‘Tis the season for everyone to do their best to convince Santa that they’ve been on their best behavior all year.
But Santa can’t be fooled. He has a list, he’s checked it twice, and he knows exactly which TV characters were naughty or nice.
2020 was a tough year for all of us.
But for every character that deserves a nice Christmas gift is a character who has been so bad that all they should get is a lump of coal under the tree.
Murder, corruption, kidnapping, jealousy, and even hero complexes have landed all of these characters on Santa’s naughty list!
You Season 2 premiered towards the backend of 2019, but Joe and Love were so bad that they truly deserve to be on every naughty list until the end of time.
As Joe’s body count continued to rise, Love was revealed to be equally as crazy. And the fact that these two are about to become parents doesn’t excuse their stalker-ish and murder-ish behavior.
Even with Love by his side and a baby on the way, Joe has already found his next obsession for You Season 3: the neighbor next door.
You can blame most of the crime in Gotham City on the one and only Alice.
She’s a cold-blooded killer who rarely shows any remorse on Batwoman Season 1.
Not even her family is spared from her wrath and paranoia. She has killed her step-mom and the Commander’s wife, Catherine, double-crossed her “brother” Mouse by poisoning him, and hatched an elaborate plan to kill her very own sister Batwoman/Kate Kane.
Charmaine was insufferable on Virgin River Season 2. She let her insecurities get the best of her, which resulted in behaviors fueled by jealousy.
She was rude to Mel, who went out of her way to help her during her high-risk pregnancy and constantly made Jack feel guilty for wanting to live his life on his own terms, making it hard to sympathize with her.
And she couldn’t take no for an answer. There are theories that she’s responsible for shooting Jack, and if that’s true, she deserves more than coal!
Teddy on Grey’s Anatomy Season 17 deserves some kudos for being on the frontline treating COVID patients, so maybe Santa will go easy on her.
However, she certainly earned herself a place on the naughty list for the naughty, sexy times she had with her ex on her wedding day.
And sadly for her, thanks to a butt dial, she broadcasted it so that Owen, his OR, and the entire North Pole could hear it.
Chastain has never seen villains quite like Barrett Cain and Logan Kim on The Resident Season 3, and we’re talking about a staff that has dealt with Lane Hunter!
Cain has been driven by his ego for much of the season and always prioritized himself, which is why he kept quiet about the superbug and caused innocent patients to fall ill.
Logan Kim co-conspired with Cain to get Conrad booted, had no respect for any of the employees and only saw dollar bills.
And when it came down to it, he turned his back on Cain to save himself and his reputation.
The show may be titled “good girls,” but the only thing Beth, Annie, and Ruby are good at is being bad to the bone.
They’ve had so many chances to bow out of a life of crime, but instead, they justify their actions by convincing themselves they are doing it all to support their family.
Beth spent so much of her energy hiring a hitman to kill Rio on Good Girls Season 3, but she failed to realize that they’ve become just as bad as Rio, who also takes a spot on the naughty list for killing Lucy (and possibly Boomer).
The only difference between Rio and the girls is that he owns his actions.
You’ll never see Hiram Lodge’s name on a “good list.” Ever.
He continues to manipulate and sabotage his daughter at every chance he gets. At this point, it’s petty.
He also broke out of jail by making his wife seem guilty of murder and weaseled his way into becoming Mayor of Riverdale so he could assert his power over the residents.
However, there are some other Riverdale Season 4 residents whose actions have also landed them on the naughty list!
Archie snagged a spot on the list for letting his hero complex get the best of him.
He so desperately wants to be in amongst the action, even if it puts everyone he loves in danger.
And who can forget this season’s true villains… the Stonewall Prep Literary Club of Donna Sweett, Joan Berkeley, Bret Weston Wallis, & Jonathan.
These four made it their mission to make Jughead’s life a living hell and dragged Betty Cooper down with them.
Not only did they constantly act superior to him and his friends, but the quartet also tried to murder our favorite aspiring writer to achieve their sadistic goals.
They played mind-games, blackmailed people, lied constantly, and broke the law on many occasions. All four of them deserve the biggest piles of coal for the pain they caused our Riverdale group!
Faustus Blackwood has always been a thorn in the coven’s side, so much so that his own daughter, Prudence, tried to kill him.
