They Suck: Worst TV Parents

[Calvada]

Veronica Mars - Big Dick Casablancas, Jake Kane, Celeste Kane, Woody Goodman, and Aaron Echolls were the worst in so many different ways.  Thank goodness Veronica had Keith, an all-time good dad.

[Blergh]

On 7/5/2014 at 9:45 AM, amaranta said:

 

 

 

Another nominee for Worst TV Parents: Adam and Kristina Braverman.  Helicopter parents to the nth degree with no sense of boundaries and no ability to provide correction and/or direction when it comes their special snowflake Max.  Max actually has been saddled with three disabilities: autism, his father, and his mother.  (Oh look!  He just shoved and pushed Aunt Sarah, almost putting her on the floor... poor Max!  He must be so frustrated!  Let us hope he won't get that frustrated around the baby! *insert hand wringing and concern eyes here*)

 

 

 

 

Oh, yeah! One early episode has it when some girl in Max's class has a party and doesn't t invite Max. So does Kristina sit him down and explain that not everyone is going to always like him all the time and party invites are privileges and NOT entitlements?NO! She instead gets upset and considers it a personal affront that HE didn't get an invite (never mind that up to that time he never expressed any interest in going) .Then   she ventures to Max's school and approachs the girl in class ( MAJOR TEACHER AND SECURITY FAIL HERE) then proceeds to try to guilt the girl to cough up a last-minute invite. The stunned girl makes no promises but tells her own mother. The girl's mother rightfully confronts Kristina over going WAY over the line of boundary crossing and meddling via her (as an adult) attempting to intimidate a child to cough up an invite to another student she has had no real liking for. Does Kristina express contrition for this? NO! She instead successfully  guilts the girl's mother by saying that she wouldn't like it if HER challenged daughter were left out so for THAT reason she needs to invite Max and the invite gets coughed up and Max goes to the party! ARRGH! How I WISH that other mother had told Kristina: 

Spoiler

 "No, I wouldn't like it if my daughter were left out BUT, despite my daughter having challenges like Max has, she DOES have friends and people she likes because I've raised her to be the best she can be and NOT use her challenges as a crutch to avoid accountability for her behavior and as a crutch to beat others over the head. Perhaps if you did the same with Max, HE would have his own friends who'd invite him to parties. If you EVER approach my daughter on campus again without my express permission for any non life-and-death emergency purpose, I will do everything in my power to have you BARRED from being able to set foot on school grounds for the rest of Max's academic career and I'm going to REALLY ream out that teacher for  having allowed you to approach  my child while making sure the principal knows what happened. Good day and GOODBYE, Mrs. Braverman!" 

Of course, mother and daughter were just one-shot characters so this whole angsty thing showed nothing more than that Kristina could steamroll yet again without any consequences. BOOO!!!!!

Edited February 15, 2020 by Blergh

[andromeda331]

11 hours ago, Blergh said:

Oh, yeah! One early episode has it when some girl in Max's class has a party and doesn't t invite Max. So does Kristina sit him down and explain that not everyone is going to always like him all the time and party invites are privileges and NOT entitlements?NO! She instead gets upset and considers it a personal affront that HE didn't get an invite (never mind that up to that time he never expressed any interest in going) .Then   she ventures to Max's school and approachs the girl in class ( MAJOR TEACHER AND SECURITY FAIL HERE) then proceeds to try to guilt the girl to cough up a last-minute invite. The stunned girl makes no promises but tells her own mother. The girl's mother rightfully confronts Kristina over going WAY over the line of boundary crossing and meddling via her (as an adult) attempting to intimidate a child to cough up an invite to another student she has had no real liking for. Does Kristina express contrition for this? NO! She instead successfully  guilts the girl's mother by saying that she wouldn't like it if HER challenged daughter were left out so for THAT reason she needs to invite Max and the invite gets coughed up and Max goes to the party! ARRGH! How I WISH that other mother had told Kristina: 

  Hide contents

 "No, I wouldn't like it if my daughter were left out BUT, despite my daughter having challenges like Max has, she DOES have friends and people she likes because I've raised her to be the best she can be and NOT use her challenges as a crutch to avoid accountability for her behavior and as a crutch to beat others over the head. Perhaps if you did the same with Max, HE would have his own friends who'd invite him to parties. If you EVER approach my daughter on campus again without my express permission for any non life-and-death emergency purpose, I will do everything in my power to have you BARRED from being able to set foot on school grounds for the rest of Max's academic career and I'm going to REALLY ream out that teacher for letting having allowed you to have done that. Good day and GOODBYE, Mrs. Braverman!" 

