We all have our favorite TV shows, and usually our favorite characters within them. Sometimes some characters are so bad that they almost completely ruin the show single-handedly. Some of these characters are so annoyingly infuriating to watch that many of us want to smash the TV set anytime they appear on the screen.
Scrappy Doo – Scooby Doo
Scooby Doo is a cherished cartoon from many of our childhoods. His adventures as part of the Mystery Inc. team left many fond moments in our memories – that was until his annoying little nephew, Scrappy showed up. Unlike his timid uncle Scooby, Scrappy often would run headfirst into trouble, challenging villains to a fight before inevitably having to be rescued. It was needless and only ended putting the team in more danger than necessary. They should have called the dog pound to come and take Scrappy away after his first season.
Screech – Saved By the Bell: The College Years
Ah Screech, a beloved character on the original Saved by the Bell series. The years were not good to the character, and by the time he and the gang had all made it to college poor old Screech found himself on the fringe of the group. The rest of the cast matured and developed as characters, but Screech managed to go backward. He went from the comically nerdy character to one that was just raving, prompting many viewers crying for him to feature less and less. The plight of Screech mirrored the fall from grace that the actor who played him, Dustin Diamond, experienced in real life, even being shunned from Jimmy Fallon’s reunion skit.
Maya Herrera – Heroes
Heroes grabbed our collective attention initially thanks to some great action and storytelling. We were all left wondering what “Save the cheerleader, save the world,” meant, and we were dying to find out how the plot would develop. The show kind of ran out of steam in the end and no character personified that more than Maya Herrera, whose character development lasted nearly two seasons, only for her story to fade into the abyss. She had a cool trick, she could cry poison, but it ended up being a useless talent and in the end she is cured and written out. Totally worth spending two seasons following her story to an irrelevant dead end.
Wesley Crusher – Star Trek: The Next Generation
Played by Wil Wheaton, Wesley Crusher was an annoying know-it-all character featured on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Despite numerous failed attempts at gaining access to the Starfleet Academy, Crusher found himself to be a pivotal character on the USS Enterprise, offering his opinions and solutions to problems beyond his station. Regularly standing up to the senior ranking members of the ship’s crew, Crusher found himself being reprimanded just as often, despite only being a kid. After four seasons the crew saw fit to get rid of Wesley Crusher, sending him off into the sunset with the mysterious Traveler, to the delights of many viewers.
Not every character can be Jon Snow, but that doesn’t mean they should make our blood boil with rage every time we catch sight of them. Characters are not always integral to the plot, sometimes they provide comic relief, but if you invest your time watching them you expect a pay off at the conclusion of the story. Sadly these characters were either too annoying to tolerate or so utterly irrelevant we would rather have had the time to follow a different, more interesting character.
