At a time in history when people had access to more TV than they could ever watch, it was easy for characters to blend together or get lost entirely, especially if they had a rusty filing system (i.e., brain).
Angry TV characters have a spot of honor at the front of our memory. It’s hard to forget characters who impact your emotions.
Whether it’s sadness, intense joy, or burning rage, the best TV characters hit you in the feels.
We’ve picked 17 angry TV characters that we can’t help but remember for their grumpiness.
And for fun, I’m analyzing why most of us can relate to the reasons they’re angry. Let’s Hulk out.
17 Angry TV Characters
When taken out of context, an angry person can seem like they’re just a “blank” word — fill in your choice of adjective. I’m not trying to offend anyone.
But when you look past the surface and analyze the person beneath the grump, you often see fascinating causes that led to the brusk behavior.
For most of us, it’s simply getting older in a world that’s not as fun or friendly as we would like. I feel ya, fam.
Anger can occur from untreated trauma, exposure to the worst that the world has to offer, life, addictions, or mental illness.
And the more it’s repressed, the worse it gets.
But some of TV’s grumpiest characters don’t mind blowing their lids. And we’re here for it.
Check out my 17 favorite unhappy people and why I (and probably you) can relate to their grump. Let’s do the grumpy dump.
Hailey Upton from Chicago PD
Chicago PD fans have had a rough few seasons as we continue to say goodbye to our favorite detectives in the Intelligence Unit.
Through the shortened season, we saw Hailey struggle with her marriage ending after Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) exited the show during the tenth season.
She threw herself into work and the abuse of running until she was past the point of exhaustion.
Disturbing how she spotted the signs of active addiction and self-harm when it came to Jo Petrovic’s drinking problem. But she couldn’t correlate similar signs with her own behavior.
CPD fans have spent several years dealing with the ups and downs of Hailey’s mental status as the show spent way too much time focused on her character development.
From depression to anger, her emotional roller coaster wore down even the most loyal of fans to the point that we celebrated when we heard the news of Tracy Spiridakos leaving, meaning the end of the Upton show.
Sam Carver from Chicago Fire
The writers of the One Chicago universe aren’t afraid to put their characters through the wringer when it comes to unprocessed trauma.
Firefighter Sam Carver (Jake Lockett) from Chicago Fire has a lot of baggage he hasn’t unpacked, which often leads to him responding to tense moments with aggression.
Like most hero types, Carver has a massive protective streak that extends to his Station 51 firefighting family and his workplace romance with paramedic Violet Mikami.
His childhood experiences with an abusive father make him sensitive to situations that involve dominating fathers and men who like to intimidate others.
Since he joined 51, we’ve seen him in several fights, which have led to tense situations with Stella Kidd, his rival-turned-close friend.
We’re familiar with how he looks behind bars, adding black marks to his heroism.
Gabi Mosely from Found
Found is a newcomer to the television lineup, but thanks to the charisma of Gabi Mosely (Shanola Hampton) and Sir (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), it quickly received a renewal notice for a second season (which will feature Station 19’s Bishop star Danielle Savre).
Equal parts creepy Criminal Minds child abduction and brilliant crime-solving Wisdom of the Crowd, with a healthy dose of Alert tossed in for a happily ever after.
Gabi is a brilliant and charismatic people finder running a crisis management team.
Their purpose is to find missing people who have been given up on by conventional methods.
A person who does the impossible and reunites families torn apart through violence should feel good.
But Gabi has a lot of repressed anger that we often see her unleash on the sexy yet evil prisoner she keeps in her basement dungeon.
Grossly referred to as Sir (although it’s hard to remember not to call him Zack Morris), Gosselaar portrays a deeply disturbed sociopath who kidnapped Gabi as a child and held her hostage for years before she escaped.
The irony is not lost that the kidnappee became the kidnapper and kidnapped her kidnapper to hold him as a prisoner as he had done her.
But Sir really got in our heads when we discovered that Gabi wasn’t in control after all.
While she thought she was keeping Sir against his will, he’s actually willingly acting as a hostage to obsessively spend time with her.
Imagine the kind of anger you must have inside from being held against your will as a child, only to stumble upon your captor years later when you’re not as vulnerable.
