10 TV Shows That Completely Wasted Great Characters

Yes, alright, so there are some more obvious characters we could choose from Stars Hollow who also earned a spot of their own on this list—Prep school bad boy Tristan was wildly underutilized, for one thing, not to mention the short-lived but much-loved Max Medina. We’re singling out Alex Lesman, though, because of the character’s singularly strange arc—or lack thereof.

Generally speaking, Lorelei’s love interests acted as foils to Lauren Graham’s titular matriarch. The likes of the irascible Jason, or the more mature Max, or even aggressively boring Jon Hamm in that one episode, were used to highlight elements of Lorelei which she needed to work on or embrace, as illustrated by her incompatibility with them.

Then there’s Alex. Agreeable, fun, and otherwise inoffensive, Alex appears at a hotelier’s convention and briefly chats to Lorelei, eventually heading on a double date with her, his bawdy friend, and Sookie. The date is a success for Lorelei and Max, and the pair hit it off.

The end.

Or so it seems, since the show never mentions him again—no offscreen break up, no one line “moved to Europe”, nothing. Alex’s level-headed good humour balanced Lorelei’s intense flightiness well, and it’s a shame he vanished to the graveyard for offscreen love interests at some stage between episodes.