Top 5 Beloved TV Characters Who Would Be Hated in Real Life
It's amazing how we watch and love people on TV who we would hate and despise if they were real people in our lives. I thought I would look at my favorites.
This is different than characters we love to hate. Those are characters that are just plain rotten for some reason, even the characters on their shows hate them, but we love watching them anyway. This list is about characters that are loved and cherished, but if they were real people they would be hated instantly. All of these examples come down to one thing; they are played by very good performers who know how to make an otherwise aggravating person actually likable. I know I mention her constantly, but that is the mistake Patricia Heaton made with Debra Barone. There was nothing likeable about her character, we just hated her. Here are some examples that got it right.
#5. Roseanne Connor (Roseanne)
Let’s be honest, if Roseanne were a real mother would she be
well respected? I think people would be calling child welfare on her, the way
she acts with her kids. Sure, on the show the little insults and comments are
funny. If it were real life, I am not sure how well received her antics would
be. She has bad habits, and in later years seemed constantly moody and
depressed. Ok, I am being hard on her, she did love her family and did take care of them. It's just as this show went on she got more and more unlikable, sometimes she came off as a little to miserable with her life.
#4. Zack Morris (Saved By The Bell)
This guy had good looks sure, but he wasn't exactly a role model. He did all kinds of horrible things, even against his friends if it served his purposes. He used his best friend Screech also, no matter how humiliating the circumstance. I could run a list of the things he did on this show, but just thumb through an episode guide. Most his ploys involved get rich quick schemes; the rest involved avoiding school at all cost. He never respected authority, and avoided real work at all cost. Why we did we love him? Because Mark Paul Gosselar did a great job of making him charming, and the show did make Zack pay for his crimes. As years went on he wasn’t so bad, but man those early episodes……
#3. Alex Keaton (Family Ties)
What a pompous snob! Alex is a true jerk; he acts like he is smarter than everyone and doesn't even pretend to be humble. However, played by the amazing Michael J. Fox this character became a true breakthrough hit. The truth is he wasn't a bad guy, he was just so sure he was right in the things he thought and did that it that when a different point of view came up he just laughed it off as being preposterous. The worst is what he does his to poor sister, Mallory is constantly being put down by him and it’s no wonder she had such an inferiority complex. By the time the series ended she was happy with who she was, even Alex still made fun of her.
#2. Murphy Brown (Murphy Brown)
I can't tell you how many times I will watch an episode of this show and wonder why we love the lead. She is so selfish and pushy; if she were real everyone would be calling her a certain word which rhymes with witch. She walks over anyone who gets in her way, and that includes her so called best friends. However, Candace Bergen does an exceptional job of giving Murphy just enough humanity that we can ignore when she is just plain terrible. We see the real person underneath, a recovering alcoholic who has had more than her share of trouble. Her biggest flaw is that she always has to be the best, and it's when that means even her best friends can't have a moment in the sun that she is at her most unappealing. At least she is humble about it when someone calls her out about, that makes a big difference.
#1. Monica Geller (Friends)
I just noted that Murphy and be apologetic when she has gone too far, that is unlike Monica, who never apologizes. She is right, end of story. What can you say about this bossy, anal retentive, pain in the you know what. Courtney Cox was real good at making Monica a crazy nut, but not to the point we wanted to throw something at our TV. Sure, Monica was a real good friend, and loved to take care of people. However, when her engines started firing she could be such a pain! Everything had to be clean, and not just clean but every item in her apartment had to be in the exact right spot. She could be incredibly bossy, and had to be in control of everything. She drove Phoebe out when they were roommates, annoyed Rachel, and how Chandler stood being married to her I'll never know. She is the ultimate control freak, look at the episode where Phoebe got married. She ran the wedding like a drill sergeant, and sucked the fun out of it. However, without Monica this show wouldn’t have been the same. We loved her, even if she did get a big obnoxious at times.
Hope you liked this, let me know if you agree or disagree or if I forgot someone who should be on here.
Comments
I considered Mike, but he really never hurt people he was just a goof off. Zack, for example, used people if he had to. As for Screech, I could do a whole article on him. Why did he get more annoying every year? I never understood that.
That would be a fun article and it's funny I recall reading about the character of Screech somewhere and they said by the time he joined New Class, he was more of a cartoon character akin to Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. I say go for it, I'd love to see an article like that. Character breakdowns are fun to do.
