Character development is one of the most important aspects of every great TV show, and that’s just facts.
Like a person’s reputation, it can take years to build and mere seconds to destroy.
Some of the greatest shows are guilty of these minor (and major) faults. Have a look and check out these 10+ TV moments that were completely out of character.
1. Fiona’s wrecklessness that led to Liam’s accidental overdose in *Shameless*.
This was one of the greatest character betrayals in recent memory. Fiona was always the matriarch of the family and she hated hard drugs!
There’s literally no way she’d ever be so careless.
Also, when Debbie decided that she was going to get pregnant on purpose…
This was just uncomfortable to watch.
Granted, that’s what Shameless was always striving to do. But the way they tackled Deb’s pregnancy was just wrong.
2. How Blaine cheated on Kurt with some random dude from Facebook in *Glee*.
Are you freaking kidding me with this one? After Blaine made such a huge stink about how “Texting is cheating”?
This is just one of the many examples of lazy and uninspired writing that plagued the cast of Glee .
Also, when Rachel just completely abandons her dream of performing on Broadway to move to LA.
Clearly Glee has no respect for their audience’s intelligence if they actually expected people to accept Rachel would do this.
3. When Debra started helping Dexter cover up his crimes on *Dexter*.
Both Dexter and his father knew that if Deb ever found out the truth, her moral compass would compel her to turn in her brother.
Abandoning this truth and embarking on a love affair between siblings? That was a mistake.
And when Dexter completely abandons his son, betraying everything we knew about his character up until that point.
Regardless of what Dexter was going through, the one constant in his life was always his son, Harrison.
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There is no way he would ever have left him alone.
4. The time that Kimmy got caught drinking and driving and then acted like it wasn’t a big deal on *Full House*.
Come on, Kimmy.
Your best friend’s mother was killed by a drunk driver. This one was a huge reach and just left us with a bad taste in our mouth.
5. When Phoebe completely abandoned her vegetarianism and ate meat on *Friends*.
At least they tried to rationalize Phoebe’s meat cravings, although half-heartedly: She was pregnant at the time and the baby was craving meat.
I’m not trying to minimalize pregnancy cravings, but that was an integral part of Phoebe’s character they just threw away.
6. Eleven’s killing spree at the Hawkins Lab in *Stranger Things*.
Up until this point, the Duffer Brothers had made it crystal clear that Eleven had some serious trust issues.
How does it make any sense then that she would stumble upon a gang of runaways and join their cause?
7. Ron and Leslie completely losing touch with one another and not speaking for years on *Parks And Recreation*.
I’m sorry but no, Ron and Leslie would never stop talking.
Furthermore, to even suggest that Leslie would miss breakfast at JJ’s is laughable. She never forgets anything.
12. When Amy went from being completely asexual to sex-obsessed in *The Big Bang Theory*.
I understand that both Amy and Sheldon needed to become more well-rounded characters and that sex was an easy avenue of exploration.
She did, however, go from 0-60 quicker than a Ferrari.
8. Daenerys burning down all of King’s Landing in *Game Of Thrones*.
Once again, this is more of an indictment of the show not doing a good enough job with sticking to the source material.
Having Dany murder an entire city was off-putting, to say the least.
9. Andy leaving on a sailing trip with his brother and completely abandoning Erin in *The Office*.
Andy spends two full seasons pining over Erin and you’re telling me that he would just leave her standing on a dock as he sailed off into the sunset?
No way. I’m not buying it.
10. The time that Topanga turned down her scholarship to Yale so that she could go to community college with Corey in *Boy Meets World*.
Topanga sacrifices her entire future so that she can stay and babysit her boyfriend? It almost cheapens their love, making it appear riddled with insecurity.
Also, why couldn’t Cory have followed her? It’s not like he had any grand aspirations?!
11. Wait, so Dan is *Gossip Girl*?
Do you know how sometimes a show can get so wrapped up in itself that it doesn’t know up from down or right from left?
That’s Gossip Girl for you. This “reveal” made absolutely ZERO sense.
