Vince Clark from 15 Storeys High. His flatmate Errol is kind, considerate, thoughtful whereas Clark is a misanthropic, cynical, borderline sociopath and Social Recluse. Some of the things he has done to Errol include: Gluing his hands to a fish tank, not allowing him to eat chicken or bring people over to his flat, not helping him get out of a room full of cactuses, and slicing his trainers in half and putting them on a ledge knowing full well that Errol suffers from Vertigo and thus will be unable to get them back.
Gob (Handsome Lech, manipulative), Lucille (abusive mom, manipulative), Lindsay (neglectful mom, Spoiled Brat), and George Sr. (abusive dad, criminal) in Arrested Development definitely apply. Buster, Tobias, George Michael, and Maeby tend to be in the middle; while they are much more likable, and in the latter two cases, saner, than the first four, they are still flawed and can come off like this (with the possible exception of George Michael) in comparison to Michael.
Near miss for Michael, since he is the Only Sane Man in a land of fools and tries to save his family from financial and legislative ruin. He is more of a hypocrite than a Jerkass though. He keeps trying to do the right thing but usually ends up having to do something wrong because of the position the rest of his family puts him in. And of course, since he Can't Get Away with Nuthin' any time he does act selfishly or immorally, it will blow up in his face even worse than usual. This does apply more to both him and his son in the fourth season, however, as they both have a notable increase in Jerkass levels and each commits some heavily unethical acts of their own volition. By the end of the season, their relationship has fallen apart and neither is all that nice a person anymore.
SheldonCooper of The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon's self-centered egotism and condescending behavior is the source of conflict for any given episode, even just by being sick and asking for help (his obnoxious neediness at that stage is dreaded by everyone). The other main characters can be this Depending on the Writer.
Bernard Black in Black Books: misanthrope, alcoholic, hates his customers, takes Manny for granted. Extremely unsympathetic. At least until the last episode...sort of. The other characters aren't much better: Manny is a hopelessly incompetent Manchild, while Fran is just as much of a workshy drunk as Bernard.
Edmund Blackadder. A selfish, thieving, scheming, lying, swindling, ruthless, totally unprincipled bastard in every incarnation, Blackadder maintains what little sympathy he has through being funny and usually Surrounded by Idiots. It's at its most notable in his third incarnation, during the Georgian period, where he contrives multiple deaths out of everything from personal gain to simple irritation, abuses his servants, so-called friends and random animals (he even kicks a cat at one point), and eventually cheerfully usurps the Prince Regent without an apparent second thought.
Downplayed with his fourth incarnation, who, while still unprincipled, dishonest, self-serving, petty, irritable and snide, and with an apparently nasty record of participation in English colonial atrocities, has a much more sympathetic goal (simple survival as opposed to profit or power) and occasionally shows some humanity, even to people he hates (most notable when he wishes everyone a simple "Good luck, everyone" before going over the top to almost certain death in the final episode).
Mary: Edmund, do you have someone special in your life? Blackadder: As a matter of fact, I do. Mary: Who is it? Blackadder: Me. Mary: No, I mean someone you love and cherish, and want to keep safe from all the horror and the hurt. Blackadder: Still me, really.
Burnistoun: Kelly McGlade, the main character and narrator of a series of humorous sketches focused on her. She's arrogant, self-absorbed, and very mean to her fellow band-mates who depend on her, and ends up physically fighting someone almost every time she appears. However, someone else usually gets the better of her by the end of each sketch, though she never admits it.
Jonty de Wolfe from Campus. He starts off from the first episode by calling Stephen Hawking a spastic and throughout the rest is thoroughly bigoted, rude and offensive.
Gareth Blackstock on Chef! (1993) is an uptight artiste of a chef and self-described "thoroughly unpleasant person" who regularly berates and threatens his employees. Though honestly, his bark is worse than his bite, despite him claiming the opposite.
Valerie Cherish of the short-lived HBO series The Comeback is a deeply vain, insecure, and self-absorbed D-list actress who desperately wants fame at any cost. She occasionally ventures into The Woobie (or The Chew Toy depending on your perspective), though, because as bad as she can get she constantly has to deal with people and situations that are even worse.
