TV’s 12 worst love interests
From Che in And Just Like That... to The Bear's Claire, these are The A.V. Club's least favorite small-screen romantic partners
TV Features Luke
Seeing a love story unfold on screen can be a beautiful, heartwarming, life affirming experience. Seeing the wrong love story unfold is, like, one of the most annoying things that can happen while watching TV. There is no better example of this than the Che Diaz phenomenon. Fans not only hated Miranda’s new And Just Like That… partner, they delighted in hating Che, to extremes that have rarely been seen on television.
A bad love interest can make your blood boil and set your teeth to grinding. Sometimes the character is annoying on purpose (especially if they’re a temporary pit stop on the way to true love), but sometimes they just represent a bad miscalculation on the writers’ part about what the audience wants to see. Here, The A.V. Club picks our least favorite love interests on television, from the annoying to the insufferable to the totally unforgivable.
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Carmy didn’t deserve Claire.
Audiences immediately turned on Claire Bear for being a manic pixie dream girl-esque fantasy who didn’t fit into a show where people get stabbed on the line and someone drives a car into a living room. And this criticism legit never made any fucking sense.Claire is representative of the idea that even a fucking ER doctor can find time for a life, relationships, etc. She is – again – an ER DOCTOR. There’s nothing “manic” about her, or “pixie.” “Dream girl” only makes sense if one thinks that Carmy has legitimately any space in his obsessive life for a stable relationship.Claire is actually saving lives, and finds time to have one. Carmy is making food and treating it as if it can, will, and should consume absolutely all of who he is. HE fucks things up with Claire. The hate is absolutely unwarranted, and only exists because people can’t take five goddamned seconds to check if their criticism makes any sense.
This is just theAV Club equivalent of intentionally misspelling a word to increase engagement; just being wrong to get people to comment.
Fuckin’ sad.
you mean like steve “urkle”??
I don’t think Claire was a MPDM, but I do think she fell into the trap of “thankless love interest” or what I sometimes think of as “thankless Michelle Monaghan role” since she so often got stuck with it. Often seen as the dead wife/girlfriend in flashback, they are highly idealized with every interesting personality trait sanded off lest the audience find them unlikeable. Ironically, it frequently makes them unlikeable, although it typically just makes them blandly forgettable.
Ah, fair point with the Monaghan reference. I just don’t think there was much room to breathe for the character, she was just background dross for Carmy’s obsession. But even then, I don’t get the hate for a character that dared to say yes to a date with the main character.
Yeah, I didn’t hate her, I was mostly annoyed with the writers. They are clearly capable of writing complex characters and they had a capable actress.
What did you find non-complex or 2D about her?
“Thankless Michelle Monaghan role.” Fuck. You nailed it. After Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, I thought she would surely end up A-list. I’m glad she’s working, but fuck if Hollywood knows the potential they’re missing with her. One of my favorite female performances of the last 20 years (along with Minnie Driver in Grosse Point Blank and Emma Stone in Easy A).
I think the show was doing something with Claire that didn’t hit for a lot of people. Because I do think she’s a slightly unreal dream girl, but only from Carmy’s perspective. Objectively, she’s a full person with an inner life, who parallels Carmy as another deeply ambitious person who way exceeded the low expectations set by their community.But per your point, the disconnect came when she thought she’d found someone who gets her and could sustainably fit into her life. And he thought he’d found some beatific escape from his terrible burden of making expensive short ribs. If Carmy was a functional person, he might’ve been able to navigate a normal relationship with someone who totally understands that his job is stressful. But he isn’t functional, and instead built up a truly unhinged perception of her as some prize he didn’t deserve to win.
And he thought he’d found some beatific escape from his terrible burden of making expensive short ribs. That’s a quality sentence.
“And he thought he’d found some beatific escape from his terrible burden of making expensive short ribs.”I LOLed…
That is a perfect description of their dynamic. Well done. I’ve had many a friend seeking to escape their life with an illicit affair. One mistress (who was friends with me but also in love with my married friend) asked me why I didn’t support the relationship, and I said “because he is in a diving bell of his own making, and you are just the pin-up on his wall down there.” I think Claire was his mistress, but The Bear is his wife.As an aside, I’m overly committed to Nu Richie (he wears suits now) and I have a feeling S3 will take the meat tenderizer to my heart.
