Kim Bauer

The trope namer. Kim Bauer was a star character on "24," and while her character may have been divisive to say the least, she at least had an important role in the plot of the first season, being kidnapped by the terrorists to use as leverage against her father, Jack Bauer. In the second season, however, Elisha Cuthbert was still contracted in a star role, but the writers couldn't figure out a way to really work her into the main plot. What resulted was a series of misadventures so ridiculous that it felt insane they would ever be scripted into a series that would go on to win to a total of 20 Emmy Awards, let alone ever be broadcast on television. These included babysitting and getting involved in a domestic abuse drama, getting arrested for being in the wrong place in the wrong time and crashing the police car, and the low point of being menaced by a mountain lion in the wilderness and getting caught in a trap intended to catch said mountain lion. And viewers were supposed to care about this as it was unfolding around a high-stakes drama involving terrorist threats and nuclear explosions.

Example of:
Trapped by Mountain Lions