Community has Pierce, who is racist, sexist, rude, and manipulative to his friends note Depending on the Writer on the last one, since he's also shown to be loyal and protective in some episodes, or just giving back the abuse he gets, in others.
Also, Jeff, who openly condescends to almost everyone, and only started the study group to get laid, and later in the series, Abed, who is not above manipulating people out of boredom, or because it's how it would have gone on television.
It's made clear in several episodes that the Study Group is this as a whole to the rest of the cast. They ostracize and alienate most outsiders, are the cause of many of the school's more troublesome adventures, and tend to make everything about themselves.
Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm, where he stars As Himself, and is portrayed as even a bigger jerk than his previous character from Seinfeld; he is incredibly self-involved, he's very dishonest at some times and rudely honest at others, and he's so abrasive and annoying that few people can stand being around him.
Drake Parker from Drake & Josh spends much of the time being a jerk, taking advantage of girls, taking Josh for granted, and getting everything he wants, but somehow we all love him. It helps that occasionally he shows his sensitive side.
Eastbound & Down: Kenny powers is a very extreme version of this, trying to break up a marriage in the first episode, for instance.
Everybody Loves Raymond has this in spades, with the entire cast being this way, but especially with Ray and Debra. Ray is portrayed as lazy, whiny, and a selfish Momma's Boy. Debra is portrayed as mean and belittling towards Ray.
Marie purposely enables Ray to continue as he while underhandly blaming Debra for not being a better wife, and when called on her bullshit plays the "I'm only trying to help" card to invoke sympathy. Frank will undermine any attempt of Marie's to find independence because he's too used to her doting on him like a servant. Robert will constantly try to play any situation against Ray even if he has no stake in the original grievance, just to be petty to Ray for being their mother's favorite, often being blamed just for being in the vicinity of the argument.
The title character from Father Ted. "JUST PLAY THE F***ING NOTE!" It's his interaction with Father Jack and Father Dougal that really bring it out of him, as he's portrayed as fairly normal — although still a bit of jerk — when he doesn't have to deal with them. He also stole money meant for a sick child's pilgrimage, which is how he wound up banished to Craggy Island. Although as he's always quick to claim the money was "just resting in his account".
Interestingly, Basil is based on a real person (a hotelier named Donald Sinclair), whom his wife said was nothing like what was portrayed on the show, until a bunch of previous guests wrote the media saying "Oh yes he was!"
Josie and Kingsley from Fresh Meat. The first series makes them out to be the only sane people compared to their eccentric flatmates. By the second series, Kingsley has become a pretentious wanker with a soul patch, while Josie tried performing dental work whilst hung over and puncturing her patient's face.
Rachel Berry from Glee is an extremely self-absorbed member of Glee Club who not only believed she was the only singer worthy of having solo numbers (which is only partially true, as she did have more technical training than the other members), acted as if any attempt to give them to other members was a personal attack. While there are relatable aspects of her character, it's hard to feel sorry for the comedic bullying she suffers when she herself does things like tricking a rival singer into going to a crackhouse, and never really being apologetic about it. She gets better in the later seasons, to anextent.
Eleanor Shellstrop from The Good Place was an extremely selfish and rude person who eagerly took a job selling fake medicine to elderly people and constantly blew off anyone who tried to befriend her or get her to do anything that didn't directly benefit herself. Much of the comedy of the first season comes from her having to learn, or at least pretend, to not be a selfish jerk to avoid getting sent to the Bad Place after being accidentally sent to the Good Place instead. In fact, her unsympathetic traits were exactly what caused her to be sent to the Bad Place as one of the four people Michael planned to use to torture one another in a false "Good Place".
Tony Hancock from Hancock's Half Hour. In that show, Hancock was playing a twisted version of himself. He is pompous, rude to pretty much everyone around him, venal, self-centered and a really nasty piece of work. In the episode "The Cruise" a woman is trying to come on to him and all he can do is be obscenely rude at her.
