9 Awful TV Characters We're Supposed To Root For

The entire existence of Sheldon Cooper can now be summed up using one completely meaningless, made-up, meme-ready word: Bazinga. 

That's it. That's the only supposed positive Sheldon Cooper offers to an already pretty insufferable cast of characters assembled to represent the whole of "science nerds" on The Big Bang Theory. Everything else the character brings to the table teeters the line between consciously irritating and downright mean-spirited. He's not a good person. 

Admittedly, there was a time when this wasn't the case. Early on, Sheldon wasn't quite so one-note, and he seemed to be on his way to an inevitable maturation as the first couple of seasons wore on. Hell, he was even something of a hero to those in the autism community, considered to be one of the more realistic depictions of Asperger's syndrome in modern television.

With time, however, everything that made Sheldon so admirably genuine and eccentric got steamrolled and shoved into a rote, hollow shell that spews dried-up catchphrases and generally acts like an insensitive, destructive wang.

It's unfortunate that he has been (and possibly still is) considered a role model for those with behavior disorders, particularly because the show's creators have categorically denied that Sheldon is on the spectrum at all. Whether that's because they never intended the character to have Asperger's or they simply don't want to feel beholden to accurately represent such a complex syndrome, it's clear that even the show's writers feel like he's probably too big of a d*ck to be given a clinical excuse for his actions.