Of course, mother and daughter were just one-shot characters so this whole angsty thing showed nothing more than that Kristina could steamroll yet again without any consequences. BOOO!!!!!

I would have loved to see the other mom tell Kristina that.

Edited February 15, 2020 by andromeda331

[Blergh]

One of the most memorable TV parental villains has to be Everyone Loves Raymond's Marie Barone played to the hilt by the late, marvelous Doris Roberts. She was smothering, vindictive, competitive, jealous, manipulative, guilt-harping,etc. who overwhelmed her sons and grandchildren and did all she could to make life miserable for her husband and daughters-in-law. 

However, she had ONE saving grace that none of the other Barone parents had: despite having contempt for her spouse, she actually WANTED to be a hands-on parent then grandparent from the very beginning and embraced the roles with gusto. Whereas her husband Frank, her son Raymond and daughter-in-law Deborah all seemed to resent having  to do anything for their offspring and considered hands-on parenting to be a joyless state to endure, Marie considered it a calling and gift for her to embrace. Granted, she did all she could to make sure her sons and grandchildren considered HER to be biggest fish in the pond forever and ever but even with all the above faults she had, at least they knew she WANTED them and wanted to be around them instead of resenting them and considering them to be uninteresting folks to endure.  

[kathyk2]

I think the worst parents are the ones who abandon their older children and start new families. For example Lilly Rush on Cold Case, Jack Monk from Monk and Barney's dad from How I Met Your Mother. The remaining parents have issues which affected their children as adults.

[andromeda331]

16 hours ago, Blergh said:

One of the most memorable TV parental villains has to be Everyone Loves Raymond's Marie Barone played to the hilt by the late, marvelous Doris Roberts. She was smothering, vindictive, competitive, jealous, manipulative, guilt-harping,etc. who overwhelmed her sons and grandchildren and did all she could to make life miserable for her husband and daughters-in-law. 

However, she had ONE saving grace that none of the other Barone parents had: despite having contempt for her spouse, she actually WANTED to be a hands-on parent then grandparent from the very beginning and embraced the roles with gusto. Whereas her husband Frank, her son Raymond and daughter-in-law Deborah all seemed to resent having  to do anything for their offspring and considered hands-on parenting to be a joyless state to endure, Marie considered it a calling and gift for her to embrace. Granted, she did all she could to make sure her sons and grandchildren considered HER to be biggest fish in the pond forever and ever but even with all the above faults she had, at least they knew she WANTED them and wanted to be around them instead of resenting them and considering them to be uninteresting folks to endure.  

I'd almost agree with you because yes Marie did want to be a hands on parent and grandparent and it always bugged me how much Frank, Ray and Debra never wanted to any part of parenting their own kids if she hadn't treated Robert like crap his entire life. Raymond was clearly her favorite child and she made no secret of that. She did everything for Raymond and nothing for Robert. She couldn't give a crap about him. 

[andromeda331]

1 hour ago, kathyk2 said:

I think the worst parents are the ones who abandon their older children and start new families. For example Lilly Rush on Cold Case, Jack Monk from Monk and Barney's dad from How I Met Your Mother. The remaining parents have issues which affected their children as adults.

Those are the worse. I hate when parents take off and then start a brand new family. As if nothing happened. That's crap. I'd also include the parent who ran off or was never around but somehow managed to watch every big moment in their life and somehow that's suppose to mean something. But I'd also add people who keep trying to convince the characters who's parents abandon them to meet with the parent when they resurface, convince and harass them to meet with the parent. When they don't accuse them of their being a 'reason' for it or that's a reason why they need to meet with the parent who abandoned them and/or abused them. Ah, no its perfectly reasonable to not want to meet the parent who abandoned them. That's enough reason not to. The mother or father hurt them badly, ran off, and its perfectly okay to not want to ever see them again. To not meet with them. To not open up old wounds or not to let that toxic person back into their life. These same people who tend to be the boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband, or friend will do all they can to make it happen, even trick them into meeting but never get called out for it. Nope in the end they will be thanked. No matter how badly it ends up going.  They will also try to convince the character to forgive the parent. As if its completely insane to never forgive the parent who abandoned you and/or abused you. While nine times out of ten the parent who disappeared will act like its no big deal. 

[Beany Malone]

7 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

She did everything for Raymond and nothing for Robert. She couldn't give a crap about him. 

I don't disagree that Raymond was clearly her favourite, but some of my favourite moments in ELR are the times when Marie does step up and you realize how much she does care about Robert.  Mind you 5 minutes later she ruins the moment!  But they happened.