Has she become the protege of her captor without realizing it?
Henry Gowen from When Calls the Heart
The best TV shows give their characters deep personal growth, especially when it’s a bad guy.
Anyone who watching the awesomeness on Hallmark should be familiar with the massive ongoing success of When Calls the Heart.
WCTH takes viewers on a trip to the past, giving us a taste of life in a rural Canadian town at the forefront of modernization.
And as a Hallmark show, you can expect it to hit you in the feels from time to time as we immerse ourselves with the fictional townsfolk, like school teacher Elizabeth (Erin Krakow) and best friend Rosemary (Pascale Hutton).
But the best thing that’s happened on WCTH in the 11 seasons it’s been on is the amazing personal growth of the town grump and resident bad guy, Henry Gowen (Martin Cummins).
When the show first started, Gowen was the greedy, crooked mine manager that everyone blamed for the deaths of multiple miners.
It’s understandable why a person would hold onto repressed anger, especially if you agreed with the many insults and accusations deep down.
But the best thing about Henry’s angry persona is that we start to notice chinks in the armor that let us get glimpses of the inside. And unlike other angry people, his chi didn’t ooze evil.
Underneath, Henry is a great guy with tons of compassion and a soft spot for those who take the time to see the real him.
He has an undisclosed moral code that puts him on a path to redemption and rebirth free of the tarnishments of his former grouch self.
Kat Landry from The Way Home
Another Hallmark hit featuring a pretty angry main character (played by Chyler Leigh) is The Way Home.
Adding a time-traveling element is a neat twist on the traditional female-led family drama about mothers struggling to connect with their daughters.
Fans instantly flocked to the vibe of three generations of Landrys gathering at the family home to unlock deep secrets, rehash old pains, and discover magical family history.
And by magical, we are referring to the time portal lake that Kat and her daughter Alice discover.
But they’re not the first ones.
While Alice travels back in time to when her mother was the same age, Kat travels back several hundred years, where she meets not one but two people she starts crushing on.
And if that’s not enough entanglement to make you angry, there’s also the confusing relationship of the current timeline best friend, Elliot (who’s in love with you.)
Then there is the unsolved disappearance of a younger brother decades before (I predicted his fate about eight episodes before they revealed it if anyone wants to be impressed).
Or the smothering guilt of knowing that you played a part in the death of your father years prior.
A secret you don’t discover until you’re grown and damaging your child’s psyche from your unresolved emotional baggage.
So, yeah, be angry, Kat. Like this next one, you might deserve it more than most of the other angry TV characters on our list.
Danny Reagan from Blue Bloods
Blue Bloods has been a police procedural that fans have loved or hated throughout its 14 seasons.
This fan is still undecided about her feelings on the show finally ending.
The show’s premise revolves around a loud Irish family deeply immersed in the New York City justice system.
At the helm of the family is Police Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck), an old-school boss with a strong moral code who believes in doing everything by the book.
While Frank is about doing things by the rules, his oldest (living) son doesn’t.
Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) has been through a lot since the show started (and before).
He’s already buried a mom, a fellow police brother, and his wife. As an NYPD detective, he constantly sees the worst side of humanity.
And he has serious trouble hiding his anger and contempt from the bad guys.
While I normally abhor shows that feature police brutality and abusive officers, BB has handled its storylines differently.
In nearly every instance, I agree with Danny’s actions.
So when Danny expressed his anger at a pedophile holding a missing child by drowning the perv in a toilet bowl, I cheered him on.
Is there a way to write a letter of recommendation for a medal? Bravo.
Even when Danny isn’t expressing his anger through waterboarding techniques, you can see the barely-reigned fury begging to erupt in his mannerisms.
But they make him all the more endearing.
Who doesn’t love a sexy smartass with a deep moral compass that today’s society sorely lacks?
Red Forman from That ’70s/’90s Show
As a teenager growing up in the ’90s, I was obsessed with That ’70s Show, which was a throwback to the flower power and disco eras decades before my time.
I could relate to the teenage side of dealing with out-of-touch parents making a mess of your life.
Whether it was a mom trying too hard to be cool or a dad who killed the fun, it felt like our lives.
