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People Are Sharing The Worst TV Show Parents Of All Time, And Some Of Them Are Just SO Terrible

BuzzFeed
7 min read

A while back, we asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us which characters they consider the worst TV parents of all time. Their answers did not disappoint. Here are some of the best responses:

?? Spoilers ahead!!! ??

Note: Some of the following contain mentions of abuse.

1.Hiram Lodge from Riverdale.

Hiram says "Come at me" to Archie then wrestles him
The CW

"Hiram’s obsession with Archie was bizarre. He felt threatened by his teenage daughter’s boyfriend, so he wrestled him? That was weird in itself, but why were all the other parents okay with that, as if it was totally normal behavior?" —serquackington

Here's the full scene between Hiram and Archie:

2.David and Holly Vega from Victorious.

David tells Trina they'd take care of her but they'll be in Santa Barbara, then tells Tori she'll be taking care of Trina
TeenNick

"They literally made Tori stay home with Trina when she had her wisdom teeth removed, were barely present throughout the series, and were just bad parents overall." —aneggonmylegg

Here's the full scene of what poor Tori had to go through:

3.Ross Geller from Friends.

Ross holding his toddler son and saying "What is my boy doing with a Barbie?"
NBC

"Not only did Ross basically always put his son last, but he also flipped out when Ben wanted to play with a Barbie, and would rather have a crappy nanny than a manny. He was also very egocentric and insecure about his place in Ben’s life, without ever actually working to be a decent parent." —radicallexicon

Here's the full scene of Ross freaking out about Ben's Barbie:

4.John Winchester from Supernatural.

Cop tells Sonny that the boy stole peanut butter and bread and his dad said let him rot in jail
The CW

"John Winchester is one of the worst TV dads of all time. Had John been with his boys, Dean wouldn’t have had to steal food to survive." —chandlerm43a4b1dcb

Here's another one of John's bad parenting moments:

5.Joseph Santos from Degrassi: The Next Generation.

  CTV
CTV

"He literally called his teenage daughter a 'slut' to her face just because she felt insecure about her body. Things got so bad at home that Manny even had to move in with Emma for a while! I understand that he was very traditional, but it's not an excuse to speak to your children in such a demeaning way. He's not the absolute worst parent on the show, and I will give him some credit for his growth later on, but his earlier actions were pretty unforgivable to me." —Kelly Martinez

The above scene isn't available on YouTube, but you can watch the full episode, "Venus" (Season 5, Episode 1), on HBO Max.

6.Alexis Carrington Colby from Dynasty (2017).

Fallon at a funeral saying "Oh my god, that's my mother," and a smiling Alexis saying "Sorry I'm late"
The CW

"I hate her with a burning passion. She abandoned Blake, her husband, and their children, Fallon and Steven, when they were young. Then, 15 years later, she crashed a funeral, somehow made her way back into their lives, and stuck around. She is manipulative and enjoys ruining the lives of everyone around her." —ebishop

Here's the full scene of Alexis making her grand return:

7.Cal Jacobs from Euphoria.

Nate holding up a flash drive, Cal asking "What's that," and Nate answering, "It's everything"
HBO

"Where to start? Not only is Cal unfaithful and sleeping with teenagers, but he's a terrible father to Nate. He controls Nate's life down to his caloric intake and scrutinizes his every mistake, and he's the reason Nate has warped views of sex, women, and masculinity. Nate is absolutely horrible, but I can see why, considering where he came from." —Hannah Marder

Here's the full scene between Cal and Nate:

8.Aaron Echolls from Veronica Mars.

Aaron telling Lily he's not playing with her and her responding that he's usually very interested in playing with her
UPN

"He slept with and then killed his teenage son’s girlfriend. That's pretty bad..." —jonassister7536

Here's the full, shocking scene:

9.Megan Stewart from Genera+ion.

Megan saying that Nathan likes drama like other kids, who like saying "I'm this today" or "today I'm that," and she knows what will make him happy
HBO

"After Nathan came out as bisexual, his mom, Megan, constantly did things that made it clear she was uncomfortable with it and made a lot of comments to Nathan that invalidated his sexuality. It was really hard to watch. And even though she kept claiming that she wasn’t anti-gay, when it came to his bisexuality, she told her friends it was a phase and something he was doing for attention. She even went on a rant about how no kids today are 'normal' and they all just want to choose labels. Nathan’s dad, on the other hand, tried really hard to understand and accept Nathan, but Megan was stubborn throughout." —Ajani Bazile

I can't find the scene above on YouTube, but you can watch the full episode, "Pussy Power" (Season 1, Episode 4), on HBO Max.

