They Suck: Worst TV Parents

[ChromaKelly]

I gotta add Bill Masters and Virginia Johnson to this list. I don't know if they were this bad IRL, but their TV counterparts are awful. They are selfish, neglecting their children to have an affair (oh excuse me "work").

[Rick Kitchen]

I thought Brooke Logan was the only one in soapdom that did this, lol :p

 

Emily Stewart slept with Casey Hughes and Dorian Lord slept with Joey Buchanan.

[Daisy]

Emily Stewart slept with Casey Hughes and Dorian Lord slept with Joey Buchanan.

 

But what makes Brooke so special, is that she sleeps with all of her daughter's boyfriends. And! Marries them from time to time.

[Ambrosefolly]

Does anyone remember that show, Step by Step, from the 90s? It was part of TGIF's line up. It starred Patrick Duffy and Susanne Somers as a married couple named Frank and Carol Lambert , and the head of a blended family. I thought they were terrible parents from the get go because while vacationing in Jamaica, separately and without their kids (which is fine to me to unwind from being the sole parent and breadwinner), they basically hook up and get then fucking married on a whim without their kids even fucking aware either of them was even seeing anyone! Apparently, this wasn't some drunk, Vegas type situation, but a sober decision. If I am remembering correctly, the Lamberts move into Carol's house because they had basically trashed their own.  So while Frank and Carol got someone to fuck everyday, their children were forced to share 3 to a room and I think had to share one bathroom, children who were completely different from each other. Carol's only son, who was neat and orderly and had his own room, had his space invaded by 2 boys he had barely met and who helped trash their previous home, while her older girls, who lost the last bit of room they were sharing, now also had to share a bathroom with 3 slobs. Frank and Carol did precious little to ease their children into their new living situation, (Frank even made it worse by moving his kids right away) and, despite Frank being a contractor, the show never said anything about him building extra rooms/bathrooms to ease the traffic and enhance the privacy of the step children. That is until Frank and Carol had their own baby and made sure she had a room of her own. The odd thing is for years Carol had a salon in the back of the house, but just kept using it as a salon when she probably should have leased a chair/salon in town and had Frank convert it to a larger bedroom/bath for the girls  (as they were the older group) while the boys stayed upstairs when her household basically doubled in a week. That didn't happen until the last couple seasons when the oldest son, who probably should have moved out all together, shared it with his buddy.

[SVNBob]

their children were forced to share 3 to a room and I think had to share one bathroom,

 

I think they did that because Step by Step was inspired by The Brady Bunch, just updated so that the families were mixed-gender...and didn't automagically get along from minute one.  And the Brady kids had the exact same set-up; 3 boys in one room, 3 girls in another, 1 bathroom between all 6.  And similarly, Mike Brady was an architect.  So he should have seen the space issue too.

[Ambrosefolly]

I think they did that because Step by Step was inspired by The Brady Bunch, just updated so that the families were mixed-gender...and didn't automagically get along from minute one.  And the Brady kids had the exact same set-up; 3 boys in one room, 3 girls in another, 1 bathroom between all 6.  And similarly, Mike Brady was an architect.  So he should have seen the space issue too.

At least Mike and Carol's kids were at their wedding and probably had a little bit more time to get used to the idea before they all lived together (I don't know, maybe they Mike and Carol were already living with each other before they got married).I didn't watch the pilot episode, only saw a few clips here and there. Also, because the whole symmetry thing they had going on, the siblings that grew up together were the ones that shared a room, so at least they were accustom to each other. I believe in Greg's final year of high school, he was allowed to move the attic bedroom (I know, cousin Olivier but anyway), not continuing to live at home in an over crowded house well into college age. On the Canadian show, Life with Derek the mom seeing how much her oldest daughter had to give up when she remarried, she and her husband gave up their bedroom and moved to the newly remodeled basement for her. 

[Spartan Girl]

Recent current events have inspired me to to binge-watch The Tudors for a coping method. And in addition to being the Worst Husband in History, Henry VIII was a terrible father. Sure, he was affectionate enough to his kids as long as they were small, cute, obedient -- and preferably male -- but if their mother fell out of favor or if his daughters defied him, they were practically dead to them.

[Gudzilla]

Terrible father:  John Locke's father on Lost.

Terrible Mother: Gemma Teller-Morrow on Sons of Anarchy.

