History Characters / FIsForFamilyMurphyFamily

* {{Expy}}: Stan is a less sympathetically portrayed version of [[Series/That70sShow Red Forman]], with a streak of the sadistic cruelty of [[Franchise/RoboCop Clarence Boddicker]].

* ObnoxiousInLaws: They hate Frank for ruining their daughter's life with a ShotgunWedding, and they even wonder about ways to get rid of him, telling Sue that they know the bishop and can make their marriage disappear. Frank shares mutual enmity for them. Although, at Thanksgiving when Frank is cussing out Stan and Louis, he takes the time to say he enjoyed Marilyn's company and story about the ducks and hopes they aren't killed. Which she, in turn, was clearly touched by.

* ParentalNeglect: Frank reminds them about their other child, Louis, [[spoiler: whom they have disowned after he was outed as being gay]]. Stan himself does his own form of neglect in that he gives his grandkids a lot of money but doesn't seem to want to spend a lot of time with them.
* PetTheDog: Marilyn is much kinder than her husband and doesn't seem to bear Frank any ill will, and Frank reciprocates this by speaking kindly to her even amidst a tirade against Stan and Louis. She is also still in contact with Louis, although her interactions with him are sporadic. It is Marilyn who tells Sue that part of the reason for Louis's estrangement was her outing him to his parents.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Marilyn gives Stan a small one in season 5 when Stan brushes off Sue's threat to not have her parents in her life if Stan won't try to spend Thanksgiving with Louis. She points out how his attitude is and how she doesn't want to spend her golden years with just him and wants to be involved in her kids and grandkids' lives. Combined with Sue's crying, Stan relents to be cordial, but not actually change. But it IS something.

* WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant: They're both white Protestants who are wealthy enough to be members of a country club. Stan also holds bigoted views against his son for being gay and his son-in-law for being Irish.

* FatalFlaw: Sue is rather self-absorbed, and neglects or outrights dismisses her friends' and family's problems in favor of focusing on her own. She also ignores all of her own shortcomings as a wife and mother in favor of pinning all the blame on Frank, which nearly caused their marriage to collapse in Season 2 when she tries to encourage him to be more open about his feelings, [[MortonsFork only to still get angry when he does exactly that]].

** Another flaw of his is that he's selfish. Although Frank did suffer as he had an abusive father, he was drafted into the war while he was in his late teens or early twenties, and he and Sue basically became parents before either of them was able to enjoy their twenties, it doesn't excuse how he treats his family. To Frank, he's the only one who's truly suffered more than others and nothing compares to what he went through. [[spoiler:After his dad dies, Sue calls Frank out on always [[NeverMyFault finding someone to blame for his shortcomings]]. This makes Frank realize that he needs to do more to be a better parent and let go of his horrible past.]]

** Another flaw of his is that he's selfish. Although Frank did suffer as he had an abusive father, he was drafted into the war while he was in his late teens or early twenties, and he and Sue basically became parents before either of them was able to enjoy their twenties, it doesn't excuse how he treats his family. To Frank, he's the only one who's truly suffered more than others and nothing compares to what he went through. [[spoiler:After his dad dies, the entire family calls Frank out on always [[NeverMyFault finding someone to blame for his shortcomings]]. This makes Frank realize that he needs to do more to be a better parent and let go of his horrible past.]]

** Another flaw of his is that he's selfish. Although Frank did suffer as he had an abusive father, he was drafted into the war while he was in his late teens or early twenties, and he and Sue basically became parents before either of them was able to enjoy their twenties, it doesn't excuse how he treats his family. To Frank, he's the only one who's truly suffered more than others and nothing compares to what he went through. [[spoiler: After his dad dies, calls Frank out on always finding someone to blame for his shortcomings. This makes Frank realize that he needs to do more to be a better parent and let go of his horrible past.]]

** Another flaw of his is that he's selfish. Although Frank did suffer as he had an abusive father, he was drafted into the war while he was in his late teens or early twenties, and he and Sue basically became parents before either of them was able to enjoy their twenties. To Frank, he's the only one who's truly suffered more than others and nothing compares to what he went through. [[spoiler: After his dad dies, calls Frank out on always finding someone to blame for his shortcomings. This makes Frank realize that he needs to do more to be a better parent and let go of his horrible past.]]