Barney from How I Met Your Mother manages to be the most popular character on the show, despite being a Corrupt Corporate Executive, misogynistic womanizer, and a borderline sociopath in general. For most viewers, he avoids becoming truly unlikable partly because he does have a sensitive, caring side (even if it only comes up once or twice a season), and partly because he uses and manipulates people with so much style that he enters Magnificent Bastard territory.
Samantha "Sam" Puckett in iCarly is part of a trio rather than being the main protagonist, but one wonders why the other two would still have anything to do with her. Freddie especially — it's a small miracle that nothing she's done to him has resulted in a permanently disabling injury.
Steve Coogan's I'm Alan Partridge persona. Egomaniacal (despite no observable talent), treats everyone around him with utter contempt whilst expecting complete loyalty in return, given to constant hideous faux pas, ignorant, clearly doesn't care about anyone but himself and anything but his career, and bigoted in every conceivable way. Not content with merely talking down to and humiliating his guests on Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge, he even kills one of them live on air.
Later Partridge media plays with this in an interesting way. In his in-universe autobiography I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan he massively plays up tiny unpleasant incidents in his childhood such as his parents having a very mild argument about VAT receipts or being told to clear out the garage on a sunny day into severely traumatic experiences — and being Alan, he goes out of his way to specify that he's not exaggerating anything because his publishers thought his childhood might be boring — and later in his life recounts his "Toblerone addiction" as if it's heroin addiction. However, life events that are genuinely unpleasant like living in a Travel Tavern for six months after his wife left him and his children have no interest in him, and to a lesser extent the resultant nervous breakdown, are if anything played down and given a positive spin. Of course, still being Alan, he annihilates any potential sympathy it might create in the reader by remaining a generally loathsome human being throughout: for instance, recounting how his assistant Lynn helped him get back on his feet after his breakdown to the point of offering to help him shower, he marvels at how much time she dedicated to him and thought she must not be getting any actual work done, and thus knocked her temporarily down to a part-time wage when he already pays her a pittance.
Made especially funny because the show will occasionally give us a reason to sympathize with him or at least feel sorry for him...and then he'll do something even more ridiculous and/or awful
Intimate: In a cast of five guys, there’s Small Name, Big Ego actor Bruno, Dogged Nice Guy (the cynical take on the trope) Emil, Handsome Lech Oskar, and Hair-Trigger Temper Leo, who all constantly lie, cheat, and deceive to get their way. Max is the Token Good Teammate by virtue of "only" being uptight and awkward (but he still goes along with the others’ harebrained schemes), and Leo’s Sour Outside, Sad Inside behavior becomes somewhat sympathetic, but the others’ shenanigans and general awfulness is strictly Played for Laughs.
The main cast of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia are all extremely self-centered, lack any sense of empathy or decency, and manipulate even their best friends for the sake of their own amusement:
Dennis is obsessed with his own appearance and intelligence, and routinely lies to women to trick them into sleeping with him.
Mac has delusions of grandeur and moral superiority and lies to the same women after Dennis is done with them, for the same reasons.
Charlie is generally the most morally upright character, but he has his moments, such as his constant attempts to manipulate the Waitress into sleeping with him culminating in his using a perfectly nice woman who actually liked him to make the Waitress jealous, then informing the girl of this fact and dumping her in the most cold-blooded manner possible.
Frank is a drug addict who frequently screws the rest of the Gang over for his own benefit or amusement, or simply to "teach them a lesson."
Dee, originally the Only Sane Woman, has developed into just as much a self-serving, abusive jerk as the rest of the Gang, abusing government programs for personal gain, treating her friends like crap, and acting like she's better than everyone around her.
Almost everyone in The IT Crowd, beginning with Roy. He does so much to get out of his job unless the person who's asking him is a hot chick, has slapped a police officer for ruining a twist in a film, has told Moss all of his inventions are worthless, tried stealing 20 pounds from his knocked out boss (who was faking, but he didn't know that) and tried sabotaging Jen's speech for kicks.