[HunterHunted]

On 7/4/2014 at 0:54 PM, Mulva said:

John and Mary Winchester on Supernatural.  First, Mary makes a deal with a demon which leads to Sam's life being ruined at the age of 6 months, then John drags Sam and Dean all over the country, either abandoning them for days on end in sleazy motels or forcing them to hunt monsters from a very young age.

These two are my perennial winners/losers. Add to the fact that every time some celestial being drags Mary and John back from the hereafter, John and Mary always find a way to abandon their children once again. For people who are morose that they never got time to spend with their loved ones, they sure find ways to not spend time with their loved ones when given the opportunity.

[ratgirlagogo]

Gosh there are so many.  How about Sam Oliver's parents on Reaper?  They sold his soul to the Devil before he was even born.

Edited January 28, 2017 by ratgirlagogo

[meep.meep]

The Young Pope's parents who left him at the orphanage so they could go off and have fun in Venice.

[ratgirlagogo]

5 hours ago, meep.meep said:

The Young Pope's parents who left him at the orphanage so they could go off and have fun in Venice.

How amazing if it turns out THEY sold his soul to the Devil before he was even born too!

[Dee]

Shameless Frank & Monica Gallagher.

One constantly abandons the family in between repeatedly screwing the aforementioned family over & the other smokes their dead mother's cremated ashes in a blunt and thinks bequeathing a massive bag of meth to their elementary school aged youngest child as 'his inheritance' is a perfectly acceptable thing to do.

Edited January 31, 2017 by Dee

[NutMeg]

On 1/31/2017 at 7:17 AM, meep.meep said:

The Young Pope's parents who left him at the orphanage so they could go off and have fun in Venice.

Don't read what follows if you haven't watched the whole season

Spoiler

The worse may be that they, if it was them, attended a papal address and were as unloving and obviously critical as can be about the pope. Jees, people, if you want your kid to turn up like something you approve of, raise him yourself. And if you abandon him at a religious orphanage, don't be surprised he turns to God instead of becoming a happy go lucky hippy. 

Edited February 6, 2017 by NutMeg
spelling mistakes I only see after posting

[Luckylyn]

The parents on Stranger Things who are totally oblivious when their children disappear and get into dangerous situations.   Nancy and Mike's parents who are so blase about their kids not being home for days are particularly terrible.   The dad makes a joke about how the kids don't live there anymore but doesn't seem to care about actually knowing what's going on in the kids lives. 

Billy's father is the worst though since he's abusive and it's turned Billy into a nasty human being.

[HunterHunted]

I just watched The Awesomes on Hulu and it manages to contain some  parents who are all over the best/worst spectrum. There is Mr. Awesome, a Superman analogue, who fathers an illegitimate child. Rather than acknowledge that and take responsibility for his kid, he mind-wipes the kid, gives the kid Superman's backstory (dying world sent to Earth blah blah blah), then separates his son from his mother, and has the military raise his son. On the flip, he is awful to his legitimate son. He constantly belittles and denigrates his legitimate son. He also constantly pits the two kids against each other. Throughout all of this, Mr. Awesome is unchallenged as a paragon of truth, justice, and goodness.

Meanwhile Dr. Malocchio, the villain, is a decent family man. He loves his wife. He cooks for his family. He's supportive of his son being a CPA and trusts his son to keep the evil powers serum safe. 

In other terrible parents, I nominate all of the parents from The Runaways. All of the PRIDE parents had ample evidence that their children might be in jeopardy, but chose to ignore it or never communicate with each other despite multiple explicit threats.

Edited January 15, 2018 by HunterHunted

[HunterHunted]

The Tomorrow People just showed up on my Netflix recommendations, which reminded me of what an absolutely terrible parent Marla Jameson is. She is a tomorrow person. She knows exactly how they begin manifesting their powers. But when her oldest son, Stephen, begins manifesting his powers, she doesn't talk to him and explain what's happening. Instead she convinces him that he's a schizophrenic and keeps him doped up on anti-psychotics for more than a year. And when those don't work, she berates him to get on stronger medications. It is so nakedly cruel and callous. Worse still, she has tons of evidence that her lies and gaslighting aren't working, but she doubles down on her completely ineffectual strategy. 

[Popples]

Re-watching Doctor Who episodes during BBC America's marathon, I had forgotten how horrible Donna's mum was. Since the actor playing her father died and they wrote off the character with him, I'm not too sure how his relationship with Donna was to totally include him.

