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* In ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'', the episodes sometimes play out with the formula of Josh having to suffer because of some scheme of Drake's, and Josh is treated as the ButtMonkey because of it. However, the later season episode "Josh Is Done" deconstructed this trope by demonstrating how much of millstone Drake really is. Josh is finally pushed past his limit and states that he is "done" with Drake as a brother and firmly cuts him out of his life. Drake isn't too bothered by this initially because he thinks Josh needs him, but as the episode goes on, things in life proceed to improve for Josh while they deteriorate for Drake. Josh's relationship with his boss improves, a stress rash he's had for years suddenly goes away, he starts doing better in school, and has more time for friends and dating. Drake turns into a basket case who is unable to function because it turns out he relied on Josh for a lot of basic necessities in his life, is unable to focus on his music, and starts getting acne. It all culminates in Drake getting humiliated in chemistry class so badly he ends up running out, but not before apologizing to Josh for everything and for being a bad brother, and admitting he needs Josh way more than Josh needs him. Josh accepts Drake back after his apology.
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* In ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'', the episodes sometimes play out with the formula of Josh having to suffer because of some scheme of Drake's, and Josh is treated as the ButtMonkey because of it. However, the later season episode "Josh "[[Recap/DrakeAndJoshEpisode48JoshIsDone Josh Is Done" Done]]" deconstructed this trope by demonstrating how much of millstone Drake really is. Josh is finally pushed past his limit and states that he is "done" with Drake as a brother and firmly cuts him out of his life. Drake isn't too bothered by this initially because he thinks Josh needs him, but as the episode goes on, things in life proceed to improve for Josh while they deteriorate for Drake. Josh's relationship with his boss improves, a stress rash he's had for years suddenly goes away, he starts doing better in school, and has more time for friends and dating. Drake turns into a basket case who is unable to function because it turns out he relied on Josh for a lot of basic necessities in his life, is unable to focus on his music, and starts getting acne. It all culminates in Drake getting humiliated in chemistry class so badly he ends up running out, but not before apologizing to Josh for everything and for being a bad brother, and admitting he needs Josh way more than Josh needs him. Josh accepts Drake back after his apology.
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** PlayedForDrama with Joffrey. He is so utterly incompetent at anything that doesn't involve tormenting people, and so utterly devoted to the latter, that he never really sees the big political picture and ultimately creates problem after problem for the Lannisters who in Cersei and Tywin were trying to rule through him. This is one of the reasons why Tywin has no issue with Margaery trying to manipulate him, at least in the beginning, because then at least ''somebody'' is keeping him on a leash.
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** PlayedForDrama with Joffrey.[[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon King Joffrey Baratheon]]. He is so utterly incompetent at anything that doesn't involve tormenting people, and so utterly devoted to the latter, that he never really sees the big political picture and ultimately creates problem after problem for the Lannisters who in Cersei and Tywin were trying to rule through him. This is one of the reasons why Tywin has no issue with Margaery trying to manipulate him, at least in the beginning, because then at least ''somebody'' is keeping him on a leash.
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* Charles from ''Series/BestOfFriends1963'' is to the insurance office he works for, to the point where he struggles to get anything done without Hylda. Uncle Sidney wishes he could fire him, and only keeps him on as Charles is his nephew.
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* Christopher Moltisanti from ''Series/TheSopranos'', TheDon Tony's nephew who he was grooming to take over the family business. Chris quickly proves himself to be unworthy, as not only does he become an AddledAddict who's frequently being late to meetings, irresponsible in his business dealings, and generally less "together" in his affairs than the rest of Tony's crew, but [[spoiler:he ends up in a relationship with a woman who would later become TheMole. The final straw is when he almost gets Tony killed in a car accident, resulting in him deciding YouHaveFailedMe]].
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** ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'': All four of the Taros often play this role to the other three whenever it would be funny. This is especially the case early in the show, since there's four of them and only one can possess Ryotaro's body at a time, so one will often kick out another mid-combat. Over the course of the series they gradually stop getting in each other's way quite so much and graduate to a group of VitrolicBestBuds.
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** ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'': All four of the Taros often play this role to the other three whenever it would be funny. This is especially the case early in the show, since there's four of them and only one can possess Ryotaro's body at a time, so one will often kick out another mid-combat. Over the course of the series they gradually stop getting in each other's way quite so much and graduate to a group of VitrolicBestBuds.VitriolicBestBuds.
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* ''Franchise/KamenRider'':
** ''Series/KamenRider555'': Masato Kusaka is a TokenEvilTeammate with emphasis on the ''evil''. While he's fighting the same enemies as the other heroes, he also causes virtually all of the problems that they face by impeding everyone's efforts to form an effective alliance against Smart Brain, and sabotaging them as individuals whenever it suits his own petty vindictiveness.
** ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'': All four of the Taros often play this role to the other three whenever it would be funny. This is especially the case early in the show, since there's four of them and only one can possess Ryotaro's body at a time, so one will often kick out another mid-combat. Over the course of the series they gradually stop getting in each other's way quite so much and graduate to a group of VitrolicBestBuds.
** ''Series/KamenRiderGeats'': Chirami, the second Game Master of the [[ImmoralRealityShow Desire Grand Prix]], is seemingly incapable of handling something without causing it to suck. His changes to the show's format are founded in a belief that ViewersAreMorons and prove annoying to both the audience and the players, and eventually he loses his extremely important Vision Driver to the Jyamato, allowing them to escape their role as designated villains and take over the game for themselves. The entire middle half of the series consists primarily of the players either dealing with Chirami deliberately causing problems for them, or trying to clean up the mess that his incompetence has created. He's even a millstone to ''his own Rider suit'', which actively becomes weaker when he's the one wearing it.