And tricking Jen into thinking that 'googling Google' would break the internet was pretty awesome.
And laughing at his girlfriend's grandfather's funeral, and telling a midget barista that he's too short to be one! Let's just say that his absurdly huge Butt-Monkey status is mostly provoked.
The people he works for are idiots who can't seem to work out the most simple functions of computers while still mostly treating him as a dogsbody because he can, the police officer was throwing the book at him and Moss for copyright violation but didn't seem interested in the fact that the person they were with was a cannibal, the 20 pounds actually was his in the first place and he tried to sabotage Jen's speech because Jen had become utterly Drunk with Power after being nominated for an award (largely on the backs of Roy and Moss) and was due for a bit of ego-puncturing.
Though every once in a while (such as the "It's Jack's birthday!" episodes) the rest of the cast would acknowledge that Jack was a particularly harmless, even endearing example of this type. Then things would go back to normal by the next show.
Jack was always pretty benign in his show, being portrayed as much more self-absorbed and stingy as opposed to out-and-out malicious, and his character rarely strayed into Jerkass territory. In Real Life, Jack Benny could not have been any farther from his on-air persona — apparently, he was very much a man who'd give you the shirt off his back if he thought you needed it.
Kim from Kath & Kim. She's bratty, whiny, irresponsible, self-centered and treats everybody around her like crap. She's just a horrible, horrible person.
Hyacinth from Keeping Up Appearances. Big time. Although her relatives are supposed to be completely pathetic slobs, they come off as quite admirable when contrasted with Hyacinth. This isn't an accident.
Kirby Buckets is often very selfish and manipulative, often abandoning his own family and friends in the process, and most of the problems in the show were of his own making. Oh yeah, and he's a cartoonist who constantly draws his sister as an ugly dinosaur with braces and publishes those drawings online. Because of this, he often comes off as a less sympathetic character than her, who is mocked and humiliated in almost every episode regardles of whether or not she deserves it.
Rick Spleen in Lead Balloon is another case where the character arguably worsened over time, with him being slightly sympathetic in season one and then doing a massive Kick the Dog at the beginning of season two. However, in season two there was also an episode that focused on him doing a good deed by supporting a charity with no evident ulterior motive...and it still blew up in his face.
Given how he can't even save a man from committing suicide without it all going wrong its no wonder he's such a misanthropic guy. Life just hates poor Rick so he's obviously decided to hate it right back
Baber in Little Mosque on the Prairie who may be a retired economics professor, but he's still unapologetically the Islamic version of Archie Bunker.
Actually most-if not all-of the cast have pretty sketchy morals at times. Fortunately, the sketchy moments are divided more or less evenly between the Christian and Muslim characters.
Al Bundy of Married... with Children. All of the Bundys could qualify, but none of them are as callous and uncaring as Al. Although considering just how miserable his life is, how he is arguably the most moral of his whole family and the fact he never wins, sometimes you honestly can't blame him for ending up that way.
Midge from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel flirts with this trope. She's a good person but she has a tendency to be selfish about her new career in comedy that alleinates her family and friends. She also has No Social Skills which causes her a lot of trouble. In season 2, she ruins her friend Mary's wedding when she goes into a crude comedy routine during her speech during the reception at her church. She makes a joke about how Mary had just gotten engaged so it must be a Shotgun Wedding only to realize mid-sentence that's what it is. In season 3, she opens for a singer whom she finds out is gay. In the finale, she's told by his manager to make jokes about him. However, she does a bit where she's talking about him being a diva that he takes to mean she's outing him to the crowd (who doesn't think anything of it). She genuinely didn't mean it that way but it's understandable that he's worried about his secret being revealed. She probably should have known better than to say anything that could be remotely construed by him to be that and he fires her.
Howard Moon and Vince Noir of The Mighty Boosh. Howard is a prickly, asocial, know-it-all; Vince is vain, shallow, and flighty. Howard is the more sympathetic of the two, being the Butt-Monkey of the show.
