The worst TV families

• The Gallaghers
• The Simpsons
• The Bluths
• The Lannisters
• The Roys
• The Griffins
• The Sopranos
• The Murphys
• The Drapers
• The Bundys
• The Lyons
• The Bunkers
• The Reynolds
• The Wilkersons
• The Gallaghers
• The Horsemans
• The Archers
• The Fishers
• The Chances
• The Graysons

The Gallaghers

If you’re looking for a new television show to watch that emphasizes strong, wholesome family values, you won’t find a single one on this list. These TV families were often cruel, mean and disrespectful to each other, and are some of the most dysfunctional fictional families of all time.

The Simpsons

Perhaps the most dysfunctional TV family of the last quarter-century lives at 742 Evergreen Terrace. For 30+ years, The Simpsons has centred around a middle-class family somewhere in America; the central characters being an oafish, constantly raging father, a nagging mother, a trouble-making, smart-alecky brother and a know-it-all sister. When you add in the fact that Homer put his dad in a retirement home to afford their own house, and Marge’s two sisters (Patty and Selma) openly despise him, it makes for a constantly contentious family dynamic.

The Bluths

Sure, the Bluth family from Arrested Development are well off, but wealthy doesn’t mean healthy. Lucille is a spiteful, manipulative alcoholic and George is no one’s idea of a role model, and these issues trickle down to the next two generations. Lindsay ignores her own daughter, Maeby, who cries out for attention. Buster is a literal man-child, while Gob is completely unaware of his many shortcomings. Michael and his son George-Michael mean well, but too often get swept up in the emotions of other family members.

The Lannisters

Westeros’s most feared noble family is also by far its most messed-up. The Lannisters of Game of Thrones were bloodthirsty, vengeful, and inbred, and are generally some of the worst people on the show, save for Tyrion, who at least sometimes does the right thing. As the show often states, a Lannister always pays their debts, but crossing them is a surefire way to have your ancestors wiped off the map.

The Roys

The Roy family in Succession exhibits levels of cruelty, betrayal and psychological warfare that are more often seen in Shakespeare plays. Logan Roy, the head of the Waystar Royco empire, and his three children/entitled heirs—Kendall, Siobhan and Roman—are locked in a power struggle for the ages, a slow burn between family members that is truly a sight to behold.

The Griffins

Family Guy is one of the most controversial and vulgar animated series of all time, and the family at the heart of it shows us why. Peter and Lois are constantly fighting, their oldest kids—Chris and Meg—are both awkward and socially inept, and the baby Stewie literally wants to kill his mother and destroy the world. Oh, and there’s Brian, the talking dog with the drinking problem.

The Sopranos

It’s hard to be a well-adjusted family when your dad is a mentally ill mob boss. The Sopranos pretty clearly connects the dots between Tony’s frequent anger and his violent and abusive parents Johnny Boy and Livia, and how that turmoil manifests itself in the way Tony treats A.J., even as he suffered from panic attacks. Crime might be the family business, but anxiety is just as much a Soprano tradition.

The Murphys

Bill Burr is widely known for his blunt and honest comedy, and he’s brought that vibe to the small screen with the Murphys of F is for Family. Loosely based on Burr’s own family, the Murphys openly struggle with their middle-class 1970s life: Frank is unsatisfied with his job and his weight among many other things, while Sue resents Frank for having her career aspirations derailed to be a mom to three troublemaking kids. The internal and external conflict between parents and children is the central theme of the show, and despite the name, it’s definitely not your typical “family” sitcom.

The Drapers

On the surface, the Draper family from Mad Men appeared downright idyllic, but of course things were not at all what they seemed. Even though Don and Betty were financially well off and solidly a part of 1960s upper middle-class New York, there were deep-rooted issues right down to the foundation. Don was an alcoholic impostor and a terribly neglectful husband and father, while Betty rebelled against being a housewife at every opportunity. Their kids Sally and Bobby really didn’t stand a chance, and things didn’t improve much after Don and Betty got divorced.

The Bundys

If you looked up the word “dysfunctional” in the dictionary, you might also find a picture of Al and Peg Bundy. The central couple in Married… with Children just wouldn’t stop slinging barbs back and forth, insulting each other all day while their ditzy daughter Kelly and dorky son Bud got into mischief. As much as Al and Peg seemed to get on each other’s nerves, it was still somehow endearing—at least from our perspective.

