If you know me at all (or have read enough of my posts) then you know I absolutely love bad teen TV shows. I have a hole in my heart that still hasn’t filled up since The OC went off air and you really don’t want to know how many times I’ve watched Gossip Girl all the way through.
Despite how much I love this gloriously soapy, corny, incestuous shows, even I can admit that most of the acting on TV television is just straight up awful. Of course, some teen TV show actors are worse than others – these are five of the more cringe-worth performances we’ve seen in recent years.
5. Jacob Zachar as Rusty Cartwright on Greek
Okay, I get it. His character was supposed to be super awkward. Still, I couldn’t help but wince every time this guy delivered a line – the effect was especially obvious because most of his scenes were with the scene-stealing, dry-humored Clark Duke, who played his froomie, (that’s friend/roomie) Dale. There was something about this guy’s monotonous voice – it was just so….blah. With that being said, he and Jen K, his season one girlfriend, matched each other really ’cause she was just as awkwardly monotonous. Tell me one thing, though: Why did he have the world’s thickest Chicago accent while his onscreen sister had no hint of one?
4. Mischa Barton as Marissa Cooper on The OC
First of all, she did this weird single-shoulder-raise/tuck-a-strand-of-hair-behind-ear gesture about eight time per episode, which makes me think she watched all Dawson’s Creek episodes to glean acting inspiration from Katie Holmes. This was her first mistake. Her fake crying scenes were spectacularly awful. Her acting was somehow not enough and way too much at the same time. In her defense, the show basically fell on its face without her but I’ll go ahead and credit her character for that rather than her as a actress.
3. Keegan Allen as Toby Cavanaugh on Pretty Little Liars
I feel bad saying anything about Keegan because he really seems like an awesome guy. Still, on a show that actually has some decent (by teen TV standards) acting – Troian Bellisario, who plays his onscreen girlfriend, is particularly solid – Keegan’s wooden performance is pretty obvious. It’s weird because he has such an intensity about him….but the minute he opens his mouth, it’s underwhelming. I feel like we’re supposed to see so much pain from Toby but Keegan’s performance just doesn’t go deep enough. Yes, I’m throwing out jargon used by my old acting teacher.
2. Ashlee Simpson as Violet Foster on Melrose Place
Fun fact: Ashlee’s acting was bad that she was fired from the show halfway through her first season. If you watched this show, you know why. If you haven’t, it’s on Netflix and it is so bad yet soooo good. Anyway, even though the show only lasted one season, it was abundantly clear that Ashlee was the worse thing about it. I don’t think she’s acted much since which makes sense: Watching her attempt to play a creepy character was super uncomfortable and not in a good way.
1. Shanae Grimes as Annie Wilson on 90210
The minute I saw her jerking around on stage manically while attempting to perform a song from Spring Awakening, I knew we were in for something very, very bad. This girl managed to turn the protagonist – the person we were supposed to root for – into one of the most annoying characters ever. It was even worse because Shanae Grimes was always blaming the writers for everything (saying she had ‘no connection’ to her character? Um, hello? Isn’t that kind of what being an actor is all about?) Her acting was just so, so painful to watch. She was somehow incredibly whiny and incessantly perky at the same time….it was just a hot damn mess. The weirdest part? Her character was a ‘talented actress,’ which was the least believable thing about this ridiculous show. Case in point: This.