When That ’90s Show debuted to Netflix with a reboot starring the cool kids all grown up, my childhood felt fulfilled until I realized that I’m totally Team Red (Kurtwood Smith) these days.
Well, crap.
After rewatching the original from the point of view of an exhausted mom with kids who are doing too much too often, I fully get and appreciate his smartassery and perpetual grumpiness.
His wife was more willing to bend the rules and let the kids have free reign over the house and their schedules (I’m guilty of that, too).
But Red had zero apologies about giving them a “hell no” or threatening to put his foot up someone’s butt.
As a Xennial parent, I often use the threat of a flip-flop to get my point across when I need to make a point or solve a problem. IFKYK.
Yeah, Red is rude and crass.
He’s the typical hardass parent of yesteryear, where crying only got you something to really cry about, and sticks and stones may break your bones, but words could never hurt you.
But in all fairness, the man did bust his butt at work for a blue-collar, middle-class life.
While having to deal with a promiscuous daughter and a son who took over the basement to hang out with his stoner high school friends and eat all the food in the house.
Not to mention all the teen drama, an annoying neighbor, and a wife who tried too hard to be relevant in her kids’ (and grandkids’) lives.
House from House
When you think of an angry character with a reputation for being somewhat of an asshole, Gregory House often comes up in conversation.
But what could you expect from an actively using drug addict who treats his body like a petri dish for any medical experience that might get him high and relieve his pain?
Not to mention his propensity for delusions of grandeur, extreme narcissism, the worst case of hubris you’ve ever seen in one body, and the fact that he gave zero F’s if he hurt your feelings.
As with most angry people, seeing that his behavior offended someone was a source of amusement. It was almost a goal for him.
While many of TV’s angriest characters have redeeming qualities and relatable reasons for being a grump, anger from over-excessive drug use and an active addiction isn’t one of them.
Especially from a doctor responsible for treating and curing extremely sick — often young and vulnerable — patients.
True, he lived in extreme chronic pain. As someone who can relate, yes, pain can make you snappy and rude.
And when you’re hurting, you don’t have the patience for things that annoy you.
For House, that’s stupid people. Unfortunately, he is disillusioned that everyone is dumb and, therefore, worthy of his wrath.
Dean Winchester from Supernatural
Vanishing demons and protecting the world from evil can affect your psyche.
Then there’s the absentee daddy issues — after he turned his kids into bad-ass hunters.
A dysfunctional family, spending time in Purgatory, living on the road with cheap hotels and crappy food, and no real romantic connections surely make things worse.
Most of us have his snark, crankiness, and general hatred of most of society, especially those under the age of 40.
And we haven’t been through any of Dean’s trauma.
So, while we might not necessarily excuse or forgive his massive level of anger for life in general and all things in it, we can certainly relate.
After all, can we really stay mad at a sexy smolder with great hair and superb tastes in music and automobiles?
Especially when he’s fiercely loyal to his family, even to the point of self-sacrifice.
Interestingly, Jensen Ackles retains his signature snark and disdain for the world in his role on Tracker as Russell Shaw, Colter Shaw’s elusive and estranged brother.
His dark, handsome good looks and rebel badassery perfectly balanced the chiseled sexiness of his on-screen brother, Justin Hartley (This is Us).
I’m not current enough on Jensen’s newest role on The Boys, where he reunites with his former on-screen brother from Supernatural, Jared Padalecki (check him out on Fire Country, too).
But given the show’s premise of superheroes who aren’t actually good guys (not in an awesome Deadpool way), I’m willing to bet his character, Soldier Boy, is angry, too.
Rebecca Pearson on This is Us
I’m new to the party for This is Us.
It took a few episodes to get used to how the show bounced through different parts of time throughout each episode.
But I loved how it showed the full lives of a family of triplets – Justin Hartley, Chrissy Metz (formerly Poodle Moth from The Masked Singer), and Sterling K. Brown.
As an ’80s-made-me, ’90s-raised-me, Y2Ker, I grew up with the powerhouse female artists of Britney, Christina, and Mandy Moore.
And as a massive music maniac, I love it when singers (and athletes) cross over into acting. I’ve been a Moore girl since the days of Princess Diaries and A Walk to Remember.
