Marshall on How I Met Your Mother – no kids should be subjected to those lengthy tales of the sexual antics of their pa and his old friends.
I’d go with Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. They dumped their infant kid on a neighbor to go off on a European tour.
At least he cares enough to keep doing it. Any one of those times he might have decided to just let it go.
I mean, that’s gotta count for something, right?
Are you kidding??? Dr. Benton Quest was the coolest Dad in the whole wide world. What little boy wouldn’t want to jet around with their Dad, his body guard, and Indian friend and his dog to live the adventures Johnny did?
Or Cartman’s mother. Or Kenny’s father. Come to think of it, the parenting on South Park in general is pretty awful.
Don’t worry. There are always alien women.
And space hippies. Don’t forget the loose, easy space hippies.
Warning: Link takes the unwary traveler to the actual episode. Do not click if you want childhood memories destroyed.
On “That 70’s Show…” all the kids’ parents other than the Formans were pretty bad. Red & Kitty weren’t great, but they tried their best at least.
Er, that would be Ted. But otherwise, you have a point.
Dexter.
Time Magazine thought the same thing. Here is the response in defence of Mr. Vader.
Ruth Martin on Lassie – so neglectful that her kid had to constantly be rescued by a dog.
(Note that Ruth Martin was played by the same actress who played Maureen Robinson on Lost in Space. June Lockhart had bad parenting in her genes.)
Beverly Crusher on Star Trek TNG. Her husband’s already been killed in deep space, so she runs back to Starfleet and leaves her son out there with Picard and Riker.
Amanda King on Scarecrow and Mrs. King. Sure, it’s fun running all over the world with a handsome spy, but what about the two kids you left at home? And she wouldn’t even tell the kids he was a spy, so they couldn’t even enjoy that!
Ben Cartwright on Bonanza. Actually, Ben was a pretty good Pa, but didn’t anyone worry that his wives kept dying?
Kate Bradley on Petticoat Junction. Oh, she may have seemd like a good parent – even tempered and interested in her duaghters. But did you notice her two older daughters kept vanishing, and replaced by other girls who looked somewhat like them? Then Kate disappears without so much as a goodbye to her family. They’re so desperate for a mother figure they end up with – Maureen Robinson from Lost in Space.:eek::eek::eek::eek:
I’m going to cast my vote for the Camdens from 7th Heaven. Sure, the dad was a reverend and they were good churchgoers. But Annie Camden is a demon in woman spawn. And Rev. Camden’s response to finding out that Matt brought a marijuana joint into the house is to ask him if his drug problem was the reason he (as a high school senior) has never held down a steady job.
And where the hell are Huey, Louie, and Dewey’s parents?
Did we ever see Tony actually smack AJ? The closest I remember is Tony smashing (I think) the window of AJ’s car after he made a smartass remark to a demand that he start straightening up.
I stand corrected. All hail the Supreme Father Darth Vader.
Or April, May and June’s, or Morty and Ferdy’s, or Knothead and Splinter’s.
Or for that matter, Penny’s on Sky King…or Circus Boy’s on Circus Boy.
Darrin and Samantha Stephens aren’t the worst but they’d be in the running for runners up. They have a beautiful little girl who has magical powers and they admonish her whenever she uses them just because she can do things Daddy can’t. If Samantha wants to live her life as a mortal that’s fine and dandy but imposing it on her daughter makes her little better than Petunia Dursley. It’s the magick equivalent of female circumcision, and I for one would have fully supported Endora had she chosen to turn Darrin into a tampon and zap him into the Father Damien Hospital for She-Lepers and raise Tabitha herself.
So did Steve Douglas of “My Three Sons” and then the Winslows of “Family Matters” lost a daughter. (Who, in real life, ended up doing porn.)
Even uberparents Cliff & Claire Huxtable didn’t know if they had 4 or 5 children until midway through the first season (when Sondra showed up and yes, it was 5).
I have a feeling though that we’re about to find out that TV’s worst mother is Hetty Lange on NCIS:LA who it seems like they’re about to reveal as Callen’s mother. The one who didn’t even give him a first name. If this is actually what’s about to happen, it’s going to be the most bizarre and perhaps the worst plot twist & worst parenting storyline in TV history.
What are you on dope? Let’s see you smoke that pot with my foot in your ass.