10 Awesome TV Shows With One Awful Character

By Jack Pooley / July 7, 2020

6. Anthony Soprano Jr. - The Sopranos

HBO

The Sopranos is stacked wall-to-wall with incredibly rich, nuanced characters, so Tony Soprano's sulky sad sack of a son AJ only stands out that much more egregiously as a result.

As infuriating as Tony's sister (Janice) and mother (Livia) were, at least they were superbly acted and served very distinct narrative functions with potent payoffs.

Considering the weighty father-son themes the show could've delved into, AJ feels like an oddly disposable character throughout, and short of his botched suicide attempt, it's honestly hard to remember much at all of what he got up to over the seven seasons.

Failing to ever really grow out of his spoiled brat status, AJ was the kid the show never really needed. Was Meadow not enough?