[Blergh]

47 minutes ago, Beany Malone said:

I don't disagree that Raymond was clearly her favourite, but some of my favourite moments in ELR are the times when Marie does step up and you realize how much she does care about Robert.  Mind you 5 minutes later she ruins the moment!  But they happened.

Agree! Yes, the thing to remember about Marie is that she had a 'favorites' hierarchy:

 

1. Raymond

2. Raymond's children

3. Robert

4. Frank

5. Deborah until Robert got married then this spot got occupied by Amy.

6. Deborah after Amy married Robert.

 

IMO, it wasn't that she didn't care for Robert but that she that used this hierarchy  of favoring Raymond whenever possible to get the others to try harder to work for more table crumbs from her (and in later years do her best to pit the daughters-in-law against each other so she could do all she could to run their lives -therefore her SONS' lives even more). 

 

 

Edited February 17, 2020 by Blergh

[Mabinogia]

7 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I'd also include the parent who ran off or was never around but somehow managed to watch every big moment in their life and somehow that's suppose to mean something.

That is the even worse than just moving on because it is 100% selfish! The parent is there for the great moments of their child's life for themselves, so they can witness the moment and what, be proud of their little creation? They sure has hell aren't doing it for the child since the child has no clue it's happening and is still going to feel abandoned and unloved. 

And no child ever owe it to a parent to try to reconcile. I don't care if the child is now an adult, in a parent/child relationship the parent is always the "adult". My father died without my having reconnected with him and I don't regret it at all. I gave him a choice when I was 16. If he couldn't stop badmouthing my mother to me (something I hadn't realized was happening as a child and hurt my relationship with the parent who actually stood by me my whole life) then I never wanted to see him again. I never saw him or heard from him again.

30 years later I was told he was dead. I declined attending the funeral because as far as I was concerned my father died the day he decided that his grudge against my mother was more important to him than me. People told me I'd regret not saying goodbye. I don't. That door slammed in my face a long, long time ago. 

[proserpina65]

On ‎02‎/‎16‎/‎2020 at 10:10 AM, Blergh said:

One of the most memorable TV parental villains has to be Everyone Loves Raymond's Marie Barone played to the hilt by the late, marvelous Doris Roberts. She was smothering, vindictive, competitive, jealous, manipulative, guilt-harping,etc. who overwhelmed her sons and grandchildren and did all she could to make life miserable for her husband and daughters-in-law. 

However, she had ONE saving grace that none of the other Barone parents had: despite having contempt for her spouse, she actually WANTED to be a hands-on parent then grandparent from the very beginning and embraced the roles with gusto. Whereas her husband Frank, her son Raymond and daughter-in-law Deborah all seemed to resent having  to do anything for their offspring and considered hands-on parenting to be a joyless state to endure, Marie considered it a calling and gift for her to embrace. Granted, she did all she could to make sure her sons and grandchildren considered HER to be biggest fish in the pond forever and ever but even with all the above faults she had, at least they knew she WANTED them and wanted to be around them instead of resenting them and considering them to be uninteresting folks to endure.  

Idk, I found Debra to be a much more realistic and better parent than Marie.  Because parenting is hard, tiring, and often thankless.  Marie making sure she was always the most important person in the family and constantly butting in didn't read to me as she wanted them and wanted to be around them.  It read more like she wanted to be the center of their lives come hell or high water and never mind that she shouldn't be.

On ‎02‎/‎17‎/‎2020 at 10:03 AM, Blergh said:

Agree! Yes, the thing to remember about Marie is that she had a 'favorites' hierarchy:

 

1. Raymond

2. Raymond's children

3. Robert

4. Frank

5. Deborah until Robert got married then this spot got occupied by Amy.

6. Deborah after Amy married Robert.

 

IMO, it wasn't that she didn't care for Robert but that she that used this hierarchy  of favoring Raymond whenever possible to get the others to try harder to work for more table crumbs from her (and in later years do her best to pit the daughters-in-law against each other so she could do all she could to run their lives -therefore her SONS' lives even more). 

 

 

Yep, nothing good about that parenting, imo.

 

[Beany Malone]

48 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

Idk, I found Debra to be a much more realistic and better parent than Marie. 

Agreed.  Within the limitations of a show that tried not to over focus on the kids (those kids had to be the quietest, best behaved, longest nappers!! kids in the world) I felt they did convey that Debra was a loving and involved parent; that Robert was a loving and involved uncle ; and that Ray was a father who should have been parenting kids in the 1950s when it was acceptable (or seemed to be) for Dad to pat the kids on the head in passing once in awhile but otherwise leave all the parenting to Mom.

