Murphy Family | Neighbors | Businesses | Miscellaneous
The Murphy family's neighbors, friends, and enemies.
open/close all folders
Around the Neighborhood
Otto Holtenwasser
Otto Holtenwasser
Voiced by: Trevor Devall (English), Pablo Sosa (Latin American Spanish)
A kindly old German-Jewish man who lives in the neighborhood. Despite his cheerfully pleasant personality, he has a very sadly traumatic past.
- Abusive Parents: When some of the neighbors are sharing stories about their bad relationships with their fathers, Otto sadly reveals that his father turned him in to The Gestapo!Goomer: Yeah, that's the winner...
- All Germans Are Nazis: Subverted for laughs. The neighborhood kids are initially terrified of him, because they think he's a Nazi war criminal. In reality, he's actually a Jewish Holocaust survivor, as evidenced by the number tattooed on his arm and a Star of David necklace. However the kids believe the tattoo is actually the number of people he's killed, and they confuse the Star of David for a pentagram and start believing he's a Satanist.
- When he is unwillingly involved with Ginny, she uses terms of affection such as "Jawohl, mein Kommandant!" and "my German invader!", all much to his disgust.
- Black Comedy Rape: Ginny takes advantage of him when he's drunk.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He's a WW2 refugee and Holocaust survivor whose whole family was murdered in a Nazi death camp. Despite this, he's an awfully cheerful and optimistic person in the present day.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Much like with Frank and M*A*S*H, Otto has this view of Hogan's Heroes. For obvious reasons.
- The Eeyore: A small subplot in Season 3 is him realizing just how depressing he can be to hang around, and trying to ease up on discussing his past traumas.
- Friend to All Children: Even if the kids don't seem to return the sentiment. Though, luckily, he doesn't seem to notice their fear of him. But he does seem to hate Jimmy though for being a neighborhood menace and vandalizing his house. When Jimmy hurts himself trying to explode his mailbox with a firecracker, he yells to him: "Serves you right you little scheiße!"
- Genocide Survivor: He often (randomly) brings up his tragic memories of The Holocaust, much to the discomfort of everyone around him.
- Gratuitous German: He sometimes drops a few German words in his speech, if you couldn't already tell his nationality by his strong accent.
- Grew a Spine: In the Season 3 Finale when he tells Ginny he's not romantically interested in her and throws her out of his house.
- Hollywood Satanism: Subverted as he's actually Jewish, but Kevin and Bill mistake him for a Satanist because of his "pentagram" medallion (which is actually the Star of David).
- Immigrant Patriotism: He proudly cheers for America while waiving a flag during the July 4th block party.
- The Lost Lenore: After the war, he got married to an American nurse named Mary. It's implied that she's dead.
- Nice Guy: A very kind neighbor indeed.
- The Pollyanna: He's rather oddly optimistic for someone who survived war and genocide.
- Silver Fox: Is called this by Ginny Throater when she becomes sexually attracted to him.
- Sole Survivor: He lost all of his family to the Holocaust during World War II. He later got married after the war, but his wife (Mary) is now deceased from unspecified causes. The poor guy must be lonely.
- Stepford Smiler: Another interpretation of his personality is that he's just trying really hard to cover up his wartime traumas. Season 3 implies this a bit more strongly.
- War Refugees: After surviving all the Nazi atrocities of World War II, he moved to the United States and married an American nurse named Mary (who's now deceased).
Goomer and Evelyn Goomer
Goomer G. Goomer and Evelyn Goomer (Walter and Mary Margaret Bartnett)
Goomer voiced by: Trevor Devall (English), David Camarillo (Spanish, Season 1) and Erick Selim (Spanish, Season 2)
Evelyn voiced by: Eileen Fogarty
Goomer is one of Frank's friends who lives on the same street, and is a weirdo who spies on all of his neighbors. He lives with his wife Evelyn, who is suffering from unresolved grief over a miscarriage.
- Ambiguous Criminal History: Goomer's dialogue suggests that both he and Evelyn are fugitives living in Rustvale and that their names are aliases.
- Baby Be Mine: Evelyn's grief over her miscarriage becomes increasingly problematic as the series goes on, but it comes to a head when she drugs Vic in an attempt to kidnap Vic Junior.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: Has a "porn" magazine of dogs mating in his secret trailer.
- Big "WHAT?!": The reaction of the neighbors at Frank's house when Goomer and Evelyn rekindle their romance and call each other by their real names, Walter Bartnett and Mary Margaret after Goomer sings a surprisingly good rendition of a Christmas hymn.
- Blatant Lies: Goomer lies to Evelyn when she catches him wearing Frank's clothes, claiming that they originally belonged to him, and that Frank was the one who stole them (keep in mind they barely fit Goomer). Though Evelyn is gullible enough to fall for it.
- Captain Obvious: Goomer likes to show up to state what one of the Murphys is feeling at the moment.
- Everyone Has Standards: When Evelyn drugs Vic in an attempt to kidnap Vic Junior, even Goomer is horrified and calls her out on it.
- Expy: Goomer is basically a less pathetic, but creepier Bill Dauterive. His voice also sounds rather similar to Peter Griffin's.
- Fat and Skinny: Goomer is rather obese, while Evelyn is rail-thin (if not underweight).
- Karma Houdini: Goomer lies to Evelyn about his actions while looking after the Murphy family's house and gets away scot-free.
- The Peeping Tom: Goomer has a creepy habit of spying on other people, allowing him to learn too much info on them. If you look closely at Frank's hidden stash behind the refrigerator, you can also see an IOU note from Goomer, indicating that he's broken into the Murphy house before. There's even a newspaper article about his spying habits.
- Stalker without a Crush: Goomer peeps on all of his neighbors but he seems mostly interested in Frank. Not because he's attracted to Frank, but because he wants to be Frank.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Probably why Goomer's friends are often ignorant or sometimes even overlooking his most unsettling habits. From outward appearances Goomer appears to be an average, if not absolutely unremarkable middle-aged man.
- In Season 5, it's clear that Evelyn, despite looking like an unassuming housewife, displays some rather unsavory tendencies of her own.
- Tragic Stillbirth: Goomer and Evelyn are childless, because during the only time he got her pregnant, it ended in a miscarriage. Goomer still lies to other people that his wife just had food poisoning to spare her feelings.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Downplayed. Goomer is a partially bald and obese man; and although Evelyn is a rather plain-looking and stick-thin woman, she doesn't look quite as ugly or unkempt as her husband.
- Unwitting Instigatorof Doom: Played with. In Season 5, Goomer tells a drugged Vic that he told Nguyen-Nguyen about an episode of Columbo where a Vietnamese woman poisoned her husband... and then gave Nguyen-Nguyen some bleach.
Ben and Kenny
Ben and Kenny
Ben voiced by: Mo Collins (English), José Antonio Toledano (Latin American Spanish)
Kenny voiced by: Debi Derryberry (English), Xóchitl Ugarte (Latin American Spanish)
A couple of redneck brothers who are friends of Bill and Maureen. They live in extreme poverty.
- The Cameo: From being significant characters in the first two seasons and Ben still having a small role in Seasons 3-4, their only appearance in Season 5 is a brief appearance in the opener of the Series Finale for Kenny and the same plus playing at Big Bill's funeral for Ben.
- Chekhov's Gun: The guitar Ben steals from the music store Phineas crashed into really comes in handy to him later in the season.