You’d think I’d be used to her making the audience cry. However, this viewer was not ready for the emotional turmoil she left me with several months after watching it.
Seeing how her life played out, starting as a young, ambitious singer who fell in love, got married, had kids, and then had to find herself again, was your typical story.
But how life kept kicking her at every turn wore down her niceness, making her hardened to the sunnier side.
However, who wouldn’t be angry to lose a baby at birth that you don’t have time to mourn because you’re raising triplets (including an adopted newborn) while suffering from undiagnosed post-partum depression?
Only to lose your husband while your children are at the hardest teenage stage and getting ready to flee the nest to leave you alone and single for years.
The mental decline and cognitive impairments that we witnessed but dismissed as the typical behaviors of someone aging are enough to terrify the middle-aged generation that currently experiences the symptoms of CRS — Can’t Remember Stuff.
Lost your keys lately? Your phone that’s in your pocket? The glasses on your face? Or how about that password you made last week? Yeah, that’s a personal trigger for a source of instant anger for most of us.
Al Bundy from Married … With Children
Family sitcoms in the ’90s were a popular trend, done in various ways to appeal to all demographics.
Many of these classics featured a traditional American middle-class family.
Married …With Children targeted the raunchier, non-offended blue-collar audiences, giving us one of the greatest grumpy sitcom characters ever.
It had scenes that would outrage today’s cancel culture harder than Eminem’s newest album release.
Oh, the things the confused, overly-sensitive “woke” mob would have to say about Al Bundy’s exclusive social club.
Bundy (Ed O’Neill) had the life most people wanted.
A nice house in the suburbs, a wife, two kids, and a few good friends.
But he had the mundane job of a shoe salesman — and not the Michael Jordan Shaq way. It’s hard to imagine that he would have his job for long in today’s world.
We often saw him engage in acts of sexual harassment and misogyny against female customers.
And more often than not, he made kids cry and pissed off moms.
But the Karens of the world didn’t have the power then that they do today.
So, he got away with it. And for that, I’m extremely jealous.
Call a kid out for acting like a brat these days, and you end up with haters and overly dramatic actions.
And can we blame him for being cranky and snarky when he had a wife who had an obsession with bonbons and soap operas, a dumb blonde daughter who had a new boyfriend every night, and a nerdy son who never quite reached his peak?
We also admire his creativity in frugalness.
As the costs of living continue to rise, we can support his cheapskate in a way we previously couldn’t understand.
A financial note for the younger generations.
An older paid-off car and a smaller home you own are one thousand times better than owing money (hours of your life) to have the newest and biggest.
Perry Cox from Scrubs
Funny how much we remember them. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Hallmark Media)
If there’s a TV trope we see far too often that never gets old, it’s a cocky, narcissistic doctor who thinks they are the world’s answer to medicine.
While House was an unbearable jerk due to his drug habit, Dr. Perry Cox’s (John C. McGinley) overly obnoxious conceit had no such excuses.
He really was just a horse’s rear end.
To be fair, he treated everyone like crap, even if he singled out certain people more than others. Not that this viewer blamed him 98{4c0343f45a07fa0dc8af450d54eddc29750e2d03fa627e961ccfaa8142e4e5bf} of the time.
The snarky comments and dickish reactions came from my brain to his mouth like a creepy form of telepathy. Is anyone else that good at predicting what they’re watching?
As the aging yet still-cool generation that today’s kids consider old, it’s easy to understand why Cox constantly snapped at the younger doctors.
They really were irritating AF. To the point that this viewer cheered when the show ended.
It got too corny to make sense, especially once JD left. But as a purist, I’m not much of a fan of shows that continue on without their main character.
Especially when it alters the ambiance of the show, that’s how it was with Scrubs once Dorian left. Who was Cox without his comedic opposite but an inconsiderate jerk who started to shift to someone we liked to hate?
Nothing ruins a good show more than removing a bad character’s redeeming qualities and making them into something they weren’t meant to become.
David Rossi from Criminal Minds
Working with the worst of society makes it hard not to feel angry.
For every bad guy you put away, someone more depraved comes across your radar.
Who wouldn’t feel frustrated and downright violent when they have to look at nothing but bad things that have already happened?
