10 Horror TV Shows That Wasted Incredible Characters

For those of us lucky enough to grow up in the '90s, RL Stine's Goosebumps novel series was one of our key cultural touchstones. These books were also, for many of us, our foundation in horror. And Slappy the Dummy was the series' enduring emblem of sleepless nights and noises in the dark.

In the books, Slappy is a mystical ventriloquist dummy with slick, deep-brown hair, piercing blue eyes, bright red lips and a sinister smile. And, with a brief incantation, he comes to life, ready to enact an evil agenda manipulating and ruining the lives of those around him.

Pity, then, that the TV show the books spawned squandered him on an irritating, ginger nuisance. As a sort of barely animated wooden Carrot Top with a Tweety Pie voice, Slappy clowns around his scenes, inspiring none of the fear the original character drew out of our every pore.

Goosebumps' Slappy was a wasted opportunity at its finest, and the fact that he became a recurring character for the show didn't help a bit. This is one of the few instances where the better way to do the character justice would have been to leave him behind.