- Cheerful Child: They're perpetually happy, despite apparently being homeless.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Both of them are pretty weird and absent-minded kids, but especially Kenny.
- Deep South: Both of them have this accent.
- Demoted to Extra: Ben has a somewhat important role in Season 3 and 4, but they both have a lot less screentime in Seasons 2, 3, and 4 than they did in Season 1. Kenny seems to get this the most, having his role reduced even further half-way throughout the season after getting his hand blown up at the fourth of July party. From there, he has even less to do, just briefly showing up in some crowd shots. He did return in Season 4 but in all the episodes he was in, he was pretty much just there for either quick gags or was in the background. He never even hung out with Phillip or Maureen at any point in the season.
- The Ditz: Both of them are dumber than rocks, and encourage Bill and Maureen to play stupid, dangerous games with them.
- Dumb Blonde: Both of them are male examples of this.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even Ben thought Philip's revenge-on-Jimmy plot was disturbing.
- Extreme Omnivore: As a result of being practically feral. Kenny ate a toad out of Vic's garbage, Sue claims that they eat pigeons, and Ben wrote a song called "Greyhounds Ain't Just Good For Eatin'" for Throbinson Crusoe.
- Hidden Depths: As revealed in Season 3, Ben can absolutely shred on the guitar.
- Innocent Inaccurate: They frequently allude to an absolutely horrifying domestic life, without really understanding what they're describing. They heavily imply that their parents are lousy people; their mom is a heroin addict, while their dad is a Ku Klux Klan member who once fled to Mexico to evade arrest for a hit-and-run killing.
- Lower-Class Lout: They're stereotypical members of a white trailer trash family.
- Out of Focus: They go from being regular characters in Season 1 to characters who only make cameos 1-2 times per episode in Seasons 2, 3, and 4.
- Parental Neglect: They frequently mention their parents, but they're implied to be deadbeats who don't really seem to care much about what their sons are up to. Kenny in particular is wearing a shirt too small for a child his age, still wears diapers, and has bowed legs
. - Too Dumb to Live: They frequently do risky activities without any concern for their own safety.
- Toxic Friend Influence: They aren't actively malicious, but they still encourage Bill and Maureen to do some pretty dumb things.
Lex and Bolo
Lawrence ("Lex") and Craig ("Bolo")
Lex voiced by: Mo Collins (English), Miguel Ángel Ruiz (Latin American Spanish)
Bolo voiced by: Trevor Devall (English), Alan Prieto (Latin American Spanish)
Kevin's fellow stoner friends, with whom he forms an amateur rock band.
- All Men Are Perverts: They're a couple of Hormone Addled Teenagers who are convinced that playing in a rock band will get them laid by girls. They even admit to just wanting to sing about dicks and sex.
- Ambiguously Bi: Bolo is as interested in dicks as he is with girls. Lex and Kevin call him out on this occasionally. Possibly confirmed in Season 3 where he frustratingly tells Lex "I just like dicks, alright?"Kevin: I'm the soul of this band!
Bolo: Well we're the dick and balls!
Kevin: Stop talking about dicks!
Bolo: I can't! - Alcoholic Parent: When the boys are in Bolo's basement, you can see a box on the shelf labeled "Mom's Stuff", filled with nothing but liquor bottles.
- Celeb Crush: Bolo has one for the former First Lady Jackie Kennedy.
- Casanova Wannabe: They both see themselves as absolute lady killers for some reason, despite the fact that no girl has ever been interested in either of them.Lex: I think I hear the sound of a thousand panties dropping.
- Cool Car: Bolo's moms car he uses to drive his friends around.
- Delinquent: Bolo's name is graffiti'd on the bowling ally bathroom.
- Ditzy Genius: Bolo gives Kevin the final answer on his history homework because he likes to read the presidential trivia off the "Whitehouse Beer" labels.
- Dumb and Drummer: Bolo is a drummer and a total ditz.
- Fat and Skinny: Bolo is a bit chubby, while Lex looks like he's of normal weight.
- Freudian Slip: Bolo has these sometimes. Usually in reference to dicks.
- Girlfriend in Canada: Bolo claims to have had a summer relationship with a girl at the lake, who happened to have died of Polio. (Which is a gateway disease to Lukemia.)
- Hidden Depths: While getting stoned on mushrooms, Lex mentions he scored a 1550 on his SAT. And is getting real attention from Stanford.
- In-Series Nickname: Their real names are Craig and Lawrence. They also tend to call Kevin "Murph".
- Jewish and Nerdy: Lex.
- Nerds Are Virgins: Though, Bolo would have his friends believe otherwise (not that they buy it).
- Parental Neglect: Bolo's mother doesn't pay much attention to him, and doesn't even know how old he is.
- Stoners Are Funny: They often smoke weed with Kevin and Claire.
- Small Name, Big Ego: They consider themselves to be musical geniuses.
- Those Two Guys: They're rarely (if ever) seen apart.
- Totally Radical: Lex. "It's like so rad to the max!"
- With Friends Like These...: They had no problem abandoning Kevin to the mercy of the cops. They also make fun of Kevin when he has a regressive panic attack.
Claire
Claire
Voiced by: Mo Collins (English), Dafne Gallardo (Latin American Spanish)
Another friend of Kevin, and his (brief) girlfriend.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: She's never mentioned again after her house party in the third season.
- Girl Next Door: She's a girl who lives in the Murphy's neighborhood and was one of Kevin's friends.
- Lad-ette: She likes drinking acts like Lex and Bolo, just less obsessed with sex.
- No Sympathy: Like Lex and Bolo, she teases Kevin for having a panic attack, and not in a friendly way, either.
- One of the Boys
- Out of Focus: Her role greatly diminishes after the second season.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Pink girl to Kevin's blue boy.
- Really Gets Around: Frank thinks she's "loose" and warns Kevin not to get her pregnant, though, in reality, she's quite reluctant to do anything beyond kissing.
- Redhead In Green: She's a redhead who wears a green army jacket.
- Sixth Ranger: For Kevin's friend group.
- The Smurfette Principle
- Southern Belle: Like some of the other Murphy's neighbors, she has a Southern accent.
- The Stoner
- Tomboy
Reynolds Family
Vic Reynolds
Victor "Vic" Lafayette Reynolds
Voiced by: Sam Rockwell (English), Gerardo García (Latin American Spanish)
Frank's next-door neighbor. He's a sexually promiscuous drug addict, who works as a marketing manager for a local radio station.
- Addled Addict: During his time trying to get off drugs in Season 3. Apparently, quitting cocaine seemed like a much easier idea when he was still on cocaine.
- Advertised Extra: Sort of. His voice actor is credited as part of the main cast, where as Haley Reinhart is not (Even the writers have stated they don't know why this is). For this reason The Other Wiki and some other sources list Vic as a main character and Bill as a supporting character. This was corrected in Season 2, though.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Vic's easily one of the nicest guys in the series, but when he found out that Cutie Pie cheated on him with Kevin, he lost it. He came to his senses soon after, though. When raising his son, if he finds anyone else inconveniencing Vic Jr. in anyway (like Evelyn) he will stop them. Not through a loud outburst, but he will still fight for his kid.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The show seems to be going this way when Vic unloads a Cluster F-Bomb that would make Frank blush on an uncooperative DJ who doesn't want to plug a popular pop singer, which goes directly against every other appearance he's made so far, but it turns out he just doesn't handle pressure well and as Season 2 shows, is more than likely caused by his drug use.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: He has a noticeable bulge.
