Some of the best TV characters are the ones that drive us crazy. Whether it's because they are villains, or simply just because they are obnoxious, we can't wait to see what they do next. Here is our list of all the characters we just love to hate.
Brenda Walsh - Beverly Hills, 90210
Brandon and Brenda Walsh may have been twins on Beverly Hills, 90210, but really, they couldn't have been any more different. Brandon was seemingly loved by everyone, including the audience, while Brenda was the ultimate teenage villain. It probably didn't help that the late Shannen Doherty was also controversial behind the scenes of the show, eventually leaving after Season 4.
Sheldon Cooper - The Big Bang Theory
Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) on The Big Bang Theory was an incredibly funny character. He was also an incredibly annoying and obnoxious character that fans of the show just loved to hate. He was laughed at and with through the show and was so popular (and despised), that the character got his own spinoff, Young Sheldon.
Cersei Lannister - Game Of Thrones
Without a doubt, Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) in Game of Thrones is one of the greatest TV villains of all time. She was universally hated by fans, which is the biggest compliment you can give Headey as the one portraying her. She was so hated that even her death by getting crushed by thousands of pounds of rocks wasn't satisfying enough to fans of the show.
J.R. Ewing - Dallas
"Who shot J.R.?" is arguably the best TV cliffhanger of all time. It wasn't just that fans wanted to know who shot him, but if he survived the shooting. Plenty of people would have been satisfied had the villain on Dallas not made it. Of course, he did make it, and he was only more hated for it - in the best way.
Rebecca - Cheers
Kirstie Alley, who played Rebecca on Cheers walked into a pretty difficult assignment when she joined the show in Season 6. She was essentially replacing another character fans loved to hate, Diane, played by Shelly Long. Still, both the actress and the character slipped right into the sometimes villain, sometimes friend role and fans loved to hate her for it.
Dennis Reynolds - It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
The gang in It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia are all pretty terrible people. It's why we watch them, to see just how awful they can be. There is little redeeming about any of them, but the worst has to be Dennis Reynolds (Glenn Howerton). There's no way anyone would ever be friends with a person like that, and that's why we love him... and hate him.
Dr. Robert Romano - ER
Dr. Robert "Rocket" Romano was one of the great TV villains of the 1990s in ER. He was brash, obnoxious, demanding, and mean. Audiences really hated him on a level that few TV villains are. It was a visceral hatred. That made his ridiculous death all the more satisfying, even though it was pretty over-the-top and somewhat silly.
Gemma Morrow - Sons Of Anarchy
Katey Sagal's portrayal of Gemma Morrow in Sons Of Anarchy was one of the highlights of the whole show. She was wonderful throughout the whole thing. And her character was simply a terrible, self-centered, shockingly sociopathic person. She was great.
Sue Sylvester - Glee
Even shows like Glee can have the most epic villains that audiences can't get enough of. Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) fits the bill better than most on this list, too. She's brilliantly funny and shockingly mean all at the same time.
Dwight Schrute - The Office
Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) is the kind of work frenemy we all are grateful we don't have to deal with. He is obnoxious and overbearing and just simply annoying. Worse, he can be destructive. Of course, that only makes us love him more as a character. We may root for Jim, but secretly, we want to see what Dwight says next.
The Governor - The Walking Dead
Over its 11 seasons, there were a lot of great villains on The Walking Dead and while Negan may be the most notorious, he was pretty much just hated in every way (at least until the end). The Governor (David Morrissey) in Seasons 3 and 4 was the first villain we all truly loved to hate.
Livia Soprano - The Sopranos
Livia Soprano, played by the late Nancy Marchand on The Sopranos, was the worst mother imaginable. The way she dealt with her kids, and the rest of the world, was simply despicable. Had it not been for Marchand's untimely death after Season 3, who knows just how much more she would have been hated by fans of the show. One thing is for sure though, we all loved the late Marchand for her work as Livia.
Gus Fring - Breaking Bad
There aren't a lot of heroes in Breaking Bad. At best Walter White is an anti-hero. Gus Fring, however, is a truly great villain. Giancarlo Esposito's portrayal of Walter's rival is unparalleled in TV history. Fans simply could not get enough of the villain and he'll long be remembered as one of the best parts of one of the most rewatchable shows of all time.
The Entire Roy Family - Succession
When it comes to the HBO hit Succession, it's impossible to pick the worst member of the Roy family. They are all so terrible, and seemingly in competition with each other as to who can worse, that we just have to nominate them all for this list. They are all just awful.
Homelander - The Boys
Of all the shows on streaming, there may not be a bigger concentration of terrible people than the characters on The Boys. There are only one or two redeemable characters on the whole show, and the worst are all completely awful. At the top of the list of characters we love to hate though, is Homelander. How could it not be?
Francis Underwood - House Of Cards
Even setting aside the camera controversies of Kevin Spacey, Frank Underwood on House Of Cards was a shockingly terrible person. His quest for power was unrivaled in television history and his willingness to do anything, including commit murders, made him so easy to hate. Yet we couldn't stop watching, could we?
