The success of many TV shows is often determined by their cast of characters. Without compelling figures to keep audiences returning for each new chapter, a TV show is practically doomed. The very nature of TV storytelling requires strong writing when it comes to the characterization of a show’s core cast, and many of the best TV shows are those that boast several figures that resonate with audiences on some level. The majority of shows have at their center a single character considered its protagonist, or at the very least, the framing point of the show’s story. Being that this places them squarely at the heart of their respective shows, they’re typically written to be the character audiences love the most.
Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. While the best TV show character arcs see their characters evolve over time to keep their story engaging for the audience, there are always examples of a show’s protagonist also being its worst character. In the following cases, the character painted as the lead is secretly — or not so secretly, as the case may be — the worst or weakest character in the whole show, and they are often overshadowed by other more popular cast members.
Orange Is the New Black is often considered one of the best Netflix TV shows in the platform’s history, but its protagonist Piper Chapman is the show’s worst character. The show starts with Piper being sentenced to 15 months in Litchfield Prison, and its story is then built around her life inside and the people she meets while incarcerated. In all fairness, Piper is hardly a bad character, and she’s essential to the show, as its story is based on the non-fiction memoir of real-life author Piper Kerman.
Unfortunately for Piper, she’s simply the least interesting character in Orange Is the New Black‘s ensemble. Where the many characters she meets and associates with in prison are colorful and intriguing, Piper simply feels a much duller aspect of its story. The show seems to recognize this by focusing less on her story in later seasons, making it a true ensemble piece rather than simply Piper’s story, but the sad fact is that the planned protagonist swiftly became the show’s least popular character.
Sex and the City is one of several HBO TV shows that revolutionized TV, and so its place within pop culture is undoubtedly secure. It follows the story of four female friends living in New York City: Carrie Bradshaw, Samantha Jones, Charlotte York, and Miranda Hobbes. Of its central female cast, the closest to a single protagonist Sex and the City has is Carrie, particularly as it’s based on the newspaper column and book of Candace Bushnell, from whom Carrie’s character is derived.
Looking back on Sex and the City, many aspects of the show haven’t aged too well, but few are as maligned as Carrie. Even fans of the show identify her as its most unpleasant character, as she’s shallow, vain, and incredibly judgmental even of her closest friends. Watching it back today makes Carrie seem more like the show’s villain, as she’s something of a bully compared to all those around her. She’s a complex and well-written protagonist, but she’s also Sex and the City‘s least likable character.
Dawson’s Creek ranks as one of the most beloved and iconic teen dramas of all time, catapulting its core cast to global stardom with its massive success. Considering the show is named after him, it’s hard to ignore the fact that Dawson Leery is Dawson’s Creek‘s protagonist, even if it is remembered for the fact that its great side characters stole the show, especially Katie Holmes’ Joey Potter. While several characters were billed as the main cast of Dawson’s Creek, Dawson himself remained at its core due to it being framed by his experiences and named after him.
Sadly, Dawson is the least likable of the show’s core ensemble. He’s self-centered and over-emotional, and he continues to rub fans of the show the wrong way throughout the course of its run. He’s pretty hypocritical, holding others to standards that he doesn’t expect himself to be held to, and frequently talks down to his friends, making him seem to believe himself superior to them. Where the rest of the characters in Dawson’s Creek are more relatable, Dawson himself feels more like that one friend that everybody has, but nobody wants.
Now we reach the entries that slowly became awful over time. At the beginning of Gilmore Girls, Rory Gilmore is smart, hardworking, and talented, and her idealism and ambition endeared her to audiences. However, as the show went on, she gradually became its worst character, despite its entire story essentially centering around her growing up. The worst part is, she doesn’t even really change that much, but, then again, that’s sort of the problem.
Despite being incredibly intelligent, Rory doesn’t really grow or evolve over the course of the show. This makes her seem increasingly hypocritical as the story of Gilmore Girls goes on, particularly as it makes her seem both entitled and judgmental of others. Her character doesn’t change a huge amount, but instead, the situations she finds herself in highlight her many shortcomings. By the time Gilmore Girls ended, Rory had become its most frustrating and least likable character.
Many fans remember How I Met Your Mother as a massive TV hit that completely fell apart in its final season, but it was briefly one of the most popular sitcoms on TV. Like any good sitcom, its success was built upon the dynamic between its core characters and the strength of its premise, which in HIMYM’s case, was Ted Mosby chronicling the story of how he met his teenage children’s mother. To begin with, Ted is a hopeless romantic seeking true love, and all in all, he’s pretty endearing, and the show’s central mystery kept its story moving.
As the seasons wore on, Ted’s shtick started to get old. He stopped seeming like the sensitive and charming romantic and more like a self-proclaimed “good guy” who sabotages relationships and makes several questionable decisions. Where Ted was originally incredibly likable and relatable, he gradually became the most unpleasant character in the show, which is really saying something, considering he appeared alongside the serial womanizer and deeply misogynistic Barney Stinson.