Edited February 19, 2020 by Beany Malone

[Blergh]

To each one's own but I think I'd rather have had  a caretaker who actually WANTED to take care of me as a child than one who just felt they were obligated to but took little if any joy in doing so. Hence, in THAT particular facet, I think Marie was far more preferable than Debra, Ray or Frank. Yes, I think as a teen then an adult, I'd likely have cringed at her smothering and attempted controlling but it would have suited me much better as a child.  

[proserpina65]

1 hour ago, Blergh said:

To each one's own but I think I'd rather have had  a caretaker who actually WANTED to take care of me as a child than one who just felt they were obligated to but took little if any joy in doing so. Hence, in THAT particular facet, I think Marie was far more preferable than Debra, Ray or Frank. Yes, I think as a teen then an adult, I'd likely have cringed at her smothering and attempted controlling but it would have suited me much better as a child.  

But I wouldn't necessarily want to watch that on tv, not if it resulted in a character like Marie.  And I wouldn't have wanted her for a mother or grandmother when I was a child.

Edited February 20, 2020 by proserpina65

[Beany Malone]

1 hour ago, Blergh said:

To each one's own but I think I'd rather have had  a caretaker who actually WANTED to take care of me as a child than one who just felt they were obligated to but took little if any joy in doing so. Hence, in THAT particular facet, I think Marie was far more preferable than Debra, Ray or Frank.

For little Ray maybe.  For Robert who was ignored from the day little Ray came home from the hospital, not so much.  Ignoring or smothering - either extreme has consequences which I think ELR was very good about showing.  Neither of the boys as adults was without some issues!

[Blergh]

14 hours ago, Beany Malone said:

For little Ray maybe.  For Robert who was ignored from the day little Ray came home from the hospital, not so much.  Ignoring or smothering - either extreme has consequences which I think ELR was very good about showing.  Neither of the boys as adults was without some issues!

Granted but it's hard to imagine that the second generation of Barones didn't grow up to have issues from Ray and Debra's reluctant style of 'parenting'. 

Of course, while Ray got the lion's share and Robert got the leftovers re Marie's smothering, it's not as though she fed Ray caviar omelettes and attired him in cashmere sweaters & pants while having fed Robert gruel broth and attired him in burlap sacks despite what Robert would have others believe. 

[Blergh]

Chet and Virna Hunter- Shawn Hunter's parents in Boy Meets World. Chet had already had an unknown number of wives and flings before his marriage to Virna and had had a son (Jack)who he left without a backwards glance and proceeded to just work odd jobs and keep their family in a trailer while he drank and kept making excuses not to parent Shawn.

Virna wasn't so good either. Yes, her husband was unsatisfactory but instead of trying to parent Shawn, she kept running away and leaving him behind.

Chet FINALLY seemed to have seen the errors of his ways and declares he would FINALLY be a hands-on parent to the college-age offspring but he died of a 2nd heart attack before he proved whether his actions would have matched his words THIS time.

Chet DID however somehow persuade Jack's wealthy stepfather to fund Shawn's college tuition but this only comes to light after his death. 

Oh, and not only did Virna not go to Chet's funeral but she meanly sent a letter to Shawn saying she is NOT his actual bio mother after all but didn't  bother  mention who his bio mother is.

Alas, the identity of Shawn's bio mother is forever a mystery since the only clue Shawn ever gets is via a ghostly vision from Chet who said that the woman was a stripper who immediately left the both of them- and Shawn's 'Net searches prove fruitless.   Oh, yes, despite Virna proving to be a neglectful parent to Shawn and not above taking out her frustrations with Chet on Shawn, Chet kept the illusion that she WAS Shawn's mother for Shawn's entire childhood, adolescence and, even when he was on his deathbed claiming to want to do right by Shawn, he wasn't honest about Shawn's actual maternity. I suppose Chet and Virna somehow faked Shawn's birth certificate listing both of them as the bio parents .They certainly seemed shady enough to have been capable of this and pulled the right strings. 

 Yep, with 'parents' like the Hunters, it's no wonder that Shawn so often was  often so self-destructive and counterproductive. Thankfully, he had the Matthewses, Mr. Feeney and, until his abrupt and unexplained departure after the accident, Mr. Turner looking out of for him and via  those folks, Shawn DID somehow become a good person even if he never became successful. 

Edited March 5, 2020 by Blergh

[Beany Malone]

On 2/21/2020 at 4:49 AM, Blergh said:

Of course, while Ray got the lion's share and Robert got the leftovers re Marie's smothering, it's not as though she fed Ray caviar omelettes and attired him in cashmere sweaters & pants while having fed Robert gruel broth and attired him in burlap sacks despite what Robert would have others believe. 