- Book Dumb: He's not the brightest guy around. This may have something to do with the fact that he's constantly doing drugs.
- Brutal Honesty: When it's finally spelled out for him just what Holtenwasser suffered through during the Holocaust, Vic is genuinely sympathetic... then bluntly tells him that he needs to try to move past his trauma, because clinging to the past isn't going to change anything, and his family wouldn't have wanted him to spend the rest of his life in misery.
- Chick Magnet: Rarely seen without at least one woman accompanying him.
- Dumb Blonde: A male variant. He's a handsome blond man who's very oblivious due to being high on drugs most of the time.
- Ethical Slut: He's sexually promiscuous and posesses a lot of morals.
- Even the Guys Want Him: As far as Babe is concerned.
- Expy: He was designed after David Wooderson from Dazed and Confused. Sam Rockwell even voices him with his best Matthew McConaughey impression.
- Functional Addict: He acts just fine even being explicitly shown that he does large amounts of marijuana and cocaine. This is later subverted in Season 2, when it's revealed that he was fired from his job a long time ago, but he keeps going to work because the use of drugs cause him to forget everything.
- Good Parents: When Vic becomes a dad, he does whatever he can to make sure his son is taken care of and raised properly. Whenever he doesn't know what to do, he goes to others and asks them what to do rather than drop the baby on them. Even when he brings Vic Jr. to watch a stunt man jump, he covers his son's eyes. When Evelyn tries to take Vic Jr. for her own, he angrily but still somewhat calmly tries to get her to back off. When he realizes how messed up the neighborhood is, he talks in a way that seems like he's considering trying to find a safer neighborhood for his son. Really, compared to most of the other characters on the show, Vic's raising of his son is quite commendable.
- The Hedonist: Vic seems to partake in every crazy vice known to man.
- Hidden Depths: Despite his carefree lifestyle, he secretly envies Frank's family life. Vic is also aware that his Christmases are lonely affairs because everyone else is with their families. He is sincerely appreciative of Frank's invitation to join them for Christmas dinner. In the Season 4 episode "Bring me a tooth", he reveals that he's very lonely and miserable without a real purpose in his life, to the point where he was so happy to be working again just to give himself a purpose. When he is raising his son by himself, he asks others for help on how to raise his kid rather than push the responsibility onto others.
- Innocently Insensitive: While he tries to be nice to Frank, he seems oblivious to his struggles and assumes everything he's doing is an adventure or party. He also makes an off-the-cuff remark on how he should go to Hawaii despite that any other sane person would realize Frank is far from being able to afford that.
Crosses the Line Twice in a later episode when he assumes Mr. Holtenwasser's subtle tellings of his experiences hiding from the Nazis during the Holocaust was just one big party/orgy. - Jive Turkey: His constant use of slang is just one more barrier between Frank and himself; when Vic says, "Know what I mean?" Frank's answer is, "I never know what you mean, Vic."
- Karma Houdini: He never faces any legal consequences for shooting up his house.
- Loveable Sex Maniac: "Hey backdoor, front door, don't matter as long as I get in the kitchen, baby!" When Louis is revealed to know Vic, Vic is revealed to call Sue a hot piece of ass, and Sue is touched rather than offended.
- Nice Guy: He's genuinely really nice and goes out of his way to help Frank. Even when he has an occasional outburst of anger, he realizes it isn't right and apologizes unlike most other characters on the show.
- Papa Wolf: Don't mess with Vic Jr.
- Pink Is Erotic: Vic is promiscuous and his house is decorated with a pink aestetic and contains a lot of erotic art.
- Porn Stache: As was the look for swinging bachelors back then.
- Pretty Boy: He is handsome and good looking, much to the dismay of Frank.
- Really Gets Around: He has new women through his door constantly.
- Rich Boredom: He doesn't actually need to work anymore as he's gotten rich off his DJ work, but without his job, he doesn't really have anything to live for. He takes quite well to being a father once he gets some proper info on how to raise his kid.
- Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: Vic's lifestyle revolves around women, cocaine, and music.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Although it's very much one-sided because Vic doesn't know he's the nemesis.
- The Stoner: He smokes marijuana and stashes baggies of cocaine in his cash box. This ends up costing him his job at the end of Season 2.
- Teacher/Student Romance: With Vivian Sanders when he was in high school. When Sue decides to begin a baby raising class for Vic and his friends using her brother Louis' dojo, it turns out Vic is a student of Louis' and has referred to Sue as a hot piece of ass before, so this trope is in play to SOME degree with Sue.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In Season 4, Vic starts becoming a manipulative Bad Boss draining all the joy Kevin is feeling and their music. Having reached his 30s and being treated as a relic at the radio station, who only rehired him to put him in charge of the "Oldies" program, he takes out his frustrations on Kevin since his band becoming marketable is his best of becoming relevant in the scene again. He finally snaps out of it after the bands disastrous performance at the radio stations festival near the end of the season, realizing he took out his own problems on a bunch of kids.
- Totally Radical: All of his dialogue.
- Unknown Rival: Seems to have no idea that Frank hates him. In Season 4, he outright refers to Frank as his best friend!
- Younger Than They Look: His facial hair makes him look like he's in his mid-30s atleast, but he's actually 29 until Season 4.
Cutie Pie
Karen "Cutie Pie" Richards
Voiced by: Mo Collins (English), Gabriela Guzmán (Latin American Spanish)
Vic's on-and-off girlfriend, and the mother of his child.
- '70s Hair: Her hairstyle is modeled after Farrah Fawcett.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Seems nice at first, but not only does she wind up statutorily raping Kevin, she's pretty nasty to him about it too, blaming him for the incident.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of Mrs. Robinson in Season 2. Cutie Pie is a sexually active older woman and Kevin is a teenage boy with unbridled hormones. She decides to have sex with him on a whim and Kevin eagerly goes along with it, not understanding the emotional complexity of having sex. After the act, Cutie Pie coerces him into keeping quiet about the act after learning that Kevin is only 14 and scares him further by saying that Vic would kill him for having sex with his girlfriend. Afterward, Kevin shows traits of Rape Trauma Syndrome during the series as he becomes horrified and deeply confused about losing his virginity to what's essentially an act of statutory rape. He finally breaks down during Vic's party and tearfully admits to having sex with Cutie Pie, causing Vic to wreck his own home in a fit of anger. However, after calming down, Vic empathizes with Kevin and explains that a similar thing happened to him at the same age. Ultimately telling Kevin that what happened is not his fault and he simply jumped into something he didn't fully understand.
- Dumb Blonde: Not really dumb, but shallow and self-absorbed.
- Gold Digger: Possibly why she stayed with Vic after she began feeling neglected and started cheating.
- It's All About Me: Has no concern for how her actions affect Vic, Kevin or anybody else around her.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: At the end of Season 4 Vic discovers her in the hospital, pregnant and getting ready to deliver. When he asks her if it's his baby, she tells him that he is the only man she's had unprotected sex with in the past 9 months, and he believes her. But it wouldn't be the first time she's lied. It was only until
a tweet from the creators that Vic was confirmed to be the father. - Manipulative Bitch: Blames Kevin for her own mistake and tells him that Vic will be mad at both of them if he finds out, in order to keep Kevin from revealing what she did.