Unfortunately, she was stopped by Ambrose, and it seems that Faustus’ spell in the final moment of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 3 will be the catalyst for the eldritch terrors, which culminate in The Void (the end of all things) on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 4.
Lucifer was bad on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, sure, but we never expected the devil himself to be good.
However, Guy LaMontagne (also played by Luke Cook in the sister series) on Katy Keene is a different story.
We expected more from the fashion mogul, but he proved to be the kind of man that succeeds by stealing designs of budding fashion designers.
Katy even found a sketchbook filled with designs stolen from his other apprentices, whom he blacklisted from the industry.
And the worst part is that he preyed on her feelings for him.
The Guiding Hope gang (Murphy, Jess, Felix, and Max) on In the Dark Season 2 also made the cut!
Despite their attempts to get out of the game, Murphy and her friends keep getting sucked into the illegal life.
They’re potentially under the thumb of another drug dealer, killed the last one, and now they’re on the run. The only one NOT getting coal this year is Pretzel.
While some may say that the robbers holding a bunch of innocent people hostage on Money Heist Season 4 are the “bad guys,” they don’t hold a candle to Arturito.
He’s a human sludge ball that’s hated by audiences alike – which truly speaks to Enrique Arce’s talents.
After escaping the first heist, he tried to make money off his hostage survival story by becoming a motivational speaker.
Then, he purposefully locked himself inside the Royal Mint of Spain, tried to get close to his baby momma Stockholm, and drugged and raped/sexually assaulted one of his fellow hostages. Seriously, this guy is the worst!
Why did Agent Odell never treat the Pierce family as equal allies?
At every turn, Agent Odell acted with a secret ulterior motive that hindered the heroes, even though he needed their help to defeat the Markovians on Black Lightning Season 4.
He drugged Lynn and caused her addiction, he manipulated Jennifer into becoming a weapon, he killed Issa Williams and countless meta-humans, and he controlled Freeland with a deadly army.
And what’s equally worse is that he tried to justify his evil actions as being for the good of humankind to stop a potential meta-human war.
The Necromancer is the most obvious choice for Santa’s naughty list as he’s responsible for all the darkness engulfing Mystic Falls on Legacies Season 2.
He recreated the pit to Malivore, brought back Kai, activated “dark Josie,” forced her and Lizzie to complete the Merge, and puppeteered Rafael into stabbing Landon with the golden arrow . . . to name a few of his evil deeds.
Unfortunately, Caroline Forbes also isn’t being spared!
It’s hard to give someone coal when they haven’t appeared on the show in the flesh, but Caroline is a terrible mother.
Her daughters are relentlessly pursued by monsters, psycho family members, and everything else imaginable, but she fails to return to check in on them.
We know Candice King isn’t interested in reprising her character. Can they at least recast the character or kill her off? We know this isn’t how she would behave!
Hvitserk killed Lagertha on Vikings Season 6. That’s about as peak 2020 as you’ll get. Granted, it was all down to some preposterous prophecy, but there’s just no redeeming him.
Is it Christmas without Frank trying to swindle his entire family on Shameless Season Season 10?
He’ll never learn, but the family will still somehow find a way to let him back into their lives. Hopefully, something of note makes him change his ways in the final season.
Cassie of The Flight Attendant is an utter trainwreck.
She uses her friends and people who don’t even want to be associated with her to get what she wants. It’s tiring, but the writing for her is so good that you can’t look away.
Definitely give her some coal, though!
Bette is the definition of petty and privilege on Tiny Pretty Things.
You feel terrible for her at first because she’s undervalued by her mother and living in her more-successful sister’s shadow.
However, Bette uses that insecurity to lash out at her friends and do underhanded actions to push herself ahead at her ballet school.
Bette didn’t have to talk down to her so-called best friend June or sabotage her duet. Bette didn’t need to act superior to the new girl, Neveah.
And she didn’t need to engage in a threesome to get a part or lash out at her boyfriend. Bette has a lot of growing up to do.
We have no idea whether Jamie was involved with the attempted murders of every member of his family on Yellowstone Season 3, but he’s definitely veering in an odd direction after finding his birth father.
Since his birth father murdered his birth mother, we’re pretty sure that siding with him won’t bring him the warm fuzzies he’s seeking. For that, he finds himself on the naughty list.