12. Also, Dan and Blair dating each other and betraying everything we knew about them.
This provided a lot of shock value but very little substance.
Fans couldn’t wrap their heads around how two people who hated each other so deeply could ever be in love.
13. Haley deciding to get back together with Dylan on *Modern Family*.
Throughout the entire series of Modern Family , no character underwent such a serious transformation as Haley.
Having her and Dylan end up together completely dissolves all of her growth and reduces her to exactly what she was in the pilot episode.
14. The time that Rory abandoned her dreams and dropped out of Yale on *Gilmore Girls*.
Are you freaking kidding me? An Ivy League college was Rory’s dream!
One little snot-nosed punk tells her she isn’t cut out for the Ivy League and Rory just abandons everything she’s worked for?
And then Lorelai just froze her out of her life completely for doing so?
What happened to the supportive mother who was always there through thick and thin?
This seems like such a petty and uncharacteristically cruel move on Lorelai’s part.
16. Toby deciding that he was going to leak classified documents in *The West Wing*.
So first of all, this just shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
But then to go and make it such a long and drawn-out process of Toby “coming clean” was borderline insulting.
17. Monica being totally fine with the fact that Joey pretty much ruined her picture perfect wedding day in *Friends*.
Monica Geller’s OCD was one of the longest and best running gags of the entire series.
There’s no way she would have been OK with Joey showing up dressed as a WWI soldier to officiate her wedding.
23. Barney’s entire relationship with Robin in *How I Met Your Mother*.
Not only is Barney Stinson the greatest womanizer in the history of television, but he’s also the author of The Bro Code !
His love for Ted would have never allowed him to marry, much less date, his best friend’s ex.
18. When Jackson all of a sudden decided that he was unsure of his faith in God on *Grey’s Anatomy*.
It’s not necessarily the fact that Jackson questions his faith, it’s just that the event was rather trivial by comparison.
I mean, a freaking helicopter crashed in the hospital, Jackson. Where was your doubt then?
26. How Jan’s entire personality seemed to change the moment she got together with Michael in *The Office*.
Jan did flip a switch as far as her personality was concerned. She went from being a hard-nosed, by-the-book executive, to a crazy borderline psychotic candle maker.
I guess that’s a testament to the dangers of being in a relationship with Michael Scott?
15. Olivia Benson stealing the underwear of a victim on *Law & Order: SVU*.
Yes, Benson has her own dark history and a ton of unresolved issues.
Still, to suggest that she’d go so far as to steal a victim’s underwear who had flat-out refused police help was just too much.
19. Sam deciding not to go looking for Dean after he was sent to purgatory in *Supernatural*.
Not no way and not no how would Sam Winchester ever not look for his big brother, Dean.
Saving people and hunting things is what they do! Also…they’re BROTHERS.
20. The time that Ted helped Victoria run away from her wedding ceremony on *How I Met Your Mother*.
Really? The guy who has the most outdated, 1950s idea of what a marriage entails just helps Victoria completely throw away her vows and commitment?
I don’t think so. Ted’s not that selfish.
22. When Scotty completely betrayed Kevin’s trust and cheated on him in *Brothers And Sisters*.
Once again, you can really tell when a show is out of ideas, relying on cheap gimmicks and shock tactics at the expense of character development.
When Scotty did this I was flabbergasted.
24. Milke abandoning his granddaughter at the park in order to evade police capture in *Breaking Bad*.
Mike is a man of principles. He doesn’t deal in half-measures and he aways follows things through to the end.
Watching him abandon his granddaughter shattered everything we thought we knew about him.
25. The time that JD slept with Jordan on *Scrubs*.
Yes, I’ll admit it: JD never really had much of a choice in the matter. What Jordan wants, Jordan tends to get.
Still, at this point in the series, JD was still a resident with rose-colored glasses. He would never have slept with a patient who was under his care.
What television moments were completely ruined for you when a character suddenly acted so strange?
We are sure there are plenty. Or is there one from this list that you also can’t stand? Or maybe even disagree with?
Let us know below in the comments!