Well he does get "clunky corrective shoes" for Christmas while Ray gets actual toys!

But I take your point. The worst example to me of Robert not acknowledging that Marie does love him was "Timmy's Traffic School".  I just saw this one again the other day and it's quite jarring the way Marie is nothing but supportive to Robert, even while Ray and Frank are being pretty horrible and yet when "Timmy" flies off the handle it's Marie he targets.  Obviously we're meant to know that Robert has some deep seated issues but still he doesn't ever really seem to see the positives in Marie as he is focused so deeply on the negatives.  Which, to be fair, are pretty bad!

Edited March 1, 2020 by Beany Malone

[Blergh]

Beany,

 And even Frank and Marie Barone at their worst to Robert were FAR better parents  than the Hunters were to their son Shawn.

Edited March 1, 2020 by Blergh

[Spartan Girl]

The main mothers from Little Fires Everywhere: Elena who practically drives all her children away, Mia who stole the child she surrogates from a couple, and of course Bebe who not only abandoned her baby but also stole her back from her legally adopted parents when the court ruled in their favor. What a mess.

[DrSpaceman73]

Frank on Shameless is a pretty obvious one. 

[Blergh]

Cory and Topanga Matthews on Girl Meets World .

They proved total fails re their elder child for having opted to prioritize being Riley's pals .In Cory's case openly desiring peace at all costs- even to the point of letting his daughter hit him hard enough to knock him off a couch without so much as objecting. Although with Miss Blanchard's skinny arms and Mr. Savage's solid build, this seemed about as believable that Riley could have done this without Cory deliberately throwing himself off the couch   as a special effect from a 70's Pippi Longstocking movie (and, no there was no ' hitting others not in self-defense is domestic violence- kids DON'T try this at home with your parents' disclaimer). Neither of them attempted any kind of lasting discipline much less evidently had attempted to teach her any kind of sincere manners, boundaries or consideration of others. True, Cory got to make some nice platitudes in class,etc. but that's not the same as actual good parenting. No, I wouldn't have expected the younger Matthewses to have been perfect parents or Riley to have been a Mary Sue child (though she sure got treated as one by virtually everyone) but even with their foibles and quirks on BMW,  I would have expected them to have done a better job and considered emulating Alan and Amy's  loving but firm-when-needed parental examples but that's not what happened! 

There also seemed to be a great deal of barely passive-aggressive snipping on Topanga's part to Cory with little evidence that she did more than tolerate him so she'd have someone to help watch their two kids for nothing  instead of having any kind of sincere remaining affection for him. She didn't even list him among 'the people she loved' when asking for viewpoints during the time she was considering the family's London move- much less asked his POV. This  despite the fact that Cory seemed to have been a faithful and supportive spouse who still had affection for her! And, yes, Topanga had been well aware of his flaws (as he had been of hers) before they married but they each seemed to embrace them due to their  love for each other  yet by time of this sequel she seemed to have considered him a mere annoyance to tolerate. All the above couldn't have improved how their daughter turned out and Riley wasn't above using this dynamic to manipulate things for herself.

 

Since Mr. Savage and Miss Fishel were producers of this show  (instead of mere performers completely helpless to the whims of the writers and powers that be), one has to wonder why they opted to evidently have allowed their characters to become such poor parents of such a flawed minor who everyone was expected to think was adorable and perfect- to say nothing of having their own iconic characters debased  (and I've never heard them express laments in the years since the show's ending).

Edited May 31, 2020 by Blergh

[Spartan Girl]

Fire Lord Ozai in Avatar the Last Airbender. I could list a whole bunch of reasons, but the fact that he burned his own son is more than efficient.

[ouinason]

Hey now, Zuko talked out of turn!  He needed to be put in his place!!

 

Really though, screw that guy.

 

I agree that Shaun's parents on "The Good Doctor" are serious crap, but I think that Park Shi On's parents from the Korean "The Good Doctor" were actually worse.  Hare to imagine, but damn.

 

I was watching "The Great" last night and Peter tells his aunt that he had a dream about his mother eating a chunk of his flesh (fever dream after being poisoned) and her response was "she only did that once, and it was a small piece", so...  yeah.    

[Kel Varnsen]

On 5/17/2020 at 5:03 PM, Spartan Girl said:

The main mothers from Little Fires Everywhere: Elena who practically drives all her children away, Mia who stole the child she surrogates from a couple, and of course Bebe who not only abandoned her baby but also stole her back from her legally adopted parents when the court ruled in their favor. What a mess.

I would even throw in the parents who tried to adopt Bebe's child. Because from what I remember they were only in the process of adopting that baby yet they totally seemed to assume that their wealth meant they were the default choice to keep her. It was like jerks all around in that town.