- A Man Is Always Eager: Pretty much uses the fact that Kevin had an erection after seeing her breasts as an open invitation, even though he was actually quite distressed by this fact at the time as it had previously caused him embarrassment. Later, when she's yelling at him he points out that she was the one who came on to him, to which she blames on the fact that he had a hard-on.
- Missing Mom: Vic tries to build a family with her and Vic Jr. Karen isn't ready to settle down, least of all with Vic, and leaves Vic to raise Vic Jr. as a single father.
- Mrs. Robinson : She had sex with 14-year-old Kevin.
- Ms. Fanservice: Is shown naked a lot.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Regrets cheating on Vic with 14-year-old Kevin. She even looks legitimately horrified that she had sex with a 14-year-old boy, thinking he was just short rather than underage.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: We never do find out her real name. Even her birthday banner simply reads "Cutie Pie". It's implied Vic doesn't even know her real name. Averted in the Season 4 finale when Vic calls her Karen, shocking even her. (Although he does point out that her name is on her hospital chart)
- Pink Is Erotic: Like her boyfriend, Cutie Pie has an active sex life and their house is decorated with a pink aestetic and erotic art.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- She high-tails it with the rest of the party guests once Vic starts shooting up his house and wisely does not go back.
- She does this again in Season 5, this time because she is not interested in being a mother. She leaves Vic. Jr. for Vic to raise as a single dad and runs off with Skee-Ball, Vic's friend who has dwarfism.
Victor "Vic" Reynolds, Jr.
Voiced by: ???
Vic's infant son with Karen "Cutie Pie".
- Getting the Baby to Sleep: Most of Vic's Season 5 storylines revolve around this.
- Mellow Fellow: Little Vic is just about the most chill baby ever, clearly taking after his father.
- Parental Abandonment: Karen doesn't last long as a mommy. She leaves and is never seen again in the series.
- Parental Substitute: Evelyn, suffering from unresolved issues around a miscarriage, tries to act as this to the point of becoming dangerously possessive of Vic Jr. when Vic tries to ask for their help in child-rearing, even though Evelyn and Goomer never had children. Vic eventually recognizes this and takes Vic Jr. away from her, warning her that he doesn't want her around Vic Jr. again.
- Surprise Pregnancy: Vic doesn't even know he exists until he accidentally comes across Karen in the hospital as she is preparing to give birth to him.
Bonfiglio Family
Babe and Marie Bonfiglio
Nunzio "Babe" Bonfiglio and Marie Bonfiglio
Babe voiced by: Kevin Farley (English), Ricardo Bautista (Latin American Spanish)
Marie voiced by: Jamie Denbo
Philip's parents. Babe is his father and another friend of Frank's. Marie is his overprotective mother.
- Ambiguously Bi: Even though he's married and has two sons, Babe talks highly of Vic and constantly makes remarks about how attractive he is.
- Ambiguously Brown: Babe has dark black hair and very tanned skin, but is still considered white. His son Phillip, however, has lighter skin and brown hair. It's later confirmed that Babe is of Italian (specifically Sicilian) descent, while his wife isn't (Philip certainly got his fair skin from her).
- Broken Pedestal: Babe appears to be over Vic at the end of the third season after he almost died in a helicopter crash piloted by a coked-out Vic. He assures Marie that he will "stop thinking about Vic in the bedroom."
- Control Freak: Marie has a very bad case of this, something Babe blows up on her for in Season 4. This might have spread over to her kids too; which would explain why Philip has been repressing his violent tendencies and why Anthony (though this might be young age) continues to be that annoying kid. Crosses over with Parents as People, as Marie doesn't want to be or come across as a bad person, she just needs to let up the reins. Marie becomes somewhat more extreme in Season 5, when she's shown to casually let Anthony breastfeed from her whenever he wants even as the rest of the family looks disgusted and tries to not see her do it.
- Dad the Veteran: Babe mentions that he served in the Navy.
- Family Relationship Switcheroo: Babe's mother is actually Nana Rose's sister, who was a nun. Nana Rose was forced to raise Babe as her son by the family to spare her sister the disgrace of breaking her vow of chastity and getting pregnant. This makes Nana Rose Babe's aunt and Philip and Anthony's great-aunt.
- Fat and Skinny: Babe is short and thin, while Marie is very obese.
- I Just Want to Be Free: Babe says this almost word-for-word as part of the reason for his infatuation with Vic when he is telling Marie how he is frustrated with her Control Freak tendencies.
- Missing Mom: Babe's biological mother was a nun and the sister of Nana Rose, who Babe has been raised to think of as his mother.
- Motor Mouth: Babe can talk a lot, but was surprisingly named as "Most Quiet" in high school.
- Odd Name Out: The Bonfiglio family consists of Anthony, Marie, Philip, “Nana” Rose, and …Nunzio/Babe.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: In Season 4, during a conversation with Marie in the woods, she calls Babe by his real name, Nunzio.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Babe has the same face shape, skin tone, and buck teeth as his aunt.
- Vocal Dissonance: Babe's voice is pretty high-pitched and squeaky for a man.
Nana Bonfiglio
"Nana" Rose Bonfiglio
Voiced by: Mo Collins
Philip's supposed grandmother who also lives at home with the family. She is of Italian (Sicilian) origin. In Season 4, it's revealed that she is actually Babe's aunt and Philip's great-aunt, who raised Babe as his mother because Babe's real mother was a Catholic nun who got pregnant after an illicit affair.
- Expy: She's essentially a more abrasive version of Sophia Petrillo.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: She's very rude and verbally abusive to her daughter-in-law, Marie.
- Potty Failure: Wets herself when she gets too excited. According to Phillip, it often happens when she watches Dialing for Dollars. Their living room furniture is wrapped in plastic for this reason.
- Racist Grandma: She's an Italian fascist who admires Benito Mussolini. She especially hates Jews, frequently complaining about the "Heebs" (Hebrews) in Hollywood. She also expresses her disgust towards the "Gypsies" (Romani) and the "Pollocks" (Polish). However, she is actually a great-aunt rather than a grandmother.
- So Proud of You: When she sees Philip assault Hobo Jojo on live television.Nana: That's the Sicilian in him!
- Strong Family Resemblance: She has the same face shape, skin tone, and buck teeth as her nephew, Babe.
Phillip Bonfiglio
Phillip Pope John XXIII Bonfiglio
Voiced by: Debi Derryberry (English), Mariana Ortiz (Latin American Spanish)
Bill's best friend, who is also a very wimpy, pathetic geek.
- Ambiguously Gay: Phillip shows signs of repressed homosexuality and he seems to be infatuated with Bill as shown in “Mr. Murphy’s Wild Ride” and “Battle Of The Sexes."
- Later in the series, he shows signs of being transgender, as he tells his father, "I don't want to be a man! That was YOUR mistake!" When he makes an inappropriate boast to Nana Rose about wearing an athletic cup over his "weenis," Nana remarks, "Sometimes, when God tries to make-a the bull, he make-a the cow."
- Best Friend: Of Bill.
- Butt-Monkey: Much like his friend, he gets picked on by the local bully Jimmy.
- Creepy Child: He seems like a nice boy most of the time, but he keeps a journal filled with drawings of people who annoy him getting killed in brutal ways.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: He's been mistaken for a "fat little girl" at least twice.
