‘Why hasn’t she divorced him yet?’
“Who do you think is the worst sitcom husband?” u/IdkJustMe123 asked the r/Sitcoms subreddit this week before offering this opinion: “I think it’s Ray from Everybody Loves Raymond. There were just too many times I thought ‘why hasn’t she divorced him yet?!’” Did fellow sitcom aficionados agree? Who else made the list? Here’s what the fans had to say.
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Ray from ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’
Is Ray really such a lousy spouse? u/Battarray thinks so. “I don’t know if it’s because I’m a husband, or because I’m a guy, or both, but Raymond Barone is just too painfully stupid to watch. I cannot stand a single aspect of the entire character.”
“Everyone was so fucking horrible to each other and had horribly toxic relationships,” said u/Electronic-Mine1724.
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That includes Ray’s dad, Frank Barone. “The Dad is far worse than Ray in my opinion,” said u/jjmawaken. “Ray says and does dumb things but Frank outright tells Marie really mean things all the time.”
Ralph Kramden from ‘The Honeymooners’
“Ralph Kramden, anyone?” asked u/LetEdgarIn, sparking mild debate about Ralph’s qualifications as a husband.
u/Top-Philosophy-5791 was a defender, citing Ralph’s “Baby, you’re the greatest” catchphrase. “He was a buffoon, a blue collar pipe dreamer and a bully to his best friend. Surprisingly complicated character for a sitcom.”
But others weren’t having it. “You can’t romanticize ‘You’re the greatest’ and forget ‘straight to the moon,’” countered u/LetEdgarIn. “At best, the man had horrible mood swings. He loved his wife when she met him entirely on his terms. Anything less was met with threats, glares, and non-stop screaming.”
Archie Bunker from ‘All in the Family’
“I thought Archie Bunker was condescending to Edith,” offered u/imdstuf, “but I was young when I watched it so I may be remembering wrong.”
“You are not wrong,” confirmed u/lorriefiel. “Archie generally was verbally abusive to Edith, if nothing else. He reminded me very much of my paternal grandfather.”
Archie also had his defenders, with some Redditors claiming “dingbat” was simply a term of affection. “At the end of the day,” argues u/Ab198303, “Archie would do, and does, anything for his wife.”
But most comments were in line with u/Leftturn0619. “He was/is the worst husband on TV.”
Honorable Mentions
While many Redditors agreed that animated husbands acted more outrageously almost by definition (and perhaps didn’t even qualify as sitcom characters), both Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson got votes for worst husband. Bob from Bob’s Burgers, on the other hand, was recognized as one of the good guys.
George Costanza never officially made it to husband-hood, but u/MonoCoinSignal thought it was worth pointing out that he poisoned his fiancee with expired wedding invitation glue. Worst future sitcom husband, perhaps?
And don’t forget that Ross from Friends was married multiple times without earning Husband of the Year awards. “He was so in love with another woman that he said her name at the altar,” reminded u/LinsarysStorm.
“He was the WORST,” said u/Minimum-Interview800. “I feel like he probably would have realized Carol was a lesbian if he ever pulled his head out of his own ass.”