Mr. Bean is so self-centred, he is usually unconcerned about the harm his off-the-wall methods of solving mundane problems do to others. A lot of the show's humour comes from his ability to slip out of situations where anyone would want to punch him. He gets little better in the cartoon series but still qualifies as this trope.
Mr. D's title character. In the anti-bullying episode, he shows himself to be the worst bully in the school.
Murphy Brown is a self-centered, self-righteous, egomaniac with a hair-trigger temper and a never-ending list of Freudian Excuses.
The three main characters from Nathan Barley, particularly the eponymous Nathan, who Word of God described as a "strutting, meaningless cadaver-in-waiting" who "genuinely deserves to die".
Some measure of the writer's feelings towards Barley can be gleaned from its origin, a fictional program on Charlie Brooker's TV Times-parody website TV Go Home, simply named Cunt.
Christine Campbell on The New Adventures of Old Christine. She's obnoxiously neurotic, clingy, dishonest, desperate, meddling, a helicopter parent, shallow and a borderline alcoholic. And those are her more charming qualities.
Jill Tyrell from Nighty Night. She is a Narcissistic, selfish, devious, manipulative, passive-aggressive and violent. She is without guilt or morals and will do anything to get what she wants, even killing people.
Michael Scott from The Office (US) can come off as this depending on the episode. Although Michael is portrayed as more of a genuine Manchild who just wants to be liked and doesn't always fully understand the consequences of his actions despite his best intentions. He's quick to say what is on his mind regardless if it is appropriate, and more often induces Cringe Comedy with his own sense of self-importance.
When Andy took over Michael's job, he was originally clueless but lovable. However, in the final season, the writers decided to turn him into such a Michael/David clone that he's now displaying Jerkass behavior and even shows genuine disdain for coworkers Nellie and, all of a sudden, Toby (Get it? Because Michael hated him too). He also treats his once-seeming-true-love Erin with contempt but punishes her new boyfriend who has the misfortune of working for him. Some of this can be attributed to his dormant anger issues welling up.
Series creators Gervais and Merchant claim that Brent is not a horrible person, despite the things he does in the show; he's just an idiot, a fallible human being who is star-struck by the Mockumentary film crew, which drives him to act the way he does to get attention. By the end of the second series, his true colours are shown and he is much more sympathetic, no more so than when he breaks down when he is about to be made redundant and practically begs for his job back. Word of God also says that the character of Chris Finch was introduced so Brent would appear less of a wanker by comparison.
Brent's 'Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist' status was also lampshaded and explored in The Office Christmas Specials as being at least partially a consequence of the Mockumentary format of the show; he bitterly notes how the documentary crew 'stitched him up' in order to make him look bad, arguing that they overlooked or downplayed his achievements and benevolent qualities and presented an uneven focus on his incompetence and stage-hungry nature in order to present him in the worst possible light for the sake of ratings. That same episode also ultimately showed Brent in a more positive light — hinting that he was actually quite a talented salesman (if not actually management material), showing him manage to charm a woman and actually managing to make the staff laugh in genuine good humour at one of his impressions — almost as if the fictional documentary makers were trying to make it up to him.
Victor Meldrew from One Foot in the Grave. Though he does fall in the "at least pitiable" category sometimes; after all, he does end up in the oddest predicaments which does go some way explain his eternal grumpiness.
Averted with Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses. He has many of the common traits of the typical UCP, including ambition that far exceeds his ability, criminal tendencies, substance abuse (of the cigarettes and alcohol variety), is a Jerkass and has a complete shopping list of personality flaws. However, his unflappable optimism, highly protective attitude to his friends and family and the occasional glimpse that under the surface he can actually be quite sensitive make him a very sympathetic character for all his failings.
Boycie plays this trope straight, he's sleazy and smug and there really isn't an awful lot to like about him. Also his moustache is stupid. He became slightly more sympathetic once he had his own turn in the spotlight via the Spin-OffThe Green Green Grass. His attempts (and eventual success) to conceive a son were also something a small redeeming aspect.
Peep Show — between Jeremy eating a girl's dog in an attempt to have sex with her and Mark attempting to get out of his wedding by hiding in the church balcony both of these guys are about as unsympathetic as it gets.
