We love our characters on TV. Whether we love to love them or love to hate them, our TV characters take us on a journey with them into their world and out of ours.
Some TV characters, though, grate on us like nails on a chalkboard. If they’re not constantly making bad decisions, they’re whining like a baby, and making us roll our eyes so hard they might pop out of our heads, every time they show up on the screen.
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We begin to wonder if the entire point of them being on the show is to irritate us.
Because that’s an emotion too.
Read through the 23 most irritating characters of all time, and see if you agree with our picks. Who would you choose as the king or queen of irritation?
Andrea – The Walking Dead
Andrea couldn’t make a good decision if her life depended on it. And it did! She not only made poor decisions that affected her but put everyone’s life at risk. On top of that, she was so sure she was right all the time, she wouldn’t listen to anyone else. That’s no way to be in an apocalypse, Andrea! She even put her trust in the governor, which had to be the most irritating move of all.
Kim – Law & Order: SVU
As they say, you can’t pick your family, but Amanda deserves a sister so much better than Kim. She’s just a tiny, blonde, steaming hot mess. It’s irritating enough that she gets herself in trouble with her drugs, and her abusive boyfriend, but to bring Amanda into it? Every time she shows her face, Amanda gives her another chance and gets stabbed in the back. We’re not sure who’s more irritating, Kim for putting Amanda through the ringer or Amanda for falling for it every single time.
Seg-El – Krypton
What’s irritating about Seg is that he’s an ancestor of Superman, who always chooses the morally correct decision. Seg doesn’t. When we meet Seg, he’s an angry con-man, full of rage, making bad decision after bad decision. He not worthy of the House of El. Although we know his character arc will eventually bring him to the hero status he’s destined to reach, it’s almost painful to watch him on his journey.
Carrie – Homeland
Yes, we know, Carrie has bipolar disorder. We’re not judging her irritation level for that. What makes Carrie so irritating is her constant poor decision making and constant state of crying. Some of that may be due to the fact she doesn’t stay on her meds (irritating), but not all. She makes selfish decisions without any regard for who she hurts in the process, whether it be Peter (the only man to stand by her side) or her very own daughter. No one can make you scream louder at the TV than Carrie Mathison.
Jacinda – Once Upon a Time
Jacinda complains way too much to be a believable princess. She carries way too much drama and is somewhat of a hot mess. She also has zero chemistry with Henry, so watching them forced together is irritating. You’re a princess, Jacinda, get your life together, girl.
Kimmy – Full House
At first, Kimmy was just the annoying and odd neighbor and best friend of DJ Tanner. As they grew up, Kimmy became just plain annoying with her bursting in the house, her weird crush on Uncle Jesse, and her making trouble for DJ, She wasn’t good for DJ, and none of the other Tanners could stand her. She became their punchline. Sometimes friendships really shouldn’t last.
Ross – Friends
We know that Ross was meant to be with Rachel and he was an essential part of the Friends cast but did he really have to be so darn whiny? Add in him stomping his foot when he didn’t get his way and he was worse than most 3-year-olds who are taken to the grocery store during naptime without snacks or a binky.
Ana Lucia – Lost
Ana Lucia was not only constantly grumpy, but she overreacted to everything. She made every situation about herself and brought no redeeming qualities to the island. She only caused trouble. Then she shot Shannon and broke Sayid’s heart. Unforgiveable, Ana Lucia. Just because you were a cop off the island, doesn’t mean you’re always in the right.
Georgina – Gossip Girl
In a nutshell, Georgina never grew up. She caused problems for everyone else around her to clean up. It’s not like she was just bumbling around either, she had no problem ruining everyone’s lives without an ounce of guilt. Stop. Just stop.
Susan – Desperate Housewives
Susan started off as this quirky kind of fun and clumsy character, but soon all she was doing was stepping in mess after mess, and making plenty herself. Which you might chalk up to just bad luck, but she was always so darned helpless about it. Solve your own problems, Susan, there are bigger problems in town, and it’s not all about you.