Its one of those situations where an AV Club writer grabs a couple of random tweets and attempts to manifest a take into existence—aUdIeNcEs HaTe ClAiRe—and then rest of the writers just roll with it.
Did people hate her? I’m not that online about the show, so I think it’s eminently possible, but I usually have an impression of that kind of thing. Like I know people ship Carmy and Sydney (and I am in the camp of let people be friends sometimes.)Anyway, I think she was slightly underwritten comparatively to others, but mostly, the second season was very nice and gentle in order for the other shoe to drop in the finale and presumably next season. Honestly, all a little too smooth and nice, all great mentors and support and unlikely on time construction, but like I said, I expect things to blow up more next time, in particular Sydney’s ambition to get a star and be her own chef.
Sometimes when I watch the Office I feel kind of bad for David Denman who played Roy. Roy starts out as basically the same character as Andy from Parks and Rec. But while Roy just sort of became a really shitty violent ex-fiance, Andy became the lovable doofus ex boyfriend and Chris Pratt turned that into an A list Hollywood career.
Roy was a much better character when he was just an oblivious meathead. There was no reason to turn him into a jerk; the lack of chemistry between Pam and him was palpable.
Yea I have been watching The Office with my kids. I haven’t watched it since it went off the air and they have never seen it. We are almost done season 3 and it is kind of weird now that I think about it how much they made Roy not just a bad fiance but a bad person. I wonder if the did that so Pam wouldn’t look bad for how she handled their relationship, the same way Jim looked bad for breaking up with Katy and Karen. I also wonder if that is why they decided to make Andy in Parks and Rec just an inattentive dummy boyfriend rather than a totally asshole.
I agree with your assessment of Roy. I don’t think the writers trusted the audience to understand that Pam could be in a relationship with an okay person (which Roy was at first) but still not be happy with it. Which is weird because the way Jim treats Karen pretty poorly and at the time, was lionized for his enduring love for Pam. But really, Jim dated Karen as a rebound, encouraged her to uproot her life to follow him to PA, continued to date her when it was clear (to the audience and Karen) that he was into someone else and was too cowardly to even tell Karen about it until she point blank confronted him about it. If you told someone objectively about that relationship, most people would think that the guy sounds like a real dick. And yet… almost everyone was thrilled that Jim finally broke free or whatever and could date Pam. Weirdly, they couldn’t do the same thing with Pam – Roy had to turn heel and leave Pam with no choice but to leave him.With Andy, my understanding is that he was supposed to be a one-off character as Anne’s crappy boyfriend but Chris Pratt was so endearing/charming/funny/fun to hang around with that they ended up writing him into the show and softening his character from “loser” to “man-child”. Poor Rashida Jones’ characters – she dates a “good guy” in The Office who is a dick to her, and dates a loser in Parks and Rec who ends up becoming a good guy later.
Yea they probably didn’t want to make Pam look bad by breaking up with someone who was a decent or even almost decent guy who just wasn’t who she wanted. Which is weird since so much of the story is about Pam finding her voice and deciding what she wants. So it could have been interesting to have her decide she doesn’t want to be with Roy because it’s not who she wants. But making him a violent jerk kind of makes that decision for her. As for Jim how he treated Karen was shitty but I don’t mind it since it seems real and people make bad choices. But breaking up with Katy on booze cruise while they were on the boat and she couldn’t leave for hours was brutal.
“Roy is the definition of a useless boyfriend.”True but that was the entire point of him. Lots of us know women in relationships with that exact dude. As for Myra, I don’t remember her being that bad? Of course I haven’t watched Family Matters in like 30 years, so maybe I’m misremembering, but I thought it was nice that he found a girlfriend who liked him and shared his interests rather than watching him pathetically moon after someone who basically hated him.Also belonging on this list: Kate from Lost.
Hell, my brother-in-law is exactly like Roy. He does the absolute bare minimum. When he and my sister come for Christmas, I can easily go the whole time without saying a thing to him, because he just sits on the couch buried in his laptop, utterly taciturn. I think there just be a certain kind of appeal for some, because he offers the path of least resistance.
