32 Disliked Female TV Characters Audiences Were Way Too Hard On

"No one likes a mad woman."

We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community which female TV characters were unfairly hated. Here are some of their responses:

Spoilers ahead!

1. First, Janice Hosenstein from Friends

NBC

"Imagine it from her point of view: A bunch of stuck-up people thinking they're better than her and mocking her for a laugh and voice she has no control over."

—bubbles1344

2. Jackie Cook from Veronica Mars

UPN

"She was treated pretty roughly and written as unlikable all season, only to get the 'oh, well this all makes sense now' ending at the last minute. Also, she was mainly just introduced to be Wallace's love interest. The show should have added more diversity to the cast from the beginning."

—katem405562d9c

3. Karen Filippelli from The Office

NBC

"For a long time, I hated her because she 'stole Jim from Pam,' but that wasn’t even true. She did nothing wrong and was actually a supportive girlfriend. She tried so hard to make that relationship work, but Jim’s heart was never in it and she deserved better."

—stashabell

4. Guinevere Beck from You

Netflix

"People complained that she was whiny, untalented, and bland, but that's kind of the point. She's not the perfect girl that Joe built her up to be. She was a broken person just trying to better herself, but continuously got screwed over by everyone in her life. She was my favorite character of the first season and I desperately wanted her to survive."

—capricopia33

5. Mrs. Kim from Gilmore Girls

The WB

"Yes, she was incredibly strict, but she was just trying to protect Lane. She's a different mom than Lorelai, which makes her seem like a villain, but they just have different parenting methods."

—pinkpansnstuff

6. Skyler White from Breaking Bad

AMC

"I never understood the hate for Skyler. She did everything someone in Walt's position could ask for. He jeopardized their lives with no regard for her, yet she still stuck by him and even implicated herself in order to protect him and their family. I think the negative reaction to her was driven entirely by sexism and people not wanting Walt to be held accountable, especially by a woman."

—reallywittyusername

7. Monse Finnie from On My Block

Netflix

"People are quick to judge her as whiny, bossy, and indecisive, but everyone forgets that her mother abandoned her when she was really young. She's the glue that holds the friend group together."

—tbattle22

8. Peyton Sawyer from One Tree Hill

The WB

"She gets a lot of hate, and while she deserves some of it, she seriously doesn’t deserve all of it."

—oliviastyles1d13

9. Elena Gilbert from The Vampire Diaries

The CW

"I’m not the biggest fan of her, but she gets way too much flack for decisions that other characters make. People judge her so harshly for her breakup with Stefan, but falling out of love with someone is totally normal and not at all despicable. Plus, when you compare her supposed selfishness with the crimes of other characters, she's a saint."

—emmaloveschocolate

10. Tina Cohen-Chang from Glee

Fox

"She was an original member of New Directions, but was still treated like a side character. Her main storylines involved dating Artie, dating Mike, and then having a crush on Blaine, which everyone hated her for."

—megana459810788

11. Betty Draper from Mad Men

AMC

"Her husband cheated on her constantly, and she was painted as the bad guy for suspecting it. Then they made her out to be mean, cold, and unhappy. She never really got a happy ending."

—courtneys44b51aa14

12. Emily Waltham from Friends

NBC

"Growing up, I thought she was completely unreasonable, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to realize that she was actually majorly screwed over by Ross and Rachel. If my fiancé said his ex-girlfriend’s name at our wedding, I would lose my shit — big time. She deserved so much better."

—tashc4da81140d

13. Iris West from The Flash

The CW

"The amount of hate for her is ridiculous. It really makes me wonder if she would get this much hate if she were a white woman."

—infinitefaithhopelove2000

14. Lori Grimes from The Walking Dead

AMC

"Her decisions were definitely questionable, but I think overall she was just trying to do what was best for herself and her son."

—kxllynxcxlx

15. Mellie Grant from Scandal

ABC

"I know that a lot of people have since changed their opinion about her, but when the show was on, she got a lot of hate, especially from Olivia and Fitz fans. Everyone made her out to be arrogant and selfish, but she wasn't. Her husband cheated on her and humiliated her, yet she kept a brave face in front of the world."

