10 TV Shows With No Redeemable Characters

6. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

succession HBO
FX

Taking its cues from another sitcom great (on which more later), Sunny manages to keep us invested on a gang of reprobates week upon week by ensuring that the joke is, for the most part, firmly on our main characters.

To varying degrees, the custodians of Paddy’s Pub are deeply problematic. Each is deeply selfish to varying degrees, but some prove to be genuine menaces to society by virtue of their unpredictable triggers (Charlie), vindictiveness (Dee), undiagnosed psychopathy (Dennis), or propensity for gunplay (Frank).

While sensitive, closeted Mac has moments of vulnerability, it has been made plenty clear that he has no place in polite company, with his wild religious views and frightening obsessive qualities making him a danger in spite of his more sympathetic qualities.

While the show, now a cultural behemoth, is nowhere near what it once was, it has a remarkable ability to dance around difficult issues without doing so for the sheer thrill of being edgy or button-pushing. You’d never want to know these characters as they’d most likely ruin your life, but you’d certainly want to watch them from afar.

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Contributor

Yorkshire-based writer of screenplays, essays, and fiction. Big fan of having a laugh. Read more of my stuff @ www.twotownsover.com (if you want!)