** ''Series/KamenRider555'': Masato Kusaka is a TokenEvilTeammate with emphasis on the ''evil''. While he's fighting the same enemies as the other heroes, he also causes virtually all of the problems that they face by impeding everyone's efforts to form an effective alliance against Smart Brain, and sabotaging them as individuals whenever it suits his own petty vindictiveness.
** ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'': All four of the Taros often play this role to the other three whenever it would be funny. This is especially the case early in the show, since there's four of them and only one can possess Ryotaro's body at a time, so one will often kick out another mid-combat. Over the course of the series they gradually stop getting in each other's way quite so much and graduate to a group of VitrolicBestBuds.
** ''Series/KamenRiderGeats'': Chirami, the second Game Master of the [[ImmoralRealityShow Desire Grand Prix]], is seemingly incapable of handling something without causing it to suck. His changes to the show's format are founded in a belief that ViewersAreMorons and prove annoying to both the audience and the players, and eventually he loses his extremely important Vision Driver to the Jyamato, allowing them to escape their role as designated villains and take over the game for themselves. The entire middle half of the series consists primarily of the players either dealing with Chirami deliberately causing problems for them, or trying to clean up the mess that his incompetence has created. He's even a millstone to ''his own Rider suit'', which actively becomes weaker when he's the one wearing it.
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* There have been some bad partners throughout the 30-plus seasons of the American version of ''Series/TheAmazingRace'', but a season 15 contestant named Mika takes the cake. A partner has never so directly caused a team’s elimination the way she did. [[note]]The season before, a pair of sisters got eliminated for a PottyEmergency, but the timing was a lot closer.[[/note]] They were at a resort in Dubai and had to go down a waterslide. Mika, who was afraid of both heights and water, refused to do it, even though the challenge took about thirty seconds from start to finish and they were in second to last place with a comfortable but not insurmountable lead on the last place team. She pitched a fit before getting floaties and still didn't do it. It took her so long to do it that the last place team got there, giving her a hard time limit of two minutes before she had to get out of the way for them. She had almost worked up the courage when the other team started to try to talk her out of it to (successfully) run the clock out. They jumped in front of Mika who then quit the task and got her and her boyfriend eliminated. He almost broke up with her right then and there, but ultimately waited to do it until they were at the sequester location where the eliminated teams wait until filming stops.
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* There have been some bad partners throughout the 30-plus seasons of the American version of ''Series/TheAmazingRace'', but a couple take the cake for directly causing their teams to get eliminated:
** In season15 15, a contestant named Mika takes the cake. A partner has never so directly had a huge fit that caused a team’s elimination the way she did. [[note]]The season before, a pair of sisters got eliminated for a PottyEmergency, but the timing was a lot closer.[[/note]] her and her boyfriend, Canaan, to get eliminated. They were at a resort in Dubai and had to go down a waterslide. Mika, who was afraid of both heights and water, refused to do it, even though the challenge took about thirty seconds from start to finish and they were in second to last place with a comfortable but not insurmountable lead on the last place team. She pitched a fit before getting even got floaties and to try to do it but still didn't do it.couldn't bring herself to go down the slide. Canann even tried to physically push her before being made to stop by production. It took her so long to do it that the last place team got there, giving her a hard time limit of two minutes before she had to get out of the way for them. She had almost worked up the courage when the other team started to try to talk her out of it to (successfully) run the clock out. They jumped in front of Mika who then quit the task and got her and her boyfriend them eliminated. He almost broke up with her right then and there, but ultimately waited to do it until they were at the sequester location where the eliminated teams wait until filming stops.stops.
** Season 26 was an experiment of all dating couples, with half of them being blind dates. Bergen and Kurt were one of the blind date teams. They decided at the beginning that they weren't each other's types but were committed to seeing it through. Kurt, who came from money, did the show to meet someone because he was from a small town in a red state and didn't have a big dating pool. He managed to be a good sport for a few episodes but towards the middle of the season, his lack of financial motivation and disappointment at not getting what he wanted from the show got the better of him. He hit a wall and ending up more or less quitting the first time they got into trouble. In leg 5, the tasks all involved driving around the German countryside in their Ford Focuses (Ford is a sponsor of the show). Bergen struggled with DrivingStick but was getting the hang of it when Kurt made him quit and take a taxi to their next location. From there, they were out in the middle of nowhere having to rely on spotty rural public transportation. They also needed the backup camera on the car for one of the tasks, forcing them to have to take a two-hour penalty. They would have also been given more penalties when they were able to get to the end of the leg due to taking unauthorized forms of transportation but they fell so far behind they were given a MercyKill at the train station.
** In season
** Season 26 was an experiment of all dating couples, with half of them being blind dates. Bergen and Kurt were one of the blind date teams. They decided at the beginning that they weren't each other's types but were committed to seeing it through. Kurt, who came from money, did the show to meet someone because he was from a small town in a red state and didn't have a big dating pool. He managed to be a good sport for a few episodes but towards the middle of the season, his lack of financial motivation and disappointment at not getting what he wanted from the show got the better of him. He hit a wall and ending up more or less quitting the first time they got into trouble. In leg 5, the tasks all involved driving around the German countryside in their Ford Focuses (Ford is a sponsor of the show). Bergen struggled with DrivingStick but was getting the hang of it when Kurt made him quit and take a taxi to their next location. From there, they were out in the middle of nowhere having to rely on spotty rural public transportation. They also needed the backup camera on the car for one of the tasks, forcing them to have to take a two-hour penalty. They would have also been given more penalties when they were able to get to the end of the leg due to taking unauthorized forms of transportation but they fell so far behind they were given a MercyKill at the train station.