When she disappeared while walking down the aisle to get married, neither of her parents were concerned about her and thought it was just an attention seeking trick. How much more attention does a bride walking down the aisle possibly need? All eyes were on her! Her mother was especially appalling during Donna's run as the full-time companion; she spent the entire time telling her how useless she was.

[Vixenstud]

I would have to say Ray Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond....the man hated having to spend any time with his kids, yet god forbid  the kids love being around his brother Robert.  He was a lousy father and husband with a Peter Pan complex.

[andromeda331]

4 hours ago, Vixenstud said:

I would have to say Ray Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond....the man hated having to spend any time with his kids, yet god forbid  the kids love being around his brother Robert.  He was a lousy father and husband with a Peter Pan complex.

I agree he really was as lousy dad. He hated to spend any time with them or to do anything for them. I really don't know why he got married or why Debra or any woman wouldn't have bolted after a few dates. He never wanted to do anything and he wouldn't do anything.

[tennisgurl]

Speaking of bad sitcom dad, Dre from Black-ish might not be the worst parent, but he is pretty much a massive asshole to his kids, especially his son Junior. He plays obvious favorites, frequently tells his kids what they can and cant like based on their ethnicity and his own petty issues and insecurities, and is just awful to Junior. Like, he tells him to his face frequently that he doesent like him and thinks he is a massive loser, because he likes stuff like Star Wars and comic books. 

But, I guess he is still a better parent than Ray, as he at least spends some time with his kids every once in awhile.

[Spartan Girl]

Rebecca's parents on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend are THE WORST. Her deadbeat dad is a total garbage person, and her mother is a pushy, controlling overbearing bitch who dismissed Rebecca's suicide attempts as "trying to get attention" and treats her problems as an inconvenience. No wonder Rebecca has so many issues.

[tennisgurl]

On 1/27/2017 at 4:43 PM, HunterHunted said:

These two are my perennial winners/losers. Add to the fact that every time some celestial being drags Mary and John back from the hereafter, John and Mary always find a way to abandon their children once again. F

Uggg these two. Its like they can never get enough of abandoning their kids and putting everything and everyone before them, they always find new and exciting ways to put their sons on the back burner. John treats them like crap throughout childhood and raises Dean to have a massive martyr/savior complex, then ditches Dean without telling him where he is, and generally cant be bothered to give him more than scraps of the affection that he craves. Then Mary gets dragged back to Earth from the afterlife, and she just cannot be bothered to spend time with her sons, who have missed and idealized her for most of their lives, and keeps finding excuses to leave them to run off and hang out with her boyfriend/random people from alternate universes/any stranger off the street and doesent even bother to call or hang out when they go through yet another tragic event. No wonder the two of them were a good couple, they could bond over their lack of interest in their sons, all the while preaching about how family always has to come first. 

I feel I must mention Sir Reginald Hargreeves from The Umbrella Academy, who’s god awful parenting of his seven adopted children not only screwed all of them up way into adulthood (well, the ones who survived their childhood of adolescent superheroing anyway) but his horrible treatment of his kids basically led to the destruction of the planet! Thats some pretty impressive levels of being an asshole. I mean, this is a guy who thinks giving his kids actual names is an after thought and just called them by the number of which he valued them for half their lives. 

Edited March 18, 2019 by tennisgurl

[HunterHunted]

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

I feel I must mention Sir Reginald Hargreeves from The Umbrella Academy, whos god awful parenting of his seven adopted children not only screwed all of them up way into adulthood (well, the ones who survived their childhood of adolescent superheroing anyway) but his horrible treatment of his kids basically led to the destruction of the planet! Thats some pretty impressive levels of being an asshole. I mean, this is a guy who thinks giving his kids actual names is an after thought and just called them by the number of which he valued them for half their lives. 

Sir Reginald is especially appalling when you realize that brief glimpse we saw of his prior life suggests that he's probably a refugee from another doomed world. He's managed to spend two or three hundred years on Earth and screw it up worse than his home planet. That place at least had dozens of people evacuating in various rockets. This time they destroy everything. I'm glad you inflicted your smug dickery on the planet Sir Reg.