- Extreme Doormat: He's even more cowardly and spineless than Bill. It's implied that most of this is due to having an overprotective mother.
- Heh Heh, You Said "X": Giggles at the word "doobie", which he incorrectly thinks is a euphemism for sex. (It's slang for a marijuana joint.)
- Literal-Minded: His response to Jimmy making a crude joke about how he's gonna "fuck [Phillip's] mom" was; "My mom wouldn't do that..."
- Meaningful Name: Named for Pope John XXIII, a well-loved pope of Italian heritage who died in 1963 and would eventually be canonized as a saint alongside Pope John Paul II in 2014 by Pope Francis. His death would have been around the time of Phillip's birth.
- "Bonfiglio" is Italian for "good son," which he is. Excessively so.
- Nerdy Inhaler
- Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: His "Kill Book".
- Police Brutality: When Philip and Bill are required to join a youth police auxiliary as punishment for getting in a fight and attempting to assault an officer during a field trip, Philip gleefully uses the opportunity to get payback against Hobo JoJo/Jim Jeffords by spraying him in the groin with a fire hose when Jeffords is in the county jail while the kids are being given a tour.
- Tranquil Fury: When Bill starts spending more time with Bridget than with Phil, he gives a clenched smile and rips out an eyebrow.
Anthony Bonfiglio
Anthony Bonfiglio
"I found a worm and I ripped him in half and I made two worms and y'know what?"
Voiced by: Al Ducharme
Phillip's younger brother, who is not quite right in the head.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: His hyperactivity and weirdness is a partial contributor to Phillip's gradual Sanity Slippage.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: When Bill goes missing, Anthony tells Frank he saw where he went. Anthony then proceeds to tell Frank the most pointless details he can, which predictably causes Frank to explode at the child.
- Catchphrase: "Y'KNOW WHAT? Y'KNOW WHAT?"
- Childhood Brain Damage: Implied to be the cause of his weird behavior, when Phillip angrily says he wishes he'd pressed harder on Anthony's fontanel when he was a baby.
- Cloudcuckoolander: There's no telling what exactly goes on in his strange mind. He talks and rambles incoherently, eats random things he finds on the ground, and also starts humping a TV stand for no apparent reason.
- Fetish: For winning the ring toss on The Hobo Jojo Show, apparently.
- From the Mouths of Babes: Repeats "eat that nasty pussy!" after listening to a raunchy comedy record.
- Momma's Boy: While his dad and older brother are also momma'd by Anthony's mom, Anthony is a momma's boy to a disturbing level. She still breastfeeds and lets him breastfeed from her whenever he wants. All while the rest of the family tries to not look at them. Even Vic, when he sees it, is clearly greatly disturbed despite his typically calm demeanor.
- Motor Mouth: He never shuts up.
- Nerd Glasses: He wears a massive pair of these.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted with Rustvale mayor Anthony Tangenti.
- Talkative Loon: Talks constantly, and rarely does it ever make sense in the situation.
Fitzsimmons Family
Mr. Fitzsimmons
Mister "Fitzy" Fizsimmons
Voiced by: Joe Buck
Jimmy's and Bridget's single father. He works as a janitor at the elementary school.
- Abusive Dad: He frequently beats Jimmy to discipline him for his misbehavior, and doesn't seem to be much nicer to Bridget either, not to mention that he supports her smoking habit to the point he gave her a personalized lighter and makes both kids spend Halloween dumpster diving.
- Catapult Nightmare: He is awakened from a carbon monoxide-induced coma while idling his school bus and cries out "No, Father Brown!" in terror. It's not clear whether this was simply a memory of a childhood fear of the corporal punishment often used in Catholic Schools... or something worse.
- Churchgoing Villain: He appears to be a practicing Catholic in the same congregation as the Murphy's, he makes Jimmy be an alter boy at the church and sends him to a Catholic military school as punishment for shoplifting.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Despite his rudeness and abuse, he will not tolerate Jimmy shoplifting or hitting girls. Though technically Jimmy was framed by Bill for the shoplifting, and the "girl" in question was actually Phillip, but Mr. Fitzsimmons didn't know about either of these facts.
- Fiery Redhead: Much like both his son and daughter, he has orange hair and is very short-tempered.
- Jerkass: Who do you think Jimmy learned to be an asshole from?
- Kick the Dog:
- Sprays Phillip with a cleaning product when he cheers Bill on during his fight with his son.
- Gets the whole student body to call Bill a pussy and joins in with their jeering as he's taken away to the principal's office.
- Lower-Class Lout: He's a blue-collar menial laborer, and very unpleasant.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: He's first seen working as a janitor at the elementary school in Season 1, but is seen cleaning the public swimming pool in Season 3. Justified because it was summer and school was out. He also drives school buses and volunteered to be the school hockey coach in Season 4.
- No Name Given: Well, his first name is still unknown.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: When he sees a black character on a TV show, he expresses a desire to have him sprayed with a fire hose, much like Bull Connor would've done.
- Pet the Dog: As the hockey coach, he acts nicer to Bill when he starts playing well. He also accepted Frank as his assistant coach despite their past conflicts.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: He never gives Bridget any beatings (that we know of), and once scolded Jimmy for hitting Phillip (whom Mr. Fitzsimmons mistook for a girl).
Jimmy Fitzsimmons
James "Jimmy" Fitzsimmons
Voiced by: Mo Collins (English), Bruno Coronel (Latin American Spanish)
A local bully who harasses Bill and Phillip.
- Bring My Brown Pants: He pees his pants out of fear upon seeing Kevin in the first episode.
- The Bully: The classic schoolyard bully, who likes beating the crap out of weaker kids.
- Bully Turned Buddy: After he admits to Bill that he considers him a friend, the relationship between them improves and they start to hang out. He still slugs Bill from time to time, though.
- Butt-Monkey: He has his moments. Just to name a few moments: he's beaten up by Kevin; gets his clubhouse blown up; framed for a crime he didn't do; sent to Catholic military school, where he's harshly disciplined; and he's run over by Randy.
- Catchphrase: When he's frightened or beaten, he runs off muttering "Oh man! Oh man! Oh man! Oh man!" over and over.
- Character Development: He went from being a one-dimensional bully character who was really only there to harass Bill in the first two seasons to later seeing Bill as a friend. He's also scared of his sister and wants to protect Bill from her and was jealous when his father started paying more attention to Bill than himself while coaching hockey.
- Co-Dragons: He has two, though they turn out to be pretty useless, as they run away leaving Jimmy to be beaten up by Kevin.
- Dirty Coward: Bullies the younger Bill regularly, but pisses his pants and runs away crying when faced with Kevin. He even admits in Season 5 that being a coward is a bully's secret weapon to avoid consequences.
- The Dreaded: Until he met Kevin Murphy, who's presence caused him to piss himself.
- Department of Redundancy Department: His father calls him "Jimmy James Fitzsimmons", implying his first name is Jimmy and his middle name is James....
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even a delinquent like him knows that his psycho sister is a total basket case.
- Evil Cripple: Jimmy reveals that he's half-blind (due to his sister poisoning his insulin pills, he lost sight in one of his eyes).
- Fiery Redhead: He's certainly rather hotheaded and aggressive.
- Frame-Up: In Season 2, Bill pins his own theft of a hockey stick on Jimmy Fitzsimmons, resulting in Jimmy's angry dad sending his son to a Catholic military school. This only worsens the preexisting conflict between Bill and Jimmy.