Hah! Sounds like my Brother in law. I see them a few times a year for the past I dunno dozen+ years and we’ve maybe said 8 sentences to each other. Even kinda looks like Roy. Just the blandest dude. A big white bearded lump who’s favourite food is buttered noodles (I’m just guessing on that last one) But, she likes him and he’s good to her so I aint gonna judge. Out loud.
“Favorite food is buttered noodles” had me laughing at my desk!
Yeah Roy is such a dumb choice for this list, like does the AV Club understand that this show was fictional? Do they understand that the writers wanted us to dislike him?
Roy is Prince Fucking Charming compared to Lee on the original Office. He’s a lunkhead but Lee was just a huge jagoff.
I remember Myra being a lot of fun (and she was hot) so I’m a little surprised to see her catching shade. Sitcoms from that era had a lot of other options. I mean, Zack Morris, is right there.
On Lost, I seem to remember one of the guys (probably Sawyer) actually calling her out at one point for how she’ll get pissed at one guy just to run to the other then vice versa.
It probably was Sawyer. She was the worst, and not just because of that. She’s number 1 on my list of all-time worst TV characters. I call her the everything ruiner. I just remember every time there was some sort of mission or thing they had to do she’d pop up all “I’M COMING WITH YOU,” and they’d be like no you’ll fuck it up, and she’d be like I’m coming, and then she’d come and fuck it up of course. Then she’d cry and they’d all forgive her.
How DARE you besmirch Myra Monkhouse like that! She was superior to Laura in every way.Also, you forgot Johnny on The OC. Just a complete waste of screen time.
Roy is a worse character, and I suppose better fits this listicle’s premise, but Erin/Andy was a much worse couple overall. clearly made to be a new story avenue when Jim/Pam started coming to its logical end, but it made Andy into an even more unbearable character and Erin didn’t become an at all worthwhile character until Andy pissed off for a bit.
Andy’s character arc from douchebag to—“oh shit, Carrell’s leaving, guess we need a new Michael”—bumbling but basically sweet boss, to—“oh shit, now Helms thinks he deserves a film career too? fuck that guy”–raging douchebag, to ??? (who even remembers the last couple seasons) was pretty whiplash-inducing.
IDK if its true, but I recall reading somewhere that NBC mandated the show to feature Helms in order to cash in on his movie star success. The writers then decided they would make him a dick to fuck with NBC making mandates on their hit show. Maybe that’s the truth, maybe not, maybe it is something in the middle.Either way, you are right… Helms’ arc is so weird and depressing. Even early on his thing with Angela seemed pretty forced and the stuff with Erin seemed borderline abusive (it’s been awhile since I’ve seen the show, especially the later years so maybe this isn’t quite as true as I remember it).
Normally it’s good to see a lot of queer representation, but maybe not in a list of “worsts.”
I mean…did anyone like Che? I feel like actual representation includes the acknowledgement that people can be from marginalized communities AND be insufferable as people (and not because of their sociopolitical identities).
I get that, it just made me squint a little that so many of these “worsts” just happen to be queer.
Ah, gotcha. I only flew through the list, hadn’t noticed that.
Your point still stands
But why?
Sometimes writers get lazy with writing queer characters or relationships and it really makes them lackluster because they feel like they have their representation and don’t bother making it fun. Which makes it extra disappointing bc we don’t get that many compared to straight relationships. I mean pretty much all of Mabel’s love interests have kind of sucked, Alice was just the most annoying and unlikable since she did that weird stalker art project about Mabel
SATC was literally a show about shitty relationships. Sure, Che Diaz sucks, but so did Berger, Baryshnikov, Trey. Richard??? Hell, Big sucked!
Having seen 3 queer friends lose the persons they deserved and then settle for sketchy if not evil replacements, I have no issue with the ratio here.
Jack on Ted Lasso is pretty hard to defend, tho
Justice for Piz. I always liked him.
Chris Lowell was very good on GLOW. I thought that was the ideal case for a grown-up Piz.
Aw man. I miss that show. Fuckin’ Netflix…
Don’t despair. The women of GLOW are all living on a farm upstate with the Mindhunters. It’s lovely up there, and they all get to run and play and never feel pain again. 🙁
What about the Warrior Nuns? Are they there too?
