The 100th Article: Analyzing The Most Iconic and Flawed Sitcom Characters of all time and what makes them so iconic.
On October 5th, 2020 I started this journey with my first article talking about the history of the flawed sitcom characters that became true icons in American television history. Now we’re back again to take a deeper and more in-depth look at our favorite jackasses, liars, sleazeballs, and self absorbed neurotics and dig into what made them tick for this special 100th edition. Let’s get started shall we?
Ralph Kramden. The Honeymooners.
Now, we have to start with the OG lovable jerk that started it all. Ralph Kramden: Dreamer, Bus Driver, Fatso and loud mouthed bumbler who also was a devoted husband who despite his constant threats ( Bang, Zoom to the moon, Alice!) and screaming matches with his long suffering wife Alice he loved her dearly. So why is Ralph the way he is? How did a gorgeous and sensible woman like Alice fall in love with this egotistical big mouth? Well, let’s dissect Ralph’s character for a moment. If we break down all of the walls Ralph had built and strip away all his bravado, we get a typical toddler.
Ralph whines when he doesn’t get his way and throws a tantrum when challenged no different than any 2–4 year old kid. But his child like traits were also sweet and good natured, especially concerning his wife and his best friend.
A good psychiatrist might say that all of Ralph’s bluster and buffoonery is the sign of a deeply insecure man who has so little self esteem that he utterly can’t believe that a woman as beautiful, smart and amazing as Alice would fall in love with him, so he acts out his insecurities with aggression and wisecracks. I’m just a simple Medium writer but I’m inclined to agree with that idea.
It’s the duality of Ralph’s insecure and childish ways and that wonderful sweetness that really makes him a loud mouth worth loving. We also root for Ralph because he was the first representation of the average Joe working stiff in television that most men could relate to. He was a simple bus driver who had ambitions of being much more and giving his beloved Alice the life of luxury she deserved. Despite all his faults how can you not love a guy like that?
Archie Bunker. All In The Family.
Now, readers, I’m sure you remember Archie Bunker coming up quite a bit in more than a few past articles and that’s because the man is truly one of the greatest and most original characters ever created or portrayed. The character is so iconic that the name Archie Bunker has been turned into an archetype for a character in a script or book: “An Archie Bunker Type.” It’s also become a way to describe a certain type of person in real life that’s universally known by all even if they’d never seen All In The Family in their lives: “That guy’s such an Archie Bunker.” The genius of both his creator Norman Lear and his performer Carroll O’Connor is that they managed to make a character that should’ve been the most hated character in television history into one of the most beloved and recognizable. Archie was everything horrible: A racist; a misogynist; a homophobe; a religious hypocrite, rude, loud, arrogant, buffoonish, argumentative, self absorbed, endlessly grouchy and eternally stupid. And yet there was also such a stark contrast occasionally revealed: A loving father, husband and grandfather, a hardworking every man, a honest straight shooter, a backwards thinking person who’d never cause any real harm to anyone. At the end of the day Bunker was a harmless complainer who was used to the world one way and had a difficult time adjusting to the way it was changing. We all may not be Archie Bunker types per say, but I think we all can relate to feeling like the world is leaving us behind and we’re struggling to catch up to the many changes that take us by surprise.
Why is Archie the way he is you ask? It’s a classic case of environment forming our natures and Archie’s environment was filled with narrow mindedness and lack of expressing genuine emotion. Growing up with a father who was abusive and bigoted as all get out poisoned little Archie’s view of the world and it’s a wonder what would Archie have turned out like had he been raised by a much better man.
Would the prejudice and overall nasty disposition still be there? Or would more of Archie’s more tender and actually lovable traits be a much bigger part of his personality? After all, Archie did on occasion show genuine love and compassion for his family and that extended to Lionel Jefferson who despite Archie’s ignorant remarks,was someone Archie considered a good friend.
George Jefferson. The Jeffersons.
Cut from a similar but not the exact same cloth is George Jefferson, the short, bald, loud mouthed, cocky businessman with a heart of gold underneath the grouchy and forever resting angry face. While George does share Archie’s old school views of the world and the dynamics between whites and blacks, George’s prejudice against whites came from an entirely different experience and perspective than Bunker. While Archie’s bigotry comes from being taught prejudice, George’s bigotry came from receiving prejudice his whole life and constantly being looked down upon and stomped over by “Honkys”. George’s cynicism while not pleasant or always justified is very understandable when the world around him as he sees it keeps proving him right.
