The Good, the Bad, and the Mediocre
Annoying sitcom neighbors
The Good:
Steven Q. Urkel from Family Matters
The guy that launched a thousand nerd stereotypes. He wasn’t even in the regular cast at first, but once he stepped over the threshold of the Winslow house, broke a Ming vase or something, and uttered, “Did I do that?” America was hooked. Honest to a fault, he embodied everything about the classic underdog: the social awkwardness, his wiry and slight frame, and wearing suspenders on pants that fit perfectly well already. Ever see those guys that wear suspenders and a belt? What the hell is up with that? Make up your mind, buddy. You have to take risks at some point in your life.
Jaleel White, who played Urkel on the series, must have no ego at all, because the producers put him in so many stupid situations and costumes. He didn’t just play the loveable, bumbling nerd, but also dressed up in petticoats and a Sunday dress to be his Southern cousin, Myrtle Urkel, his wayward “gangsta” cousin OGD (Original Gangsta Dawg), and he donned a suit and took off his glasses to become his genetically-altered self (later clone) Stephan Urqell. The latter character was supposed to be his “cool” persona, but it just made Jaleel White’s astigmatism even more evident. I hope he laughed all the way to the bank with those roles, because there’s no way he can ever be taken seriously as an actor again.
The Bad:
Harriet Brindle from Small Wonder
I understand that the sitcom neighbor is supposed to be annoying, but are we really supposed to want to cave his/her face in with a bat? Harriet Brindle (played by Emily Schulman) had no redeeming qualities to gain the audience’s sympathy. She was in love with Jamie Lawson, an equally repellant child that co-starred with the robot V.I.C.K.I. Harriet would section off her pigtails with yarn. She would climb through windows when locked out of the front door. And every word she uttered was like having a turkey thermometer jammed in your ear. Considering his two closest female peers were Harriet and an unfeeling robot that lived in his wardrobe, it’s safe to say that Jamie Lawson ended up being a homo.
The Mediocre:
Wilson from Home Improvement
The faceless and uni-named Wilson from Home Improvement was actually a good fit for the show, which itself was painfully mediocre. The shtick with Wilson was that lead character Tim Taylor would ask him for advice through their shared fence, and Wilson would impart sage wisdom, calling on a seemingly endless bank of philosophical and practical knowledge. And you never saw his face! Isn’t that hysterical? How can a guy with no face know so much about life? God, that’s hilarious! People who read too deeply into these kinds of things probably thought that Wilson represented an everyman; a person that could represent any one of us, and the feats we might accomplish if we applied ourselves and our minds to pursuing our dreams. More realistic people understood that, by not showing his face, they only had to pay the actor who played Wilson half-scale.
NOTE: While Wilson was not really an annoying neighbor, the sitcom itself is annoying, and all of the characters on it by extension.
The Good:
Steven Q. Urkel from Family Matters
The guy that launched a thousand nerd stereotypes. He wasn’t even in the regular cast at first, but once he stepped over the threshold of the Winslow house, broke a Ming vase or something, and uttered, “Did I do that?” America was hooked. Honest to a fault, he embodied everything about the classic underdog: the social awkwardness, his wiry and slight frame, and wearing suspenders on pants that fit perfectly well already. Ever see those guys that wear suspenders and a belt? What the hell is up with that? Make up your mind, buddy. You have to take risks at some point in your life.
Jaleel White, who played Urkel on the series, must have no ego at all, because the producers put him in so many stupid situations and costumes. He didn’t just play the loveable, bumbling nerd, but also dressed up in petticoats and a Sunday dress to be his Southern cousin, Myrtle Urkel, his wayward “gangsta” cousin OGD (Original Gangsta Dawg), and he donned a suit and took off his glasses to become his genetically-altered self (later clone) Stephan Urqell. The latter character was supposed to be his “cool” persona, but it just made Jaleel White’s astigmatism even more evident. I hope he laughed all the way to the bank with those roles, because there’s no way he can ever be taken seriously as an actor again.
The Bad:
Harriet Brindle from Small Wonder
I understand that the sitcom neighbor is supposed to be annoying, but are we really supposed to want to cave his/her face in with a bat? Harriet Brindle (played by Emily Schulman) had no redeeming qualities to gain the audience’s sympathy. She was in love with Jamie Lawson, an equally repellant child that co-starred with the robot V.I.C.K.I. Harriet would section off her pigtails with yarn. She would climb through windows when locked out of the front door. And every word she uttered was like having a turkey thermometer jammed in your ear. Considering his two closest female peers were Harriet and an unfeeling robot that lived in his wardrobe, it’s safe to say that Jamie Lawson ended up being a homo.
The Mediocre:
Wilson from Home Improvement
The faceless and uni-named Wilson from Home Improvement was actually a good fit for the show, which itself was painfully mediocre. The shtick with Wilson was that lead character Tim Taylor would ask him for advice through their shared fence, and Wilson would impart sage wisdom, calling on a seemingly endless bank of philosophical and practical knowledge. And you never saw his face! Isn’t that hysterical? How can a guy with no face know so much about life? God, that’s hilarious! People who read too deeply into these kinds of things probably thought that Wilson represented an everyman; a person that could represent any one of us, and the feats we might accomplish if we applied ourselves and our minds to pursuing our dreams. More realistic people understood that, by not showing his face, they only had to pay the actor who played Wilson half-scale.
NOTE: While Wilson was not really an annoying neighbor, the sitcom itself is annoying, and all of the characters on it by extension.
posted by Reggie Hemingway at
12:12 PM
1 Comments:
OK, So i agreed with the first two, but wilson w. wilson being mediocre? they guy that singlehandedly saved the taylor marriage, and family structure, week after week? The same guy that was cousins with the beach boys? I mean seriously, the show blew like a hurricane, but wilson should have recieved his own spin off show.
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