- Greaser Delinquents: Has the jacket and the pompadour, despite the Greaser trend being about 20 years out of date by the show's current time setting.
- Hate Sink: He pretty much exists just to make Bill's life miserable. This gradually wears off over Seasons 2 and 3, as Jimmy starts to develop a few sympathetic qualities.
- Hidden Depths: Despite being a typical jerkass bully, Jimmy does have a sensitive side evidenced by his room filled with stuffed animals. He's also really good at shop class and enjoys building birdhouses and marionettes.
- Hypocrite: Constantly calls Bill a pussy but is a cowardly wimp himself whenever someone bigger than him (like Kevin or Sue) takes him on.
- Jerkass: Needless to say.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Most of the time, he's just an asshole, but he was legitimately worried for Bill's safety when his sister started dating him.
- Missing Mom: His mother is revealed to be dead.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: Tries and keeps any boy from dating his sister. Though in a spin on the usual situation, he's protecting them from her. And considering how vicious and crazy his sister is, he's not entirely unjustified.
- Off to Boarding School: Gets sent to a Catholic military school after Bill frames him for shoplifting. He comes back a few weeks later after his dad's cheque bounced, though it did reform him somewhat.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. He shares the first name with the news anchor and Hobo Jojo actor James "Jim" Jeffords.
- Pedophile Priest: Jimmy is implied to have been a victim of abuse by a priest at the church who was helping him "adjust his robes." It's also clear that Jimmy was groomed by his abuser to not understand what was really happening. The priest in question was relocated to Albuquerque to cover up the incident.
- Pet the Dog: He tells Bill to stay away from his sister, but only because his sister is a massive Yandere. When Bill asks why he cares, Jimmy reveals that he now sees Bill as a friend. He also gets Bridget to reveal where Bill is when the Murphys confront them at their house as well.
- Potty Failure: Pissed himself in fear of Kevin's presence.
- The Power of Family: Believes in this quite strongly, despite all appearances. He loves his dad and still somewhat cares for his sister despite his fear. When Bill didn't want to pay his respects to Big Bill, he tells Bill that even though he hated his mom she still made him yummy sandwiches. He says "Family is all you got in this world", before threatening Bill never to forget that.
- Repetitive Name: According to his dad, his real name is Jimmy James Fitzsimmons.
- Running Gag: Bill uses his name whenever he's caught with his hand in the cookie jar so that Jimmy will cop any punishment. It gets to the point where even Chet uses his name when ratting out his neighbors. When he, Bill, and Philip get arrested at Fort Rustland, the police have heard his name used as a fake name by so many people that they don't believe that Jimmy Fitzsimmons is his real name and call him a liar.
- The Scapegoat: A Running Gag involves characters saying that they're Jimmy Fitzsimmons so that he'll be the one to take their fall for something they did. Ironically, an episode in the final season had him say his name when he was being questioned by some cops, but they didn’t take him seriously.
- Troubled Abuser: Jimmy's dad beats him. It's also likely he was being sexually abused by one of the priests at the church.
- Took a Level in Kindness: In Season 3. After Bill saved his life last season, he's somewhat more cordial with him and even admits during the season finale that he's his Only Friend. It continues in Season 4 where the two start hanging out more.
- Villains Out Shopping: In "Bill Murphy's Day Off" he's seen casually enjoying shop class without being a dick to anyone and is later shown making his own wooden puppet. This was also before he considered Bill a friend.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: It's eventually revealed that he sees Bill as his best friend despite all the crap he puts him through.
Bridget Fitzsimmons
Bridget South Tenth Street Bridge Fitzsimmons
Voiced by: Debi Derryberry
The younger sister of Jimmy, whom Bill develops a romantic crush on. She turns out to be just as foulmouthed as her brother, and way crazier.
- Ax-Crazy: She has quite an explosive temper, and holds a well-deserved reputation as a "psycho".
- Big Bad Ensemble: With Chet Stevenson for Season 3.
- Creepy Child / Enfante Terrible: Enough so, that her own big brother is afraid of her. For context; Jimmy is fucked up because his father beats him. Bridget is evil straight out the gate. Even more telling is that her father never shows any signs or intention of beating her, because he is also terrified of her (but this doesn't stop him from yelling at and threatening her).Jimmy: She scares me, Dad. She scares me right proper.
- Dirty Coward: When the train for Pittsburgh is about to leave the station, she chickens out at the last second and leaves Bill to fend for himself, all while stealing his bike.
- Disproportionate Retribution: She once put nail polish in Jimmy's insulin, permanently blinding him in one eye. Whatever Jimmy did, even with his current track record, it couldn't possibly have warranted that.
- Domestic Abuse: She abuses Bill both mentally and physically, and whenever Bill tries to break up with her, Bridget feigns being hurt to manipulating him into taking her back and being stuck in the toxic relationship with her until he breaks up with her for good.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Averted. No one thinks that Bridget and Bill's relationship is healthy and her abuse on Bill is played very seriously, regardless if she is a girl.
- The Dreaded: Both Jimmy and their dad are terrified of her. And later, Bill as well fears her.
- Enemy Mine: She develops a friendship with Maureen in Season 4 because they're both bullied by Amy and shows Bridget sympathy when she tears up after Amy insults Bridget's late mother.
- Eviler than Thou: Proves to be far more worse than Jimmy ever was.
- Amy, Maureen's rival, turns out to be emotionally cruel enough to make even Bridget cry by mocking her over her dead mother. Subverted when Bridget later poisons Amy's lunch with a dead goldfish.
- Evil Redhead: Has strawberry blonde hair and is a sociopathic Enfante Terrible.
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: She looks like an adorable little girl, but is really a sewer-mouthed, borderline-psychopathic nutjob.
- Fiery Redhead: She's orange-haired and quick-tempered, but legitimately dangerous.
- Freudian Excuse: It's implied that she had a close relationship with her mother and her grief over her mother's death drives her sociopathic behavior when Maureen sees her crying over a locket with a picture of her mother and herself. It doesn't really help that she is stuck with her alcoholic, abusive father, (possible) mean stepmother, and a brother with whom she never got along.
- Hate Sink: Enough to make Jimmy of all people look like a sympathetic Woobie by comparison! Like her brother, this trope goes away as she develops more sympathetic qualities and bonds with Maureen over being bullied by someone even worse.
- Hidden Depths: Heavily implies that the mother's death is what screwed her up.
- Jerkass: Even more so than her brother.
- Karma Houdini: So far, she hasn't received any punishment for her actions.
- Kick the Dog: Provokes three older kids into beating the crap out of Bill, then forces Bill to bike her home with a broken ankle, berating him all the way. And that's one of her tamer moments.
- Lack of Empathy: A photo from a newspaper article of a serious car crash (involving an ice cream truck that flipped over), shows Bridget pointing at and laughing at the bloody, wounded driver lying down in pain, while the other nearby kids looked horrified.
- Laughably Evil: You certainly wouldn't want a kid like her to exist in real life, but her rancid potty mouth combined with her other unchildlike mannerisms makes her hilarious to watch at times.
- Meaningful Name: Her full name is Bridget South Tenth Street Bridge Fitzsimmons; which was apparently the name of the place where her parents had conceived her.
- Missing Mom: She mentions that her mother is deceased. In Season 4, this is implied to be the reason behind her sociopathic behavior.