10.Brooke's mom and Sam's dad on Popular.

Sam asking the couple "What is that on your finger?" and their response: "We're engaged!"
The WB

"They were incredibly selfish. From getting engaged after knowing each other for a week to making Brooke and Sam cohabitate because they weren’t getting along, every decision they made was bad. I couldn’t stand their parents." —talormadisonc

Here's the full scene, starting at around 40:01:

11.Harry Morgan from Dexter.

Harry asking a young Dexter if he's ever wanted to kill something bigger than a dog, like a person, and when Dexter says yes but nobody in particular, Harry asks "Why didn't you?"
Showtime

"He saw two recently orphaned, horrifically traumatized children and decided to take only one of them. Then he never told him about his brother, and literally trained him to become a serial killer instead of getting him actual help coping with his trauma!" —ectobug

The full scene above isn't available on YouTube, but you can stream the series on Showtime.

12.Lorelai Gilmore from Gilmore Girls.

Rori telling Lorelai she's not going back to Yale next year, and Lorelai saying "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly"
The WB

“I completely understand that Lorelai had Rory when she was only a teenager, so she was in a compromising position from the start. She wasn’t fully developed as a person yet, and brought a life into the world — however, as Rory grew up, she didn’t know how to parent her! She set increasingly high expectations for Rory, got mad at her whenever she 'messed up,' and didn’t do a good job listening. Even in the revival, she was so judgmental of Rory!” —Kayla Yandoli

Here's the full scene from above:

13.Ventura Nunier from Elite.

Ventura telling his daughter that she will do as he says and will not go through with the pregnancy, and she says the child will never meet their grandparents
Netflix

"No one talks about this enough, but I think Guzmán and Marina's dad is horrible. He essentially caused the school to collapse, treated his daughter like crap, and bankrupted his family by spending it all on cocaine. It's still somehow not as bad as Carla’s dad essentially selling her, but it's still pretty bad." —malia05

Here's the full scene of him finding out about Marina's pregnancy:

14.Mr. and Mrs. Turner from The Fairly OddParents.

Timmy's dad telling him they're leaving him with Vicky full time after he says there's no way they'd do that
Nickelodeon

"They could clearly see how Timmy felt about Vicky, yet they kept hiring her." —colleend9

I can't find the above scene on YouTube, but you can stream the full series on Paramount+ or Netflix.

15.Alaric Saltzman from Legacies.

Alaric saying to Hope that his body and brain are having trouble syncing up because of what she did to him and if he could he'd try to kill her and then MG clears his throat
The CW

“Alaric was once reminiscent of The Vampire Diaries’ reigning legacy, but now he is only a shell of what he used to be. Preferring the company of whiskey instead of focusing on his responsibilities, he now spends his time on Legacies giving alcohol to underage students, ignoring the mental stability of his daughters, and staring pensively over books to deliver some algorithmic piece of exposition an episode might need. He puts Matt Donovan as the token human on a show to shame.” —WITCHYOLOGY

Here's the full scene from above:

16.Dan Scott from One Tree Hill.

After Dan chokes Lucas and Peyton says leave him alone, Dan says it's a family matter and "You'd understand if you had one"
The WB

"Dan Scott could literally fill this entire list. I don't care what he did to 'redeem' himself. He killed his brother and took Lucas's only father figure when he didn't want him. He abandoned his pregnant girlfriend, denounced Lucas, and was an awful, abusive father to Nathan. There is no end to his awfulness." —Slytherin_Siren

Here's the full scene between Dan and Lucas:

17.Monica Gallagher from Shameless.

Fiona telling Monica that the kids are all doing well because of what Fiona did, not Monica, and that Monica was her mom too
Showtime

"Honestly, whenever I think of a bad TV parent, I often think of Monica Gallagher. She literally came in and out of the Gallagher kids’ lives, and it was always not great. She always thought she would come back and be helpful, but she caused so much trouble. I’ll never forget that heartbreaking scene where Fiona yells at Monica that she was supposed to be her mom too. That pretty much summed up how hurtful Monica’s actions had been." —Nora Dominick

Watch Fiona's full speech to Monica here:

18.And finally: every parent from Gossip Girl, but especially Bart Bass.

Chuck saying he knew Bart was cold and ruthless, but he never thought he'd try to kill his own son, and Bart saying "We had a deal"
The CW

"Pretty much all of the parents were a disaster, so it was no surprise that all of their kids were hot messes too." —ariellej4

Watch the full scene here:

We couldn't fit everyone on one list, so tell us who else deserves a spot in the comments!

Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.

Reminder that I, Kelly Martinez, do not necessarily endorse all of these opinions!

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