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** [[spoiler:Jesse ends up betraying Walt after seeing him become just as bad as Gus. However, he’s not really the Millstone when this happens, because arguably by that point Walt has entirely [[MoralEventHorizon become the villain]] of the story and Jesse, along with Hank serve as the [[CreateYourOwnHero heroes]], even if it doesn’t go very well for [[TheHeroDies either]] of [[FateWorseThanDeath them]].]]
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** [[spoiler:Jesse ends up betraying Walt after seeing him become just as bad as Gus. However, he’s not really the Millstone when this happens, because arguably by that point Walt has entirely [[MoralEventHorizon become the villain]] of the story and Jesse, along with Hank Hank, serve as the [[CreateYourOwnHero heroes]], even if it doesn’t go very well for [[TheHeroDies either]] of [[FateWorseThanDeath them]].]]
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** However, said moral compass [[MinionWithAnFInEvil ends up causing even more problems]]. It's because of his HonorBeforeReason that Walter ends up having to go to war against Gus to save his life (and subsequently his own), [[spoiler:and he ends up betraying Walt after seeing him become just as bad as Gus]].
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** However, said moral compass [[MinionWithAnFInEvil ends up causing even more problems]]. It's because of his HonorBeforeReason that Walter ends up having to go to war against Gus to save his life (and subsequently his own), [[spoiler:and he [[spoiler:Jesse ends up betraying Walt after seeing him become just as bad as Gus]].Gus. However, he’s not really the Millstone when this happens, because arguably by that point Walt has entirely [[MoralEventHorizon become the villain]] of the story and Jesse, along with Hank serve as the [[CreateYourOwnHero heroes]], even if it doesn’t go very well for [[TheHeroDies either]] of [[FateWorseThanDeath them]].]]
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%%* Morgan from ''Series/{{Chuck}}''. He grows out of it.
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%%* Hank in ''Series/CornerGas'' is one, thanks to him being that show's [[TheDitz ditz]].
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* Kate sabotages the outlaws' plans at least five times on ''Series/RobinHood'' for reasons ranging from "I can do it by myself!" to "I'm in a bad mood today!" to "Robin isn't paying enough attention to me!" to absolutely no logical reason at all. On at least three different occasions, her presence among the outlaws also turns several ''other'' characters into Millstones when they mess up the plans after getting distracted by whatever stupid mess she's managed to wander into.* * ''Series/TheShield'':
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* Kate sabotages the outlaws' plans at least five times on ''Series/RobinHood'' for reasons ranging from "I can do it by myself!" to "I'm in a bad mood today!" to "Robin isn't paying enough attention to me!" to absolutely no logical reason at all. On at least three different occasions, her presence among the outlaws also turns several ''other'' characters into Millstones when they mess up the plans after getting distracted by whatever stupid mess she's managed to wander into.* into.
* ''Series/TheShield'':
* ''Series/TheShield'':
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* Kate sabotages the outlaws' plans at least five times on ''Series/RobinHood'' for reasons ranging from "I can do it by myself!" to "I'm in a bad mood today!" to "Robin isn't paying enough attention to me!" to absolutely no logical reason at all. On at least three different occasions, her presence among the outlaws also turns several ''other'' characters into Millstones when they mess up the plans after getting distracted by whatever stupid mess she's managed to wander into.
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* Kate sabotages the outlaws' plans at least five times on ''Series/RobinHood'' for reasons ranging from "I can do it by myself!" to "I'm in a bad mood today!" to "Robin isn't paying enough attention to me!" to absolutely no logical reason at all. On at least three different occasions, her presence among the outlaws also turns several ''other'' characters into Millstones when they mess up the plans after getting distracted by whatever stupid mess she's managed to wander into.* * ''Series/TheShield'':
** Shane's repeated screw-ups and impulsiveness constantly generate problems for the Strike Team and forces Vic to clean up his messes. His increasing resentment for Vic's patronizing attitude also results in him acting out more and trying to become more independent, resulting in even more problems in the long run.
** Rondell Robinson, a drug dealer working for Vic, is an utterly incompetent moron who becomes increasingly unreliable due to his drug addiction. Since unlike Shane, Vic doesn't have any real attachment to Rondell, he winds up having him killed.
** Shane's repeated screw-ups and impulsiveness constantly generate problems for the Strike Team and forces Vic to clean up his messes. His increasing resentment for Vic's patronizing attitude also results in him acting out more and trying to become more independent, resulting in even more problems in the long run.
** Rondell Robinson, a drug dealer working for Vic, is an utterly incompetent moron who becomes increasingly unreliable due to his drug addiction. Since unlike Shane, Vic doesn't have any real attachment to Rondell, he winds up having him killed.
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TheMillstone in LiveActionTV series.
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* There have been some bad partners throughout the 30-plus seasons of the American version of ''Series/TheAmazingRace'', but a season 15 contestant named Mika takes the cake. A partner has never so directly caused a team’s elimination the way she did. [[note]]The season before, a pair of sisters got eliminated for a PottyEmergency, but the timing was a lot closer.[[/note]] They were at a resort in Dubai and had to go down a waterslide. Mika, who was afraid of both heights and water, refused to do it, even though the challenge took about thirty seconds from start to finish and they were in second to last place with a comfortable but not insurmountable lead on the last place team. She pitched a fit before getting floaties and still didn't do it. It took her so long to do it that the last place team got there, giving her a hard time limit of two minutes before she had to get out of the way for them. She had almost worked up the courage when the other team started to try to talk her out of it to (successfully) run the clock out. They jumped in front of Mika who then quit the task and got her and her boyfriend eliminated. He almost broke up with her right then and there, but ultimately waited to do it until they were at the sequester location where the eliminated teams wait until filming stops.
