10 Worst TV Villains Of The Last 10 Years

For better and (occasionally, at its most cloying) for worse, Parks And Recreation was a show about nice people being nice to each other. It could be very funny in its prime, but focus gradually shifted to character building and messages of hope for the changes we can make in the world if we’re good to one another.

To that end, antagonistic dentist Jeremy Jamm stood out as a particularly grating character. The city of Pawnee was full of venal idiots and frustrating individuals, but there was no one as nakedly malevolent as Jamm, and his prominence in season five coincides with the show starting its decline.

Season four ended with the triumph of Leslie Knope elected to city council, a warm and well-earned moment for the character. The next season, however, stuck Jamm in the mix as her new colleague, and from there the majority of episodes were built around his incessant desire to quash any progress she wanted to make.

It didn’t do much for the comedy; neither was it the most engaging of plots. Parks And Recreation went from a live action Simpsons to a low stakes West Wing, with Jamm serving little purpose other than to suck the fun out of the show.