[sleepysuzy]

On 8/13/2015 at 10:33 AM, Anna Yolei said:

On 7/20/2015 at 9:53 PM, forumfish said:

Eve on Days of Our Lives slept with her daughter's boyfriend on more than one occasion. The boy's a freshman in college. That is exponentially icky.

I thought Brooke Logan was the only one in soapdom that did this, lol 😛

Speaking of Days, how about Nicole's dad. If I remember correctly, he forced his daughter into porn and raped Jan, getting her pregnant. I can't remember if he had abused Nicole himself as well. 

[bmasters9]

On 9/26/2014 at 5:48 PM, Wiendish Fitch said:

Kirk Cameron is just a shitty human being, representing everything that's wrong with modern Christianity.

He is partly the reason why Growing Pains has ever been ineligible for my DVD collection, and always will be-- after all, it's horrible that one single cast member had that much sway, so much so that female cast members could be fired for showing one bit of skin (IINM, that's how it was); to me, Kirk Cameron was nuts for acting like that (worse yet, for converting to such a strict, legalistic brand of Christianity, which, also IINM, is what he did as well)!

[Blergh]

4 hours ago, bmasters9 said:

He is partly the reason why Growing Pains has ever been ineligible for my DVD collection, and always will be-- after all, it's horrible that one single cast member had that much sway, so much so that female cast members could be fired for showing one bit of skin (IINM, that's how it was); to me, Kirk Cameron was nuts for acting like that (worse yet, for converting to such a strict, legalistic brand of Christianity, which, also IINM, is what he did as well)!

However; Mike Seaver was NOT a parent on that show. That (dis)honor goes to Jason and Maggie who let him constantly  cruelly dump on his younger sibs and made no serious attempts to try to discourage much less  stop him but constantly shrugged it off. For THAT reason the Senior Seavers deserve to be on this list! 

Edited March 31, 2019 by Blergh
stop

[bmasters9]

24 minutes ago, Blergh said:

However; Mike Seaver was NOT a parent on that show. That (dis)honor goes to Jason and Maggie who let him constantly  cruelly dump on his younger sibs and made no serious attempts to try to discourage much less  him but constantly shrugged it off. For THAT reason the Senior Seavers deserve to be on this list! 

True enough-- it's still shameful that Kirk held so much sway, though.

[Spartan Girl]

This might get me into a lot of trouble, but here it goes:

Jonathan Kent on Smallville.

Please let me finish.

Jonathan loved Clark and he meant well most of the time, but he was also obstinate, territorial, distrustful almost to the point of paranoia, and had a narrow-minded view about what was supposedly best for Clark, especially when it came to his abilities, and that wasn't exactly a good thing.

He wanted Clark to keep his origins a secret from EVERYONE, even his friends, no matter what the cost. Even if it isolated and alienated him from his friends and Lana. And when Clark finally caved and told Pete rather than let him think he was a thief or whatever was going on in that episode, Jonathan's response was to get mad at Clark for disobeying him. Seriously, Clark might have just lost his best friend, wasn't that punishment enough?! He didn't need his dad icing him out on top of that. And then when it turned out that Pete accepted Clark and their friendship wound up stronger for it (at least until Pete left), it didn't occur to the Kents that hey, maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing for them to be more open with Clark's friends and save him a lot of trouble of making excuses for when he started acting out on Red Kryptonite?! Did they just expect Clark to keep his secret even if/when he ever got married and had kids? Or did they just think he'd be alone forever by default?

Jonathan also didn't trust Clark to keep his powers in check to the point where he wouldn't let him join the football team and got angry when he did anyway. Granted he did come around, but it still emphasized how Jonathan (whether he meant to or not) held Clark back from growing up and moving on. The Kents loved Clark but you can't deny that they had a hard time letting him go when they should have. 

Oh, and then there was Jonathan blaming him for causing Martha's miscarriage and driving him to run away at the end of season 2. Although to be fair, Jonathan did realize he'd been wrong and owned up to it later in season 3.

Anyway, that's my opinion. Feel free to disagree.

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

This might get me into a lot of trouble, but here it goes:

Jonathan Kent on Smallville.

Please let me finish.

Jonathan loved Clark and he meant well most of the time, but he was also obstinate, territorial, distrustful almost to the point of paranoia, and had a narrow-minded view about what was supposedly best for Clark, especially when it came to his abilities, and that wasn't exactly a good thing.