* Jesse from ''Series/BreakingBad'', at least for the first few seasons. A lot of early episodes involve his addictions, his carelessness, his recklessness, or his insubordination causing problems. It's probably most evident in "4 Days Out", where the first half is basically nothing but Jesse causing problems (packing nothing but snacks for a desert trip, leaving the keys in the ignition for two days straight until the battery ends up drained, accidentally starting a fire and putting it out with their only water, wasting the remaining power in his cellphone to call an equally incompetent friend for help, who immediately gets lost). Naturally, though, he ends up proving his value later on, given his bloody-minded determination and growing moral compass.
%%* Morgan from ''Series/{{Chuck}}''. He grows out of it.
* ''Series/{{Community}}'' has Pierce, particularly in Season 2. He discovers Jeff and Troy's "secret trampoline" and manages to expose it in a matter of minutes, getting it removed from campus, and [[LaserGuidedKarma breaking both his legs in the process]]. His ego leads him to go off-script during an anti-drug PSA, [[HarmfulToMinors getting a room full of middle-schoolers excited for drugs]] (until [[TheMentallyDisturbed Chang]] fixes it simply by taking his place). The rest of the main cast is occasionally GenreSavvy about this, not inviting him to a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' game/suicide intervention due to his insensitive manner (and they are proven right when he crashes the game and nearly short-circuits the whole thing). During one of the paintball episodes, Jeff exploits this in order to use Pierce as a decoy:
-->'''Jeff:''' Hey Pierce, ''don't'' come over here, okay?\\
'''Pierce:''' Screw you! I'm comin' over there! ''[gets shot]''
%%* Hank in ''Series/CornerGas'' is one, thanks to him being that show's [[TheDitz ditz]].
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** Dodo, if she's remembered at all, is mostly remembered for all the plans she ruined over her tenure. In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E6TheArk The Ark]]" she nearly wipes out the remnants of humanity by giving them her cold (which they have no immunity to). In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E7TheCelestialToymaker The Celestial Toymaker]]" Steven reminds her of what her plan is three or four times and she still forgets it at the crunch time. In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E8TheGunfighters The Gunfighters]]" she nearly shoots Doc Holliday before the gunfight at the OK Corral.
** Adric qualifies. In the Fifth Doctor's first story, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E1Castrovalva Castrovalva]]", he allies himself with the Master after being captured by him, and in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock Earthshock]]", the whole plot is kicked off by him arguing with the Doctor over wanting to return to his home planet[[spoiler:, which eventually results in his death]].
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E7TheLongGame "The Long Game"]]: That Adam Mitchell acted as this by attempting to steal secrets on future technology was a prime reason why the Doctor kicked him off the TARDIS at the end of the episode.
* In ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'', the episodes sometimes play out with the formula of Josh having to suffer because of some scheme of Drake's, and Josh is treated as the ButtMonkey because of it. However, the later season episode "Josh Is Done" deconstructed this trope by demonstrating how much of millstone Drake really is. Josh is finally pushed past his limit and states that he is "done" with Drake as a brother and firmly cuts him out of his life. Drake isn't too bothered by this initially because he thinks Josh needs him, but as the episode goes on, things in life proceed to improve for Josh while they deteriorate for Drake. Josh's relationship with his boss improves, a stress rash he's had for years suddenly goes away, he starts doing better in school, and has more time for friends and dating. Drake turns into a basket case who is unable to function because it turns out he relied on Josh for a lot of basic necessities in his life, is unable to focus on his music, and starts getting acne. It all culminates in Drake getting humiliated in chemistry class so badly he ends up running out, but not before apologizing to Josh for everything and for being a bad brother, and admitting he needs Josh way more than Josh needs him. Josh accepts Drake back after his apology.
* A typical episode of Ricky Gervais's ''{{Series/Extras}}'' would involve his character Andy divulging an embarrassing secret to his friend Maggie, who would inevitably spill the beans to someone in a position to humiliate him over it. Yet as Millstone-ish as Maggie could be, it is eventually Andy who is his own worst enemy, considering ''he never learns to keep his mouth shut.''
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' had Rygel, and later, Noranti -- both of whom were remarkably likely to cause serious trouble for the crew. The episode "Lava's A Many Splendored Thing", for example, had both of them take turns -- Rygel got them trapped by trying to rob the crates, and Noranti repeatedly got them into trouble because she was convinced the bad guys were in fact the noble Tarkan freedom fighters, and nearly got them shot several times. While both of them could be useful in the right circumstances, using their diplomatic skills or potions and illusions respectively, they were also prone to setting off the plots of entire episodes through greed, apparent senility, or other forms of poor decision-making.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** PlayedForDrama with Joffrey. He is so utterly incompetent at anything that doesn't involve tormenting people, and so utterly devoted to the latter, that he never really sees the big political picture and ultimately creates problem after problem for the Lannisters who in Cersei and Tywin were trying to rule through him. This is one of the reasons why Tywin has no issue with Margaery trying to manipulate him, at least in the beginning, because then at least ''somebody'' is keeping him on a leash.