[Spartan Girl]

Norma Bates in Bates Motel. There was a woman who never should have had kids. Ever. She was needy, selfish, immature, and manipulative. Yes, she was emotionally scarred from her parents neglect/abuse and her brother's sexual abuse, but that doesn't absolve her from how she failed Dylan and Norman.

With Dylan, I get that he was the product of incest/rape and that makes it complicated and hard, but again, that doesn't condone the way she treated him like the redheaded stepchild. She even kept him at odds with Norman because she always wanted him on her side.

And Norman...dear God where do I even begin? I really hate how people try to excuse her by saying that she was only smothering him because she wanted to protect him and control his mental illness. That's bullshit -- or at the very least a half truth. She wanted to protect him, but it was clear she wanted to be the ONLY woman in his life. Every time he tried to take a step away from her, or at the very least dare to disagree with her, she'd throw a tantrum making him feel guilty and drawing him back in. That's not "protecting" him. Maybe she wasn't consciously trying to groom him into being her defacto husband, but COME ON. She wanted someone to love so much that she couldn't see that their closeness was becoming inappropriate.

You know what would have really helped him? Getting the hell away from his abusive father, or better yet, getting him therapy after he killed his father instead of covering it up and taking the insurance money for a new life. But getting him therapy would have meant having to grow up and face her own demons and she was not going to do that.

And even when she finally decided to get Norman help, she wanted to take a convenient shortcut: marrying Romero for his insurance money. Which blew up in her face spectacularly. I must admit part of me was glad Norman finally called her out on her selfish hypocrisy for expecting him to just accept Romero as the new man in her life after years of keeping Norman so close where he couldn't have a life without her. Yes, it was messed up how Norman acted like the cuckolded husband, but what can you expect? Norma willfully ignored all the red flags of what she did to Norman and how dangerous he was becoming.

[Annber03]

Agreed. As a character, Norma was absolutely fascinating and Vera Farmiga played her to perfection. But yeah, as a mom she...had a lot of problems, to put it mildly. It's not at all hard to see why her kids struggled as they did, and especially why Norman was as messed up as he was. And I appreciate that the show didn't shy away from acknowledging that, and were able to walk that fine line between sympathy for what they'd gone through and frustration/horror at what they were doing to further add to their pain and misery. 

[Luckylyn]

I don't blame her for Norman's mental illness.  It is not clear whether his issues were genetic since Norma's mother was mentally ill or as a result of the trauma of being raised with an abusive father.  What I blame Norma for is how she handled Norman's mental illness.  By trying to conceal things, she created a situation that blocked Norman from getting help earlier before things had gone too far.  She also fostered an intensely unhealthy co-dependent relationship with Norman making it extremely difficult for him to connect to anyone outside of her.  Both her sons suffered trauma based on how she treated them.  Norma suffered from too much attention and Dylan suffered from neglect. Vera Farmiga did amazing work as Norma because she managed to be compelling while at the same time being a mess of a terrible person. 

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, Luckylyn said:

I don't blame her for Norman's mental illness.  It is not clear whether his issues were genetic since Norma's mother was mentally ill or as a result of the trauma of being raised with an abusive father.  What I blame Norma for is how she handled Norman's mental illness.  By trying to conceal things, she created a situation that blocked Norman from getting help earlier before things had gone too far.  She also fostered an intensely unhealthy co-dependent relationship with Norman making it extremely difficult for him to connect to anyone outside of her.  Both her sons suffered trauma based on how she treated them.  Norma suffered from too much attention and Dylan suffered from neglect. Vera Farmiga did amazing work as Norma because she managed to be compelling while at the same time being a mess of a terrible person. 

All this. Except part of of me thinks that Norman's Mother persona was created as his own "protector" because Norma, his actual mother, failed to protect him from his dad, and he couldn't reconcile that with his idealization of her. That, plus whatever genetic issues were already going on.

[Spartan Girl]

In loving memory of Cloris Leachman, let us not forget Ida from Malcolm in the Middle, who was the mother AND grandmother from hell.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Spartan Girl

[Blergh]

And how can we overlook Miss Leachman's even more iconic Phyllis Lindstrom of MTM and Phyllis fame in the Worst TV Parents?

