9 Awful TV Characters We're Supposed To Root For

In most network television shows, we're explicitly told who we're supposed to root for. "This is the main protagonist," they say. "You like this person. Except when we tell you not to." They provide similar, blunt decrees about the rest of the characters, as well, right down to the supporting cast.

While most of us are willing to go along with the ride so long as the writers of the show are able to give justifiable reasons for doing so, every once in a while they emphatically hurl these supposedly heroic and/or appealing characters right into unlikable territory. 

And then there are the characters who are so consistently unpleasant, ill-natured, and generally impossible to root for that it's a bit baffling to think about why we were ever supposed to get on board with them in the first place.

Unfortunately, despite everyone's best efforts, these characters had way more reasons to hate them than love them.

There's a telling line spoken by Meredith Grey while confiding in her friend and coworker, Alex: "I feel like one of those people who are so freaking miserable that they can't be around normal people. Like...I'll infect the happy people."

This is the essence of Ellen Pompeo's character on Grey's Anatomy, and it's what viewers are routinely treated to week in and week out.

It's fine to act miserable when you're miserable. And it's fine to be miserable following some sort of personal tragedy or other crappy event. But it's another thing entirely to use every bad thing that's ever happened to you to constantly suck the joy out of every room you're in. Especially when you're at work.

Sure, Meredith has had plenty of terrible things happen to her, but it's her utter refusal to let things go well for herself - even when her career, friendships, and marriage to the supposed man of her dreams are all just swell - that makes it impossible to feel as bad for her as the writers clearly want us to. 

It's almost like the creators of the show just keep feverishly throwing new tragedies her way so they can justify how utterly miserable and whiny she is all the time. So yeah...maybe she shouldn't be allowed to be happy. She clearly wouldn't be able to appreciate it.