# When has Flanderization made a character/series unejoyable to you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** actor-characters\ **Created:** [December 30, 2022, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-flanderization-made-a-character-series-unejoyable-to-you/977312 "2022-12-30T00:27:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2023, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-flanderization-made-a-character-series-unejoyable-to-you/977312/41 "2023-01-01T00:20:15Z")
Randy Disher also got Flanderized into a klutzy loon ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2023, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-flanderization-made-a-character-series-unejoyable-to-you/977312/42 "2023-01-01T00:26:30Z")
Flanders started off with a pool table and beer on tap in his basement play room - and he makes a bet with Homer, resulting in Ned wearing a dress in public. That’s rather different from the straight-arrow Ned of the later years (and very different from the sanctimonious Ned after that). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2023, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-flanderization-made-a-character-series-unejoyable-to-you/977312/43 "2023-01-01T00:28:25Z")
I would have to have been better than Blackadder’s plan to pretend to be mad - who’d notice another madman? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2023, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-flanderization-made-a-character-series-unejoyable-to-you/977312/44 "2023-01-01T05:03:05Z")
Ross (and to a lesser extent, Monica) from Friends. Kind of a steady, accelerating trend from “ha-ha, what a lovable schlimazel!” to “this man is obviously suffering from emotional and psychiatric problems, and he’s not getting the help he needs.” ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2023, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-flanderization-made-a-character-series-unejoyable-to-you/977312/45 "2023-01-01T05:53:35Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I’m surprised they used Ned Flanders as the namesake of the trope. The guys who run TV Tropes don’t base their name choices or descriptions on much in the way of popular understanding or reality. They are mostly just making crap up. > [@Ranchoth](#): > > Kind of a steady, accelerating trend from “ha-ha, what a lovable schlimazel!” to “this man is obviously suffering from emotional and psychiatric problems, and he’s not getting the help he needs.” Which kind of ruined the finale, since it made no sense for the character who had grown the most - Rachel - to be at all interested in someone who had regressed. They would have split up in under two years after the show ended. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2023, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-flanderization-made-a-character-series-unejoyable-to-you/977312/46 "2023-01-01T08:05:52Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Kind of a steady, accelerating trend from “ha-ha, what a lovable schlimazel!” to “this man is obviously suffering from emotional and psychiatric problems, and he’s not getting the help he needs.” Didn’t he start out with a pet monkey? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2023, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-flanderization-made-a-character-series-unejoyable-to-you/977312/47 "2023-01-01T08:17:59Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The guys who run TV Tropes don’t base their name choices or descriptions on much in the way of popular understanding or reality. They are mostly just making crap up. IIRC, it started as a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fansite. I don’t think that back in 2004 they expected to become the site of record for documenting recurring themes in all media. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2023, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-flanderization-made-a-character-series-unejoyable-to-you/977312/48 "2023-01-01T08:18:45Z")
For Columbo, I always thought his whole schtick was purely an act designed completely to fool a suspect into not taking him seriously until it was too late. The example I can think of is Mr. Drysdale, the banker on _The Beverly Hillbillies_, and to a lesser extent Miss Jane Hathaway. Both were often complete clowns, but other times they seemed rather normal and efficient at their jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2023, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-flanderization-made-a-character-series-unejoyable-to-you/977312/49 "2023-01-01T13:30:38Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > For Columbo, I always thought his whole schtick was purely an act designed completely to fool a suspect into not taking him seriously until it was too late. Sure. But to me it feels like the act gets amped up a bit. Or at least people react more strongly to it. Admittedly not to the degree of some of the others. But when you have people mistaking him for homeless and the like, it’s a bit much. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2023, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-flanderization-made-a-character-series-unejoyable-to-you/977312/50 "2023-01-01T18:27:55Z")
Speaking of Columbo, has everyone seen this Columbo/Frasier crossover cartoon > Frasier is just the kind of person that Columbo would drive up the wall. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-flanderization-made-a-character-series-unejoyable-to-you/977312.md?page=2)