The Euro-trash guy from s1 of Warrior Nun would be a good addition to this list
And they’re very well protected; the cast of ‘Agent Carter’ does security.
Thoughts from an internet rando:1. Riley – I am sort of a Riley apologist. Yes, he’s boring, no, Marc Blucas isn’t a great actor (though, by all accounts he was extremely professional). The show could have made Riley more interesting in S5 if they really pushed a PTSD soldier without an army narrative, but instead they just kind of disposed of him. His biggest sin was not being Angel or Spike and considering both were problematic for Buffy, a normal dude seems logical but bad for TV. Personally, I was glad the episode he came back and it turns out he was happy. I’m the minority here, but I didn’t dislike him as much as others.2. Roy – as originally conceived, Roy served his exact purpose. He was neither good nor bad, just somebody who Pam settled on. Just like Jim had no ambition to actually leave his shitty office job (that he kept because he had a crush on the theoretically unavailable receptionist), Pam had no ambition to leave her boring fiance. That was something that tied Pam and Jim together thematically – they were both stuck and too lazy to make changes to their lives. I am actually kind of bummed that they made Roy a huge dick before leaving. A more emotionally resonant way to handle it would have been for Pam to finally say that she is unhappy and break up with him. By making him an asshole, it gave Pam the out of “oh, well this guy is a psycho I *have* leave him and on look! Jim is waiting for me.” As with Riley above, Joss Whedon did this a lot too – once a character was leaving (Riley, Oz, Angel sorta, Cordelia) he assassinated the shit out of their characters so the audience was okay with the characters leaving. That might work well for pandering, but life is not always that clean.3. Alice – she sucked. I do not understand the ongoing fascination with Cara Delavigne, the actor. Every time she showed up it brought the show and the good vibes to a grinding halt.
2. Agree – people end up in relationships all the time that are basically placeholders. Roy was a blockhead, and that alone would be enough for Pam to move on. Jim always bugged me a bit because he acted like he was above everything and everyone at DM (except Pam) despite not actually demonstrating why that was. 3. The Alice relationship didn’t even make sense. There was no indication at any point that Mabel was bi, so this just felt shoehorned in. And yeah…Cara Delavigne seemed dropped in from another show and I find her generally off-putting.
I agree with point 2, but dude what indications would you expect to show that Mabel was bisexual? We saw she dated 2 dudes, that doesn’t speak much to her total sexuality.
1. I liked Riley in season 4. My issue with him was that after he lost his powers he immediately devolves into the shitty stereotype of the man who can’t handle that the woman in his life is better than him at something. So he treats her badly, cheats on her, and blames Buffy for not “needing” him enough. The worst was that the narrative seemed to agree with him by having Xander reiterate it. I agree that i liked seeing Riley come back happy once he’d worked on his issues. 2. Demonizing one love interest to eliminate the protagonist having to actually choose annoys the hell out me too. Oz had been MIA for a long time. They could easily have had Willow choose to be with Tara because they’d become closer in his absence. But instead they had to assassinate his character by having him attack Willow and Tara. Its like writers think that having a character make a choice between two decent people would make them bad or unlikable.
Good points. With respect to point 1, I also thought it was weird how apropos of nothing, he casually mentions that Buffy doesn’t love him at the end of an early S5 episode. Like, it came out of nowhere and it was just a weird spiral. And as to point 2, totally agree with the last sentence. For a show that had no problems with emotional gut punches (Ms. Calendar, Angel turning in S2, The Body, Tara, Xander/Anya’s wedding, Anya, etc.) it was weird that the writers could not trust the same audience to understand the nuance of “oh, person X is leaving and that doesn’t make them bad or wrong, they just have other shit going on”. Instead, the person leaving has to be a bad person to ease that transition.
Also in terms of bad buffy relationships why does everyone forget about Parker? Although unlike the rest of her problematic relationships (Angel, Spike, Riley, the creepy crush Xander has on her), Parker revealed himself to be an asshole pretty quickly.
Season 4 Riley wasn’t bad, but Season 5 Riley was just so passive aggressive and unhelpful. I agree dealing with his PTSD or struggling with loss of identity, trust, and meaning after what the Initiative and military did would have made a more compelling story for him. But instead he was just insecure about whether Buffy liked him enough and whether he was macho enough for her.
