10 Annoying New TV Characters Only Added To Boost Ratings

6. Randy - That '70s Show

Dwight Nellie Office
Fox

If you Google "That 70s Show Randy," the third suggestion is "not funny." When searching his name, the second result is a TV.com thread about how terrible he is. This was another example of a new character being brought in to spice things up and replace an actor who left, in this case Topher Grace's Eric. It backfired so immensely so that not only was Randy not well received, but he was so reviled as to nearly ruin the series' legacy forever. Great job, Seth Meyers' brother! 

What's so bad about him? Randy is like everything The Simpsons was mocking with their Poochie episode, an additional character who is just so aggressively cool that you're supposed to love him from the second he appears on screen. He thinks he's so witty, and the show figures you're dumb enough to immediately fall for his charm and totally forget about Eric's departure. Oh, and he just gets all the women because he's that amazing of a dude, and don't you just freaking love this amazing guy, everyone? Randy has virtually no flaws and is perfect in every single way, and unsurprisingly, viewers found that grating.

Funnily enough, Randy is essentially abandoned in the series finale, as if the writers recognized how bad he was and didn't want to taint their last episode with him. 

Contributor
Contributor

Lover of horror movies, liker of other things. Your favorite Friday the 13th says a lot about you as a person, and mine is Part IV: The Final Chapter.