He wanted Clark to keep his origins a secret from EVERYONE, even his friends, no matter what the cost. Even if it isolated and alienated him from his friends and Lana. And when Clark finally caved and told Pete rather than let him think he was a thief or whatever was going on in that episode, Jonathan's response was to get mad at Clark for disobeying him. Seriously, Clark might have just lost his best friend, wasn't that punishment enough?! He didn't need his dad icing him out on top of that. And then when it turned out that Pete accepted Clark and their friendship wound up stronger for it (at least until Pete left), it didn't occur to the Kents that hey, maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing for them to be more open with Clark's friends and save him a lot of trouble of making excuses for when he started acting out on Red Kryptonite?! Did they just expect Clark to keep his secret even if/when he ever got married and had kids? Or did they just think he'd be alone forever by default?

Jonathan also didn't trust Clark to keep his powers in check to the point where he wouldn't let him join the football team and got angry when he did anyway. Granted he did come around, but it still emphasized how Jonathan (whether he meant to or not) held Clark back from growing up and moving on. The Kents loved Clark but you can't deny that they had a hard time letting him go when they should have. 

Oh, and then there was Jonathan blaming him for causing Martha's miscarriage and driving him to run away at the end of season 2. Although to be fair, Jonathan did realize he'd been wrong and owned up to it later in season 3.

Anyway, that's my opinion. Feel free to disagree.

I disagree.😉

[Bort]

On ‎6‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 7:14 AM, Spartan Girl said:

Jonathan also didn't trust Clark to keep his powers in check to the point where he wouldn't let him join the football team and got angry when he did anyway.

I was on Jonathan's side with that. That was akin to letting a high school aged kid play football in a peewee league. It's dangerous for the other players and it's unfair.

[ParadoxLost]

On 3/31/2019 at 6:43 PM, Blergh said:

However; Mike Seaver was NOT a parent on that show. That (dis)honor goes to Jason and Maggie who let him constantly  cruelly dump on his younger sibs and made no serious attempts to try to discourage much less  stop him but constantly shrugged it off. For THAT reason the Senior Seavers deserve to be on this list! 

That situation kind of transcended worst TV parents to TV show run by shitty human beings.  They really seemed to think that Mike being cruel to Carol was comedy.

[Blergh]

3 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

That situation kind of transcended worst TV parents to TV show run by shitty human beings.  They really seemed to think that Mike being cruel to Carol was comedy.

Yeah, a somewhat valid point!

 However; I have to wonder if either Miss Kearns or the late Mr. Thicke ever attempted to object to the scriptwriters or, at the very least, expressed regret to Miss Gold for having said those lines.

      To somewhat bring this back ontopic, one of the worst TV parents was the rather manipulative Mother Olivia Jefferson on The Jeffersons who endlessly concocted excuses for her son George while eagerly finding fault with her daughter-in-law Louise! Her indulgence of George somewhat explained at least some of his less positive characteristics. Anyway, to tie this all in, both Sherman Helmsley and Isabel Sanford would later go on record saying that Mother Jefferson's enactor (Zara Cully) had been a longtime friend of Miss Sanford  with a very illustrious performing career and openly objected to having to be so mean to Louise. However; Miss Sanford told her that for the show to work Miss Cully's character would have to be mean to Louise that week and every other week! 

I just want to add that there's a BIG difference between a show where one adult performer's character puts down another adult performer's character  at the other adult performer's urging) than one in which a minor performer consistently gets trashed even with all the TPTB's knowing their frustration with it. IOW, Miss Sanford was by all accounts 'the queen' of The Jeffersons who could have stopped them having Mother Jefferson dis Louise but chose not to while Miss Gold was a minor whose objections got scoffed at and I'm not sure were ever truly addressed even in hindsight by those responsible! 

Edited June 10, 2019 by Blergh

[biakbiak]

The Body continues to be one of my favorite episodes of television but Joyce repeatedly failed Buffy even before the brain tumor and fake child!

[Wiendish Fitch]

2 hours ago, Blergh said:

Yeah, a somewhat valid point!

 However; I have to wonder if either Miss Kearns or the late Mr. Thicke ever attempted to object to the scriptwriters or, at the very least, expressed regret to Miss Gold for having said those lines.