And then, to make your thoughts so sick that you can get into the depraved mind has to leave some emotional scars, especially if you have to work with them and pretend to relate.
Having to get the help of a serial killer you’ve already arrested and put away that will eventually lead to a reduced sentence is enough to turn a touch of frustration into a fit of rage.
If you’ve watched the Criminal Minds: Evolution reboot, you’ve seen the emotional, physical, and psychological damage that can occur after years on the job.
As much as I love Rossi, it might be time for Joe Mantegna to find a new role.
Rossi has had temper issues in the past, but he’s dang near out of control this season because he’s working so closely with his nemesis, Voit.
It gives this viewer a very Gideon (and Hodges) vibe.
As a die-hard BAU fan, I jumped at the news that the show got a second chance at life.
It moved from airing on prime-time TV with parental ratings restraints to the less restrictive streaming method.
As someone with the mouth of a sailor, I can’t help but notice and even judge the way the scriptwriters have fouled up Rossi’s (and everyone’s) dialogue.
These days, his anger seems to be more about how many swear words he can cram into his hissy fit and less about his arguments making any leeway into resolving the source of the problem.
Squidward Tentacles from Spongebob Squarepants
We’re going in a different direction with this choice.
But if you’ve ever watched an episode of the cartoon Spongebob Squarepants, you’ll agree that no one deserves to be on this list more!
Squidward is the angry neighbor next door who derives pleasure from his moments of jerkhood.
But I can’t say that if I lived next door to someone so obnoxiously happy all the time, I wouldn’t find some perverse enjoyment from deflating their bubble, too.
To live next door to the annoying pipsqueak and also have work with him? What did he do to make the sea gods hate him? Cause that’s some seriously traumatizing stuff.
But with the different vibes of today’s world, many of us find him more relatable.
Do your stint at work dealing with an overly self-absorbed society and then go home to hide away from dealing with said society.
Overly happy people annoy us; sometimes, we’re “that” one who’s always talking about how great things used to be back in “our” day.
All Squidworth wants to do is chill in his home, vibe to his music, and be left alone. Isn’t that what all of us want to do?
Dorothy Zbornak from Golden Girls
You can’t be on social media without seeing at least one Golden Girls fan.
Even if you have never seen a single episode, you’ve at least heard of it.
But for those of us who got stuck with an elderly family member on a sick day from school, the show is a source of nostalgia.
These days, it’s hard not to relate to — and even long for — the deep friendship of the four older women who share a home. And what an eclectic group of women they are!
Rose — played by the queen herself, Betty White — was the naive comedian of the group, always trying to keep things light and peaceful.
Blanche was promiscuous, frequently changing her dating partner like other women swap shoes and accessories.
She proved age isn’t what defines sexy, and your sex life doesn’t end when you hit the silver years.
Then there’s Sophia, the sharp-tongued, tell-it-like-it-is old lady we all secretly look forward to becoming.
How freeing it must be to say whatever is on your mind and not pay the consequences?
Me with no societal filter? The world couldn’t handle that, and I can’t wait.
Then there was Dorothy, played by the tall, patriotic Beatrice “Bea” Arthur, known for her signature deep voice, anger rays from her eyes, and RBF (resting biyatch face).
She was savage before it was a trend.
I may be on the minority side, but Dorothy was my favorite character back then, and my fondness remains three decades later.
Seriously, her ability to speak with just her face is a continuing source of ambition for me.
But more than that, her sarcastic wit is a comedic genius and completely warranted in a house of females with conflicting personalities.
And best of all, her bossiness gets stuff done.
Dorothy wasn’t the only angry female role Bea portrayed.
Before Golden Girls, Arthur took on the role of angry, bossy liberal Maude in the self-named series spinoff of All in the Family.
Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory/Young Sheldon
I hated The Big Bang Theory the first time I watched it. It took several seasons before I decided to try it again.
And now, I’m pretty sure I could pass any BBT trivia.
My children and I all got hooked on a show all about nerds. We are a house full of geeks, from Pokemon and D&D to anime and sword collecting.
Blame it on my ’80s and ’90s childhood, but I’ve been Team Geek since the days of Revenge of the Nerds, Weird Science, and Animal House.
