# The Closer - Brenda's parents annoying?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-closer-brendas-parents-annoying/504686
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 29, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-closer-brendas-parents-annoying/504686 "2009-07-29T17:42:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Lillith\_Fair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lillith_Fair)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-closer-brendas-parents-annoying/504686/1 "2009-07-29T17:42:09Z")
Is anyone else as annoyed as I am when they again bring up Brenda’s parents/family? Once again, one of them calls and Brenda is too busy to talk. They may or may not show up and Brenda has to tap dance around them.
Guess what? She has a demanding job. I wish they would leave her parents out of it.
Why does it bother Fritz that Brenda has other things to do? It shouldn’t be a surprise by now.
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### Author:  [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-closer-brendas-parents-annoying/504686/2 "2009-07-29T17:57:19Z")
> [@Lillith\_Fair](#):
>
> Is anyone else as annoyed as I am when they again bring up Brenda’s parents/family? Once again, one of them calls and Brenda is too busy to talk. They may or may not show up and Brenda has to tap dance around them.
>
> Guess what? She has a demanding job. I wish they would leave her parents out of it.
>
> Why does it bother Fritz that Brenda has other things to do? It shouldn’t be a surprise by now.
I like her parents in small doses. The Christmas double episode where they’re traveling cross-country in the RV was way too much of them, but I have mostly enjoyed their appearances.
Family doesn’t disappear just because you have a demanding job. It’s realistic for her to have to deal with her parents a few times a year, and realistic for them to drive her a little crazy. Crazier than she is already - I think Fritz has the patience of an angel, myself.
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### Author:  [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-closer-brendas-parents-annoying/504686/3 "2009-07-29T17:58:41Z")
Hey, I’ve never seen this show, but as it happens I’ll be dining in the near future with one of the lead writers. If you have any questions, let me know… 😉
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-closer-brendas-parents-annoying/504686/4 "2009-07-29T18:22:44Z")
Her parents are \*supposed \*to be annoying. That’s part of the reason Brenda doesn’t like to deal with them.
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### Author:  [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-closer-brendas-parents-annoying/504686/5 "2009-07-29T18:27:35Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> Her parents are \*supposed \*to be annoying. That’s part of the reason Brenda doesn’t like to deal with them.
In part, but I don’t think they’re any more annoying than most parents. Also, part of the theme is that she gets all worked up anticipating how they MIGHT react to something – always negatively – and they don’t. So yes they can be a little irritating, but she also has a case of anticipating the worst and being way off base.
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### Author:  [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-closer-brendas-parents-annoying/504686/6 "2009-07-29T20:01:06Z")
I don’t watch the show, myself. My wife watches it, and I will sometimes watch it over her shoulder. The reason I can’t watch it? Brenda.
I just want to punch her face in. Compared to her, every other character in the show is downright likable.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-closer-brendas-parents-annoying/504686/7 "2009-07-29T20:06:50Z")
> [@Claire\_Beauchamp](#):
>
> In part, but I don’t think they’re any more annoying than most parents. Also, part of the theme is that she gets all worked up anticipating how they MIGHT react to something – always negatively – and they don’t. So yes they can be a little irritating, but she also has a case of anticipating the worst and being way off base.
And that never happens in real life?
Her mother is OK, but her father is definitely overbearing and hard to put up with.
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### Author:  [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-closer-brendas-parents-annoying/504686/8 "2009-07-29T20:10:09Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> Her parents are \*supposed \*to be annoying. That’s part of the reason Brenda doesn’t like to deal with them.
There’s a reason Brenda took a job 3,000 miles away from them (well, there’s a couple of reasons, but her parents are two of them).
And as a quick aside, this is far and away the best off-season series on television.
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### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-closer-brendas-parents-annoying/504686/9 "2009-07-29T20:10:31Z")
To Brenda’s credit, she defied her father about what college she was attending and what career she wanted to pursue. I don’t know if it’s some Hollywood writer’s idea of a Southern family…everyone is polite and no one dares goes against MeeMaw and PawPaw without a whole lot of angst.
Brenda is very good at her job, but it’s been established she’s a bit scattered in her personal life. As for Fritz, I think he’s very very yummy and as Chandler told Monica, he knows she’s high maintenance, but that’s okay, since he’s the one maintaining her.
Sorry, **Hal** , I think _Burn Notice_ has the edge as far as the best summer cable series goes. I like both.
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-closer-brendas-parents-annoying/504686/10 "2009-07-29T20:15:35Z")
They’re nothing compared to his sister, played by Amy Sedaris. Love the actress, hate, hate, hate the character.
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### Author:  [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-closer-brendas-parents-annoying/504686/11 "2009-07-29T20:49:49Z")
> [@ivylass](#):
>
> Sorry, **Hal** , I think _Burn Notice_ has the edge as far as the best summer cable series goes. I like both.
I never gave it a chance. One of my observations about soon-to-debut shows is that the ratio of bikinis to quality plots is inversely proportionate. _Burn Notice_’s previews couldn’t go more than a few seconds without showing the cheesecake, so I never bothered.
Never said it was a perfect observation, though.
> [@ftg](#):
>
> They’re nothing compared to his sister, played by Amy Sedaris. Love the actress, hate, hate, hate the character.
Oh yeah…she makes me all kinds of nun-punchy.
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### Author:  [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-closer-brendas-parents-annoying/504686/12 "2009-07-29T22:16:42Z")
Brenda rarely takes a vacation (IIRC her honeymoon and the RV Ride from Hell were it). It’s clear that, if she’s at home, she’s going to get called into work because, as she said in the last ep, murders can happen at any time. Thus, she’s probably better off either going to see them, or all of them going somewhere else entirely. It’s a lame plot device to have them keep coming to LA, where they are clearly uncomfortable, and when she will have to blow them off for work, inevitably.
As for Fritz, well, I do think he’s trying to change her. He knew what she was like when he met her. He was pretty nice about the Kitty thing, though, and he’s a good guy at heart. He just might want to accept her a little more and guilt trip her a little less. If the genders were reversed, no doubt he would be seen as a nagging wife who can’t accept the way her husband makes a living.