Joffrey Baratheon - Game Of Thrones
Joffrey Baratheon on Game Of Thrones was such a hated character that a rumor once started that it actually affected actor Jack Gleeson's career negatively (it didn't). That not only says something about the character and how much we loved to hate him, but it also says something great about Gleeson who played the evil tyrant so well, that some people can't separate the actor from the character.
Louie De Palma - Taxi
Danny DeVito may be most famous today for playing another terrible person, Frank on It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, but he got his big break in television playing the awful Louie De Palma on the classic '70s sitcom Taxi. Louie was the worst kind of tyrant boss.
Steve Urkel - Family Matters
Steve Urkel, played by Jaleel White, is hated for a very different reason than many on this list. He's just the most annoying TV character ever created. Fans who loved Family Matters also loved how obnoxious he was. People who weren't fans of the show just found him unbearable. A tribute to White's portrayal of the annoying neighbor.
Mr. Burns - The Simpsons
If there is one character on The Simpsons who does his best to be purely evil, it's C. Montgomery Burns. This is a guy who even tried to block out the sun from shining on Springfield. Of course, on any list of the best Simpsons characters, he'd be near the top, too.
Sawyer - Lost
Make no mistake that by the end of Lost, Sawyer (Josh Holloway) would become a hero. It takes him a long time to get there and in the early seasons, he's a pretty terrible person. That doesn't stop us from laughing at the creative nicknames he comes with or some of the snarky lines he has.
Eric Cartman - South Park
Eric Cartman is the worst kid in South Park. He's also the funniest character on the show (except for maybe Randy). Just about everything Cartman does is awful. He's one of the most self-serving and selfish people on TV, ever, yet, we can't stop coming back for more. We can't wait to see what obnoxious thing he will do next.
Ross Geller - Friends
Even the most die-hard Friends fan will admit that Ross Geller is a pretty awful person. Actor David Schwimmer was so good as Ross that it's hard to separate him from the character and that's too bad because Schwimmer seems like a great guy, while Ross is usually very much the opposite. It makes the "great" love story between him and Rachael (Jennifer Aniston) all the more confusing for fans.
Screetch - Saved By The Bell
The late Dustin Diamond played one of the most annoying nerds ever on Saved By The Bell. Screetch did basically nothing right and why anyone ever stayed friends with him is a complete mystery. Still, he was one of the reasons - if not the main reason - we laughed so hard at the show.
Sylar - Heroes
NBC's Heroes started off so strong before it sadly faded almost as quickly as it came out of the gate. However, throughout the show's short run, the one consistently great character was the one we all hated the most, the villain Sylar (Zachary Quinto).
Frank Burns - MASH
Everyone loved Hawkeye, Trapper John, and BJ Honeycutt on MASH. Everyone equally hated Major Frank Burns (Larry Linville) who did everything he could to ruin everyone else's fun. It made it a critical character in the early seasons of the show, and his replacement after Linville left the show, Charles Winchester (David Ogden Stiers) was equally loved and hated.
Glenn Quagmire - The Family Guy
Quagmire on The Family Guy is just a horrible, horrible person. He's obnoxious and gross. Why the rest of the gang stays friends with just a terrible person is a mystery, though it might be because his awfulness makes him completely hilarious. That must be the reason, actually. It's a character we simply love for being so gross.
Gob Bluth - Arrested Development
Gob Bluth, played by Will Arnett, is the funniest character on Arrested Development. The screwup son and magician is also just awful in every way. He's selfish, rude, and honestly, not very smart. He's also occasionally racist. But again - he's the funniest character on the show and it's not because fans are laughing with him, they are laughing at him. Will Arnett deserves all the praise for that too, because it's not easy to be both.
Scrappy Doo - Scooby Doo, Where Are You?
Scrappy Doo is just the worst. We don't love to hate him because he's a great character, like so many others on this list. No, we love to hate because everything about the character, from his introduction to everything he does just sucks. We love to be angry at him, for real.
Janice Soprano - The Sopranos
There are a lot of characters with awful motivations in The Sopranos and among the worst of those is Tony's sister Janice Soprano. Aida Turturro plays the unlikable character so well that there is really very little redeeming about her. There are moments when we feel sorry for her, sure. She goes through some terrible stuff, but none of it makes her actually likable. In fact, anytime we start to like her, she does something to remind us how much we hate her.
Ben Linus - Lost
Ben Linus, played by the great Michael Emerson, on Lost, is a bit of an enigma. There are times when we almost start to like him, or at least feel empathy towards him, but inevitably he ruins that pretty quickly and fans are reminded that he's not a likable person, like, at all.
Georgina Sparks - Gossip Girl
Georgina Sparks (Michelle Trachtenberg) is the classic high-society mean girl in Gossip Girl. She is so unlikable for her manipulative ways and awful attitude that fans can't wait for her to do something that they can be mad about. The perfect kind of villain.
