Well-written characters make TV sitcoms and dramas memorable. Over the years, quite a few popular ‘main characters’ who were initially adored by fans have not all aged well — they might not even have deserved the love to begin with.

They might be wrapped in charming dialogue, cushioned by mood lighting, or accompanied by a tear-jerking background score, but that doesn’t mean their actions were right when seen through an unbiased lens. 

From Ted Mosby’s self-righteous romanticism to Daenerys Targaryen, the fantasy world’s biggest character assassination, fans have a range of characters they love to hate.

These characters weren’t side villains or cautionary tales. They were sold as role models, romantic interests, and even heroes. 

But whether it was boundary-crossing, obsessive tendencies, or plain old bad decision-making, they made us cheer for them while doing things we’d never accept from real people. So, let’s take off the nostalgia shades and get honest about some of the messiest main characters in TV history.

Ted Mosby from ‘How I Met Your Mother’ wasn’t so much a hopeless romantic as a boundary-stomping leech. He treated ‘no’ as a personal challenge and believed being possessive somehow equated to being passionate. 

The show wrapped his most obsessive moments with soft background music, as if a romantic track could undo the fact that Ted repeatedly tried to mould his partners like clay. 

He wanted love, but only if it came from someone willing to become who he thought they should be. And for someone who never stopped pining for Robin (after being told countless times they weren’t right for each other), he had some nerve judging Barney’s lifestyle. Ted did the same thing, except he carried a blue French horn and called it fate.

Then there’s Carrie Bradshaw from ‘Sex and the City’, New York’s most self-absorbed columnist. She judged her friend Amalita for engaging in transactional relationships, then went straight to eating veal with Mr Big like that wasn’t its own kind of transaction. 

Carrie judged everyone else’s relationship choices while expecting unwavering support when her own life went up in flames. She ditched Miranda, guilt-tripped Charlotte, and threw tantrums at one of her romantic partners, Aidan. When she needed help buying her apartment, she made Charlotte feel bad for not offering her money, whereas it is Carrie’s fault for constantly making bad financial decisions. 

Ross Geller, our favourite palaeontologist from ‘Friends’, had an impressive track record of questionable decisions. He dated his close friend Joey’s ex-girlfriend hours after their breakup, couldn’t handle Rachel wanting independence, and outright refused to hire a male nanny because he didn’t like the idea of a man being nurturing. 

He also said Rachel’s name at his wedding to someone else. Let’s not forget when he dated his student or tried to kiss his cousin because he thought they had a “moment”. He was the king of insecurity and somehow convinced the world that “we were on a break” was a legitimate excuse for cheating. He was less the endearing nerd and more like a walking red flag.

Speaking of delusions, Rory Gilmore started as everyone’s overachieving sweetheart in ‘Gilmore Girls’ until she grew up. Then she ditched her mother’s graduation for her love interest Jess, fat-shamed a dancer in her university newspaper, and stole a yacht because someone criticised her. 

She had a strange talent for ignoring boundaries, especially for other people’s relationships. Married? Not her problem. She was also a pretty bad friend to Lane, often too wrapped up in her own drama to notice Lane was having a crisis of her own. 

While Rory talked a big game about professionalism, she had no problem crumbling under the weight of her own privilege when things didn’t go her way. She went from an ambitious student to a walking cautionary tale.

Now, Jim Halpert is often painted as the charming everyman of ‘The Office’, but on closer inspection, he’s quite awful. He treats women poorly, stringing along Karen, and making major life decisions without consulting Pam, his wife. 

His selfishness peaks when he invests in a company behind Pam’s back, leaving her to juggle parenting alone. At work, he’s a smug bully, constantly tormenting Dwight and undermining colleagues under the guise of ‘pranks’. 

His arrogance is masked by a smirk, but his actions reveal a controlling, dismissive partner and a toxic co-worker. Rewatching now, it’s clear Jim isn’t sweet but simply insufferable.

And then came the most whiplash-inducing transformation in recent TV history: Daenerys Targaryen from ‘Game of Thrones’. For seven seasons, we were all-in on Dany. She freed slaves, cooked the bad guys, and still made time for long walks with Jon Snow. Her strength lay in her mercy, at least that’s what we were told. 

But then, in a move that made even Cersei look like a humanitarian, Dany heard the bells of surrender in King’s Landing and decided it was BBQ time. Civilians? Children? Didn’t matter. She had one dragon left, and she was going to use it like a toddler with a new crayon, everywhere and all at once.

These characters weren’t written to be perfect, but their worst traits were glossed over or romanticised in the spirit of keeping them on pedestals.