The "Ditz" or "Idiot" or "Moron" has always been a staple of television sitcoms, but it seems like they're growing increasingly dumb in recent years. That may be a function of our own society. After all, in many cases this character archetype exists in order to make the viewer at home feel superior. It's getting more and more difficult now, however, to create a character dumber than the average Nielsen viewer without adding a functionally retarded person into every sitcom. Remember Ralph and Potsie from "Happy Days," or Joey from "Friends" or even Screech and Michael Kelso? Compared to modern television's dumb characters, they seem almost Eisensteinian.
How far has the bar dropped? Here is a ranking of the 10 Most Profoundly Stupid Characters on Current Television Shows (Limit one character per show). The level of intelligence among these characters should speak for itself.
10. Tracy Jordan, "30 Rock"
9. Luke Dunphy, "Modern Family"
8. Randy Jackson, "American Idol"
7. Kevin Malone, "The Office"
6. Butters Stotch, "South Park"
5. Ryan Shay, "Suburgatory"
4. Butthead, "Beavis and Butthead"
3. The Entire Cast of "Jersey Shore"
2. Brittany, "Glee"
1. Ralph Wiggum, "The Simpsons"
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I recommend we call this the Buddy Lembeck System.
Congratulations, Andy Dwyer, you were JUST smart enough.
the most profoundly stupid characters on TVs most profoundly stupid show are Its always sunny cast.
GO AWAY YOU ARE THE WORST
I hate to say this about a kid, but Luke Dunphy is definately the dumbest character on TV. How he hasn’t been put in the “special” class with Dewey Wilkerson is a mystery.
Surprisingly enough, apparently that kid’s in MENSA.
Apparently they don’t offer acting classes.
That kid is the worst fucking actor I’ve ever seen, he can’t even walk into a room convincingly.
The sad thing is that in the 1st season of 30 Rock, Tracy wasn’t dumb at all. He was more of a crazy wild card, ’till they dumbed him down. Thanks a lot, whitey!
Surprised Andy Dwyer & Charlie Kelly didn’t make the list.
Is your cat making too much nOISE ALL THE TIME?
Charlie’s illiteracy would be sad, if it wasn’t so goddamn hilarious.
Andy Dwyer is just a no-brainer. No pun intended.
Okay, pun intended.
Butters isn’t stupid. He is innocently naive.
exactly Butter is not dumb he’s just super innocent
She’s just a hot confused bisexual, that’s all. Nothing wrong with that.
It should have been Randy Marsh
Wow, that daughter on Suburgatory is sexy as hell.
Indeed!
Andy Dwyer didn’t even understand the concept of medical insurance.
“We have already been to five different doctors. I got my ankles microwaved…”
“X-rayed”
“They took my blood away to use for science…”
“Cholesterol tests”
“April had her sinuses…removed?”
“Looked at”
“Some guy looked at my weiner…he touched it. That was weird.”
“That guy wasn’t even a doctor”
Badger from Breaking Bad?
Badger is mostly a meth head. He had one or two scenes of lucidity that showed he wasn’t all dumb.
I’m probably in the minority here, but I love Luke Dunphy.
“I have an idea!”
“We don’t have time to build a rocket, buddy.”
“…. Awww.”
Agreed. For arguments sake, he’s not all that dumb. Manipulating both his mother and grandfather to finish his and Manny’s science project was pure genius.
Dewey from Justified?
Andre from The League?
Taco from The League?
Taco?! Taco!? Would an idiot come up Neckflix? Or MyFace? Or Penis Wine? Taco is a genius, sir. Bite your tongue.
Taco didn’t come up with Three Penis Wine, the Chinese did.
But he is a genius.
Whoa whoa, Beavis is waaaaaay dumber than Butthead.
Goddamnit, you’re right. From Wikipedia: “Butthead is calmer, cockier, older, and marginally more intelligent than Beavis, but is oblivious to subtleties, semi-literate and still significantly less intelligent than the other characters in the show.” Well, fuck me.
Yeehaw, that’s two in a row for me. Time to retire.
I feel like Jim Belushi should somehow get shoehorned into this one.
That guy is really taking a beating in this conversation.
Prin-scipple-skipper! Prindiple skinster!
Skinsiple Prinner!
Reese from Malcolm in the Middle.
Andy Dwyer’s gotta be on that list, though he comes up with some amazing band names:
Threeskin, Fourskin, Fiveskin, Department of Homeland Obscurity, Nothing Rhymes WIth Orange, Everything Rhymes With Orange, Nothing Rhymes With Blorange, Just the Tip, and my favorite: Ninja Dick
Archer would seem to be a good candidate for this list.
There’s a difference between being stupid and just actively not giving a shit.
Cheryl/Carol/Carina/Cristal Tunt
There seems to be an overabundance of lists on WG lately.
yep. I don’t mind click-bait so much – you gotta pay them bills – but “presented without comment” is cheating.
The women of The Bachelor? The Real Housewives?
Charlie Kelly?
they had to have an intervention on him because he had gotten so dumb.
The entire cast of ‘The Walking Dead’. “Hey I’ve got a great idea, let’s lower Glenn down a well as zombie bait. What could go wrong?”
Randy Marsh is MUCH stupider than Butters.
You could have picked either of the parents on “Raising Hope” here, too.
I usually don’t complain about writer’s articles, especially in opinion pieces, but this article is terrible. It’s not ever really an article. It certainly should qualify as “writing.” all it is a poorly “ranked” bunch of videos of stupid people. And as has been pointed out repeatedly a not very well thought out list. Lame.
Sorry, I forgot to say – at least SAY SOMETHING about each one of your choices. And saying that the videos speak for themselves is a lazy cop out for a writer.
I haven’t even clicked the first page yet, but I came here hoping that Kevin from the Office was on here and you had him in the banner picture, so kudos to you. Him and Stanley were both pretty shit characters.
Also Butters is gullible, not stupid.
Yeah, Butters is mostly naive/gullible. The adults on South Park (especially Randy) are usually the most moronic.
I don’t care. I miss Matt.
What about Andy on Parks ‘n Rec.
I’m taking Women’s lasers!
Charlie and Frank from IASIP. Agree w/ Andy from P&R. One of my favorite Office episodes was when Michael’s girlfriend thought Kevin was retarded and started treating him as such.
How is Peter Griffin not on this list?
Because only douchebags watch that show.
But American Idol gets a pass? Bullshit!
Ralph Wiggum dumber than the cast of the Jersey Shore? Doubt it!
I think you meant to say “That’s unpossible!”
“Eisensteinian?” Wait, these are the characters most likely to direct a remake of The Battleship Potemkin?
Uh….There ARE Quite a Few Major “Idiots” Missing from this List! How about Homer Simpson for 1? Then U have Peter Griffin, & Cleveland Junior…..&Hey, What about Michael Scott (from The Office)? Ok, Then There’s Jake (from Two &a Half Men)! And I Thought this was Supposed 2Be a List of “Current” Show idiots, too….So WHAT were Beavis & ButtHead doing on there?!? *just sayin’*