* FatalFlaw: Frank's [[HairTriggerTemper wrath]] is the biggest source of conflict between him and his family, friends, and co-workers. His [[PrideBeforeAFall pride]] also gets him into a lot of trouble with his job and his wife.

* CrossDressingVoices: Bill is voiced by female singer Haley Reinhart, who sang "O Holy Night" in the Season 1 finale.

* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Sensitive guy to Kevin's manly man, though this becomes inverted somewhat as the series progresses.

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: He's foul-mouthed, temperamental, and is prone to being very insensitive to the feelings of others. In many other sitcoms, he wouldn't be seen as even half as likable as he is here. It helps that 1), the show drives home that he loves his family as much as possible, and 2), he's surrounded by people that are [[ALighterShadeOfGrey:''much'' worse.]]

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: He's foul-mouthed, temperamental, and is prone to being very insensitive to the feelings of others. In many other sitcoms, he wouldn't be seen as even half as likable as he is here. It helps that 1), the show drives home that he loves his family as much as possible, and 2), he's surrounded by people that are ''much'' worse.

* ChristmasCake: She is unmarried in her 30s and still lives with her mother, who is still pushing her to find a man and get married. [[spoiler:She turns out to be a lesbian.]]

* TheBabyOfTheBunch: She's the youngest member of the murphy family, Due to her age as a baby.

* Expy: Stan is a less sympathetically portrayed version of [[Series/That70sShow Red Forman]], with the sadistic cruelty of [[Franchise/Robocop Clarence Boddicker]].

** [[spoiler:At his funeral in the Season 5 premiere, it's revealed that the entire town loved and idolized Big Bill without being aware at just how bad things were for his wife and children, as a frustrated Frank has to sit through condolences from various neighbors and friends saying what a wonderful man Big Bill was, with Dick Sawitzki's son Chuck claiming that Big Bill was a better father to him than his own father was. And Dick ''agreeing'. Later on in the series, Dick acknowledges the pain Frank suffered at the hands of his father, but does try to justify it by saying that Big Bill truly loved his family, but just didn't know any better about being a husband or father.]]

* TeensAreShort: He's about the same heigh as his grandfather, who has shrunk a good deal in his old age.

* CatchPhrase: "I will put you down that fucking well!" Frank's own CatchPhrase, "I will put you through that fucking wall", was specifically made to reference his fathers old threat, while also making more sense, since there was almost never a well nearby when Bill used it, but there's almost always a wall around.

* TeensAreShort

* AManIsAlwaysEager: Deconstructed. As a 14-year-old boy, Kevin's hormones are unbridled and he's easily aroused by women. So when Cutie Pie has sex with him after mistaking him for an older man and believing his erection was equal to consent, Kevin is both horrified and deeply confused by what happened. Kevin didn't fully understand what he was consenting to or how he was being taken advantage of by an older woman. Cutie Pie then blames him for being sexually assaulted and scares him into keeping quiet by telling him that Vic will hurt him for sleeping with his girlfriend.

* RomanticizedAbuse: [[spoiler:Averted. Not only is the sex between 14 year old Kevin, and Vic's adult girlfriend portrayed as extremely wrong, but we actually get to see the very realistic consequences play out, which directly stem from Kevin's young age, newfound sexual feelings, and inability to fully understand the consequences of what he was agreeing to in the moment. Vic later helps explain this to a very self loathing Kevin, putting it that at his age "Once your dick gets hard, nothing makes sense."]]

* AManIsAlwaysEager: Deconstructed. As a 14-year-old boy, Kevin's hormones are unbridled and he's easily aroused by women. So when Cutie Pie has sex with him after mistaking him for an older man and believing his erection was equal to consent, Kevin is both horrified and deeply confused by what happened. Kevin didn't fully understand what he was consenting to or how he was being taken advantage of by an older woman. Cutie Pie then blames him for being sexually assaulted and scares him into keeping quiet by telling him that Vic will hurt him for sleeping with his wife.

** UpToEleven in Season 4 where he struggles to read a small pamphlet. He also didn't know about Creator/JRRTolkien or his works despite his favorite band taking a lot of inspiration from it. He becomes more interested in reading when Alice loans him a copy of ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings The Fellowship of the Ring]]''.