      To somewhat bring this back ontopic, one of the worst TV parents was the rather manipulative Mother Olivia Jefferson on The Jeffersons who endlessly concocted excuses for her son George while eagerly finding fault with her daughter-in-law Louise! Her indulgence of George somewhat explained at least some of his less positive characteristics. Anyway, to tie this all in, both Sherman Helmsley and Isabel Sanford would later go on record saying that Mother Jefferson's enactor (Zara Cully) had been a longtime friend of Miss Sanford  with a very illustrious performing career and openly objected to having to be so mean to Louise. However; Miss Sanford told her that for the show to work Miss Cully's character would have to be mean to Louise that week and every other week! 

I just want to add that there's a BIG difference between a show where one adult performer's character puts down another adult performer's character  at the other adult performer's urging) than one in which a minor performer consistently gets trashed even with all the TPTB's knowing their frustration with it. IOW, Miss Sanford was by all accounts 'the queen' of The Jeffersons who could have stopped them having Mother Jefferson dis Louise but chose not to while Miss Gold was a minor whose objections got scoffed at and I'm not sure were ever truly addressed even in hindsight by those responsible! 

Sanford's professionalism and good sense is to be commended. Good to hear she and Cully were pals and pros!

But, yeah, Sanford was an adult, so she could handle playing a character who gets crapped on by other adults. Tracey Gold was a kid playing a kid whose onscreen parents stood idly by while her onscreen brother cruelly mocked her. Yeah, it's just fiction, it's just acting, but if you're a kid/young adult struggling with an eating disorder, that has got to take its toll after a while.

It's a pity Kirk Cameron was too busy pulling rank getting an innocent co-star fired instead of asking the writers to let Carol get some of her own back once in a while...

Sorry, topic! 

Donna's mother on Doctor Who was a nasty piece of work, putting her daughter down at every opportunity. Rose's lazy, whiny, immature mom also irked me.

[Luckylyn]

I hated Donna Noble’s mom on Doctor Who.   The way she talks to her daughter in the episode Turn Left is just horrendous.  

On Growing Pains, I remember hearing a story that in real life Joanna Kerns was very supportive in getting Tracey Gold help for anorexia.   Kerns went to the producers and insisted Tracey get time off of the show to get treatment.  I think there was an interview where writers expressed some regret at the teasing dialogue  Mike used because the writers claimed they didn’t know Tracey had an issue.  I don’t know if that was sincere or just PR.  

In general, I don’t like tv parents who are bystanders to their kids being horrible to each other.  On some shows like Modern Family the parents are participants in the snarking.   Some playful teasing is fine but sometimes there’s an undercurrent of nastiness that goes a little too far.    There’s a thin line between playful teasing and mean spiritedness.  

[GHScorpiosRule]

10 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

On Growing Pains, I remember hearing a story that in real life Joanna Kerns was very supportive in getting Tracey Gold help for anorexia.   Kerns went to the producers and insisted Tracey get time off of the show to get treatment.  I think there was an interview where writers expressed some regret at the teasing dialogue  Mike used because the writers claimed they didn’t know Tracey had an issue.  I don’t know if that was sincere or just PR.  

I can believe this. And then later, Joanna Kerns ended up playing the mom in a mini-series that was murdered by her husband--the oldest son in real life ended up marrying Tracy Gold. I remember him saying in an interview how Joanna reminded him of his mother. I think the movie was Blind Faith, and Robert Urich played the dad.

[Snow Apple]

On 6/10/2019 at 9:09 AM, ParadoxLost said:

That situation kind of transcended worst TV parents to TV show run by shitty human beings.  They really seemed to think that Mike being cruel to Carol was comedy.

Yeah, they really dump on Carol. There was an episode where Mike got one A and the parents gave him a car because he "proved" he's maturing.

Carol got all A's since kindergarten and gets nothing. She called them out and still got nothing.

[Suzn]

Modern Family: Mitchell and Cam have completely lost interest in Lily.  They don't know or care what she's up to.  She could be hooking on the corner and running a drug ring and they wouldn't notice or care.

[Spartan Girl]

Shaun's parents on The Good Doctor are trash. His father was a drunk abusive asshole who KILLED HIS PET RABBIT, and the mom is an enabling ninny that admitted she chose her husband over her children because a drunk husband was easier to cope with than an autistic son. WTF?!