The Lyons

The Lyon family of Empire represents a Black family dynamic that isn’t typically shown on television: complex, manipulative and downright dangerous. The matriarch of the family, Cookie Lyon, has no problem threatening anyone to protect herself or her family, even if it’s other family members on the receiving end. Her husband Lucious’s past sins confront him later in life as a fading hip-hop mogul, and their kids—Hakeem, Jamal and Andre—have complicated relationships with their parents to say the least.

The Bunkers

The 1970s classic sitcom All in the Family wasn’t shy about letting you know that its characters were going to be very, very tough to like. Archie Bunker was a blue-collar bigot who dished out hot take after hot take on anything that came to mind, while his wife Edith wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, except when it came to her cutting remarks towards him. Archie even called his daughter’s husband “Meathead” and considered it affectionate. For many viewers, the constant tension and conflict within the Bunker family was likely reminiscent of the struggles within their own households.

The Reynolds

Scheming, cruelty, blackmail—these are just some of the tactics used by the Reynolds family in the long-running sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Dennis, Dee and their father Frank—as well as their unofficial brothers Charlie and Mac—are constantly conspiring against each other and doing so in some pretty unethical ways. The Gang even appeared on Family Fight—a send-up of the classic game show Family Feud—to drive the point home as unsubtly as possible.

The Wilkersons

The theme song lyrics of Malcolm in the Middle sum up the Wilkerson family dynamic pretty well: “You’re not the boss of me now.” The four boys—Malcolm, Dewey, Reese and Francis—drove their mom Lois crazy with their chaotic antics, while distant dad Hal was too busy stuck in a constant midlife crisis to be of much help to anyone.

The Gallaghers

It doesn’t get much more dysfunctional than the Gallaghers. The family from Shameless is just a complete mess: Frank Gallagher is an alcoholic, neglectful father of six kids, and with their mother out of the picture, oldest daughter Fiona becomes the de facto maternal figure to her five siblings. Every family member is basically falling apart in their own unique ways.

The Horsemans

No wonder BoJack Horseman turned out to be such a jerk: his parents were the worst. BoJack’s father was physically abusive and hyper-critical of him, basically blaming him for ruining his life. And his mother was also very neglectful of him, emotionally and verbally abusing BoJack from a young age. When BoJack’s half-sister Hollyhock enters the picture, the two initially bond, but BoJack’s past catches up with him and ruins their relationship as well.

The Archers

The relationship between Sterling Archer and his mother Malory has a lot of layers, most of them pretty twisted. They have plenty of secrets between them, which wouldn’t be ideal for a regular mother-and-son relationship, but the fact that Malory is Sterling’s boss at their spy agency further complicates matters. Nevertheless, Sterling’s inability to get close to any other woman—especially his on-and-off-again love interest Lana—due to his weird relationship with his mother and lack of a father figure is a recurring theme on the show.

The Fishers

When your family business is a funeral home, that usually means you’re in for a bit of an emotional roller-coaster. That was the case with the Fishers in Six Feet Under—the family struggled emotionally while living and working so closely with death, and existential crises were a daily occurrence with grief and loss so front and centre.

Based on comedian Chris Rock’s childhood, Everybody Hates Chris was about as real a depiction of a working-class family as you’ll find on TV. Chris’s mother Rochelle was a no-nonsense lady, unafraid to unleash some serious threats on her kids if they got out of line. His dad Julius was a gruff, overworked cheapskate, and nerdy Chris would often bicker with his siblings Drew and Tonya. They were at least functional and mostly there for each other, but Chris’s family still got on each other’s nerves quite a bit.

The Chances

The Chance family in Raising Hope is in a pretty difficult situation, and they don’t always handle it super well. Jimmy is a young single father trying to raise his daughter Hope—who was the result of his one-night stand with a serial killer—and enlists his parents Virginia and Burt to help out. The issue there is that they weren’t the greatest parents either, so their advice isn’t always so sound. Plus, Jimmy’s dementia-battling great-grandmother Maw Maw adds in another wrinkle.

The Graysons

Revenge—the show’s name kinda says it all. Amanda Clarke plots to destroy the wealthy Grayson family for framing her father. The matriarch, Victoria Grayson, would stop at nothing to protect her social status, while her husband Conrad is a money launderer having an affair with Victoria’s best friend. Their son Daniel sides with his father and takes over the family company, rather than expose the truth about Amanda’s father. Not exactly the actions of a kind, warm and loving family.