23 Bad TV Character Storylines

Buzz Feed

13 hours ago

We recently asked the members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us what storyline completely ruined a TV character's growth. Here's what they said:
When Ginny became more like her mother on Ginny & Georgia.
"Ginny started off kind and a bit unsuspecting. She was always headstrong and had issues, but had a likable vulnerability. Then she became almost menacing. She started to treat Maxine (her supposed best friend) terribly, lied to her dad over and over, manipulated Simone, blackmailed Cynthia, hated Paul without knowing the whole story, and although Gil was an abuser, setting him up as a murderer was just diabolical because he really did love Austin. Poor Austin was just a ploy in her web of lies. Even Georgia realized that she was becoming different. Ginny was becoming Georgia."—vibrantshield91
When Miranda cheated on Steve in And Just Like That.
"On SATC, Miranda was the anti-romantic who fell in and out of love with Steve. Her being a lawyer and his being a bartender and later bar owner were worlds apart, yet in real life, love doesn't know anything but love. In the first movie, Steve confessed to cheating, which ruined Carrie and Big's initial wedding day. Continuing with AJLT, Miranda cheated on Steve with Che, Carrie's boss. Seeing Miranda as a person who disrespected her marriage with cheating and chasing Che made her look desperate and whiny, not to mention a hypocrite. Miranda is so cringe now, I can't stand her. The fun, sarcastic Miranda is gone and replaced by someone else. I wonder if, at some point, Miranda had a lobotomy."—Anonymous
When Eric cheated on Adam in Sex Education.
"He effed up their whole relationship, which will never fail to infuriate me."—famousphone424
When Fiona let Liam get into her drugs, which almost killed him on Shameless.
"I was done with her and the show after that."—creepster
When Michael turned out to be alive on Jane the Virgin, but had amnesia.
"It just absolutely ruined his character. I'm not over." —emwren
When Olivia Pope became head of B613 on Scandal.
"She was always a strong, independent woman who did what was right (well, most of the time). She spent three seasons trying to end B613, and in the last season, she became the head of B613 and became everything that she hated."—itsmeshahbano
When Quinn was obsessed with getting Beth back in Glee.
"Everything about it was so wrong. Also, PUCK HOOKING UP WITH RACHEL'S (AND BETH'S) MOM was horrible. That whole part of the season just ruined so many characters."—Anonymous
When Topanga turned down a scholarship to Yale so she could be with Cory in Boy Meets World.
—sf4581
When Haley got back together with Dylan on Modern Family.
"Haley going back to Dylan was definitely one of the worst because she had grown so much."—rbd89
When Spike attempted to rape Buffy on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
"That was a very bad decision."—matdyjames
When Debbie tricked her boyfriend into getting her pregnant at 15 on Shameless.
"She was doing so well before that, then she just became trash."—A_Panda
When Rory dropped out of Yale on Gilmore Girls.
"She stole a boat, dropped out of Yale, lived with her grandmother, and ignored Lorelai for months because one guy told her she didn't have what it took to be a journalist. That's something you do when you're 15, not when you're 20."—s463b03bd4
When Jaime left Brienne for Cersei in Season 8 of Game of Thrones.
"When he said he did everything for Cersei, it didn't make sense because it was established in previous seasons that he did what he did for the people and saved millions of lives. It completely ruined his character arc and I pretend the last two seasons never happened."—districtrue
When Andy sailed away on the boat without Erin on The Office.
"I have no idea why they took his character in that direction. I can't believe how he treated Erin by leaving her to be on the boat and all the lying he did to Robert California to cover his own ass. The whole series he was portrayed as caring (if sometimes incompetent) to his coworkers and then he randomly did that. He did have an anger issue when his job was stolen, but it made sense because a total stranger stole his job! They just randomly turned him into this selfish person for no reason who only cared about himself."—irwhite1993
When Danny's regressed to a sexist jerk on The Mindy Project.
"He was always super supportive of Mindy and proud of her work as a doctor but then as soon as they had the baby, he started gaslighting her, tried to trick her into getting pregnant again and generally shaming her for wanting to keep her job!"—sunshine193
Everything Sabrina Spellman did in Seasons 3 and 4 of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
"She used to be a smart, ambitious, independent and likeable character in the beginning. She even defied her father, the devil, by refusing to rule Hell with him. In Season 3, she became OBSESSED with ruling Hell and made the most selfish decisions, like creating a cheap clone of herself to rule Hell, no matter who she hurt in the process."—a402635290
When Anya started doing coke on Degrassi: The Next Generation.
"I quit watching Degrassi (after YEARS) immediately after the shot of Anya doing coke at a club. Anya? ANYA? Student Council Anya? Cheerleader Anya? Anya who had a HUGE falling out with Holly J. because Holly J. was always forcing her into bad situations and getting them in trouble? LARPer Anya?? Nope, NOPE, do not buy it."—chelseajack
When Toby leaked classified information on The West Wing.
"He leaked classified information on a military space program so the US would be forced to send help to some stranded astronauts. It was so out of character for him and it was heavily implied that he was covering for someone else like CJ. Not only did it completely blow up his storyline by forcing him out of the White House, but he turned into a total ass afterward."—annpricot
When Guzman became a classist jerk again on Season 4 of Elite.
"The show had him go from a dumb jerk to a better man to make his growth part of his journey. Alas, they erased said growth by making him a dumb jerk again to make the Guzman, Ari, and Samu love triangle work."—superkay
When Schmidt cheated on Cece and Elizabeth by dating them both at the same time.
"I couldn't get past it."—kthomas8836
When Cordelia slept with Angel's son Connor on Angel.
"From Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Angel we watched her go from a spoiled teenage girl to a wonderful strong, caring young woman, only for her to turn evil and sleep with Angel's son. She got 'pregnant' by Connor, went into a coma and died. It was an unforgivable character assassination. Cordelia deserved better!"—itsspeltpauline
And finally, wjem Alex Karev left Jo and Meredith to get back together with Izzie on Grey's Anatomy.
"Alex Karev's departure from Grey's Anatomy was utter, utter rubbish. Look, I understand that the actor wanted to leave to pursue other projects, fair enough. However, they didn't have to ruin his character in the process, but my god, did they ruin all of that wonderful character development and growth and then some."—ravenbard"Why create one of the best character developments in TV HISTORY only to have him backtrack and exit the show how he did."—Anonymous"It ruined 16 seasons of character development."—Anonymous
What's a storyline that ruined a TV character? Tell us in the comments or use the anonymous form below.