The kicker was last nights episode when Shaun, despite his anger, visited his dying dad, who initially acted contrite. But when Shaun managed to find it in himself to forgive him, the dad took the opportunity to lash out at Shaun again, blaming Shaun's brother's death on him and "that stupid rabbit". And the mom lets him do it, blaming his rant on the morphine. And Shaun is left distraught and probably feeling like a fool for trying forgiveness.

ROT, assholes.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Spartan Girl
Misspelled Shaun

[Annber03]

Good call. Yes. They definitely deserve to be here. I did get the sense, in some moments, that his mom was just as much a victim of his dad's abuse as he and his brother were, so on that level I feel that explains some of her behavior and defense of him. I almost wonder if she felt some slight relief that he was dying, too, so she could finally be free as well. 

But still, yeah, I wouldn't blame Shaun one bit for not being eager to see her if she ever does show up in his life again. 

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

But when Sean managed to find it in himself to forgive him, the dad took the opportunity to lash out at Sean again, blaming Sean's brother's death on him and "that stupid rabbit". And the mom let's him do it, blaming his rant on the morphine. And Sean is left distraught and probably feeling like a fool for trying forgiveness.

God, that scene was so hard to watch. It was like kicking a puppy. 

[PennyPlain]

What happened to Shaun's brother?

[Blergh]

58 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

Good call. Yes. They definitely deserve to be here. I did get the sense, in some moments, that his mom was just as much a victim of his dad's abuse as he and his brother were, so on that level I feel that explains some of her behavior and defense of him. I almost wonder if she felt some slight relief that he was dying, too, so she could finally be free as well. 

But still, yeah, I wouldn't blame Shaun one bit for not being eager to see her if she ever does show up in his life again. 

God, that scene was so hard to watch. It was like kicking a puppy. 

I don't think she was anywhere near as much a victim as she wanted others (especially her sons) to believe.

 In fact, it would have been cathartic had Shaun told her something close to the following(yes, I know he's high functioning autistic and he'd never want to hurt someone even who he knew had no qualms about him getting hurt). However:  IMO here's what would have been apt:

Spoiler

" You've made your excuses for him and yourself for the last time to me. If you had used even a quarter of the energy trying to get my brother and me the help you knew was out there  that you used making excuses, my brother and I would have had a chance at a good childhood away from him but that's not what you wanted. You wanted to have everyone to feel sorry for you so no one would ever call you on any of your choices! You chose to stay Mrs. Murphy because that's what you wanted and that's what you've got- and that ALL you've now got. Goodbye, Mrs. Murphy."

[tennisgurl]

3 hours ago, Annber03 said:

God, that scene was so hard to watch. It was like kicking a puppy. 

Or I suppose you could say, killing a pet rabbit! Like this asshole did!

Shaun's parents are truly terrible, dying father or not. His father was an abusive selfish drunk asshole who treated Shaun like garbage for the horrible crime of being autistic, drove Shaun and his brother to run away, which led to his brothers death, and his mom isnt much better. She just makes excuse after excuse as to why she never stood up for Shaun and Steve no matter how awful her husband was, as well as for his rotten behavior, She basically chose her terrible husband over her young sons, and even after Shaun tried to very graciously forgive the two of them while his father was dying, and his father kept being horrible, she was STILL making excuses for him. They both suck.

[Dr.OO7]

On 8/15/2015 at 2:44 PM, Daisy said:

But what makes Brooke so special, is that she sleeps with all of her daughter's boyfriends. And! Marries them from time to time.

Don't even get me started on that bitch.

First of all, that she's too damn busy caring about satisfying her libido to even care about her children to the point of refusing to acknowledge that her son is deeply disturbed that she's going to marry his half-brother. Then when she finally admits it, she STILL refuses to let him get help and tells him to just get over it. He's still struggling with it when she abruptly runs off and marries a complete stranger and he finally snaps and SHOOTS the other guy. And as cited already, her having an affair with her daughter's husband and getting knocked up by him.

It's one of the few realistic things on soaps to demonstrate that kids can get screwed up by their parents constant bed-hopping.

Another prize winner is OLTL's Max Holden. And this is especially bad because he started out as a good parent. But he sends his son off to live with his mother so that he can return to his old shenanigans and when the kid comes back to town, he absolutely hates his father for abandoning him and his mother, telling horror stories about how they were evicted and had to live in a homeless shelter. Meanwhile, Max, who had scammed the town's richest man into thinking that he's his long lost son, is apparently too busy cavorting with his wife and mistress to be bothered to write child support checks.