Usually, reality TV characters are spared from this list, but an exception must be made for Yosef Aborady, the villain of The Bachelorette Season 16.
Yosef disrespected Clare Crawley before she found love with Dale Moss and was replaced by Tayshia Adams by calling her “classless” over a strip dodgeball date.
The situation escalated with him cutting her off and telling her that she doesn’t set “the right example” for his daughter, as if his behavior somehow did.
He also said he expected more “from the oldest Bachelorette” in history.
During the men-tell all, host Chris Harrison gave him a shot at redemption, but again, Yosef found no issue with how he spoke to Clare and refused to apologize even when countless men called him out for his arrogant behavior.
All of us are shaking our heads right along with Harrison, including Santa.
Gretchen on The Wilds. The Wilds is quite the thrill ride, a ride entirely manipulated by Gretchen Klein.
We have no idea about her motivation or what her machinations mean in the long term, but treating people as test subjects gets her a firm spot on the naughty list.
Homelander on The Boys will probably never get off of the naughty list. America’s hero, he is not, even though he is admired by people the world over.
He’s an angry, troubled little man connected with a genuine Nazi to maintain his top spot.
Will Jen and Judy on Dead to Me start making better decisions in the third and final season? Their lies have gotten them and others in trouble too many times.
They need to stop thinking about themselves and find a better path to get any presents from Santa.
Marty and Wendy Byrde’s actions on Ozark continue landing them in hot water.
Their little trip into the underbelly of the drug trade gets people killed. While the bodies pile up around them, they continue making bad decisions after bad decisions leading to more and more death. Santa is not visiting Wendy or Marty.
Darlene Snell is a cold-hearted psychopath who killed her husband and pursued a disturbing relationship with a much-younger Wyatt Langmore. Her predatory behavior is unsettling, to say the least.
Big Sky is ABC’s latest drama, and it has no share of characters who would end up on the naughty list.
Of course, Rick Legarski, the Montana trooper, and Ronald Pergman, a blue-collar truck driver, both top the list for murder and kidnapping young girls to sell them into a life of prostitution.
It’s even worse when they try to justify their behavior by saying they’re cleaning up America.
Det. Armstrong started off The Rookie as a detective mourning his wife’s death and mentoring rookie Officer John Nolan. Nick was smart, empathetic, and generous with his time and advice, all things that seem to make him a shoo-in for the Nice List.
But Detective Armstrong had a secret… he was a dirty cop. We were shocked when he shot and killed another officer to keep her quiet and horrified when he set up Nolan to look like he was the cop working for the mob.
Even if Armstrong gets away with his crimes, he’ll still have a permanent place on Santa’s Naughty List.
Moff Gideon on The Mandalorian made the list for kidnapping Baby Yoda. That’s all it took!
Rupert Manion on Ted Lasso is getting coal for being a womanizer who never misses an opportunity to attack Rebecca — his ex-wife — personally and professionally.
While most of the Intelligence Unit on Chicago PD Season 8 works to make Chicago a safe place, Kenny Nolan has made it his mission to destroy Atwater for sticking up for what he believes in and not standing by as a racist cop gets away with profiling and murdering a black man.
Kenny was a bully who went to great lengths to intimidate and punish Atwater. He deserves all the coal.
Eugene Monreaux on Filthy Rich was the filthiest of them all.
From his infidelity to impregnating a harem of women, to pretending to be dead, to ripping off the poor, to his penchant for young women, this so-called God-fearing man should be terrified of Santa (and Satan) because he’s definitely only getting lumps of coal in his stocking.
He is Cesar no more. After years of fighting against gang life, Cesar has officially taken over his brother’s spot as the leader on On My Block.
Lil Spooky won’t be seeing that jolly man in red coming down the chimney to leave him anything festive.
And lastly, Santa won’t be showing Sensei Kreese any mercy in the coal department.
After blowing into town, manipulating Johnny, taking over his dojo, and fostering the worst in the Cobra Kai students, he more than earned himself a spot on that naughty list.
Turning it over to you, festive TV Fanatics!
Which 2020 characters would you add to Santa’s naughty list?
Lizzy Buczak is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter and read her personal blog at CraveYouTV.