Its not just them either. Pretty much every character on the show gets a moment that makes you wonder how no one has killed them.
However, the "point of view" nature of the show prevents this trope from applying completely. Mark's underdog nature and, to a lesser extent, Jeremy's equally present insecurities, allow the audience to often sympathise with them even when they're doing horrible things to each other and everybody else. Take the moment where Mark has a breakdown about the boiler after receiving the most devastating news in his life, or the "minimal water damage" scene.
The horrible, horrible Lynda Day of Press Gang, who blackmails her bosses and employees alike, steals her ex-boyfriend's passport, attempts to push her childhood best friend out of a window... and still keeps the audience on her side.
Gary Prince from A Prince Among Men is an egomaniacal jerk who constantly belittles his colleagues and will do dirty deeds if needed. He's also our protagonist.
Shawn in Psych often butts up against this with his self-centered man-child shtick. Lassiter could count as well.
Rimmer from Red Dwarf. To a lesser extent, the rest of the cast.
Lister, despite being a slob and not that bright is a pretty sympathetic character. And Rimmer for all his faults has Pet the Dog moments now and then. The best example is the Cat: shallow, self-interested, vain and selfish. And we wouldn't want him any other way.
He's shallow, self-interested, vain and selfish...with a great ass!!!
Roseanne of Roseanne tends to be extremely blunt, sarcastic, and often downright rude, even with little provocation.
In Steptoe and Son, Albert Steptoe was the nasty one and Harold Steptoe was actually a good guy. All Harold wanted to do was move up from the grog heap of his life into something better. But his father did everything he could to prevent Harold, his son, improving himself—especially if it means him leaving home. Albert was also lazy, stubborn, narrow-minded, foul-mouthed, and had revolting personal habits. Worse still, he was far more competent than Harold at all of the things Harold wanted to do.
Pretty much all the main characters in Seinfeld, with a special mention reserved for George Costanza, who is selfish, insensitive, untrustworthy, abrasive, cowardly, dishonest, annoying, cheap, lazy and stupid. Jason Alexander himself feels that Seinfeld is "a very dark show about very dark people".
In a bit of Lampshade Hanging, in the episode "The Fatigues", Jerry acknowledges that he's not the nicest guy in the world:
Abby: I need someone I can trust. Jerry(disappointedly): Oh.
Also lampshaded, of course, in the final episode, when they're actually put on trial for their selfishness.
Carrie Bradshaw (and, to a point, the other ladies) of Sex and the City. Self-absorbed: check. Shallow: check. Materialistic: check. Immature: check. Was there anything redeemable?
Frank Gallagher in Shameless (US). He lives only to drink, get high, sponge money and/or drinks off of his friends and family to the point everyone hates his guts.
Liz Lemon, the protagonist, is portrayed as a lovable nerd, but she is constantly doing evil things played for laughs. She frequently lies and manipulates to get a man, tried to split up a couple so she could adopt their baby, heroically refused a flu shot since they weren't available for everyone only to get one in secret, and went to her high school reunion to meet the classmates she used to bully and then bullied them all over again.
Jenna perhaps more than most. She's the kind of actress backstage people dread working with. She's an attention whore that can't handle anyone taking over the spotlight, to the point of being jealous of babies for it. She thinks she is better and more beautiful than anyone and has a hard time any time anyone is in the spotlight, easily recurring to sabotage when things like that happen. Liz reveals that Jenna is even more demanding than Tracy because she needs to create the illusion that she is super popular by using fake accounts and fake fan clubs to keep her in line.
Tracy is a self-obsessed Cloudcuckoolander that has very little in the way of caring about others. While he seems to care for his family, he is explicitely stated to be a bad father and husband because he doesn't understand about putting the needs of others before his own craziness. He is also a constant thorn on the side of everyone else because he demands his absurd needs be satisfied, which includes never getting on time and suddenly deciding that he wants to go to space.
