Can't think of sitcom characters who were't flanderized

[King Ghidorah]

Not the straight or lead man, and over multiple seasons *2 or more* I'm drawing a blank. A blank FAN, _______, any sitcom character keep their soul?

[Red Impact]

Darryl from The Office, maybe? I guess it really depends on how strict/loose we're being with the descriptor.

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

Bill McNeill (Phil Hartman) on Newsradio stayed pretty consistent

[Martin: #TeamBella Treasurer]

Although his screen time was increased from Season 2 onwards, I think Niles Crane was pretty much the same, great, Maris-fearing character in the early seasons of Frasier, well until that awful Season 8.

[dav]

Most of those from Dad's Army were mostly the same as time went on. Helped that they resembled their actors in several respects.

[Deleted]

Richard Burke (Tom Selleck) in Friends seemed pretty consistent over the course of the show's run.

[Hit Girl]

Jun 22, 2014 14:06:44 GMT -5 @mightykretzler said:

Richard Burke (Tom Selleck) in Friends seemed pretty consistent over the course of the show's run.

Was a recurring character. Used sparingly.


Of all the characters on Friends, I'd say Rachel escaped Flanderisation for the most part.

She started off as a spoiled shopping nut, but over time improved and became more responsible and mature.

[Deleted]

Jun 22, 2014 14:10:56 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

Jun 22, 2014 14:06:44 GMT -5 @mightykretzler said:

Richard Burke (Tom Selleck) in Friends seemed pretty consistent over the course of the show's run.

Was a recurring character. Used sparingly.


Of all the characters on Friends, I'd say Rachel escaped Flanderisation for the most part.

She started off as a spoiled shopping nut, but over time improved and became more responsible and mature.

Yeah, I guess you're right. He did only have ten episodes, but he stayed perfectly consistent and had a defined character, which made him pretty unusual by sitcom standards.

Rachel was pretty normal. At the start of the show she was insufferable, but gradually it started to feel like Jen Aniston was placing more of herself into the role and felt a lot more natural.

On that same count, Phoebe had a really weird parabola of normalcy. For the first two seasons she was pretty believable, got really weird for a while, and then around like season 8, she got back into being a believable character again. She's probably the only character I can think of who got really Flanderized and then reversed it during the show's run.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

I'd argue that Turk and Cox from Scrubs both managed to avoid this. They learned some lessons and then managed to survive them with their characters intact.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

I don't understand what is meant by "flanderized". Did something happen to Ned recently?

[Hit Girl]

Jun 22, 2014 15:27:24 GMT -5 El Pollo Guerrera said:

I don't understand what is meant by "flanderized". Did something happen to Ned recently?

It's when a relatively low key trait of a character is exaggerated over time to become their defining persona

It comes from Ned Flanders who at first was just a rather annoying smug richer neighbour with a better family than the Simpsons who was also a goody two-shoes Christian

Over time, his Christianity has defined the character, to an fundamentalist level.

[Red Impact]

Jun 22, 2014 15:27:24 GMT -5 El Pollo Guerrera said:

I don't understand what is meant by "flanderized". Did something happen to Ned recently?

Well, he loses wives a lot...

But it's the internet term for when a sitcom takes a quirk or trait of a character and gradualy makes it more and more extreme to the point where it basically becomes that character's entire, well, character. Named for him because he started out as a caring father who happened to be fairly devout, to his religion completely becoming him.

Other examples would include anyone who became stupider in a series as time went on (Homer, Joey Tribiani, Eric Matthews) to the point where that stupidity encompassed their entire character.

I don't know if I'd say that Cox escaped it, since his sarcasm really ratcheted up, but the Janitor did.

[Spider2024]

Theo Huxtable.

I'm saying Theo Huxtable because he had a good redemption story that played out throughout the series. He was the problem child for a long time, but by the end he was a full grown man.

Also I want to say Hillary Banks from Fresh Prince Of Bel Air. She definitely grew up by the end. She wasn't as materialistic as she was in the beginning, at least it didn't feel that way.

[Deleted]

You know, I can't help but feel this only applies to american sitcoms.

[Red Impact]

Jun 22, 2014 17:21:37 GMT -5 @rainbowrandy said:

You know, I can't help but feel this only applies to american sitcoms.

Honestly, from the British sitcoms I've watched, that's probably true. Successful American shows have have two issues that contribute, the number of episodes that they have to write for and network not wanting to change the status quo, so the writers have to fall on it as a crutch. British shows seem like they either go cartoonishly absurd with the character from the start, like Moss or Basil Fawlty, or they up and change the status quo completely every so often to avoid it (Blackadder). And they often have fewer episode spread over a longer period of time that the writers have fewer new jokes to come up with for the exact same characters. A standard US season typically lasts as long as the IT crowd's entire run.

[wildojinx]

Cliff Huxtable? Archie Bunker? Jerry Seinfeld (yes, the rest became flanderized, but Jerry remained the only sane man for pretty much the whole series)?

EDIT: Forgot to read the OP. How about Wilson from Home Improvement? Or Mr. Feeny?

[Munkie91087]

I don't feel like any of the characters on Cheers got flanderized too much.

[Amazing Kitsune]

Martin Crane and Niles Crane stayed pretty constant and when Niles did evolve, it wasn't into a flanderized version of himself--it was into a mature-er version of himself.

[Red Impact]

Jun 22, 2014 20:46:35 GMT -5 wildojinx said:

Cliff Huxtable? Archie Bunker? Jerry Seinfeld (yes, the rest became flanderized, but Jerry remained the only sane man for pretty much the whole series)?

EDIT: Forgot to read the OP. How about Wilson from Home Improvement? Or Mr. Feeny?

I'd say that Feeny's gimmick of following them wherever they went definitely became too much of a gimmick to say he truly avoided it.

[austinariesfan88]

Its hard to find a sitcom where characters weren't flanderized, but some made it work though like Eric from Boy Meets world or Andy from Parks and Rec.