George Jefferson is a fighter and survivor and one of the things most admirable about George and what we as viewers love about him is that no matter how short he is or how big or powerful his opponent is, he’s always ready for a fight if they cross him or his loved ones. It’s that George Jefferson fire that only Sherman Hemsley ever could’ve portrayed so vividly and enjoyably.
Besides being old fashioned and having a short fuse, George was also a money obsessed strutting peacock and a temper tantrum throwing child when he didn’t get his way. But what George lacks in humility and a calm demeanor he more than makes up for in real heart, soul and a eternal loyalty to wife and son, and even towards his maid Florence and In Laws the Willises on occasion.
But over time George did evolve as his son and his wife birthed a daughter, Jessica Jefferson bringing the Jeffersons and Willises closer together than ever. George proved that he was capable of learning and growing as he saved the life of a KKK member who was having a heart attack. This was not the same George we knew from All In The Family and the earlier seasons, this George was able to be the bigger man (no pun intended… okay, maybe it was) and put aside his own disgust at the vile creature to do what he thought was right. Proving how much heart and compassion George had in his heart and how much better he was than the scum who saw him as less than.
Al Bundy. Married… with Children.
Al Bundy scored four touchdowns in one game for Polk High in 1966 and that shining moment was enough for Al to live off of for the rest of his very sad and pathetic life. Though’s Al’s life was quite literally hell on earth with a notoriously lazy and razor sharp tongue wife, a dimwitted, promiscuous daughter, a perverted, dateless son and a crappy job as a shoe salesman where he’s constantly dealing with rude overweight customers, poor Al’s only defense comes from his impeccable verbal skills. Al Bundy is the insult king, dishing out a killer barb is the one skill set Al possesses that nothing and nobody was ever able to take away from him.
In many ways, Al became the foul, foot smelling boob he became because of what he lost after his big High school triumph. When he got married to Peggy and got stuck at the shoe store for the rest of his life all that promise of a long, fulfilling career in Football was taken away from him. Having a dream just snatched from you would make anybody bitter, it’s no wonder poor Al was so miserable.
Was Al a pig? Yes. Was Al crude, rude and vile? Yes, again. Was Al the biggest sad sack in the world whose main lot in life was to be God’s punching bag? Most definitely yes. But despite Al Bundy’s many, many faults was a die hard loyal family man who despite his constant jokes about leaving his family for a much happier life filled with hooters and beer, he was never even close to actually doing it. What Al lacks as a husband he makes up for in true fidelity to Peg. What he lacks as a proper father he makes up for as a protective father to Kelly and a wise sage to Bud. Al may have never wanted to be Married with Children but he takes his responsibility seriously and that’s something every man should strive for.
Al Bundy was truly the every man who other regular guys could relate to. Guys whose lives were nothing but going to work at a crappy job, coming home to a family that doesn’t respect you, a stack of bills and whose only time of peace were sitting in front of the tv with a beer in one hand and the other hand in your pants. He was truly the working man’s hero because he put up with every amount of crap life threw at him and kept going.
“Al Bundy, Al Bundy. Brave, courageous and bold. Long live his fame and long live his glory and long may his story be told.”
Dan Fielding. Night Court.
The perfect way to describe Dan Fielding is by comparing him to a vile, foul, painfully annoying and lecherous pimple you can’t get rid of… But, maybe I’m being insulting to the pimple. Dan Fielding played by the immortal John Larroquette is one of tv’s greatest sleazeballs of all time. Dan was a sexually depraved, vitriolic and terribly sycophantic piece of slime who hit on any woman with a pulse and not even that when desperate. The man turned sexual harassment into an art form. Despite these less than flattering traits Dan was also one of the funniest characters in tv history, and John Larroquette was so adept at bringing Fielding to life that he earned four consecutive Emmys for the role, taking down his name for a fifth just to give someone else a fair chance. It’s a wonder how someone with as many loathsome traits as Dan became such an icon. Ohhhh, I know… he’s drop dead hilarious!