Gotta love that my namesake Alex Keaton made this list. I remember reading in Michael J. Fox's first book, he said that he was told to make the character likable. And he wondered how he was going to do it with Keaton's copious amount of shortcomings. But I think he pulled it off.
FYI, a friend of mine has met Courtney Cox - said she is an absolute you-know-what. Conversely, she said David Arquette was an absolute sweetheart.
Hi richtv. Great subject and I liked your picks. Here's some more:
Archie Bunker(Carol O'Connor)-All in the Family. Only he could make an irascible, obnoxious bigot lovable, but he was.
Louie Da Palma(Danny DeVito)-Taxi. Arguably one of the meanest, sleaziest managers in tv history-but he was so hysterical you couldn't help but love him.
Cliff Clavin(John Ratzenberger)-Cheers. The know-it-all loser who hangs out with Norm(George Wendt) at the bar. He's funny as hell, but in real life, you'd want to get as far away from him and his endless trivia as fast as you could LOL!
Dan Fielding(John Larroquette)-Night Court. Condescending, sexist, selfish and lovable? That was Night Court Prosecutor Dan.
Elaine Benes(Julia Louise Dreyfus). OMG this woman is infuriatingly stuck up, selfish, uncaring and obnoxious.....but so funny you still love her in the show.....in real life, I'd throw a drink in her face(And I never do that....that's how annoying she it LOL!).
I have more, but I need to go cook dinner now, TTYL, my friend. Peace.
Louie and Dan made my characters you love to hate list, cliff was a great choice you're absolutely right about that one. Elaine is a tough call, are we talking the sweet Elaine from early on or the shrill Elaine from later seasons? (ah moviefan12, that article is practically writing itself!!). Enjoy your dinner 
Should be a fun read.
Funny, if I would have put anyone from Seinfeld on this list, it would be either George or Kramer. Kramer is always just doing whatever he wants with no consideration for other. On the show its cute, but in real life it would be annoying. And George is always quick tempered, acts like he's always right and smarter when he obviously isn't (observe the "Moops" moment for what I meant).
Hi LevelUpLeo. "IT WAS THE MOOPS!!!!" LMAO! Trivial Pursuit with Bubbleboy. You have a good point, my friend. I guess I hate Elaine more because in the end, she just doesn't care about anyone or anything except herself and her image. Besides, she ruined a good soup experience for all of New York City when she took down the Soup Nazi...that was pretty selfish-FUNNY, but selfish. peace.
Frank Barone was easily the best and probably only interesting character on ELR.
I thought about him, but didn't make the list because he wasn't likable in the series either. As far as best character in the series, no question.
Compared to everyone else on that show, he was the most likeable.
Hard to argue with you there
Then again, Peter Boyle was great in whatever role he was playing.
Man, I was sure Sheldon Cooper was going to be number 1 on this list. I mean, everyone who watches the show loves him, but realistically everyone who does love him would hate him in real life because of how frustrating he can be. Sure, on occasion his friends would be annoyed with him, but in the end, they'd all laugh and are friends. In real life, you'd ask yourself how that was possible.
Also, Dick Solomon (3rd Rock From the Sun) is a really pompous, egotistical, self-righteous jerk who always put himself ahead of others, overuses his command over his "family" to get what he wants, uses any other advantage to do the same for anyone else and will only admit he is wrong when there is no other option. Good thing he is played by the wonderful John Lithgow.
Sheldon has a firm place in my Characters we Love to Hate List. If you never saw it, here is the link : http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/blogs/latest/entry/top-5-favorite-characters-we-love-to-hate
Dick Solomon is a good choice, I am not sure how anyone could up with him. Thanks for mentioning one I forgot, actually anyone from that show could be on here. And yes, John Lithgow really made that character likable.
I left a comment on the other article about why I feel Sheldon would be on this list instead, but basically because no one really HATES Sheldon. As a matter of fact, when people talk about the show, the first thing people normally say they like about it is Sheldon. I don't think people love to hate him, I think people actually like him as a character. In real life, he'd piss everyone off though.
This was a neat list. One more to consider would be Charles Emerson Winchester from MASH. The character was a lousy snob, but did the right thing when it counted unlike this predecessor Burns. He was not a bad guy in that sense and was likable as his character evolved. Good work, sir.