—s4bb472acb

16. Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender

Nickelodeon

"She's strong, caring, intelligent, and an absolute badass. Sure, she definitely has her flaws, but she's a 14-year-old girl who went through a lot at a very young age. She doesn’t deserve the amount of hate she gets."

—kaylynnnarwhal

17. Josie Saltzman from Legacies

The CW

She's not perfect, but everyone is super critical of her to an unfair extent. She gets a lot of hate the entire Penelope breakup, even though we never really got to see their relationship in the first place. She's been through just as much as other characters, but people are quick to jump on her for any mistake, even events that happened offscreen.

18. Lindsay Lister from Gilmore Girls

The WB

"She never did a damn thing wrong except be slightly rude to Rory. She deserved better, and we never got to see in the revival if she finally found happiness."

—oclarekaty

19. Jenny Humphrey from Gossip Girl

The CW

"She gets so much hate for the bad things she did, but no one blinked an eye when Serena or Blair did evil things. Blair was FAR worse than Jenny, and no one cared about that."

—sammachado

20. Esme Song from Degrassi: Next Class

Netflix

Esme definitely did some terrible things, but her character deserved SO much better. She was clearly hurting and dealing with a lot of trauma, but people were quick to paint her as an evil villain while excusing male characters who have done worse. She was a complex character who very obviously needed help, and she didn't deserve the hate.

21. Courtney Crimson from 13 Reasons Why

Netflix

"I started the show a few months after it came out and went in thinking she’d be horrendous because she was so widely hated, but she's far from the worst character on the show. Literally everybody on the show did something terrible, but Courtney was constantly singled out by fans."

—georgea4cf7567f5

22. Lindsey Strauss from One Tree Hill

The CW

"She wasn’t a bad person. She was right to leave Lucas when he was clearly in love with Peyton, who was rude to her for no reason. She shouldn't have been characterized as a villain."

—mollball03

23. Marissa Cooper from The O.C.

Fox

"I really think she got screwed over by Johnny. If they hadn't become friends, she wouldn’t have gone down that dark path, and she wouldn't have died."

—stipyit

24. Vanessa Abrams from Gossip Girl

The CW

"She was no worse than anyone else on that show, but people really hated her. Was she a good person? Probably not. But was anyone a good person on that show? Absolutely not."

—roryfae

25. April Nardini from Gilmore Girls

The WB

"People blame her for Lorelai and Luke breaking up, but she had nothing to do with it. All she wanted was a relationship with her dad. I thought her relationship with Luke was cute, and it was nice for him to have a storyline outside of Lorelai."

—talormadisonc

26. Maya Matlin from Degrassi

Netflix

People are always quick to call her annoying and nosy, but everyone forgets how much she went through. All she wanted to do was protect her friends — she was a young, depressed teenager traumatized by her boyfriend's death and terrified of losing someone else she loved. She wasn't perfect, but her heart was always in the right place.

27. Izzie Stevens from Grey's Anatomy

ABC

"Everyone hates her just because Alex left the show for her. She has a huge heart and helped so many people."

—nonbinosaur

28. Kira Yukimura from Teen Wolf

MTV

"She was one of the most consistently kind, badass, and genuine characters the show ever had, and fans still hated her."

—zoepeet

29. Elsa Gardner from Atypical

Netflix

"I'm not okay with the cheating at all, but her husband literally abandoned the whole family because he found it hard to take care of their son. He had it really easy in my opinion, and it seemed pretty unfair that she was the only one getting backlash from fans."

—rose_em

30. Bela Talbot from Supernatural

The CW

"After her backstory was revealed and we find out how she made a deal with a demon to kill her father for abusing her, I kind of felt pity toward her. If the writers hadn’t killed her off, she might have been a good character."

—florabelm

31. Quinn Fabray from Glee

Fox

"I know she lied to Finn about being the father of her baby, but at the same time, she went through so much. Her family kicked her out of their house, she had to deal with scary Terri Schuester, and then she gave her baby up for adoption."

—megana459810788

32. And finally, Yennefer of Vengerberg from The Witcher

Netflix

"Her character has gotten so much hate already. People literally can’t handle a woman who knows she’s powerful."

—annas42a33461f

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and clarity. Not all submissions were from community users.