10 Exact Moments Fans Turned On Their Favourite TV Characters
Because you can always guarantee fans will get annoyed at showrunners.
If there is one thing fans of television shows will always get passionate about, it's their favourite characters.
Spending every episode analysing every little detail about their actions and personalities, it gets to the point where fans will adamantly swear that they know their characters better than anyone else and, as such, will begin to map out exactly what they want from them over the remainder of the show's runtime.
Going against what these fans have in their minds is naturally very easy to do for a show writer, but can cause some serious backlash that certain shows don't ever fully recover from.
The thing about a bad decision that leads to a drastic moment, particularly in high profile sitcoms where arcs and events have been mapped out and will have lasting consequences, is that they can't be undone either. There's no pretending it hasn't happened, or rewriting things in the next episode with an elaborate explanation as to why everyone has suddenly gone back to how they were. Writers simply have to take the flack they get from their fans and own it.
From gradual changes in personalities that alienate more and more fans as they go on, to sudden decisions made by the writers behind the camera that led to some shocking developments, here are some of the moments in television history that made fans turn their allegiances away from their favourite characters.
10. Debbie Lies About Being On The Pill - Shameless (US)
Throughout the opening seasons of both the US and UK versions of Shameless, Debbie Gallagher is described as being 'sent from the Gods' by her father. Smart, resourceful and exceptionally grounded for someone of her young age at the beginning of the show, she is so often portrayed as being one of the more mature heads of the family, always on hand to help out her younger siblings.
That all begins to unravel from season five however, with Debbie being introduced to the world of sex. Fans of the character should have instantly been turned off by the Gallagher daughter following the time she climbed on top of Matt when he was asleep, but any remaining Debbie fans were swept away later on in the season when she lies to Derek about being on the pill.
It turns out that Debbie isn't on the pill, she becomes pregnant and begins arguing with pretty much anyone who goes up to talk to her about how she isn't ready for parenthood.
For someone who was supposed to be so smart and sensible with how she handled herself, this was a moment that just made absolutely no sense. To see her acting towards Derek the way she does is one thing, but it's the wild arguments and refusal to accept that having a child at her age isn't the best idea in the world that really drove fans away from Debs.