As any Brit or Aussie can tell you, the original model for Archie Bunker was Alf Garnett of Till Death Us Do Part; a right 'orrible little man, but for some reason, sympathetic (sometimes, anyway). (The US show All in the Family and its equivalent character Archie Bunker were directly inspired by him.) The Aussies had their own equivalent with Kingswood Country in the early 1980s.
Most of the cast of Two and a Half Men, particularly Charlie, who manipulates, lies, and cheats, because he's bored, to get laid, etc...
Every character save for one and maybe two from Unhitched is a horrible, horrible excuse for a human being.
Veep gives us Vice President Selina Meyer. She treats all her subordinates like worthless Mooks, is hopelessly out-of-touch with her daughter, and is completely uncaring about anyone's interests but her own. She acts like Gary, her personal assistant is an indentured servant, though he seems all too willing to perform this function and even uses him to break up with her boyfriend when she cannot. It's a testament to Julia Louis-Dreyfus that she comes off as sympathetic the handful of times that she does.
Some of the main cast tends to qualify due to the cutthroat nature of politics. Dan Egan is an overambitious, back-stabbing career guy whose schemes always backfire, while Jonah Ryan tends to be obnoxious enough to annoy everyone.
Despite being a drug dealer, Nancy from Weeds was for the most part still a fundamentally good person and quite sympathetic in the early seasons. This largely changed from Season 4 onward. And her accountant Doug was a horrible person from the start.
Al of The Weird Al Show managed to be an effective one despite CBS trying to aim the show at small children. This universe's version of Al is a selfish, rude, and inconsiderate jerk who lies to his friends, ditches them for people he thinks are "cooler", yells at them for his own mistakes, and berates them for not living up to his standards. The real Al made a running joke in the DVD commentary about what an unlovable cretin his character was on this show. In fact, the only times he wasn't this annoying was in two episodes, each with a one-shot character who was a bigger Jerkass than he was, making Al seem kind and considerate by comparison.
Subverted with the main trio. While the three main characters are basically the annoying frat boys that come to your party uninvited, get really drunk, and fuck up your couch, they manage to be so ineffectual and pathetic while still showing heart every now and then that they actually become sympathetic. "Heist School" is a prime example because the guys lose so badly to teenagers and audiences hated the ending. The guys are losers, but they're the audience's losers.
A straighter example would be Bill. While his suffering occasionally makes you feel bad for him, the show makes it clear that he's kind of a complete scumbag who deserves everything that happens to him.
All main characters in The Young Ones (except perhaps Neil, sometimes). According to DVD commentary for the pilot, when it was shown to American networks the writers were asked which of the characters was supposed to be the "hero" the audience sympathizes with, and had to explain that none of them really were and that that was sort of the point.
To elaborate a little, Rik is an insufferable left-intellectual poseur and artist wannabe, Mike is a sleazy con artist, Vyvyan is completely psychotic and regularly violent and Neil is constantly passive-aggressive and constantly attempts to guilt-trip everyone around him.
Not to mention the Balowski family. But Vyvyan was a particularly good example of this, arguably one of the most likable "complete bastards" in the history of British comedy, precisely because he was a totally unpredictable bastard.
Both the protagonists of Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson's (Rik and Vyvyan) next collaboration Bottom were even less sanitary, well-adjusted and sympathetic than their characters in The Young Ones.
For that matter, everysinglecharacter ever played by Rik Mayall. Including himself in his not-entirely-serious ego-trip of an autobiography, Bigger Than Hitler, Better Than Christ.
My Name Is Earl loves playing with this. The main character Earl starts off trying to correct a lifetime of bad behavior when his life hit rock bottom and seeing that good deeds improve his life. Extensive flashbacks show him to be every bit as bad as he makes himself out to be, but instead of being despicable it is offset by his attempts to make things better in the present day. In the third season he relapsed and goes back to the way he used to behave for a couple of episodes, and the same behavior ceases to be funny.
Schitt's Creek plays with this, as all four members of the Rose family begin the series as spoiled, selfish and self-pitying jerks thanks to their Impoverished Patrician status. Over the course of the series, however, they gradually become better people even though they all have bursts of selfishness now and again.
