5 Horrific Acts Committed By Lovable Sitcom Characters

5

Friends: Chandler And Joey Exploit Someone's Mental Illness

In a show where emotional abuse masquerades as quality playful banter, the Friends episode "The One Where Eddie Won't Go" doubles down. Chandler isn't getting along with his new roommate, Eddie, and tells him to leave multiple times. Problem is, Eddie can't seem to remember these encounters. Furthermore, he has memories of events that never happened, such as trips to Las Vegas with Chandler. It turns out he has some sort of mental illness that causes him to forget unpleasant memories and replace them with happier fake ones. And sure, Eddie certainly has some weird, annoying habits, but they're no worse than Chandler's ... everything.

So what does Chandler do with this very serious revelation? Oh, he just moves all of Eddie's stuff out of the apartment, and when Eddie comes back, he pretends that Eddie's real memory of living there was made up. He even changes the locks just to give this soon-to-be homeless, and again, harmless mentally ill person, a few more seconds of hellish embarrassment. Eddie apologizes for inconveniencing them, and Chandler, unaware of any irony, calls him a psychopath.

4

The Office: Michael Attempts To Get A Co-Worker Imprisoned

The Office's Michael Scott is every awful boss combined and cranked up to absurdity. And while many of his more unsavory moments are due to his charming obliviousness, the episode "Frame Toby" makes him downright malicious. Michael tries to get Toby -- the hapless HR rep he doesn't like -- fired. He goes through a string of wacky schemes, like trying to bait Toby into a fight and setting him up for sexual harassment using one of the other workers. But after some of the worst possible schemes fail, he decides to frame Toby for a crime, and because he's Michael Scott, this doesn't go well either.

3

Saved By The Bell: Zack Is The Worst Human Being Alive

If there was a Mt. Rushmore for things that haven't aged well, Saved By The Bell would be both Lincoln and Roosevelt. The best thing that can be said about main character Zack Morris is that he may be a teen, but he has the defined sociopathic tendencies of a much older person. This is made clear in the Season 2 episode "Model Students," in which Zack takes risque photographs of the very underage girls in his high school's swim club without their consent, and then sells them as a sexy calendar.

2

The Simpsons: Homer Frames Marge For A DUI

Since it first aired back in 1842, The Simpsons has consistently used severe alcohol dependency as a punchline, and Season 15's "Co-Dependent's Day" is no exception. Marge begins drinking more in order to spend time with her husband, until she gets a terrible hangover and realizes she can't keep up. She decides to cut back on the boozing, and advises Homer to do the same. But that would mean the showrunners would have to find a different thing to make fun of, so he doesn't. Instead he takes her out to Oktoberfest and pressures her into getting drunk with him. On the way home, Homer crashes their car. Fearing losing his license, he moves his unconscious wife to the driver's seat. She has no memory of driving, but Homer convinces her it's because of all the booze. She goes to jail. D'oh?

1

30 Rock: Jack Uses A Fake Suicide To Teach An Emotional "Lesson"

In the series finale of 30 Rock, "Last Lunch," NBC executive Jack Donaghy is finding it hard to say goodbye to his friend, Liz Lemon, on account of her being an adult with a family and a demanding career. So to get her attention, he does what any healthy person would do and spends the whole day alluding to an intention to kill himself. He even goes so far as recording a video suicide note wherein he blames her for the decision. When she drops everything to go try to stop him, he jumps off a waterfront.

But surprise! He wasn't really going to kill himself! He just wanted her to know what life without him would be like. Liz shrugs off this psychological abuse, rather than doing what you or I would and set Jack on fire in a vengeful rage.

But this shouldn't come as a surprise, as 30 Rock could be fairly tone-deaf about even some of the most straightforward topics. I mean, Liz, the victim in this story, had a whole other episode wherein she outed her gay cousin, then forced him to go back and live with his homophobic family. Basically, what I'm trying to get across here is that no one, especially not a beloved sitcom character, is your friend.