- More Deadly Than the Male: Not only is her abusive treatment of Bill worse than Jimmy's, but in general she's even more of a vicious jerkass than Jimmy and possibly her own father, and both of them are afraid of her.
- Sadist: She seems to derive great pleasure at other people's suffering whether it would be abusing Bill or laughing at an ice cream truck diver suffering a car crash.
- Shout-Out: Lighting up a cigarette and talking to Bill about death brings The Good Son to mind.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: She puts Frank to shame with how much profanity comes out of her mouth.
- The Sociopath: Bridget displays multiple signs of being one. She's extremely irritable, violent, unsympathetic to the feelings of other people, and impulsive to the point of doing stupid things just for the thrill of it. Even though she seems to like Bill at first, her "affection" for him is very shallow, and when he tries to leave her, she uses threats of violence and emotional manipulation to force him back in line. And at the very end, she herself leaves Bill without a hint of remorse.
- Tragic Keepsake: In Season 4, it is revealed that she hides a locket with a picture of her mother and herself beneath her clothes.
- Villain Decay: To a degree, in Seasons 4 and 5. In Season 4, she's shown to be bullied somewhat easily by Amy despite her reputation in Season 3. In Season 5, she doesn't nearly have the hold on Bill or her father and brother as she did in previous seasons, with Bill casually dismissing her and walking away even as she shouts at him.
- Yandere: She's utterly furious at Bill when he tries to dump her, and does whatever she can to coerce him to stay with her (mostly via threats and manipulation). Though this has less to do with craving Bill's company, and more to do with her feeling offended that he tried to defy her.
Throater Family
Ginny and Greg Throater
Ginnynote and Greg Throater
Ginny voiced by: Mo Collins (English), Claudia Contreras (Latin American Spanish)
Greg voiced by: Trevor Devall (English), Raúl Anaya (Latin American Spanish)
A married couple acquainted with Sue and Frank. Ginny constantly talks about her dysfunctional marriage, and is oblivious to the reason why: her husband Greg is secretly gay.
- Abhorrent Admirer: In Season 3, Ginny winds up having a sexual relationship with Otto Holtenwasser of all men. He only indulges her (very) reluctantly.
- All Gays are Promiscuous: Greg seems to have had numerous partners.
- Armored Closet Gay: Greg sneaks out to have sex with men, and he hides the truth until eventually coming out during a marital therapy session.
- Catchphrase: When she sees Sue, she usually says "Sue? Sue Murphy?" In the last season, this is played with at Fort Rustland, when she says "Sioux? Sioux Indians?"
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Neither of the Murphys seem to actually like Ginny.
- Hypocrite: Ginny calls Sue selfish when Sue finally blows up at her, despite the fact she spent hours talking about herself. She also immediately shuts it down when Sue tries to talk about her own problems, which Sue was too polite to do to her.
- In Season 5, Ginny becomes the lover of Eileen Murphy, Frank's sister, and is shown leaving for California with Eileen and Nora.
- Hypocrite Has a Point: As early as the third episode, Ginny is this to Sue when she asks if Sue ever thinks about anyone other than herself, considering that Sue grows increasingly selfish and insensitive in later seasons towards everyone else in her family (namely Frank and Bill), and only sheds tears over her own shortcomings.
- I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In "Pray Away", Greg decides to come out to Ginny (and everyone else in the room) after he realized how unfair to Ginny and his two sons it is to be leading a double life, saying that Ginny deserved better.
- Incompatible Orientation: It's strongly implied that Ginny and her husband are having sexual difficulties because he's secretly gay. Confirmed in Season 2 to be true.
- It's All About Me: Ginny spends her debut episode talking about her troubled marriage. When her husband begs for a divorce due to their Incompatible Orientation, she refuses to listen. Taken to an extreme when she dumps her sons on Greg to move to California with Eileen.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Implied to be Ginny's fate when she abandons her sons to move to California with Eileen. Apparently, Eileen didn't tell Ginny that she and Nora live together, and Nora's abrasive personality is evident in the car when they are driving away.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Greg was so desperate that he had sex with a man in a department store changing room!
- Meaningful Name: The closeted gay husband has the last name Throater.
- Ginny reverts to her maiden name when she decides to leave Rustvale for California to live with her new lover, Eileen. Her maiden name is Deichpfister. Say it out loud.
- Parental Abandonment: When Ginny takes up with Frank's sister Eileen, she leaves Rustvale for California with Eileen, minus her sons. As she puts it, "they're Greg's problem now."
- Phrase Catcher: Almost every time Ginny shows up, one of the Murphys (and sometimes other characters) give an exasperated "Oh, fuck me". Ironically, Ginny herself also says these words after talking to Sue once during Season 3.
- Stepford Smiler: It's eventually revealed that Ginny wasn't just cheerfully oblivious to Greg being gay, but instead very deep in denial about it, even telling him "No, you're not!" to his face when he tries to come out to her and beg for a divorce.
Stevenson Family
Chet Stevenson
Chet Stevenson
Voiced by: Vince Vaughn
Chet is a US Air Force officer and returning Vietnam War veteran who moves into the neighborhood in Season 3. Frank quickly bonds with Chet, though there turns out to be a much darker side to his new friend.
- Ace Pilot: He's a highly decorated Air Force bomber pilot who saw plenty of action in Vietnam.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Despite his assholishness and downright malice, Chet's reward is to die alone, after being poisoned by the woman he tried to love. Even Frank, who is livid when he comes to visit him in the hospital, quiets down after seeing his ill state on his death bed.
- Asshole Victim: After the way he mistreats his wife, it's hard to feel sorry for him when she snaps and poisons him with drain cleaner.
- Bait the Dog: He agrees to help out Frank and Sue with building an extra room in their house for their new baby, but he soon reports an anonymous tip to the authorities (it was constructed without any legal permits), just to get back at the Murphys for the July 4th debacle.
- Big Bad Ensemble: With Bridget Fitzsimmons for Season 3.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He seems like the nicest, coolest guy when hanging out with Frank and the other neighbors, but is actually a passive-aggressive jerkass who quickly turns against his own family and friends when he thinks they're not respecting him well enough.
- Character Death: Season 4 confirms he didn't survive being poisoned by Nguyen-Nguyen.
- Color Motif: He is strongly associated with the color yellow, which is shared with Nguyen-Nguyen. He wears a yellow shirt, yellow sunglasses, a yellow garden umbrella, and sits in yellow chairs. This can be an allusion to how yellow is associated with warning symbols, Chet may be charismatic but he's actually a horrible person in private as he abuses his wife, tries to convince Frank to cheat on Sue, and nearly crashes a plane with Frank still inside it out of sheer cruelty and pettiness. However, Chet wasn't the actual threat, Nguyen-Nguyen was because she hated Chet so much that she murdered him by poisoning his food. Fittingly, when Nguyen-Nguyen is caught poisoning Chet, she wears a red shirt instead of her yellow sweater vest.
- Domestic Abuse: He is extremely controlling and dominating towards his wife, and is implied to get violent when she doesn't obey or respect him.
- Dying Alone: When Frank goes to visit him in the Hospital after being poisoned, Chet realizes he is fully alone and won't make it through the night. When Frank is leaving, Chet makes a joke at his expense, which seems to cement this on the stone.
- Early-Bird Cameo: He briefly is shown as a representing soldier in an American parade float during the Season 3 premiere.