Great one! I always liked him better than Burns but in real life would have nothing to do with him
Great list! I would also have posted Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother and Cartman from South Park
Yeah, not a fan of either show but from I have seen of Barney he definitely deserves a place on here
I don't think Cartman is all that "beloved". As a matter of fact, I think he'd be more suited for a list of character we "love to hate".
While i do enjoy the show Roseanne, i never did like her character, so i was pretty happy to see her on the list. Nice work.
OK, I'm back! ahem!.....
Steve Urkel(Jaleel White)-Family Matters. Loud, obnoxious, clutzy and just plain annoying! I can't understand why Carl Winslow didn't pack up the family and move away from him!
Ted Baxter(Ted Knight)-The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Pompous, petty and dumb as a sack of hammers, but still a famously funny TV news anchor. This guy makes Murphy Brown look GOOD!
Gilligan(Bob Denver)-Gilligan's Isle. This guy screwed up rescue after rescue after rescue for the castaways. Sure he's funny, but in real life, those castaways would've eaten him after the 3rd screw up, I'm thinking....
Mork(Robin Williams)-Mork and Mindy. Yeah, I know he's freaking hilarious!...but seriously, He's so loud and obnoxious that if he lived next to you, wouldn't you want to smack him with a snow shovel?......
Arnold Horshack(Ron Pallio)-Welcome Back Kotter. All tv school nerds are inspired by this guy. He's the class clown...he's loud...he's obnoxious...he's very funny......Yeah, in real life, other nerds would give this guy wedgies......
Yeah that's all I got for now. Again, great article, my friend. Peace.
I'm going to make a case for Steve Urkel in my next article! The rest of the choices are real good
Anyone from The Big Bang Theory. Seriously all of those guys are pretty unlikeable when you stop and think about it. Sheldon refuses to grow up (even though he rightly deserves a kick in the arse), Leonard is constantly arrogant (Come on, what sort of douche corrects the girl that's recently got back to him), Howard is just a sleazebag (if he wasn't a nerd he'd be the douchey jock that no one likes) and Raj is just stupid (after 5 years he still can't talk to girls. Why not?). Oh an Amy is essentially the female Sheldon and less funny (becuase the humour came from the geeky nature of the show, not about when a woman is in her 'time of the month').
But to get more British up in here characters from a British sitcom that would be hated in real life.
Arnold Rimmer from Red Dwarf: Sure he's fun to watch on the show, but in real life he'd be nothing more then a total smeghead (and I bet that Positive Troll is gonna congrats me on knowing an obscure sci-fi sitcom from England :P)
Basil Fawlty from Fawlty Towers: Again great to watch when he suffers, but by God would he drive you insane within a few minutes.
Blackadder from Blackadder: Need I say more?
Mr Bean from Mr Bean: Sure he's great to have a laugh with, but imagine having to hang out with a guy that clumsy. He'd drive you crazy.
... Actually when you think about it, a lot of British sitcoms revolve around their characters being absoulte a$$holes and getting their comuppance. Which is another reason why British comedy rocks 
Arnold...Arnold...Arnold Rimmer
Without Him..Life would be much grimmer
He's handsome, trim and no one slimmer
He will never need a zimmer
he's Arnold...Arnold...Arnold Rimmer
Yep, you win that bet LOL! Good choice, my friend. Peace.
Got one more for you guys. How about Arthur on King of Queens? In real life he would be hated and shunned.
Kinda missing Al Bundy or any of the Bundy clan here. Then again he's loathed by anyone in the series so I don't know if it counts.
I'm surprised that Roseanne hadn't got a higher rank here. However I haven't watched Family Ties, Murphy Brown or Saved By The Bell at all. I had to watch Friends since my ex used to be a biiig fan of that show. But I never really paid attention because I was busy turning her on, so I'd get my reward for sitting through an episode. Always worked out well
I was surprised how many agreed with me on Roseanne, I almost expected to get backlash. I guess I was right, she was a horrible character. Al Bundy was one of the biggest low lifes in TV history, but he was funny too. Thanks for the comments!!
I thought Roseanne was annoying on the show
I do agree with most of these choices. Especially Roseanne but one that I thought would be on here is Mike Seaver. I really don't think he'd be as liked in the real world. Sure, he's the common teen but it is so exaggerated and also as much I agree with Zack, I think that Screech is the more fitting choice. Though Dustin Diamond (the actor that played Screech) has proven himself to be rather unlikable and a jerk.