'The Slap': 20 TV Kids We'd Like to Slap [Photos]

Dylan Schombing, Melissa George, and Thandie Newton in 'The Slap'
Dylan Schombing, Melissa George, and Thandie Newton in 'The Slap'

NBC's The Slap deals with the painful fallout after a man strikes a misbehaving five-year-old at a party. The miniseries has touched off a serious national debate about corporal punishment: its benefits, its costs, and its effects on children and their parents.

Whatevs. All The Slap makes us think about is all the other TV kids who could use a good smack.

No, no, no... we're not advocating hitting children — at least, not real children. But since there are so many annoying fictional children, there's no harm in counting down which ill-behaved, ill-mannered, or just ill-in-the-head kids throughout TV history could have benefited from a fictional slap in the face.

Related: 'The Slap' Premiere Review: Hitting a Kid is Just the Beginning

The rules for our smackdown countdown: each character had to have been about 12 and under when their show began (adding smackable TV teens would have made it impossible to limit this list to 20). Also, we're talking characters, not the actors themselves. In fact, our visceral reaction to these characters is a testament to these child actors' skills.

So click the image below or HERE to check out our gallery of 20 TV kids we'd like to slap:

(Additional contributors: Ethan Alter, Kristen Baldwin, Mandi Bierly, Breanne Heldman, Dave Nemetz, and Kimberly Potts)