Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass of Gossip Girl, and Nancy Botwin, played by Mary-Louise Parker on Weeds, top Common Sense Media’s list of the “10 Worst TV Role Models.” The Gossip Girl duo represent the “ultimate mean girl” and a “drinking, drugging gigolo,” while Botwin “makes consistently terrible parenting decisions, getting her sons caught up in a world of drug dealing, crime, and violence” (that’s only good enough for #3?).
Other’s making the list: Michael Scott, played by Steve Carell on The Office (“so self-absorbed that he can’t see beyond his own ambitions”); Peter Griffin of Family Guy (“watches way too much TV, for starters”); and Naomi Clark on 90210 (“conniving, manipulative, and out for herself”). If kids and teens watch these shows, Common Sense Media suggests parents use the characters on-screen behaviors for discussion. “Even negative role models can open the door to a discussion of what is and isn’t acceptable behavior,” they note.