Joffrey Baratheon – Game of Thrones
Joffrey is such an evil, whiny brat, even his mother can’t stand him. The power of the crown has certainly gone to his head. Most irritating of all is when push comes to shove, he’s really just a sniveling coward. BOO, Joffrey!
Will – Glee
Will is a poor excuse for a teacher, living vicariously through his students. His whiny and needy ways are bad enough, but to have inappropriate relations with your students and receive credit you don’t deserve is beyond irritating. You’re a grown man, Will.
Screech – Saved by the Bell
Screech’s perpetual hormonal voice changes are enough to land him on the list of irritating characters. He was not only screwing things up around him and making a mess like a bull in a china shop, he never knew when to quit. And not in a good way. His purpose was comedy relief, but it came off as just plain annoying.
Felicity – Arrow
There’s nothing worse than painting someone as a hero when they’re clearly not. Felicity was brought on to be a moral compass, but she’s just a jerk who nobody calls out on her crap. What? Yes, she deals with a lot, but so does everyone. Felicity doesn’t grow as a character, and it makes her incredibly frustrating. She needs to go back into the background.
Lani – Days of Our Lives
Here’s another character who’s treated like a hero when she doesn’t deserve it. Lani does nothing but whine, lie, and manipulate whatever flavor of the month she happens to be obsessing about at the moment. That makes her not only unlikeable but irritating to watch.
Elizabeth – The Blacklist
For an FBI agent, she’s not that bright. How did she even get into the agency anyway? And aren’t agents trained to observe their surroundings? She can’t even pay attention to what’s going around in her own house. Her constant lost and confused face gets pretty old pretty fast.
Lori – The Walking Dead
Lori’s biggest downfall and what irritated us the most was the whole Shane/Rick triangle. Not only did she not go back to see if Rick was still alive, she shacked up with his partner before Rick’s body was even cold. Add to that her lies to Rick, and her demand that he protect his family, only to turn around and judge him for it, and you’ve got one irritating lady. It’s too bad Carl had to kill his own mom, but the group was better without her drama.
Ralph – The Flash
Ralph spends the majority of his time being such a nuisance, even all the other characters are irritated with him. Why no one calls him out on his behavior, we’ll never know. He just continues on with his sexist attitude, and ill-timed jokes, irritating everyone in his wake.
Rory – Gilmore Girls
Rory was one of the privileged on Gilmore Girls, but she still insisted on whining about her problems. She does nothing but complains, and that gets really old really fast. We know she picked up the whole complaining thing from her mother, but blaming others only goes so far. We wish Rory would just appreciate what she has and quit her constant poor me attitude.
Olivia – Grey’s Anatomy
The first time Olivia was on Grey’s Anatomy, she was always going from trouble spot to trouble spot. She had no redeeming qualities, and broke George’s heart to boot! When she returned to Grey’s just before Alex and Jo got married, she wasn’t any better at all. All these years later, she’s a mother and is still holding a grudge against Alex from her intern days. Let it go already.
Debra – Dexter
If Debra’s not crying, whining, or cursing, she isn’t communicating. No one can be that overly emotional and not pluck every last nerve of everyone around her. She needs to get those emotions in check. She needs to get in the car, head straight for a counselor’s office, and demand intense therapy and medication. Heck, after watching her, we might all need it.
Healy – Orange is the New Black
Healy has so many issues, how he’s qualified to counsel anyone at Litchfield, we’ll never know. Not only does he severely judge other people, he can’t even hold together his own relationships. Seriously, if any of the inmates need counseling, they’re better off tuning in to Dr. Phil.
Martin – Touch
Martin was the father of a brilliant autistic boy named Jake, and it was actually a great show. The only problem was Martin himself. He was constantly out of breath, and every time he turned around, his son had wandered off. Then Martin would run around, out of breath, saying Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake, ad nauseum. We think by the end, Jake himself wanted to change his own name.
