We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us which TV storylines felt superrrrr forced. Here are some of the wild, boring, or just plain bizarre plots that fans hated: Warning: Spoilers ahead!!!
Note: #26 contains mentions of abuse.
1. First, when Blaine dated Kurt's former bully, Karofsky, on Glee . "It was just something the writers tried to throw in as a callback to Karofsky’s earlier character arc, and it was such a cringe-fest to watch."
—frenchfriesandramen2007
FOX 2. When Emma became the Dark Swan on Once Upon a Time. Suggested by: savannahg4e56476eb
"Everything about it was so horribly executed. The 'no personality' acting for Dark Swan, the hair change and outfit, and just the whole storyline. What a mess!"
—serquackington
ABC 3. When Izzie had sex with Denny's GHOST on Grey's Anatomy . 4. When Luke found out he had a daughter and then kept it a secret from Lorelai on Gilmore Girls. "It was so sloppy. Luke not telling Lorelai from the beginning didn't seem like something he would do — he was always an honest, no-bullshit guy. It was completely out of character."
—allydelarge
The CW 5. When the group got involved with Gryphons and Gargoyles on Riverdale . The CW
"It was honestly the strangest thing I’ve ever seen."
—juliaschlachter
6. When Rachel and Joey dated on Friends . 7. When Quinn became temporarily paralyzed after a car accident on Glee. "It was just something to postpone Rachel and Finn's wedding. After she could walk again, it was never mentioned again."
—s463b03bd4
FOX 8. When Jaime went back to Cersei on Game of Thrones. "Anyone could see how much Jaime loved Brie and how Cersei’s hold on him had slipped after the Dragonpit. The actors did an amazing job, but it just made no sense."
—elissak4cc3926bd
HBO 9. When Michael "died" and then came back with amnesia on Jane the Virgin . "His 'death' was heartbreaking and felt like a cheap way to get Jane and Rafael together, and his return was just so forced and unnecessary. They really ruined Michael and Jane's relationship for no real reason. If you kill a character off, make it worth something! Don't bring them back for cheap drama that doesn't add anything to anyone's character."
—kenni12
The CW 10. When Haley became pregnant with Dylan's twins on Modern Family . "Haley finally did something she loved and realized her self-worth...but then the show brought Dylan back."
—turtles2000
ABC 11. When Landry and Tyra killed a guy and then covered it up on Friday Night Lights . "It felt so out of place for the show, was so unnecessary, and was just plain uninteresting."
—kaischagun
NBC 12. When Olivia was kidnapped on Scandal. 13. When Jughead and Veronica kissed in front of Betty and Archie on Riverdale. "It was just weirdly forced and strange."
—queenryan
The CW 14. When the Conners won the lottery, only for it to be revealed that the entire last season was just a dream on Roseanne . "It ruined the whole show for me."
—pepperm1nt
Note: This storyline was retconned on the spinoff "The Conners."
ABC 15. When Dean and Rory had an affair while he was married on Gilmore Girls. "It just felt unnecessary. Their whole 'second shot' was a disaster from start to finish like we all knew it would be."
—AshleySteidl
The CW 16. When Jackson and Maggie dated on Grey's Anatomy . ABC
"They were literally step-siblings and had absolutely zero chemistry or anything in common. It was the most forced storyline on the show."
—julescayer
17. When Miles and Tristan decided to stay together at the end of Season 3 on Degrassi: Next Class . The final season could have focused on Tristan's recovery and further explored Miles' romance with Lola, but instead they chose to focus more on a relationship that had honestly run its course seasons ago. We were supposed to see them choosing to stay together as a sign of strength, but it honestly just screamed codependency and made me kind of sad for both of them. They broke up in the end anyways, so what was the point in dragging the relationship out?
Netflix 18. When Omar and Ander had MULTIPLE cheating storylines on Elite . "The fact that Omar cheated on Ander with Nadia's boyfriend and then there was a love triangle between Patrick, Omar, and Ander. Just...what the actual fuck?!"
—atlantisdustypink
Netflix 19. When Hyde randomly married a stripper on That '70s Show . "She was a pointless character whose sole purpose was to break up Jackie and Hyde. Then she randomly went back to Vegas, so putting up with her character for half a season was worthless in the end."
—colleend9
FOX 20. When Brooke and Nathan had a secret sex tape on One Tree Hill . Out of all nine seasons, I don't think there's a storyline that pisses me off more than this one (although Pete Wentz dating Peyton is a close second). It was so clearly thrown in as a last-minute twist to make Brooke look bad and force her to forgive Peyton and Lucas. The whole storyline was just super sloppy and out of place.
The WB 21. When Jess and Robby dated on New Girl . FOX
"I love New Girl , but this storyline was godawful. We knew after Season 5 that she still had feelings for Nick, but since he was with Reagan, they threw her together with Robby. They had zero chemistry, and then they turned out to be third cousins or something?! It was so bizarre, and they dragged it out for over half a season."
—danae9
22. When the boom operator, Brian, fell for Pam on The Office . "All of the Jim and Pam drama in Season 9 seemed very forced."
—kwo
NBC 23. When Amy randomly mentored a pregnant freshman, Kathy, on The Secret Life of the American Teenager . "It felt like whenever that show was running out of ideas, someone else would get pregnant."
—dougfancy101290
Freeform 24. When Justin shockingly died of AIDS in the final episode of 13 Reasons Why . It was wildly unnecessary, and it just seemed really cruel to kill Justin off after all of the character development he had gone through. It was absolutely pointless and only happened because they wanted to shock the fans. Justin deserved to go to college and heal from all of the trauma that he'd been through, not die for no reason!
Netflix 25. When Robert cheated on Cora on Downton Abbey . "Robert and Cora seemed like they had a genuine love and respect for each other. I feel like the Robert cheating plot was forced and created unnecessary drama just because the writers had nothing to do with the parent characters. Maybe I missed something, but I felt it added nothing to the characters or the plot of the show in general."
—akja90901517
ITV 26. When Jamie physically assaulted Jeanette on Cruel Summer . It felt like they only included this scene for shock value, and it was just really unnecessary and out of place. They were clearly trying to set Jamie up for a redemption arc towards the end of Season 1, but it was hard to look past his actions in the pilot and just made for a really inconsistent character arc. Plus, it made the timeline confusing and didn't really add anything to the overall mystery. It honestly should have just been cut altogether.
Freeform 27. And finally, the entire last season of Sherlock . "Sherlock having a secret sister was definitely not an arc that was needed, plus the teasing that Moriarty would somehow come back, the queerbaiting, the episodes making fun of popular fan theories, introducing Watson's wife only to have her needlessly killed right at the end..."
—senpainoticedu
PBS Reminder that I, Kelly Martinez, do not necessarily endorse all of these submissions!!! Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity. Not all submissions were from Community users.
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