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May 27, 2012

Who are the most useless characters on television?

by Bob Sassone, posted Dec 23rd 2008 1:17PM

James DentonIt's one thing to make a list of the characters on television that you consider useless and not worth anyone's time, the characters we probably wouldn't miss if they were to vanish from their shows. It's another thing, though, to name a child from a reality show on that list.

That's what the New York Post's PopWrap blog does. This list of the top 10 most useless characters includes someone named Mady from Jon and Kate Plus 8, which is apparently a reality show. The blog calls this girl - who is a real person dragged on to the show by adults and not a character and not an actress - "selfish, egocentric, whiner, not a joiner - that parents would use genetic testing to eradicate if it were an option." Yowza, that's quite a statement. Other people on the list include Mohinder from Heroes (can't really argue with that after this season), Ignacio from Ugly Betty (that's a bad choice), Shane from Weeds, and Mike from Desperate Housewives.

It's not easy to pick useless TV characters, because even characters that are either lame or aren't utilized by the show's writers often serve an important purpose to the overall plot of the show. I think Tracy is pretty useless on Heroes (she makes me want Nikki to come back), and I'm sure soap fans could come up with two or three examples from their favorite daytime drama.

And if we're going to stretch this to include reality shows, how about the entire cast of Real Housewives of Orange County?

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Diana Dalton

I hate to say it but they really did not utilize Ignacio on Ugly Betty so I would have to say he was kind of useless this last season. Mohinder, eh. Could have been used better. Tracy (Heroes)...totally useless. Didn't get her being there at all!

December 24 2008 at 2:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
KenMo

I consider 8 of the 10 shows listed as useless.
Of the 10, I have only watched Heroes and Weeds.

On Heroes I'd have to agree with Mohinder, but it's a close call against Claire. If Mohinder looked as good in a leather or cheerleader outfit, he'd be in the running. At least he can act.

December 24 2008 at 8:22 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jim

I got a chuckle when I saw Sean McNamara on the list. Hilarious!

December 24 2008 at 7:27 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Morjana Coffman

Robin Tunney's character on The Mentalist. Yikes! Robin looks like she's sleepwalking through her role. She's annoying, whiny, boring, whiny, drab, whiny, bland, and did I mention whiny?

December 24 2008 at 12:20 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Morjana Coffman's comment
BC McKinney

I'm sorry, but I can't think of a single scene in "The Mentalist" where Lisbon has done anything that could be even remotely described as whine. She's the boss and acts like it. Perhaps you're thinking of Van Pelt? But even she's not useless, she provides someone for Rigsby to pine for when he's not gazing adoringly at his man crush Jane.

December 24 2008 at 1:44 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jitaroo

After watching the whole third season of Dexter, I realized that Quinn was utterly useless. What was the point of him when they didn't reveal ANY thing about him.

December 23 2008 at 4:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
MWM

Yeah, Molly on the Unit is useless and annoying. She has issues with authority..count how many times she went up against Col. Ryan

December 23 2008 at 4:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
MERVE-THE-PERVE

How about all the wives and kids on The Unit. I hate it when there action starts getting good and they switch over to the wives doing their same old boring stuff. They should have killed them all off in the season 1 finale when they had the chance.

December 23 2008 at 4:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Susan Burns

As a fan of Jon and Kate plus eight, Mady is the family's challenge child. She used to be one of 2, and not by choice, she became one of 8. No child in that family gets their parents undivided attention except when they plan (which they have to do) an outing with just one. Jon and Kate discipline Mady regularly, and even they have said their show has become Mady's second conscience.

Okay, I am off the soap box now, but seriously, if you have to include a misunderstood 7 year old, there must not be a lot of useless characters on tv. I am not shooting the messenger, but the original writer!

December 23 2008 at 3:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Susan Burns's comment
Becky

And I wonder how others would feel if you had 7 other siblings, six of which can be pretty bratty and whiney most of the time.

December 24 2008 at 8:30 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
khamel

vanessa from gossip girl - great catch. i forgot about her (fitting, i guess).

December 23 2008 at 3:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Laura

izzie/denny from grey's COMPLETELY USELESS - i fastforward through all their scenes...and sticking with the GA theme - George....don't understand how he still has a job

December 23 2008 at 2:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Laura's comment
Tony

Totally agree with George/Izzie/Denny. Those three should be booted off the show. While they're at it, take Meredith with them.

GA needs a new set of fresh and less irritating characters to centre the stories around.

December 23 2008 at 3:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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