10 Annoying New TV Characters Only Added To Boost Ratings

There's a brilliant episode of The Simpsons where network executives force the writers of The Itchy & Scratchy Show to introduce a new character out of nowhere; a hip, skateboarding dog with sunglasses named Poochie. Mainly this is because ratings are down, and so the suits at the network demand the addition. Suddenly, the entire series revolves around this dog "with attitude," and it's not even really about Itchy and Scratchy anymore.

This was so genius because that exact situation happens all the time on television. After a few seasons, the writers settle into a dynamic that audiences become familiar with, and familiarity inevitably leads to boredom. Viewers begin to tune out, and so as ratings decline, a new character is meant to spice things up and put the show on the map again. More often than not, it's just cringeworthy and annoying, clearly a blatant attempt to make the series more hip or adorable. 

It can be a dude with sunglasses, or sometimes a little kid meant to give the show an extra cute factor, but it's so frequently unsuccessful and lazy. In a few instances so bad it actually ruined the whole series. Here are 10 annoying new characters added to shows to boost ratings.

Cousin Oliver is such a glaring example of this phenomenon, the idea of adding a new character in later seasons to boost ratings is commonly known as Cousin Oliver Syndrome. In this case, during The Brady Bunch's fifth season, a new relative suddenly appears named Oliver. Never heard of him? That's because he was never once mentioned prior to this, and he pops up out of absolutely nowhere. Apparently, Carol's brother and his wife went on an archeological dig, and while they were gone, they sent Oliver to live with the Brady family. Sounds like a totally organic plot development, huh? 

So why was he added? As is often the case, it was entirely a ploy to increase ratings and revitalize a show that had lost a lot of its youth. After all, being able to ride on the charm of adorable kids wasn't as easy when the actors were getting older every year. Oliver was meant to bring that back to The Brady Bunch and get everyone to care about the show again, but it had the exact opposite effect. Viewers universally hated this annoying little kid, and the series was cancelled just six episodes later. To this day, many blame Oliver for The Brady Bunch's demise, and in an appearance years later on The Weakest Link, actor Robbie Rist joked, "I hope I don't kill this show too!"