47 Bad (And I Mean Really Horrendous) TV Storylines That Honestly Should’ve Never Happened

"Those 3-4 days were stretched into 22 awful episodes and then they finally got married in the finale. But then a few minutes later, it was revealed in the flash forwards that they eventually got divorced." 

—u/lordb4

"They did give us one of the best episodes ("Exposé") on the show, in my opinion. But they appeared on the show so randomly and weren't introduced properly. On the other hand, hating the two of them is one of the only things most Lost fans can agree on."

—mer5931

"It ruined an already tarnished relationship and made Omar seem like an actual fucking dick. Also, Malick served no purpose to the story whatsoever."

—ahmedrehan155

"It was such a cop out. They needed to come up with a reason for Eric to be gone for a year since Topher Grace was leaving and this was the best they came up with. Bleh."

—Agnostickamel

"They had no chemistry and it was cringeworthy. I always skip over those episodes."

—patrickkeown

"It was too excessive, even for House."

—wgbrund1

"It's a fine idea to explore in a supernatural show or something like Black Mirror, but it felt so out of place in Oz and they undid it poorly. Cyril got aged and then the serum just wore off and then they dropped that plot."

—u/deleted

"It was the dumbest decision I have ever seen across all mediums."

—u/Parenegade

"It was totally out of character for him. I don't see why Grace couldn't just be happily married and still be close to her friends."

—egc26

"Just why? They have literally no chemistry and no relationship development."

—Renata Vontobel

"The show could've done without him. There were other ways they could have incorporated Carol and Susan in the series without Ben, especially since they completely dropped Ben for the last two seasons."

—rowelakins

"He pretty much disappeared in the last few episodes, didn't even show up in the series finale, and she still kissed Eric in the end anyway!"

—v487933a49

"For me, that was when Scandal went to shit. You can clearly tell that the writers themselves were so confused with this storyline. They didn't know how to wrap it all up."

—s4bb472acb

"It just made me so uncomfortable; it was unnecessary and creepy. Kevin deserved better."

—That Emo Chick

"The show after Mona was revealed as 'A' went steadily downhill, but the entire last season was unnecessary."

—rowanswor15

Suggested by: 2025sarahc

13 Reasons Why handled A LOT of — like, most — serious topics horribly. And one of their biggest mistakes in the third season was trying to get viewers to sympathize with Bryce and redeem his character despite the fact that he was a serial rapist.

"It was like a big deal for one episode and then not really mentioned again for the rest of the series."

—Megan Townsend

"It was a little much. It was only placed in the last few episodes to try to wrap up some loose ends, but they could have done that a lot of other ways."

—erica

"It just wasn’t genuine and made it seem like she was only there to fill the stereotypical female character role."

—jennaransome

"I don’t even remember her name. It was so unnecessary."

—discarlett

"No thanks! She had grown so much during the show, and it ruined her character's journey. She should have got together with Andy and that's it."

—totesrandom

"They brought her and her horrible mom into the show to cause problems between Tom and Lynette, killed off her mom, made the daughter a huge brat to Lynette, then sent her away with her random grandparents, never to be spoken about again! I hated that storyline."

—ashtonwinona

"He cheated with his boss, who was the vice principal. It was ridiculous and totally out of character for him. It was out of left field, went nowhere, and kind of ruined a good, wholesome character for literally no reason."

—mollys1114

"It just came out of nowhere, and they had no romantic chemistry. I understand it was a plot device to address Troy and Abed's codependency in their friendship, but it just felt so off."

—GhoulKidRae

"It makes me cringe even now."

—clareb5

"It didn't add anything; it was just time filling."

—s463b03bd4

"He was never mentioned again. This storyline added nothing to the plot and didn’t help the character's to progress in any way."

—Pinkie pie

"They had her go through physical therapy with Joe, just for them to not even stay close at all. Then, by Nationals, she’s just up there dancing like nothing ever happened. Maybe they just needed something to stop Rachel and Finn from getting married, but that was legit ridiculous."

—EmilyTheIt

"It came out of nowhere and was so unnecessary and never mentioned following that episode."

—finnegangc

"It wasn't even a love triangle. The storyline was just a mess and waste of episodes."

—r49a54a93f

"They spend one episode looking for Frank’s brothers, make an assumption about Clayton being Ian’s dad, and then it’s never mentioned again."

—hairbymorgen

"It was extremely random and had no significance to the show whatsoever."

—ninadanielx

"It didn’t really add anything to the show for me, and it was confusing to watch, knowing they were clearly going to end up with other people."

—emmakatejohnston

"It was unnecessary and felt completely ill timed. We spent nine seasons knowing they were soulmates, and then some camera guy throws them off for a second? Come on."

—kminfl

"I think Zooey Deschanel was on maternity leave or something, but I would have rather had to wait than to have her essentially replaced."

—faithelisef

"It was super out of the blue and never went anywhere except for giving me a creepy feeling, especially knowing that the actors were married at the time in real life."

—Aves

"It was completely unnecessary and didn’t really make sense from the other seasons. Like, why would they introduce a whole new set of characters?"

—tanderson1

"While it was nice to see Rachel Berry finally fail at something and not have it fixed by a diva tantrum, the plot didn't make sense. The whole goal of her character was to be on Broadway, and she idolized Barbra Streisand. It ruined the show for me."

—c0330

"It was the most unbelievable storyline in television. Period."

—beccao4accb32d4

"Ryan Murphy was just looking for an excuse to have Ben Platt sing again."

—kurly_gurly

"LITERALLY unnecessary because they proceeded to never mention it ever again."

—melissan40168c557

"You just spent an entire nine seasons waiting for him to find Tracy, and this devalues the love he and Tracy had before her death and how she’s everything he was looking for. It makes it feel like the whole point of the show was for him and Robin to be together, which it wasn’t. They wanted different things."

—ailsah3

"He died, and it took so long for her to grieve and move on that bringing him back for like three episodes seemed forced."

—erbcu95