# Who's the worst actor on tv? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422 "2012-07-16T17:43:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/1 "2012-07-16T17:43:54Z")
My nominee would have to be Thomas Gibson, formerly “Greg” on _Dharma and Greg_, currently on _Criminal Minds_. Is this guy capable of anything other than a beetle-browed scowl? It’s like he’s trying too hard to be a “serious” actor after being on a crappy sit-com. I don’t know- maybe his whole face had been botoxed and that’s the best he can do. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/2 "2012-07-16T17:52:52Z")
Jeffrey Donovan, from “Burn Notice”. Oy vey, is he ever terrible. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/3 "2012-07-16T17:55:58Z")
I’d say David Caruso, but _CSI Miami_ has been cancelled. **takes off sunglasses, squints** “Cancelled.” **re-dons sunglasses** ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/4 "2012-07-16T18:11:40Z")
David Caruso. Didn’t know it had been cancelled. He’s so bad it is highly entertaining. Worse than Lee Majors. I’ve seen the Burn Notice and Criminal Minds guys, and they are better than Caruso. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/5 "2012-07-16T18:21:44Z")
Jerry O’Connell. I think he is between jobs right now, his series with that other great thespian Jim Belushi cancelled, but I’m always amazed by the facts that (a) he can keep getting jobs and (b) he bedded Rebecca Romjin. Life just ain’t fair. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/6 "2012-07-16T19:58:53Z")
Jim Belushi or George Lopez have to be on any short list. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/7 "2012-07-16T20:16:07Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Jim Belushi or George Lopez have to be on any short list. My Mount Rushmore of shitty TV actors is Belushi, Lopez, David Spade and the Olsen twins. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/8 "2012-07-16T20:21:09Z")
Gotta go with _Burn Notice_ too. Whoever that guy is, he ain’t no Don Johnson, as much as he tries to be. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/9 "2012-07-16T20:26:48Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Jeffrey Donovan, from “Burn Notice”. Oy vey, is he ever terrible. Them’s fighting words. I love when he gets to do other characters while he’s undercover and I believe he does them well. His smiles do look kind of fake though. I can’t think of any myself, except to echo David Caruso. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/10 "2012-07-16T20:29:29Z")
Piper Perabo from Covert Affairs is pretty bad. Although now that I think about it, most USA shows have some pretty bad actors. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/11 "2012-07-16T20:41:48Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > It’s like he’s trying too hard to be a “serious” actor after being on a crappy sit-com. Hey, his wife was whacked while he was talking to her over the phone, and then he killed the murderer with his bare hands. The guy can’t really be all that well-adjusted any more! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/12 "2012-07-16T20:44:32Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Jeffrey Donovan, from “Burn Notice”. Oy vey, is he ever terrible. I’d go with him for Worst Male, _Mad Men_’s January Jones for Worst Female. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/13 "2012-07-16T21:00:36Z")
George Segal was unbelievably bad on _Just Shoot Me!_. I see he’s got a show called _Retired at 35_ on now, and I assume he hasn’t gotten any better. (And he was Biff in _Death of a Salesman_ and was in _King Rat_.) Betty White is the worst actress hands down. Can barely get her lines out. Forget actual acting. At some point you have to retire. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/14 "2012-07-16T21:12:44Z")
What, no mention of Ray Romano yet? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/15 "2012-07-16T21:27:47Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > What, no mention of Ray Romano yet? His show’s been over for years. In any event, when it was on, he was fifty times the actor George Lopez was. Lopez has been in a hundred TV series or movies and has never in his life put in ten consecutive seconds of believable acting. He’s the worst actor I’ve ever seen with a long career. But his show’s gone too. The thing is, though, that the worst actor on TV, or even the TEN worst actors, would all be on Nickleodeon shows. Tween shows like “The Suite Life on Deck,” “Victorious” or “iCarly” have acting on them of staggering ineptitude, actors who make Jim Belushi look like a towering master of thespianism. The guy who plays the older brother on “iCarly,” Spencer Shay, is an actor of no talent at all whose only ability is doing a goofy voice. He makes George Lopez look like Sir Laurence Olivier, I shit you not. He literally just looks like a high school improv nerd who somehow stumbled onto the set of a real TV show and the cast doesn’t have the heart to tell him to fuck off. I guess that’s unfair to those shows, because they’re budget productions for a less discriminating audience, but it’s true. ALL the worst actors are on tween shows. Nobody on an adult show is even remotely close. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/16 "2012-07-16T21:42:14Z")
Completely agree with **RickJay**. I am traumatized from the times I’ve been subject to tween shows. I had to have all my teeth replaced after grinding them to dust from not going into a tirade of how a black screen would be more entertaining. Now I’m pissed off at you RickJay for bringing that trauma back to my mind and since I can’t Pit you, I’m going to go kick some puppies. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/17 "2012-07-16T21:52:33Z")
I think Ginnifer Goodwin and Jennifer Morrison (both in _Once Upon a Time_) give January Jones some competition for worst actresses on TV. One’s wetter than a dishrag and the other seems perpetually constipated. The kid’s even worse but you can’t really judge kids by grown-up standards. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/18 "2012-07-16T22:04:48Z")
I vote for the combo of Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence on ABC Family’s _[Melissa and Joey.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1597420/)_ They may not be the absolute worst actors on TV but I’ll wager they’re (currently) the worst pair of actors to have a show named after them. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/19 "2012-07-16T22:07:56Z")
Manny on **Modern Family**. Doing him no favors are the other kid actors on the show, who are all exceptional. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422/20 "2012-07-16T22:16:50Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > What, no mention of Ray Romano yet? I never really watched much of his sitcom, but he was good in the prematurely cancelled “Men Of A Certain Age”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-worst-actor-on-tv/628422.md?page=2)