Good points all. I was definitely protective of Buffy, and Riley could have been a saint, and it wouldn’t have mattered. No guy is good enough for Buffy.As for Roy, as much as I praise the writers of The Office for being brilliant in their early years, that was some lazy writing with him.
Yup. Cara Delvigne represents the bottom of the stunt-casting-barrel. Stupid. Her time on screen completely destroyed the momentum of the show.
She’s utterly dreadful. She should be the poster child for nepo-babies, because she was born into extreme wealth and privilege, and parlayed that into an acting career despite not having any talent or ability to show for it.
On the plus side Gomez’ acting looked better by comparison 😉
I’d throw Emily from Friends on this list. I know she was meant to be an obstacle for the Ross/Rachel relationship but she was just SO unappealing in every way.
Also Paolo, literally singled out by a romance novelist as “a complication who you kill off before the third act.” The TV Tropes page “Romantic False Lead” was even named after him until they made everything a more generic name.
While I didn’t like the setup for this at all (Archer more or less ordered T’Pol to attend to Trip’s needs with her mysterious/exotic massage mojo) they’re a more compelling bit of shipper bait than Kira and Odo.
Yeah god, the amount of importance DS9 kept trying to put on Kira and Odo’s relationship always made my eyes roll. I liked it fine as an unrequited romance, and liked it a lot more when it seemed like Odo was moving on and just acknowledging that he has very underdeveloped emotional maturity. But turning it in to this big epic romance was just…painful to me. DS9 had plenty of good relationships already, Jadzia and Worf, Sisko and Cassidy, Rom and Leeta. Odo and Kira was just so…weird.
T’pol and Trip were a stupid mashup, but I understood why the writers went with them. They had multiple seasons of bickering and sitcom style misunderstandings, and honestly no other combo for the main cast would work. Mostly because half the main cast did not have the acting chops for any kind of relationship.
I agree with all of these except for Claire. She seems cool. Like, normal person cool. Someone who doesn’t need any of Carmy’s bullshit weighing her down. So, Carmy’s the worse love interest in this case.
I don’t know that Carmy is totally to blame but I definitely agree that it wasn’t Claire’s fault. Everyone on that show except for her expects Carmy to spend 100% of the time on the restaurant. Towards the end of the season Sydney gets mad at him for daring to attempt to have a personal life, basically pre-blaming him if the whole thing doesn’t become a success. He doesn’t do much to assert himself or stand up for his right to have a non-restaurant relationship but it’s not like he isn’t being pressured from basically every direction to feel bad about dating.
I totally agree. I like Claire. I read the whole thing as Carmy being self destructive like the rest of his family.
Exactly! The relationship with Claire exposed how deeply unhealthy the life Carmy has been leading for so long truly is for him. I think in the long run Carmy will stop being a chef so he can find happiness some other way.
I wouldn’t put Christopher from Gilmore Girls as a worst love interest. It’s understandable that Lorelai might want to go back to her first love and make a complete family by being with Christopher. He was flawed, but cute.
Jack from Ted Lasso.I feel like every misses that she was set up to be Keely’s experience with someone like Rupert.
That is a great take and something I hadn’t thought of previously. I was so blinded by hatred for that slut shamy jerk I couldn’t think clearly while the show was airing. I love Keeley too damn much to watch her be disrespected!
URKEL jesus christ
The OP clearly didn’t “centre” spell check as a priority
At a Q&A with Lauren Graham, I was tempted to just say “Christopher?!” when I was handed the mic. But I hate when fans ask characters questions (and I’m sure actors do as well), so instead I asked “Who would win in a fight, Lorelei or Ms. Maisel?” which she did not find the least. bit. funny. Whoops.Actually, I could stomach Christopher more than the sentient smirk that was Logan Huntzberger. Especially when he brought his trust fund mafia with him. Your inclusion of Claire Bear is clickbait and I’ll just roll my eyes and move on.Of the ones on this list, I think Jack is the most egregious and most WTF. S3 of Ted Lasso was a disappointment for me in a variety of (meandering, random, poorly thought out) reasons. But Jack’s arc actually made this normally great show stupid. Lastly, as a normal grounded dude with a giving heart and unfortunately not even an ounce of mystique, I rooted for Riley even though I knew he was an emotional seat filler for Buffy. And then cheered when he wound up being half of Supernatural Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
the sentient smirk that was Logan HuntzbergerWow, that is a perfect description. I just finished the “year in the life” season with my wife and daughter and everything about his inclusion was so off-putting to me. And then the final appearance of his (still acting like frat) bros was just about the lowest point of the series for me. I could believe Lorelei-Christopher way more than Rory-Logan.