** A less intentional case of this happened with Tyrion due to his signature trait of high intelligence being stymied by an increasingly magnetic IdiotBall. A lot of the conflict in the seventh and eighth seasons essentially arose from characters giving him their ear--making alliances they shouldn't have, trusting people who were clearly not trustworthy, setting up battle plans that didn't work, holding off on attacking King's Landing until it was a much harder target, and most pivotally, the baffling expedition to kidnap a wight from beyond the Wall.
* ''Series/GilligansIsland'':
** If the other castaways had [[JustEatGilligan resorted to cannibalism and eaten him]], they could have gotten off the island the next day. He's so much an embodiment of this trope that it was almost titled "The Gilligan".
** Also, the episodes that ''didn't'' center around their latest attempt to get off the island (and these made up about half the series) instead focused around the latest danger on the island, and Gilligan was always the one who saved them in those cases. So no Gilligan and maybe they'd have gotten off the island -- or maybe they'd have been fried by the volcano or blown up by the mine that washed ashore.
** In one episode, they find a gold mine on the island, as well as a salvageable life raft from the Minnow. Everybody except Gilligan tries to sneak a bag of gold onto the raft, after being explicitly warned by the Professor not to. The raft sinks as soon as they shove off. Gilligan proceeds to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade the fact that he's usually the one to screw these things up]].
** Basically, Gilligan goes through life with a near-total lack of self-awareness. When this means that he doesn't think about the consequences of his actions, things turn out bad. When it means that he doesn't worry about his personal safety or waste effort on inconsequential things, things turn out well.
** Though Gilligan was the most consistent example, the rest of the castaways all had their moments of becoming this to one or more of the others as well. (Oftentimes if it wasn't Gilligan, it was either one of the Howells or Ginger.)
* Con man Alexander Fitzhugh in ''Series/LandOfTheGiants.'' He tends to panic and act selfishly and often ends up drawing the attention of the title giants when the humans could have readily escaped notice. Fitting in that he was an attempt to replicate the success of Zachary Smith from ''Series/LostInSpace''.
%%* Dr. Zachary Smith from ''Series/LostInSpace''. Especially when you compare the original pilot (before Smith was introduced) with the remade version. %%More explanation, please.%%
* [[TheDitz Kelly]] [[BrainlessBeauty Bundy]] continually fell into this role on ''Series/MarriedWithChildren''. It's eventually {{Lampshaded}} by Peggy in one episode while the Bundys and the D'Arcys are being arrested by the police, when she realizes that it probably wasn't a good idea to let Kelly in on the plan of the week. Later seasons have her repeatedly teaming up with Bud, and her involvement typically turns things into an EpicFail of Biblical proportions. (Except for that one episode where she invented [[AppliedPhlebotinum Bleen]].)
** A purer example would be her mother, Peg. Although Kelly does on occasion come through and become successful (only for the Bundy curse or her own stupidity to cause her downfall), Peg is the lazy, snarky, selfish, [[HopeCrusher hope crushing]] {{Jerkass}} that usually ruins things for everyone, especially poor Al. An episode even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] her uselessness and calls her the laziest person in the ''world''.
* Inverted in ''{{Series/Merlin|2008}}''. Merlin plays this role in his more GenreSavvy moments to keep Arthur's ill-informed plans from going through. For example, ''Aithusa'', where Arthur decides to seek out and smash the last dragon egg[[note]]Dragons in this series are intelligent and this could be considered infanticide, but because Arthur's father raised him to hate magic, Arthur is convinced they are mindless monsters who need to be exterminated[[/note]], Merlin decides to go on ahead and nearly kills himself when the tower collapses, so they can't search through the ruins for it. Well, at least the egg is probably destroyed... or it would be, if it wasn't in Merlin's backpack.
** Played straight by many of the series' {{Muggles}}. The show's DrinkingGame page goes thusly: take a shot whenever Merlin could solve a problem in five minutes if A) [[BanOnMagic Magic wasn't banned on pain of death]], B) [[SuicidalOverconfidence They didn't just assume that they can kill anything and that any history that says only magic can kill something is just superstition]], and C) [[IgnoredExpert They didn't keep ignoring Merlin, despite the fact that he is always right]].
* In ''Series/TheMightyBoosh'', Howard and Vince take turns. Which is the true Millstone is too close to call, as they'll occasionally switch in the same episode. (see The Nightmare of Milky Joe) Their millstoning gets more prevalent when they leave the Zooniverse after season one, as Bob Fossil is no longer instigating episodes.
* ''Series/TheMole'' is a RealityTV show built entirely around this trope. The players add money to a jackpot by performing tasks, which The Mole tries to sabotage. Somewhat subverted, though: Every so often, there is a quiz that asks about The Mole (which, naturally, The Mole aces every time), and whoever knows the least is eliminated. The players, in order to screw with each other's knowledge and extend their own games, don't always give it their all, and thus the entire team becomes The Millstone.
* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation:'' While everyone that isn't Leslie Knope can hold back the department in question one way or another, depending on what's happening, Ron Swanson is the clearest example: he's the one that made sure to pick employees that wouldn't achieve much, and he himself only works hard in his position if it's in ways to cut the budget. He's a self-declared case of a millstone around the Parks Department's neck, because he's a hardline libertarian that thinks sandbagging the hell out of government offices is the best way to keep it from doing harm, so he does.
