The '00s were an interesting year for television, with plenty of top sitcoms launching during that decade. And with them came many interesting sitcom characters.
Among the males, there were whiners, womanizers, and dimwits. Some were on sitcoms that were so popular, they aired for close to a decade (or longer).
Many of the characters would totally fly today, and in fact, some of them are actually still on screen or being viewed in syndication. But others? No way they would work for a present-day sitcom.
10 Ross Gellar (Friends)
Ross is one of the most well-known TV sitcom characters, but he wasn't really well-liked. He was known for whining all the time, endlessly complaining about his love life, wanting to marry every woman he dated (and often did!), and doing things he shouldn't when he and Rachel were famously "on a break."
No self-respecting woman like Rachel would ever go for a guy like Ross in these times, and viewers would protest Rachel giving up her chance to have a real man for the whiny and annoying Ross.
9 Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother)
Oh, the things Barney would say about women, the way he objectified them, even doing things like having a scale built-in by his front door so if a woman was overweight, he would have an excuse set-up to get rid of her.
He had a book about picking up women and constantly told lies so he could get random, attractive women into bed with him for one-night stands. Needless to say, he would be more than just slapped nowadays.
8 Charlie Harper (Two and a Half Men)
Just like Barney, Charlie was a womanizing jerk so he placed no value on women except for being there to serve his sexual needs. And he often went after attractive and unintelligent women who were good enough for a one-night stand but nothing else.
The way he treated women was not appropriate at all and his character, while incredibly popular at the time, might rub viewers the wrong way today.
7 Jack McFarland (Will & Grace)
Arguably the only reason the character of Jack was able to return in his original form for the reboot was because he was from the 90s, during a different time when Jack's overly flamboyant and stereotypical portrayal of a gay man was more accepted.
Today, McFarland appears more like a caricature of what every uninformed person thinks a gay man is like. He's downright hilarious either way, But if the character were being written today, he'd likely have been very different.
6 Earl Hickey (My Name is Earl)
The widely popular series Letterkenny has shown that there's no issue with depicting "rednecks" and country stereotypes on television. However, Earl from this series took stereotypes too far.
He was a small-time thief who has to deal with karma after he loses his winning lottery ticket after being hit by a car. After finding his ticket again, he decides to try and make good on all the bad he has done. It was a cute character but not one that would make sense to watch today.
5 Joey Tribiani (Friends)
Joey was a womanizing 20-something aspiring actor in New York City who was good looking and also not very small. He was a complete stereotype and characters like his have been played out so much since Friends went off the air.
Nowadays, people would want to see a version of Joey who had a bit more substance. No one would believe that he was as dumb as they made him come across.
4 Officer Mike Biggs (Mike & Molly)
Sure, the series handled the subject matter with grace, and sitcoms today don't shy away from dealing with weight issues. But this series about two who meet in an Overeaters Anonymous group and pursue a relationship seemed to shed too much focus on physical appearance.
Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy, who went on to become a megastar, made the show a massive success. But Biggs as the funny, overweight mama's boy seems too cliché.
3 Vinny Chase (Entourage)
Entourage was great by Vinny Chase was an arrogant, good-looking, famous actor in Hollywood who brought his hometown friends along for the ride once he became a big deal. The character was loosely based on Mark Wahlberg's life.
Sure, the show was really good and the cast meshed well together. But we've seen the stereotypical Hollywood spotlight enough that a character like Vinny is more of a snore these days.
2 Louie (Lucky Louie)
Louis C.K. created the character for this series that was inspired by Norman Lear sitcoms and filmed in front of a live studio audience. Except the show was on HBO and tackled taboo topics like sex and racism and included questionable language.
The concept of the sitcom has become sacred these days, especially with so much drama surrounding some of our old favorites. The character might work for another type of series but not a sitcom.
1 Michael Scott (The Office)
While a workplace comedy about a bunch of workers doing boring office jobs could totally fly, it really wouldn't resonate with a new generation of workers, especially one about the boss of a Paper Company, Paper? What's that?
Maybe if Scott was heading up a cool AI company, or a company that made mundane parts for complex computer systems it could work. But Dunder-Mifflin would likely have gone bankrupt long ago if the company really existed.
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