She thought she was so 'with it' via insisting that  her daughter Bess address her by her given name as well as insisting Mary use an entire child psychology encyclopedia set while babysitting her for a couple of days! Of course, Mary just talked to her as a person instead of treating her like an experiment subject and got her to open up and blossom. Bess seemed to understand and love Phyllis for who she was rather than the pretentious shell Phyllis liked to project.  And somehow even though few folks could stand Phyllis, Bess became someone others liked. (e.g. Phyllis's stepgrandmother-in-law 'Mother' Sally Dexter  who despised Phyllis told Bess she was a 'sharp cookie' and asked her if Bess was sure she was NOT adopted).  While Bess seemed to become an okay person, it should be noted at the end of the latter series, Bess was a teenaged newlywed who announced she was about to become a mother so who knows if Grandma Phyllis wouldn't have someone managed to damage a subsequent generation despite having gotten lucky via Bess. 

[Spartan Girl]

Joy in Cruel Summer is the worst.

[Blergh]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

Joy in Cruel Summer is the worst.

Forgive me but for those of us who have never watched/heard of the show, could you please expand upon that? IOW, what has she said/done that would qualify that statement? I mean, there have been literally hundreds if not thousands of characters who were/are parents in television history and there've been quite a few very bad ones that category. Hence, some explanation as to what she (or any character) might have said or done that would qualify as 'worst [parent thusfar on television]' would help clarify a great deal! 

[Spartan Girl]

4 hours ago, Blergh said:

Forgive me but for those of us who have never watched/heard of the show, could you please expand upon that? IOW, what has she said/done that would qualify that statement? I mean, there have been literally hundreds if not thousands of characters who were/are parents in television history and there've been quite a few very bad ones that category. Hence, some explanation as to what she (or any character) might have said or done that would qualify as 'worst [parent thusfar on television]' would help clarify a great deal! 

My apologies. Allow me to rephrase my original post:

Joy, Kate’s mom in Cruel Summer is the worst. Not only is she a stuck-up Karen queen, but when Kate caught her cheating on her perfectly nice husband, she had the nerve to gaslight her own daughter and when that didn’t work BLAME HER for telling him the truth and accuse her of trying to break up the family. She treats Kate like dirt and not even having her go missing for nearly a year taught her a damn thing about maternal sensitivity, as she continues to verbally abuse Kate and use her ordeal to gain public sympathy and retain her queen bee status.

Edited May 26, 2021 by Spartan Girl

[Blergh]

@Spartan Girl,

 

Thanks for clarifying! As per your account, Joy definitely  seems qualified to be in the bottom 100 TV parents. 

Edited May 26, 2021 by Blergh

[Ambrosefolly]

13 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

My apologies. Allow me to rephrase my original post:

Joy, Kate’s mom in Cruel Summer is the worst. Not only is she a stuck-up Karen queen, but when Kate caught her cheating on her perfectly nice husband, she had the nerve to gaslight her own daughter and when that didn’t work BLAME HER for telling him the truth and accuse her of trying to break up the family. She treats Kate like dirt and not even having her go missing for nearly a year taught her a damn thing about maternal sensitivity, as she continues to verbally abuse Kate and use her ordeal to gain public sympathy and retain her queen bee status.

You forgot to mention that Joy slapped her across when she revealed the affair and and continued berating when Kate was packing a bag to leave...on Kate's birthday. It lead to Kate being held prisoner by the assistant principal for months as Kate ended up running away to his home because Joy threaten to go around to her friends' homes if she left.

[Spartan Girl]

6 hours ago, Ambrosefolly said:

You forgot to mention that Joy slapped her across when she revealed the affair and and continued berating when Kate was packing a bag to leave...on Kate's birthday. It lead to Kate being held prisoner by the assistant principal for months as Kate ended up running away to his home because Joy threaten to go around to her friends' homes if she left.

Yup, that was when Joy truly crossed the point of no redemption with me—along with finding out that she faked that threat letter to Kate two years later.

Both Kate and Rod her stepdad deserve so much better.

[SunnyBeBe]

Is this thread for fictional tv parents only or are realty tv parents allowed? 

[praeceptrix]

23 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Is this thread for fictional tv parents only or are realty tv parents allowed? 

Good question. I'm under the impression that "reality" tv is 99.99% fiction, so it makes sense to me to include them. (Full disclosure: I don't actually watch most of the shows people post about, I just enjoy reading what everyone has to say.)

[Lya167]

With the passing of the great Markie Post this week, I remembered this thread, since she played the best 'worst tv parent' I have ever seen: Erin Lindsay's egotistical mom in Chicago PD. Known as Bunny, a hustler, she was always scheming and deceiving her own daughter, or feeding her pills and alcohol addictions, never cared one bit for her kids well-being. Erin started early in illegal activities; Bunny's other kid (Erin's half brother) was kidnapped by a child trafficking ring and victim of a pedophile. Talk about bad parenting... 