* Kate sabotages the outlaws' plans at least five times on ''Series/RobinHood'' for reasons ranging from "I can do it by myself!" to "I'm in a bad mood today!" to "Robin isn't paying enough attention to me!" to absolutely no logical reason at all. On at least three different occasions, her presence among the outlaws also turns several ''other'' characters into Millstones when they mess up the plans after getting distracted by whatever stupid mess she's managed to wander into.
* Neelix from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' caused nothing but trouble for Janeway and her crew. He destroyed a diplomatic gift Voyager gave as a way to please some violent natives, the Kazon (causing them to seek revenge and chase Voyager for several seasons), failed to find food and got a crew member killed when he was placed in charge of food gathering (this was by having the crewman do a useless task, collecting sun-dried bones for food use, alone without any thought about his safety) after the crew was marooned (even though Janeway found food in the cave ''they were sleeping in''), since he said he was a [[BlatantLies survival expert]]. [[EpicFail Poisoning the]] ''[[EpicFail ship]]'' (not the crew, the actual '''ship''') with his [[LethalChef cooking]]. At one point, he even committed bona-fide, premeditated ''treason'', with not even a slap on the wrist. Janeway not only made him morale officer, ship cook, but also a DIPLOMAT.
* ''Series/StepByStep'': Karen seems to fill this role often.
** In one episode of the first season in which the family went camping, Karen says she had found a rock that would make a perfect "pedicure stand". Too bad that rock had been holding the truck they had all ridden to the campsite in place -- and it ended up falling into the water.
** In another episode, when the family gets an answering machine, Karen only listens to the first message of two (that was for her) before leaving immediately. The second message is for Frank -- telling him to not come to a site, that it would be demolished instead. Frank could have gotten injured -- or worse -- had he not gotten out in time. If the message had been relayed, this would not have happened.
* This type of character is parodied in ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' in the "Get Me Hennimore!" sketches, where Hennimore inevitably screws up after his boss gives him two mutually exclusive and dangerous schemes and fails to properly explain which is which, such as denoting one room with the letter I and another with the number one, rendered as the Roman Numeral I! How can Hennimore ''possibly'' misunderstand that?
* Lori and Carl Grimes from ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'', particularly during the second season. Lori, with eventual shades of LadyMacbeth, serves as the third member of a LoveTriangle with Rick and Shane, shows no interest in learning self-defense, and eventually takes out one of the group's cars alone and proceeds to crash it. Carl, meanwhile, frees a zombie that ends up [[spoiler:killing Dale.]] Both are ''much'' more competent after the TimeSkip at the beginning of season three. [[spoiler:It's up for debate as to whether Lori survived long enough to be RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap.]]
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TheMillstone in LiveActionTV series.
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* There have been some bad partners throughout the 30-plus seasons of the American version of ''Series/TheAmazingRace'', but a season 15 contestant named Mika takes the cake. A partner has never so directly caused a team’s elimination the way she did. [[note]]The season before, a pair of sisters got eliminated for a PottyEmergency, but the timing was a lot closer.[[/note]] They were at a resort in Dubai and had to go down a waterslide. Mika, who was afraid of both heights and water, refused to do it, even though the challenge took about thirty seconds from start to finish and they were in second to last place with a comfortable but not insurmountable lead on the last place team. She pitched a fit before getting floaties and still didn't do it. It took her so long to do it that the last place team got there, giving her a hard time limit of two minutes before she had to get out of the way for them. She had almost worked up the courage when the other team started to try to talk her out of it to (successfully) run the clock out. They jumped in front of Mika who then quit the task and got her and her boyfriend eliminated. He almost broke up with her right then and there, but ultimately waited to do it until they were at the sequester location where the eliminated teams wait until filming stops.
* Jesse from ''Series/BreakingBad'', at least for the first few seasons. A lot of early episodes involve his addictions, his carelessness, his recklessness, or his insubordination causing problems. It's probably most evident in "4 Days Out", where the first half is basically nothing but Jesse causing problems (packing nothing but snacks for a desert trip, leaving the keys in the ignition for two days straight until the battery ends up drained, accidentally starting a fire and putting it out with their only water, wasting the remaining power in his cellphone to call an equally incompetent friend for help, who immediately gets lost). Naturally, though, he ends up proving his value later on, given his bloody-minded determination and growing moral compass.
%%* Morgan from ''Series/{{Chuck}}''. He grows out of it.
* ''Series/{{Community}}'' has Pierce, particularly in Season 2. He discovers Jeff and Troy's "secret trampoline" and manages to expose it in a matter of minutes, getting it removed from campus, and [[LaserGuidedKarma breaking both his legs in the process]]. His ego leads him to go off-script during an anti-drug PSA, [[HarmfulToMinors getting a room full of middle-schoolers excited for drugs]] (until [[TheMentallyDisturbed Chang]] fixes it simply by taking his place). The rest of the main cast is occasionally GenreSavvy about this, not inviting him to a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' game/suicide intervention due to his insensitive manner (and they are proven right when he crashes the game and nearly short-circuits the whole thing). During one of the paintball episodes, Jeff exploits this in order to use Pierce as a decoy:
-->'''Jeff:''' Hey Pierce, ''don't'' come over here, okay?\\
'''Pierce:''' Screw you! I'm comin' over there! ''[gets shot]''
%%* Hank in ''Series/CornerGas'' is one, thanks to him being that show's [[TheDitz ditz]].
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** Dodo, if she's remembered at all, is mostly remembered for all the plans she ruined over her tenure. In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E6TheArk The Ark]]" she nearly wipes out the remnants of humanity by giving them her cold (which they have no immunity to). In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E7TheCelestialToymaker The Celestial Toymaker]]" Steven reminds her of what her plan is three or four times and she still forgets it at the crunch time. In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E8TheGunfighters The Gunfighters]]" she nearly shoots Doc Holliday before the gunfight at the OK Corral.