I think this thread could easily be filled up with most soap parents.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Camille

[Spartan Girl]

On 12/3/2019 at 11:27 AM, Annber03 said:

I did get the sense, in some moments, that his mom was just as much a victim of his dad's abuse as he and his brother were, so on that level I feel that explains some of her behavior and defense of him. I almost wonder if she felt some slight relief that he was dying, too, so she could finally be free as well. 

I don't care.  Yeah, I know about battered women's syndrome and all that, but the fact is if you let your spouse abuse your children without even trying to defend/protect them, you're a shitty parent.

What killed me about that whole seen is that when Shaun gave his dad that fantastic and well-deserved fuck you speech and stormed out, his stupid mother (and his friends) preached to him about forgiveness and "you don't know how hard it was for us" crap.  But when Shaun finally found it in himself to forgive his dad only to have it thrown back in his face like that, NOBODY stood up for him.  His dad was dying, he couldn't hurt his mom anymore.  It wouldn't have taken that much to grow a spine and say, "No, I did not beg Shaun to come all the way out here for you to treat him like this.  You either apologize to him right now, or I will walk out with him and you will die alone.  That wouldn't have made up for everything, but it would have been SOMETHING.

Even his friends should have done something instead of just standing there helplessly.  I would have loved it if they told him off.  As far as I'm concerned, that asshole forfeited deathbed manners when he decided to spend his last minutes verbally abusing his son.

[Anna Yolei]

On 12/3/2019 at 1:49 PM, Camille said:

It's one of the few realistic things on soaps to demonstrate that kids can get screwed up by their parents constant bed-hopping.

As the World Turns' was a lot better at this than B&B has been. All of Lily and Holden's children were fucked up by their on-and-off bullshit and their cheating and Jack and Carly's son Parker had no respect for either of those jackwagons. I imagine that were not for the real life passing of the Hal actor, he might have moved in with him (Hal was his bio dad).

Like, ATWT threw this back in their parents' faces and they'd be horrified enough to at least consider not being complete trash bags for a week or two. The B&B kids are all trash to be sure, but no one acknowledges that or, in the case of Taylor and now Ridge especially, actively enable their children's shittiness.

Edit: oh, and the best example I've heard of but not watched for myself is the way Luke and Laura's kids reacted a while ago when the truth of the romance that wasn't came out. The older son was rightfully furious with their father and it apparently spun off stories for months behind this. Good on GH for acknowledging that large date rapey elephant in that room.

Edited December 7, 2019 by Anna Yolei

[Dr.OO7]

20 hours ago, Anna Yolei said:

Edit: oh, and the best example I've heard of but not watched for myself is the way Luke and Laura's kids reacted a while ago when the truth of the romance that wasn't came out. The older son was rightfully furious with their father and it apparently spun off stories for months behind this. Good on GH for acknowledging that large date rapey elephant in that room.

I hated that storyline. The two of them spend years treating Lucky like he's an adult and a third partner in their marriage, but the minute the rape is revealed, it's "That's between us!", "Our relationship is none of your business!", etc. You can't have it both ways, you two.

It also annoyed me that they fully expected him to regard them the same way after the discovery as before--"We're the same as we always were!" Um, NO.

Edited December 8, 2019 by Camille

[Anna Yolei]

14 hours ago, Camille said:

I hated that storyline. The two of them spend years treating Lucky like he's an adult and a third partner in their marriage, but the minute the rape is revealed, it's "That's between us!", "Our relationship is none of your business!", etc. You can't have it both ways, you two.

Oh yikes, that's awful. I'm even more glad he went off on those fuckers then hahaha

[CrazyInAlabama]

I didn't like the parents on House, when they finally came to town, and mommy expected House to make up with his father.      I hate enablers almost as much as the abuser.  

I also loathed Meredith's father on Grey's Anatomy.    OK, his ex, Meredith's mom dumped him, and moved, but he certainly didn't fight it, did he?   And there's no excuse for cutting contact with your five year old daughter, just because the ex is mean.    I also wasn't that happy with the second wife pushing Meredith to make everything nice with Daddy either.     The way a lot of people kept pushing Meredith to be buddies with her father's second family was ridiculous.    Plus, the endless whining about Meredith giving her father another chance when he finally went to AA, and on other occasions were bizarre.  

Edited December 10, 2019 by CrazyInAlabama