20 TV Characters Whose Arcs Made No Sense
One advantage of a series over a movie is that it gives its characters a lot more time to develop. Rather than trying to wrap up an entire hero’s journey over the course of a tight 100 minutes, a TV character may have years or even decades to grow and change. It may not go in a direction you like, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a 20-season character who ends up in the same place they started.
Unfortunately, Flanderization comes for us all. Named for the Simpsons’ neighbor who slowly became a caricature of his diddly-doodle self, Flanderization occurs when writers notice the audience respond to one character trait and exaggerate it until they’re unrecognizable. It’s not always that — sometimes, a character just becomes whatever the writers need them to be to advance the plot — but whatever the case, a character’s arc just stops making any sense.
That’s why u/escapesuburbia asked r/AskReddit, “What’s the worst character development you’ve seen on a TV show?”
The Office
Community
Supernatural
Orange Is the New Black
Arrow
Riverdale
Friends
Gilmore Girls
Family Guy
The 100
The Cleveland Show
Lost
The Flash
Gravity Falls
How I Met Your Mother
The Simpsons
King of the Hill
Merlin
The Big Bang Theory
Game of Thrones