Not accepting the Rory/Logan pairing is to ignore Rory’s character flaws and failings.In the words of Jess, WHY DID YOU DROP OUT OF YALE?!
Yeah, I get that. It/He/What he represented was one of her major weaknesses. But when I found out she was just fine being the other woman, I was kind of floored.
I 100% agree with you about Jack in Ted Lasso season 3. The absolute low point was the Jack story line. I say this as someone who also loathed the Rebecca/Sam bizzaro pairing. Justice for Keeley Fucking Jones!
Weird number of lesbians on this list, considering how rare WLW relationships are on TV.
Weird number of lesbians, and they somehow still missed Kennedy from Buffy who was worse than Riley in every way except amount of screentime.
I’ve not seen And Just Like That, but wow, Che is actually less popular than Berger? They must be really unlikeable.
Or Big or Tray….Che was a terribly written character. In season 1, they are such a giant asshole. I do think there were improvements in season 2 and even Sara Ramierez just couldn’t save the role.
Louis CK and Mark Brandanowitz on Parks & Rec both pretty badThe male love interests on GLOW were generally dire
I blame the issues with Christopher in GG primarily on the actor. He has ZERO chemistry with Lauren Graham, which is quite the feat. In general, he just isn’t able to land the right “former teenage rebel” note required to believe the backstory.The character of Christopher is necessary to Lorelai’s growth as a character, though, and not just a hurdle between Luke and her. For all of her bravado, Lorelai carries a lot of guilt regarding her choice to leave her parents and not marry Christopher. It is important for her to affirm that Christopher is not a good partner for her.
he just isn’t able to land the right “former teenage rebel” note required to believe the backstory.I think this probably has to do with his well-bred, rich guy persona. There’s really no rebel to the character, instead he’s an immature, jealous ass who thinks once he makes a decision everyone else should follow his lead.
add Abbott Elementary to this list. The main female and male leads give off sibling energy and rather than sexual chemistry.
I use to crush on Piz from Veronica Mars. Chris Lowell has only gotten hotter.
Agreed! Chris Lowell is hot. I like his instagram with all of his photography.
I mean if we are talking Buffy partners, Angel is top of that list. Immortal dudes hooking up with teenagers will always be gross
What age would be OK for an immortal person’s love interest?
I’d assume at least 18. Preferable 21
I just think it’s weird when people think immortal characters should have to follow normal guidelines when it comes to appropriate age for relationships.
They probably shouldn’t date mortals, period. Even if the mortal isn’t a minor. I mean it just sets them up for heartbreak anyway.
Like 30 and up.
Why was he worse than Spike (I mean other than the fact that Spike was played by a guy who could actually act)? She dated *two* immortal guys born in earlier centuries!
I feel like among Buffy fans, many agree Spike was not good for Buffy. I brought up Angel because a lot of fans talk like its her “one true love” and I always thought it was kinda ick. Spike is ick too. Xander, also ick, even though they never official dated except as a one off. Pretty much all of Buffy’s boyfriends sucked
Che Diaz is interesting to me. Not as a character (God no) but as a phenomenon. I’m always fascinated by characters meant to appeal to a certain demographic, and that demographic outright rejects them like a stolen credit card.
“This character will appeal to queer people!” Meanwhile everyone I know hates Che regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
It’s like Shaggy/Norville in that awful Velma cartoon. “Shaggy is black now!” Except absolutely none of Shaggy’s personality is present.
Che is definitely a bit of a Poochie
Che is totally a Poochie.
So Myra just straight up constantly sexually harasses and assaults Steve? The 90’s, man.
Ted Mosby was the true worst love interest on HIMYM. Pretentious d-bag in most ways, making Barney Stinson look like a stable, romantic lover in comparison.