I’ve harbored a small crush on Johnny Galecki (Leonard Hofstadter) since he was Darlene Conner’s boyfriend in Roseanne.
So, seeing him as the best friend of the quirky Sheldon Cooper rocked my viewer’s heart.
And then seeing Sara Gilbert join The Big Bang Theory as the romantic interest of her one-time boyfriend (on and off the screen), OMG!
It didn’t take me long to sympathize with the emotional abuse Leonard experienced at the hands of Sheldon’s unique demands.
Sheldon may express himself differently than other grumpy characters, but he has serious anger issues over the smallest things.
Every episode has a scene where Sheldon loses his temper about something that is completely irrelevant.
And nearly always, it’s up to Leonard to resolve the situation — until Amy comes into the picture.
Seeing Sheldon in a romantic relationship with someone who enables his every whim wasn’t as fulfilling as we’d hoped.
While Amy (Mayim Bialik) was good at making Sheldon more aware of his behaviors, her constant willingness to give him his way to get her way is borderline manipulative.
But if you’ve watched Young Sheldon, you’ll know he’s had a problem with anger all his life, especially as the youngest of three kids.
Mr. Floppy from Unhappily Ever After
As you can tell from other angry characters on our list, we don’t discriminate between human and non-human.
Case in point: Mr. Floppy, a stuffed animal that comes to life as the crude imaginary friend of Jack Malloy (Geoff Pierson).
Unhappily Ever After aired in 1995, attempting to ride the coattails of the success of Married…With Children for a cleaner middle-class raunch suitable for the late-night programming audiences of the middle-aged.
But while Bundy was a depressed, possibly alcoholic middle-aged man experiencing the inevitable mid-life slump, Jack Malloy’s character embraced the stigma of mental illness.
To everyone else, Mr. Floppy was a disturbing, ratty stuffed rabbit that occupied the corner of the couch in the basement.
But to Jack Malloy, he was a living creature, voiced by a voice every Police Academy fan knows and adores — Bobcat Goldthwait.
Jack’s mental break with reality due to schizophrenia provided audiences with 100 episodes of generic Bundy vibes.
You had the same premise — unhappy middle-class working dad, desperate, criminally negligent, thirsty mom eager to have a better sex life, a stereotypical sexy half-dressed daughter (one of Nikki Cox’s less successful roles), and a loser younger son.
But instead of a penchant for strip clubs and practicing misogyny in his garage with other unhappy old guys, Jack hangs out with his imaginary friend, who has a filthy, perverse mouth and an addiction to booze and chain smoking.
It’s not exactly the kind of stuffed animal you’d want for your kids.
Or your spouse, for that matter. Inner thoughts that manifest into an angry talking toy rabbit with an addiction problem is a sick twist that received mixed support from audiences.
Ultimately, the premise wasn’t enough to hold audiences as long as Married … With Children, flopping after five seasons. The world just wasn’t ready for the sarcastic attitude of an angry, drinking, smoking rabbit and a man suffering a mental breakdown.
However, as someone with a habit of talking to dogs and apologizing to inanimate objects when I bump into them, I can see a correlation between mental illness and a kid’s toy alter ego.
Angry TV Characters Make the Best Connections
Most of us use TV as an escape from our real lives. We can disconnect from the world and get lost in fiction.
The best TV characters have well-rounded personalities with flaws and emotions that make them feel real.
We’ve listed 17 angry TV characters and what makes them so emotionally volatile. But we also flipped the script and analyzed why we can relate to these angry people for their grumpiness.
Maybe it is true what they say. With age comes anger because my middle-aged Gen X, Xennial, and Millennial generations are starting to get that “cranky old person” stigma.
And you know what? This is one Gen Xennial who’s rocking the rude.
But not to my TVF fam, ’cause we cool. So good that I want to hear from you.
What are your real feelings about angry TV characters? Do you like seeing grumpy TV characters or do you prefer the more annoying perk?
Who would you rate as TV’s angriest character?
It’s okay if they’re not already on our list. In fact, we can become bestest buds if you can provide me with a cranky character we didn’t include.
And don’t forget to follow TVF’s blog and our social media, where we get lit with all kinds of TV crazy from fellow TV addicts like yourselves.
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