes of New Girl are the ones where she’s on jury duty and isn’t in them."

—u/31bravobitch

"I hate that Jess fought to be with Sam (the hot pediatrician) only to get with Nick a few episodes later. I stopped watching after that."

—u/carollm

3. Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City

HBO

"The one that put me off Carrie forever was when she made fun of Samantha for turning up to her book launch after her chemical peel had gone wrong. I was disgusted how rude she was to a friend who still showed up to her event when she was quite obviously in pain and very embarrassed."

—u/HunCouture

"I couldn't look at her the same after what happened with Natasha and Aidan. She should've had a therapy arc."

—u/Shurl19

"She did Aidan so dirty. I just adored him!"

—u/lovestorum

4. Fez, That '70s Show

Fox

"I just don’t laugh when he’s on screen. He’s creepy and perverted."

—u/everythinglatte

"Fez only got worse as time went on. He started off as a socially awkward kid that was happy for his little group of friends but was legitimately sad/lonely about having no romantic connection in his life. Like, I was there as a teen. I can relate to Fez wanting the happiness he sees all of his friends experiencing. But, instead of growing and learning that meeting someone is a natural consequence of maturing as a person, he went full 'incel' and became an outright creep."

—u/TurrPhennirPhan

5. Rory Gilmore, Gilmore Girls

The WB

"I loved her character in the first season, but from Season 2 onwards, she got worse and worse. It’s like a villain origin story. Gone was the Season 1 snarky, clever girl who struggled between maturity and teenage meltdowns during coming-of-age hurdles. Enter the 'manic pixie dream girl' who strolled into every situation like she knew everything, accidentally stumbled into all of her achievements, had all the boys fall at her feet, and was relentlessly fawned over despite acting bratty and finding a reason to dislike everyone she met."

—u/KiraStrife

"Rory goes through the opposite of a redemption arc. She actually becomes a worse person by the end, which is something a lot of shows just don’t do."

—u/MicooDA

6. Serena van der Woodsen, Gossip Girl

The CW

"She's supposed to be an example of 'rich, pretty girls have problems, too!' but I disliked her more every time they tried to make her relatable. She could've actually done well in life, but she did nothing with all her money or her status as the 'it' girl. She could've gotten involved in a nonprofit (she probably would've been phenomenal with fundraising), but she had no idea how to do anything that wasn't handed to her and was unwilling to learn. I could even see her killing it as an influencer or a personal stylist, but she stayed in her toxic 'woe is me' rut because she needed to be the center at all times."

—u/lelakat

"She always jumped to the wrong conclusions, never learned from past mistakes, and acted like a spoiled princess whenever she wanted something. She didn't let people say no to her requests; they had to say yes to her every demand. I’m rewatching Gossip Girl at the moment, and I'm honestly finding it hard to like her now that I’m 10 years older."

—u/HashbrownLover44

7. Jake Peralta, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

NBC

"He seems lovely, but he always acts like a child and expects everyone around him to make up for it. He's the kind of guy everyone would hate working with."

—u/Jordgubbet

"Oh, yes, I would hate him in real life. My sis introduced me to Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and she really liked Jake, and I was like, 'Why?'"

—u/Funny-Negotiation-10

8. Jim Halpert, The Office

NBC

"He’s the human equivalent of white bread, and he bullies people for having any personality traits beyond 'white man who likes sports.' I hate Jim."

—u/AVeryMadLad2

"Jim is a specific kind of asshole that is bland, smug, and full of himself. He’s not that bad, but at the same time, he just kind of sucks."

—u/abandonedxearth

"He's not as charming as he thinks he is and is actually kind of a dick. I always get annoyed when he walks with his hands in his pockets."

—u/basicallyagiant

9. Nancy Wheeler, Stranger Things

Netflix

"I never really liked her throughout the whole series. When she did something right, I was amazed. I just didn't like her actions in the series. I always thought she was overreacting while other characters were calm. I love the actor, though."

—u/Scared_Access_641

10. Meredith Grey, Grey's Anatomy

ABC

"She's sulky, self-absorbed, and petulantly self-righteous. I don't think I've ever hated a character more."

—u/ForsakenGarlic904

"The original 'pick me.'"

—u/StopThePresses

11. Howard Wolowitz, The Big Bang Theory

CBS

"The guy blows straight past 'creepy' and into straight-up sex offender territory. There are throw-away lines about how he put webcams into teddy bears he gave Penny, and he just chuckles, and the conversation carries on. There are scenes where he uses various cameras to look up people's skirts or down their tops. The dude isn't, as the show puts it when Penny gives him a dressing down, 'a little peculiar.' Dude should be in prison."

—u/Gellao

12. Cosmo Kramer, Seinfeld

NBC

"I can't comprehend how he became so popular."

—u/Acrobatic-Ad-748

"He made the show unwatchable for me."

—u/JDood

13. Gina Linetti, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

NBC

"Gina always comes out on top, and it's so irritating. Amy occasionally calls her out, but it never goes anywhere. And, of course, Gina ends up having the last word and being right all along. I feel like Gina fell into the trap of the 'funny but awful' character and ended up getting way too much screen time and becoming obnoxious for it."

—u/Aruu

"Her character was completely off kilter with the whole tone of the show. All the other characters were quirky but ultimately lovable, whereas she was just a narcissistic asshole with no redeeming traits whatsoever. Her comments about Terry in particular were sexual harassment, and her treatment of Charles and Amy was workplace bullying. What was particularly annoying is that she never learned a damn thing. She always got away with her shitty behavior, and she only seemed to get even more cartoonishly awful as the show went on. It was an improvement when she left."

—u/RedWestern

14. Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory

CBS

"It's one thing to be ridiculously smart, but it's another to browbeat everyone with it and force conformity amongst your peers. He goes out of his way to be cruel and spiteful in how he treats his 'friends.' It's disgusting."

—u/firestorm_v1

15. Mike Wheeler, Stranger Things

Netflix

"He's a selfish, self-centered asshole who thinks he's the only one who has problems, and he lashes out at all his friends whenever he's mildly inconvenienced. Will laughably calls him the 'heart of the group' in Season 4."

—u/Hellknightx

"Mike annoys the shit out of me. I think El would be more likable without Mike’s irritating presence. Just make them friends. Their relationship icks me out."

—u/DustBunnicula

16. Ron Swanson, Parks and Recreation

NBC

"I can't stand Ron because he's a sympathetic portrayal of an obstructionist — a type of person who gets a job in government with the goal of obstructing any sort of progress and denying help their institution could lend to people who need it. The real Ron Swansons of this world are people who get off on denying funding to poor communities and communities of color while having the gall to justify it with self-serving, macho, individualist rhetoric."

—u/chocopuppet

17. Finally: Lorelai Gilmore, Gilmore Girls

The WB

"I love the show, but she can be so annoying. I don't like the way she treats her parents or the way she jumps from man to man. She coddles her daughter so much in high school and in college that in the revival, she's a 30-year-old with no job or purpose in life. Everyone thinks the mother/daughter duo is so cute, but it’s annoying because she really held her daughter back from growing up, facing failures head on, and adulting!"

—u/marbleheader88

Welllll, there ya have it, folks! What do you think? Do you agree with these people, or is there another character you'd rather see on this list? Let me know in the comments!

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.

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