10 TV Shows That Chose The Wrong Main Character

3. Orange Is The New Black - Piper Chapman

The Walking Dead
Netflix

Who It Was

You wouldn't think it about a show set in a prison, but Orange is the New Black has a ton of likeable characters.

OITNB has such a diverse cast of unique and well-constructed characters that it's almost an embarrassment of riches. From the lovable Poussey Washington, to Laverne Cox's groundbreaking role as one of the few transgender characters on TV Sophia Burset, each one of them could easily be the protagonist of their own show.

Against such a great cast of characters, Piper Chapman stands out like a sore thumb. Piper was initially the audience surrogate, our introduction to life behind bars. However, once her initial arc of adjusting to life in prison was over, Taylor Schilling's character rapidly became both surplus to requirement and pretty unlikable.

Piper is constantly whiny and her storylines are far from the most compelling on the show. Most of her scenes feel like they're simply killing time until things can move on to a better character. To make matters worse, creator Jenji Kohan has admitted that Piper's main reason for existing is because it's hard to sell a show about minorities to network executives.

Piper isn't just on this list because she's a bad character, she's here because she shouldn't have to exist to justify Orange is the New Black's existence.

Who It Should Have Been

Again, literally, anyone else.

Contributor

I was just a mild-mannered NCTJ accredited journalist until one day I found out the truth... that I could share my nerdy ramblings with people on the internet! It's just like mumbling to myself on the train, but without all the strange looks.