Regrettable Characters Who (Nearly) Ruined Good TV Shows

Hannah is supposed to represent the feminist movement, a symbol of strength for women everywhere, but for many, she was just "a prototypical millennial." Some even believed her actions were a reflection of actress and show creator Lena Dunham, who was has received her share of public criticism.

Hannah's best friends are also pretty much the same way. Somehow the lack of any true foil for Hannah worked on Girls. 

Everyone always knew that Ross and Rachel were going to wind up together in the end. All Emily did was put a major delay in the inevitable. Emily prohibits Ross from seeing Rachel after he blurts out Rachel's name during their wedding ceremony (oops), which only made her more unlikeable.

Yes, of course, she is right. If they want their relationship to work, Ross should probably avoid someone else he is still clearly in love with. But come on! Emily nearly broke up the whole gang.

This is Piper's story to tell, so what do we do when the main character of a drama is also the least interesting? Orange Is the New Black is filled with three-dimensional, well-written characters. Initially, Piper is our protagonist; however, it quickly becomes clear that she is totally self-absorbed and toxic to everyone in her life.

Thankfully, the writers and creator Jenji Kohan realized this rather quickly and began to really focus on the many other interesting inmates at Litchfield Penitentiary.

Dana Brody is another TV character that the internet could not stop hating. In fact, entire sites were dedicated to listing all the reasons why her character is one of the worst in television history. Here's the thing, Homeland is a very serious drama about terrorism. The beginning seasons are focused on Dana's father, Nicholas Brody, and his relationship with CIA operative Carrie Mathison.

It isn't a drama about teen angst, which came pouring out of Dana. Her character always seemed to take away from the show instead of adding to it. Every time she appeared onscreen, Dana was just a major annoying hindrance to getting to what was really important on Homeland.

“Scrappy Dappy Doo!” After 10 seasons, Hanna-Barbera’s Scooby-Doo was beginning to drop in the ratings. As with many TV shows, the writers opted to bring in a fresh new character to spice things up. Scrappy-Doo, Scooby’s nephew, came on board in 1979. The pint-sized Great Dane was everything that his scaredy-cat uncle was not.

The initial backlash was immense; Scrappy was seen by many Scooby fans as annoying and superfluous. However, despite the criticism, the ratings went up and Scrappy remained an important part of Scooby's team.

Pete Campbell is a classic weasel. He literally had everything: a beautiful and kind wife, a great job, and a healthy child. But he blew it because that's what weasels do. Pete earns a junior partnership at SC&P because he's really good at his job as an account man. But none of his co-workers seem to like him, and it's a surprise that no one at the firm, other than Layne, ever punched Campbell in his very punchable face.

Pete is arrogant, cruel, and not above crossing moral boundaries to land an account or move up the corporate ladder (he is the one who pushed Joan into sleeping with Herb Rennet in order to land the Jaguar account.) After Pete tries to blackmail Don Draper, Don rejects his attempt and perhaps describes Campbell best: "I thought about what you said, and then I thought about you and what a deep lack of character you have."