10 TV Sidekicks Who Were Way Better Than Their Stars

8. Chuck Bass - Gossip Girl

Granted, Gossip Girl is more of an ensemble show than one that has the strict hero/sidekick dichotomy. But for the most part, the show's universe revolves around the somehow incredibly douchey poor boy Dan (who resides in a trendy three bedroom apartment in Brooklyn so how poor can he really be?) and his beautiful but dull on-again-off-again love interest Serena. Everyone else floats on the periphery, although Chuck Bass and Blair Waldorf are the ones who eventually come in and steal a lot of the spotlight. Chuck is an unbelievably rich kid whose privilege gives him an arrogance that makes him an almost comically nasty villain at the beginning of the show. And while he always manages to hang on to that vicious sneer, a lot of his rough edges are gradually softened over the course of the show's several seasons. Yes, he follows a different moral code than a lot of people, but he does have a moral code, and can be amazingly loyal to people that he cares about. But what's refreshing about Chuck is that they never totally turn him into a nice guy...he might arguably be a good person underneath all of his baggage and defense mechanisms, but he's still kind of a jerk.