** Adric qualifies. In the Fifth Doctor's first story, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E1Castrovalva Castrovalva]]", he allies himself with the Master after being captured by him, and in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock Earthshock]]", the whole plot is kicked off by him arguing with the Doctor over wanting to return to his home planet[[spoiler:, which eventually results in his death]].
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E7TheLongGame "The Long Game"]]: That Adam Mitchell acted as this by attempting to steal secrets on future technology was a prime reason why the Doctor kicked him off the TARDIS at the end of the episode.
* In ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'', the episodes sometimes play out with the formula of Josh having to suffer because of some scheme of Drake's, and Josh is treated as the ButtMonkey because of it. However, the later season episode "Josh Is Done" deconstructed this trope by demonstrating how much of millstone Drake really is. Josh is finally pushed past his limit and states that he is "done" with Drake as a brother and firmly cuts him out of his life. Drake isn't too bothered by this initially because he thinks Josh needs him, but as the episode goes on, things in life proceed to improve for Josh while they deteriorate for Drake. Josh's relationship with his boss improves, a stress rash he's had for years suddenly goes away, he starts doing better in school, and has more time for friends and dating. Drake turns into a basket case who is unable to function because it turns out he relied on Josh for a lot of basic necessities in his life, is unable to focus on his music, and starts getting acne. It all culminates in Drake getting humiliated in chemistry class so badly he ends up running out, but not before apologizing to Josh for everything and for being a bad brother, and admitting he needs Josh way more than Josh needs him. Josh accepts Drake back after his apology.
* A typical episode of Ricky Gervais's ''{{Series/Extras}}'' would involve his character Andy divulging an embarrassing secret to his friend Maggie, who would inevitably spill the beans to someone in a position to humiliate him over it. Yet as Millstone-ish as Maggie could be, it is eventually Andy who is his own worst enemy, considering ''he never learns to keep his mouth shut.''
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' had Rygel, and later, Noranti -- both of whom were remarkably likely to cause serious trouble for the crew. The episode "Lava's A Many Splendored Thing", for example, had both of them take turns -- Rygel got them trapped by trying to rob the crates, and Noranti repeatedly got them into trouble because she was convinced the bad guys were in fact the noble Tarkan freedom fighters, and nearly got them shot several times. While both of them could be useful in the right circumstances, using their diplomatic skills or potions and illusions respectively, they were also prone to setting off the plots of entire episodes through greed, apparent senility, or other forms of poor decision-making.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** PlayedForDrama with Joffrey. He is so utterly incompetent at anything that doesn't involve tormenting people, and so utterly devoted to the latter, that he never really sees the big political picture and ultimately creates problem after problem for the Lannisters who in Cersei and Tywin were trying to rule through him. This is one of the reasons why Tywin has no issue with Margaery trying to manipulate him, at least in the beginning, because then at least ''somebody'' is keeping him on a leash.
** A less intentional case of this happened with Tyrion due to his signature trait of high intelligence being stymied by an increasingly magnetic IdiotBall. A lot of the conflict in the seventh and eighth seasons essentially arose from characters giving him their ear--making alliances they shouldn't have, trusting people who were clearly not trustworthy, setting up battle plans that didn't work, holding off on attacking King's Landing until it was a much harder target, and most pivotally, the baffling expedition to kidnap a wight from beyond the Wall.
* ''Series/GilligansIsland'':
** If the other castaways had [[JustEatGilligan resorted to cannibalism and eaten him]], they could have gotten off the island the next day. He's so much an embodiment of this trope that it was almost titled "The Gilligan".
** Also, the episodes that ''didn't'' center around their latest attempt to get off the island (and these made up about half the series) instead focused around the latest danger on the island, and Gilligan was always the one who saved them in those cases. So no Gilligan and maybe they'd have gotten off the island -- or maybe they'd have been fried by the volcano or blown up by the mine that washed ashore.
** In one episode, they find a gold mine on the island, as well as a salvageable life raft from the Minnow. Everybody except Gilligan tries to sneak a bag of gold onto the raft, after being explicitly warned by the Professor not to. The raft sinks as soon as they shove off. Gilligan proceeds to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade the fact that he's usually the one to screw these things up]].
** Basically, Gilligan goes through life with a near-total lack of self-awareness. When this means that he doesn't think about the consequences of his actions, things turn out bad. When it means that he doesn't worry about his personal safety or waste effort on inconsequential things, things turn out well.
** Though Gilligan was the most consistent example, the rest of the castaways all had their moments of becoming this to one or more of the others as well. (Oftentimes if it wasn't Gilligan, it was either one of the Howells or Ginger.)
* Con man Alexander Fitzhugh in ''Series/LandOfTheGiants.'' He tends to panic and act selfishly and often ends up drawing the attention of the title giants when the humans could have readily escaped notice. Fitting in that he was an attempt to replicate the success of Zachary Smith from ''Series/LostInSpace''.
%%* Dr. Zachary Smith from ''Series/LostInSpace''. Especially when you compare the original pilot (before Smith was introduced) with the remade version. %%More explanation, please.%%
* [[TheDitz Kelly]] [[BrainlessBeauty Bundy]] continually fell into this role on ''Series/MarriedWithChildren''. It's eventually {{Lampshaded}} by Peggy in one episode while the Bundys and the D'Arcys are being arrested by the police, when she realizes that it probably wasn't a good idea to let Kelly in on the plan of the week. Later seasons have her repeatedly teaming up with Bud, and her involvement typically turns things into an EpicFail of Biblical proportions. (Except for that one episode where she invented [[AppliedPhlebotinum Bleen]].)