Whoah, whoah, whoah. Barney sucked too
Barney had some character growth, which cannot be said for Ted.
Barney and Robin forever. Because those two were terrible people who hermetically sealed their terribleness inside of their love and were slowly getting better as people together. I’m still angry.
Ted Mosby and JD from Scrubs might have been the zenith of completely unbearable protagonists on longrunning sitcoms.
My partner never saw HIMYM and I only saw about 60% of it, so occasionally we talk about watching it. But then I think about how crappy Ted is as a main character (plus the ending) and we always come up with something else to watch instead. I suspect this will continue forever.
I can’t remember any of their names, but every love interest the writers tried to set up Sam Carter with in ‘Stargate’ was awful. Just consistently the least interesting, most charm-free basic white guys Canadian casting could offer.
Brand new, and fresh out the oven, Lars Olmstead, Fargo. What was the point of him?
also Piz’s name was….Piz.
As in Piznarski.
I was in high school when Veronica Mars started and Piz’s haircut in that clip brings out something ugly inside of me. That was a bad time for annoying shitheads with ringo cuts.
Shaw was clearly bad for Sarah on CHUCK!
Y’all went easy on Riley, whose red flags were all over season 4 if you know what to look for.1. Military men aside #notallmen, his overly eager need to follow and trust authority mirrors the void within him when no one is ordering him to have a purpose. Riley believes in nothing and wants nothing, and initially he tried to pull the command structure card on Buffy, so he just blindly followed orders, expecting others to do the same, because he is a rudderless bottom. When Riley gets frustrated and tired of Buffy’s reluctance to jump into a relationship, he calls her stupid and self-involved. His sales pitch is essentially that two monster hunters should date because dating is good, nevermind listening to anything Buffy had to say and caring about her needs and concerns.
2. When he meets Angel, his first instinct is to fight him, not remotely knowing or thinking about why this wouldn’t be okay with Buffy. He is legitimately shocked that Buffy wants to speak with him, and he acts like a child. He assumes Buffy cheated on him and wants to break up, and when Buffy asks him why he can’t trust her, he tells her, “Because I’m so in love with you I can’t think straight.” In other words, he blames it on her. At this point, they’ve been dating under five months. Just the all around lack of awareness, the possessiveness, the emotional instability, these are signs of an abusive spouse.
3. At some point, Riley becomes aware of what an insecure little bitch boy he is. It becomes his defining characteristic that makes him even stupider. He thinks Buffy is only in a relationship with him because of some super steroid prescription. And he’s willing to die as someone that’s a little bit stronger for his size than be a regular guy that has nothing else to offer Buffy.
4. Riley refuses to communicate his feelings and needs to Buffy because he’s too scared of losing her. He pumps up this image of what he thinks he wants where Buffy says the words while being uncharacteristically needy, but there never is actually anything Buffy can say or do to convince Riley that she wants to be with him. People like to crap on Xander for that speech, but the problem isn’t that he’s saying anything that’s untrue, it’s how Riley’s needs have become an irritant in season 5, so it just feels like someone is telling Buffy she should try to salvage a relationship she wouldn’t want to give up as someone telling Buffy that she should be with someone that none of us want her to be with, even though Xander literally says to let him leave for a clean break if she doesn’t have those feelings. She really did want him to stay and work on their relationship, but he made her mad and gave her a time limit to stop being mad, all while never taking responsibility for himself, only blaming Buffy for not reading his mind and being for him what he wants when he wants it. When Riley returns in season 6, Buffy apologizes to him, he never apologizes to her, he never takes responsibility, and he’s now married to not the tradwife he thought he wanted, but an idealized version of Buffy. And he keeps Sam a secret until she tells Buffy herself that they’re married. Scumbag.
Riley is a mediocre, cowardly, emotionally stunted, spoiled child of a man who contributes nothing to the relationship and expects everything. His insecurities make him extremely toxic to the point he engages in self-destructive behavior and he blames Buffy for making him this way. Dude can’t bring her flowers, take her on a date, cook her a meal, do anything thoughtful. He has zero boyfriend game. He just shows up for the sex and hopes Buffy never figures out he has no value.
I nominate Susan from Seinfeld.