Top Ten Most Unlikable the Golden Girls Characters

“The Golden Girls” is one great show that not only contains many, many of the most hilarious sitcom moments ever recorded, but also addresses several social issues that other TV series of that time didn’t talk about. That all of this works out so well is mostly due to the chemistry of the four protagonists, all of which equally contribute to the show’s characteristic feeling.

However, over the years individual episodes introduced several new characters, not all of which left an equally good impressions - sometimes intentionally, sometimes accidentally.
This list is to the Golden Girls characters we could live without!
The Top Ten
1 Barbara Thorndyke

There is no character in the show I despise more than Barbara Thorndyke. There may have been characters who did worse things than she did, but she's the one whose personality causes the most aggressions.
Brilliantly played by Bonnie Bartlett, she appears in the episode "Dorothy's New Friend", in which, as the title suggests, Dorothy befriends her. As they are both intellectuals, the two get along very well, as they can keep up with each other's knowledge. But she looks down upon Blanche and Rose (and probably everyone else who is not that versed in literature and culture), likes to permanently demonstrate her intellect, and behaves like a true elitist who thinks that she is better than other less sophisticated beings. When she listens to what Rose and Blanche got to say, her eyes are filled with utter disgust - she's not just bewildered, bored or embarrassed, you can tell to her they are the scum of the earth. When I say I dislike pseudo-intellectuals, I mean people like Barbara Thorndyke.

2 David

Played by Billy Jayne in the episode "On Golden Girls", David is Blanche's teenage grandson. In one of the episodes I like least because it can't clearly focus if its message is "David needs love in his life" or "David needs to learn how a household works", Blanche needs to take care of him, but he doesn't like being there, instead he goes out partying with other teenagers frequently. In and of itself, that's not the problem - a 14 year old boy and a bunch of women in their 50s might not have a lot in common - but how he treats the Golden Girls. Not only respectless, which to be honest is to be expected of a teen in his rebellious phase, but with remarks that are utterly tasteless and hurtful.

3 Rex Huntington

In the episode "The Bloom is Off the Rose", Rex (Mitchell Ryan) appears as the current boyfriend of Blanche, who fell in love with him. At the beginning, he appears to be "merely" neglecting her, only being interested in someone to care about the household, which is bad enough, but as the episode goes on, she shows truly abusive behavior, resulting in heavy verbal assaults and one instance of violence.

4 Frieda Claxton

Played by Nan Martin, Frieda Claxton appears in the beginning of the episode "It's a Miserable Life", which mostly revolves around her funeral. Frieda Claxton is a cold hearted, hateful and misanthropic woman whose only fun lies in destroying other people's joys in life. We don't get to know why she behaves like this, but it is implied that she didn't become like this because she is lonesome, rather the other way around - she hates other people and doesn't want friends.

Honestly, we weren't supposed to like her and was made to be disliked. She hated everyone.

5 Jeremy

Joe Regalbuto plays Jeremy in "Blanche's Little Girl", in which the character of Rebecca is introduced. Rebecca is Blanche's overweight daughter, with Jeremy being her fiancé, who constantly jokes about her weight, as well as behaving overly dominant (offering to help Blanche cleaning up but then "orders" Rebecca to do it, or asking her not to speak) and being mean spirited in general. Unlike Rex, he's not really aggressive while doing so, he just appears to view this as perfectly normal behavior. I don't really see the main problem of his character in the fat jokes - a lot of couples in love taunt each other - but in his conservative, sexist world view.

6 Oliver

He was portrayed by David Leisure in the single worst episode "Empty Nests", which was an unused pilot for a T.V. series that would never air, but sparked the basic idea for the sitcom "Empty Nest" (with recasts and different, completely rewritten characters). This episode contains little screen time of the Golden Girls, instead focusing on complete strangers. If you want to watch a "Golden Girls" episode, it's hella annoying getting to see characters you have never seen before and never will afterwards, but are treated as if they were regular cast members. Out of all of them, Oliver, a young man with absolutely no manners, stands out the most - negatively. As far as I know he was the only kept of this concept in the finished series "Empty Nest", but maybe he works better when he's a recurring character. I've never seen "Empty Nest".

7 Truby Steele

I don't get this character. She's played by first class actress Debbie Reynolds in the episode "There Goes the Bride: Part 2", in which Dorothy wants to marry Stan again. Truby is supposed to move in after Dorothy leaves the house, and it appears everyone likes her. However, her character is a middle aged woman who likes to marry old men to get their money, and openly admits to doing so, which is used as something of a running gag. It's neither funny, nor is it a positive character trait. And it is the only one she shows. Debbie Reynolds deserved a better guest role.

8 Mr. Terrific

Played by Bob Dishy in the episode of the same name, Mr. Terrific is a guy playing a superhero in a children's educational show. Although he doesn't do anything particularly bad and sometimes acts relatable, he comes off as fairly narcissistic and unlikable.

9 Caroline Webber

Miles is a recurring character and the long time boyfriend of Rose. His daughter Caroline, played by Molly Hagan in the episode "Triple Play", doesn't want her father to be with someone else that's not her mother and tries to get them to break up by telling Rose he needs time behind his back. She's a brat who doesn't know when it's none of her business. This character is also problematic for a major plot point involving Miles in later episodes.

10 George Corliss

Played by Paul Dooley, George is the protagonist of the episode "Empty Nests" (see "Oliver" for more information). He is a doctor who has little time for his wife and family. There's nothing actually wrong with this guy, apart from that he's a completely uninteresting and boring individual who can't make an episode entertaining on his own, especially when it's an episode of "The Golden Girls". Throughout the duration, we just wish that the show soon moves on to the next scene whenever he's on screen, and hope the Golden Girls will be in it.

Not to be confused with Blanche's deceased husband George Devereaux.

The Contenders
11 Mr. Ha Ha
12 Big Daddy Hollingsworth
13 Glen O'Brien
14 Michael Zbornak
15 Holly Lindstrom
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