** A purer example would be her mother, Peg. Although Kelly does on occasion come through and become successful (only for the Bundy curse or her own stupidity to cause her downfall), Peg is the lazy, snarky, selfish, [[HopeCrusher hope crushing]] {{Jerkass}} that usually ruins things for everyone, especially poor Al. An episode even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] her uselessness and calls her the laziest person in the ''world''.
* Inverted in ''{{Series/Merlin|2008}}''. Merlin plays this role in his more GenreSavvy moments to keep Arthur's ill-informed plans from going through. For example, ''Aithusa'', where Arthur decides to seek out and smash the last dragon egg[[note]]Dragons in this series are intelligent and this could be considered infanticide, but because Arthur's father raised him to hate magic, Arthur is convinced they are mindless monsters who need to be exterminated[[/note]], Merlin decides to go on ahead and nearly kills himself when the tower collapses, so they can't search through the ruins for it. Well, at least the egg is probably destroyed... or it would be, if it wasn't in Merlin's backpack.
** Played straight by many of the series' {{Muggles}}. The show's DrinkingGame page goes thusly: take a shot whenever Merlin could solve a problem in five minutes if A) [[BanOnMagic Magic wasn't banned on pain of death]], B) [[SuicidalOverconfidence They didn't just assume that they can kill anything and that any history that says only magic can kill something is just superstition]], and C) [[IgnoredExpert They didn't keep ignoring Merlin, despite the fact that he is always right]].
* In ''Series/TheMightyBoosh'', Howard and Vince take turns. Which is the true Millstone is too close to call, as they'll occasionally switch in the same episode. (see The Nightmare of Milky Joe) Their millstoning gets more prevalent when they leave the Zooniverse after season one, as Bob Fossil is no longer instigating episodes.
* ''Series/TheMole'' is a RealityTV show built entirely around this trope. The players add money to a jackpot by performing tasks, which The Mole tries to sabotage. Somewhat subverted, though: Every so often, there is a quiz that asks about The Mole (which, naturally, The Mole aces every time), and whoever knows the least is eliminated. The players, in order to screw with each other's knowledge and extend their own games, don't always give it their all, and thus the entire team becomes The Millstone.
* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation:'' While everyone that isn't Leslie Knope can hold back the department in question one way or another, depending on what's happening, Ron Swanson is the clearest example: he's the one that made sure to pick employees that wouldn't achieve much, and he himself only works hard in his position if it's in ways to cut the budget. He's a self-declared case of a millstone around the Parks Department's neck, because he's a hardline libertarian that thinks sandbagging the hell out of government offices is the best way to keep it from doing harm, so he does.
* Kate sabotages the outlaws' plans at least five times on ''Series/RobinHood'' for reasons ranging from "I can do it by myself!" to "I'm in a bad mood today!" to "Robin isn't paying enough attention to me!" to absolutely no logical reason at all. On at least three different occasions, her presence among the outlaws also turns several ''other'' characters into Millstones when they mess up the plans after getting distracted by whatever stupid mess she's managed to wander into.
* Neelix from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' caused nothing but trouble for Janeway and her crew. He destroyed a diplomatic gift Voyager gave as a way to please some violent natives, the Kazon (causing them to seek revenge and chase Voyager for several seasons), failed to find food and got a crew member killed when he was placed in charge of food gathering (this was by having the crewman do a useless task, collecting sun-dried bones for food use, alone without any thought about his safety) after the crew was marooned (even though Janeway found food in the cave ''they were sleeping in''), since he said he was a [[BlatantLies survival expert]]. [[EpicFail Poisoning the]] ''[[EpicFail ship]]'' (not the crew, the actual '''ship''') with his [[LethalChef cooking]]. At one point, he even committed bona-fide, premeditated ''treason'', with not even a slap on the wrist. Janeway not only made him morale officer, ship cook, but also a DIPLOMAT.
* ''Series/StepByStep'': Karen seems to fill this role often.
** In one episode of the first season in which the family went camping, Karen says she had found a rock that would make a perfect "pedicure stand". Too bad that rock had been holding the truck they had all ridden to the campsite in place -- and it ended up falling into the water.
** In another episode, when the family gets an answering machine, Karen only listens to the first message of two (that was for her) before leaving immediately. The second message is for Frank -- telling him to not come to a site, that it would be demolished instead. Frank could have gotten injured -- or worse -- had he not gotten out in time. If the message had been relayed, this would not have happened.
* This type of character is parodied in ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' in the "Get Me Hennimore!" sketches, where Hennimore inevitably screws up after his boss gives him two mutually exclusive and dangerous schemes and fails to properly explain which is which, such as denoting one room with the letter I and another with the number one, rendered as the Roman Numeral I! How can Hennimore ''possibly'' misunderstand that?
* Lori and Carl Grimes from ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'', particularly during the second season. Lori, with eventual shades of LadyMacbeth, serves as the third member of a LoveTriangle with Rick and Shane, shows no interest in learning self-defense, and eventually takes out one of the group's cars alone and proceeds to crash it. Carl, meanwhile, frees a zombie that ends up [[spoiler:killing Dale.]] Both are ''much'' more competent after the TimeSkip at the beginning of season three. [[spoiler:It's up for debate as to whether Lori survived long enough to be RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap.]]
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