[Bort]

2 hours ago, Lya167 said:

With the passing of the great Markie Post this week, I remembered this thread, since she played the best 'worst tv parent' I have ever seen: Erin Lindsay's egotistical mom in Chicago PD. Known as Bunny, a hustler, she was always scheming and deceiving her own daughter, or feeding her pills and alcohol addictions, never cared one bit for her kids well-being. Erin started early in illegal activities; Bunny's other kid (Erin's half brother) was kidnapped by a child trafficking ring and victim of a pedophile. Talk about bad parenting... 

Heh, Markie also played a rather terrible mother of Elliott on Scrubs, warping her daughter by telling her not to ever let a man “put his dirty how-do-you-do into your bajingo" and then runs off to bang the pool boy.

[Nicmar]

On 5/26/2021 at 7:47 AM, Spartan Girl said:

Joy in Cruel Summer is the worst.

Jeanette Turner's mom I don't remember her name basically abandons her family.

[WinnieWinkle]

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

Archie Bunker, a closed-minded, loud, obnoxious, controlling, racist, bigoted, asshole.

Not untrue but in his defense, despite how he felt about Mike he gave his daughter and SIL free  room and board for years.  

[Zella]

I found Archie and Meathead both insufferable, to be honest. I had spent years hearing about how great All in the Family was, but when I finally caught reruns of it a couple of years ago, I was surprised at how very annoying it was. I can appreciate its place in TV history, but I don't think it has aged well at all, and I lost interest in it pretty quickly. And I usually like classic 70s TV!

Edith was the only character I liked. Run free, Edith! You deserve better than the rest of those assholes! 

[WinnieWinkle]

3 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

I never liked Meathead.  I thought he was an insufferable know-it-all

I liked that he was really just the other side of the coin from Archie - which from what I've read was a deliberate choice.  And they made him worse than Archie really - at least Archie never cheated on Edith!!

I didn't see this show much - my parents weren't fans, they were never fond of shows that featured the main characters shouting at each other all the time!  Catching it in reruns later, I agree it did not age well.  Same with Maude and Designing Women and even to some extent Murphy Brown,  Probably a few others I'm blanking out on - if you make a sitcom that focuses too much on social issues of the day and on politics it's not likely to stand the test of time well IMO.

[vibeology]

15 hours ago, Zella said:

Edith was the only character I liked. Run free, Edith! You deserve better than the rest of those assholes! 

Edith was truly the best character. Always open to learning new things and meeting new people, loving, supportive and kind. I watched repeats of the show growing up and it was always clear to me that she was the unsung hero of the show.

[GreekGeek]

On 8/10/2021 at 3:49 PM, WinnieWinkle said:

Not untrue but in his defense, despite how he felt about Mike he gave his daughter and SIL free  room and board for years.  

True, and as badly as he treated Edith, I thought he was pretty loving towards Gloria. See his conversation with her in the last few minutes of this clip.

[JustHereForFood]

About half of the parents we saw in It's a Sin were horrible. The most prominent were Richie's parents. His father was constantly belittling him about his career choice and kept sputtering his bigoted and racist opinions, even after meeting Richie's best friend who was black. His mother initially seemed nicer, but after 

Spoiler

finding out that he was dying of AIDS, she basically had him kidnapped from the hospital and taken home and then kept him isolated from his friends until he died. Even after his best friend and his boyfriend moved to a hotel nearby and were asking daily to see him.

Heartbreaking.

[kathyk24]

On 8/10/2021 at 3:49 PM, WinnieWinkle said:

Not untrue but in his defense, despite how he felt about Mike he gave his daughter and SIL free  room and board for years.  

Archie adored Gloria and his grandson Joey. Peter and Lois from Family Guy are the worst. They either ignore their kids or threat them like garbage.

[RunningMarket]

On 8/17/2021 at 3:27 PM, JustHereForFood said:

About half of the parents we saw in It's a Sin were horrible. The most prominent were Richie's parents. His father was constantly belittling him about his career choice and kept sputtering his bigoted and racist opinions, even after meeting Richie's best friend who was black. His mother initially seemed nicer, but after 

  Hide contents

finding out that he was dying of AIDS, she basically had him kidnapped from the hospital and taken home and then kept him isolated from his friends until he died. Even after his best friend and his boyfriend moved to a hotel nearby and were asking daily to see him.

Heartbreaking.

Oh, my husband and I RAGED for DAYS after binging It's a Sin. Richie's mom is up there with early-seasons Aunt Lydia in terms of horrid TV characters. To top it all off:

Spoiler

She had the gall to ask his best friend to tell her all about Richie's life, after she refused to let his best friend see him while he was dying.