Nancy Grace.
I liked Bester. He had some great lines, a snazy star fury and a big heart, for his own kind.
What about both Gaius Baltars?
Hey, flesh does what it is told.
Evil Roy Slade.
I need to see that movie again.
He’s got a serrated knife to your genitals as you type, doesn’t he ? Blink twice for yes.
Curiously, I think the most depraved character on GoT might have been Dead King Robert. I mean, yes, the show doesn’t lack for psychopaths, but that’s the point : they’re monsters in human shape. I can’t hate Joffrey, he’s not a person, he’s just a Being A Dick elder elemental. Same goes for Ramsey or Littlefinger.
Robert on the other hand knew full well he was being shit all of the time, and he knew he was making the people around him miserable (or dead !) for no better reason than “it’s not what I thought it would be like”… and he just didn’t change anything. Just an endless spiral of “fuck it, fuck 'em, let’s drink and forget about it”. Having the wolf killed (traumatizing the Stark kids in the process) just because he just doesn’t want to be arsed fighting about it with the missus ? Fuck youuuu !
That’s what I came in to say. He did what he did out of pure selfishness. Granted Sheldon on Big Bang Theory functions in much the same way.
For some reason, it’s always on Youtube.
No Walter White?
L.A. Law’s Rosalind Shays, as played by Diana Muldaur. Nasty nasty piece of work. The viewing public’s collective hatred of her is a great testament to Ms. Muldaur’s acting talents. Who can forget the shock and then and the feeling of satisfaction when she walked into that elevator shaft.
Livia Soprano
Eric Cartman is quite despicable, but he’s also a great character.
Yes, I hate him and always want to see him get his come-uppance, but the show wouldn’t be what it is without him.
In a similar thread i noted:
He has (among many other things)
Kidnapped Butters as a prank, but let Butters’ parents grieve as though their son was dead
Traded the market in dead fetuses
Developed a “crack baby” athletic association
Intentionally infected his *friend *with HIV.
After my first choice, Russell Hantz, I’d like to offer a shoutout to another of the best at being a real shit: Zach Grenier, primarily for his David Lee character on The Good Wife but also from an amazing array of turds in his IMDb resume’. In fact he has little competition (as I see it) for the “that guy” role that helps a drama move along toward the hero getting his revenge.
I agree, Dickweed was quite oppressive to his wife. He abused her emotionally by making her feel ashamed of who she was. She should have been allowed to be a proud witch like Endora.
At least the second one was hot and had a nice accent.
I nominate Steve Urkel. Annoying and took over the show, I stopped watching it.
Yeah, but they kept giving him Pet the Dog and Heel-Face Turn moments. More than Frank Burns ever got, anyway.
There’s Jim Profit in Profit – but his being despicable was the whole point, not only of the character but of the show, so maybe he belongs in a special category.
Well, I think the OP asked for despicable characters, not annoying characters. It’s more a matter of moral judgment than esthetic judgment.
This is so incredibly spot on. And Nancy wasn’t far behind.
Francis Urquhart in the original UK House of Cards was a thoroughly despicable human being…far moreso than his American counterpart Frank Underwood.
Based on the OP’s example of McNulty, from The Wire, I’m pretty certain that the aim of the thread is to nominate characters that are dislikable, not characters who are bad people. James Bond is a sexist, womanizing, cold-blooded assassin and egomaniac. By very few measures would he be considered a good person. But he’s likable (to most people) and people pay good money to keep watching him.
Human likes and hates aren’t very in-keeping with morality, generally.
Perhaps they’re not as bloody-minded as some of the villains mentioned upthread, but O’Brien and Evil Gay Thomas from Downton Abbey were uber-malicious just for the hell of it. I couldn’t figure out just what they were hoping to accomplish with all their plotting and undermining. It seems they did it just for spite.