But like all the other iconic characters we’ve talked about so far, Dan also had that endearing side to him that revealed the decent, caring friend he really was on the inside. This is the same guy that kept it real with Harry after he quit being a judge and convinced him to return, who saved Roz’s life when in a diabetic daze almost falls off the roof of the courthouse by pretending to be her father and sticking with her the shot that saved her life, this is the same guy that delivered the babies of two women he actually grew to respect and like, and this is the guy who obviously meant so much to his friends that his being in a coma and being thought dead in a plane crash had them completely distraught. Dan Fielding may not have been a nice man but he was a good man. All his bravado and snide remarks were masking the lonely, insecure guy on the inside.
Louie Depalma. Taxi.
Louie Depalma… Probably the world’s most conniving, vile and disgusting human being on the face of the earth. Loud, obnoxious, foul mouthed, perverted and as verbally abusive as they come, Louie was the epitome of the boss from hell. In fact, I bet the gang at the Sunshine Cab Company actually wouldn’t have minded trading Louie for Satan himself just for a nice change of pace. Louie is a perfect example of the Napolean Complex, being so short he feels he has to yell as loud as he can and show off as much as he can just to get a little respect. His insecurities are what make us forgive his worst traits because even if we’re not literally small like Louie, we can feel as small as Louie at times. While Louie never changed for the better, the few times he briefly showed some humanity before reverting back to slime were enough to make us feel for the little snot.
George Costanza. Seinfeld.
George Costanza is a man who is forever controlled by his insecurities and idiosyncrasies. In fact, there have been plenty of times when he’s proud of the fact that he is “George Costanza, lord of the idiots.” No character in the history of sitcoms has ever been as completely selfish or as dark as George Costanza. This petty, short, bald, fat man has very little redeeming qualities. I mean, this is the guy who pushed through a bunch of children and old ladies to save himself from a kitchen fire, took an Chocolate Eclair out of a trash can and ate it, taught Jerry how to beat a lie detector test displaying true sociopathic tendencies “It’s not a lie if you believe it.” Got into a fight with the Bubble Boy over a stupid word game, tried to get a waitress who rejected him fired from her job by calling for her at work every few minutes, and showed restrained jubilation after hearing from the doctor that his Fiancee (whom he was trying to find a way to dump) died from toxic glue on wedding invitation envelopes. George might be the most despicable human being that’s ever existed… and yet I love him and identify with him as I’m sure every other Seinfeld fan does. George may be a hot mess but so are we, only he has the courage to be as small and as messed up as he is whereas we would never do or say the things George has due to society rules. But in some ways we can’t fully blame George for how he turned out. If you ever met his parents you’d understand how anybody could be as neurotic and crazy as George with those type of nutcases raising you.
All hail Costanza, lord of the idiots!
Martin Payne. Martin.
Martin Payne is very much a descendant of George Jefferson and the great Fred G. Sanford but with that special Martin Lawrence flavor. Martin Payne was the wild and animated host of WZUP radio and the loving and devoted boyfriend and friend to his long suffering girlfriend Gina and his boys Tommy and Cole. While he was ultimately a good natured and hilariously witty dude, a loyal and loving friend and boyfriend\husband who loved the kids, he was also materialistic, self absorbed, brash and overzealous which gave us some truly iconic episodes of Martin.
The duality of Martin’s good traits and bad and how that got him and out of trouble led many iconic episodes and moments on Martin and was a key to the success of the show as much as the characters and classic catchphrases were. Here was a guy who happily threw people out of his house for often minor infractions and made many enemies due to his naturally rude and abrasive nature, yet Gina saw through Martin’s bravado and saw the sweet natured and romantic soul in Martin Payne that made us fall in love with him too. They say behind every successful man there is a woman and Gina Waters Payne was that woman for Martin and kept him from going completely off the reservation.
Martin also had many enemies, his biggest ones were Gina’s best friend Pam and Ms. Jerry leading to some iconic battles. This is definitely the Fred Sanford part of Martin.
Much like Gina, we always see the good in Martin no matter what he does because we all know how much heart he really had under those giant ears.
A Thank You:
This is my 100th article on Medium and I’m just so thankful for every single one of my readers and followers for taking this journey with me so far and for staying on the journey as long as it goes on. When I started this whole thing a year ago I had no idea how much joy, enlightenment and growth as a writer I would experience because of it and I can’t wait to keep doing my thing for the next one hundred and the next one hundred after that. Like all these iconic and flawed characters we talked about here, the best and worst parts of us all is just apart of humanity and we never connect more than when we see that same humanity in others and that’s why like these characters and their tv shows we endure. Thank you all so much. Happy 100th!