- Evil Counterpart:
- Chet is essentially the anti-Frank. While Frank is an out-of-shape lout who communicates 99% of the time through screaming, he genuinely loves his family. Chet is a handsome, even-tempered guy, who treats his wife like a slave and is implied to run around on her.
- He also serves as one to Vic, as both are new to the neighborhood (Vic in Season 1 and Chet in Season 3), and both come off as friendly to Frank and the others around them. Vic is a genuinely good person, while Chet is most certainly not.
- Foil: Chet Stevenson serves as an adult, male equivalent to Bridget Fitzsimmons, which is fitting since they're the Big Bad Ensemble of Season 3. Both characters bond and hang out with one of the Murphys; Chet forms a (very bromantic) friendship with Frank, while Bridget starts dating Bill as a couple of lovers. Both Frank and Bill respectively believe that Chet and Bridget are wonderful people at first, but it soon becomes apparent that their new friends are far more unpleasant than they think and both are Domestic Abusers. Though Chet is more of a Faux Affably Evil Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who successfully pretends to be a Nice Guy until the facade slowly cracks, while Bridget is far more of an Obviously Evil Jerkass by comparison (due to her sharp tongue and rude demeanor, similar to both her brother and father). However, Frank and Bill are both deep in denial about what's wrong with their respective buddies until it's too late. The eventual termination of the relationships between Frank and Chet / Bill and Bridget are both very ugly and messy though.
- Freudian Excuse: During his last conversation with Frank while hospitalized from the poison his wife fed him, Chet claims he had a lousy childhood with an Abusive Dad who once cruelly drowned a puppy that he had given to his son as a 6th birthday present. He eventually joined the Air Force to leave his crappy home life behind, but Vietnam certainly didn't improve his broken psyche.
- Hate Sink: While he seems to be a likable guy at first, he becomes much more despicable once his true nature starts to surface, as he plays cruel mind games on Nguyen-Nguyen, Sue, and Frank alike.
- Jerkass to One: As a decorated military veteran and seemingly affable guy, the entire neighborhood idolizes Chet. Frank particularly so, since he sees Chet as the embodiment of all the dreams he gave up when Sue became pregnant with Kevin. Sue is much less impressed, especially when she witnesses the emotional (and off-screen, possibly physical) abuse that Nguyen-Nguyen suffers from Chet, and Chet acts as an antagonist to Sue. Even Frank doesn't believe her at first. Once Frank finally sees Chet for who he is, Chet turns on him as well, but he continues to charm the rest of the neighborhood to the point where they turn on the Murphys. At least until they learn Nguyen-Nguyen has been slowly poisoning Chet.
- Manipulative Bastard: He uses a number of emotional and psychological manipulation techniques to drive a wedge between Sue, who is not fooled by his act and has witnessed his abuse of Nguyen-Nguyen, and Frank. He does things for Frank that he knows will get Frank to admire him, and makes subtle threats of withdrawing these privileges when Frank questions him, and this is enough to make it difficult for Sue to convince Frank that Chet is not what he seems to be. When Frank finally understands how cruel Chet really is and calls him out for it, Chet then uses the same tactics against him by reporting the addition Chet himself had suggested and helped build to the city for not having a permit, and by manipulating the neighbors into turning against Frank and Sue.
- Meaningful Name: Chet mentions to Frank that Nguyen-Nguyen says his name in her sleep. "Chết" is also "die" in Vietnamese, and Chet has seen and caused a lot of death as a soldier.
- Mighty Whitey and Mellow Yellow: Deconstructed. Chet, a white American serviceman, married a poor Vietnamese woman not long after being (partially) responsible for killing her family. Nguyen-Nguyen is indeed rather docile and submissive, to the point of being an Extreme Doormat who reluctantly follows every arbitrary whim her husband forces upon her. Though after putting up with Chet's Domestic Abuse for too long, Nguyen-Nguyen retaliates in a very passive-aggressive manner.
- Never Recycle a Building: During Season 4, there are occasional shots of Chet's former house with a for-sale sign and covered with yellow police tape. In Season 5, the only thing that has changed about the Stevenson house is that the grass is somewhat more overgrown. It's still police-taped and unsold.
- Patriotic Fervor: Much like Frank, he's a very proud American veteran, and looks down upon anti-war pacifists.
- Pet the Dog: While talking to Frank one last time on his death bed, Chet tells him he truly does think he was a hero, that he has it all and not to mess it up like he did.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Although he tries hiding it under a very gung-ho and patriotic exterior, it's clear that his time during the Vietnam War messed him up quite a bit.
Nguyen-Nguyen Stevenson
Nguyen-Nguyen Stevenson
Voiced by: Eileen Fogarty
Chet Stevenson's Vietnamese wife.
- Asian Speekee Engrish: Justified due to being a recent immigrant, and she was a poor peasant in Vietnam. Though her English does gradually improve throughout Season 3. She speaks more broken English in the first episode, but is soon speaking close to complete sentences by the season finale.
- Beware the Nice Ones: She eventually snaps from all the abuse her husband put her through, by poisoning his food with drain cleaner.
- In prison, she is shown with other inmates waiting on her, meaning that she is tough and dangerous enough to have established herself as a dominant inmate in the prison hierarchy.
- Color Motifs: Alongside Chet, Nguyen-Nguyen is associated with the color yellow which is shown by her yellow sweater vest and yellow chairs. This can be an allusion to how yellow is associated with warning symbols, Chet is initially presented as a dangerous jerk because he abuses his wife, tries to convince Frank to cheat on Sue, and nearly crashes a plane with Frank still inside it out of sheer cruelty and pettiness. However, Chet wasn't the actual threat, Nguyen-Nguyen was because she hated Chet so much that she murdered him by poisoning his food. Fittingly, when Nguyen-Nguyen is caught poisoning Chet, she wears a red shirt instead of her yellow sweater vest.
- Dark and Troubled Past: She lost family and friends during the Vietnam War, which she recalls while Sue is complaining about her own First-World Problems, making Sue crash down realizing this.
- Funny Foreigner: Her English isn't very good, though she's learning from all the American TV shows that she watches enthusiastically.
- Immigrant Patriotism: She loves living in the United States and immersing herself in American culture.
- Innocently Insensitive: Mostly comes from her being new to American life, examples being calling Vivian the "village whore" and assuming Marie is pregnant based on her obesity.
- Ironic Echo: She says she is changing Chet from the inside when Sue tells her that she needs to beware of Chet. She later repeats this to reveal the real meaning: she had been poisoning Chet by adding little by little drain bleach in his food.
- Meaningful Echo: She has described herself as "a survivor" a few times, especially when Sue tells her she is a victim of abuse. She however repeats to Sue "I'm a survivor" one last time, when they find out that she was poisoning her abusive husband.
- Nice Girl: She's pretty much the only woman in the neighborhood who's genuinely friendly with Sue. While the other housewives only hang out with her out of convenience and barely tolerate her hang-ups, Nguyen-Nguyen doesn't seem to find any fault in Sue.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: When she's arrested by the police for poisoning Chet, she tells them she can't speak/read English well and therefore didn't know she was putting chemicals in his meals. However, her private exchange with Sue confirms she knew exactly what she was doing.
- Stealth Pun: A dastardly one. Her name, pronounced American is pretty much win-win. The end of her story in Season 3 reflects this: Either Chet stops abusing her and they become a healthy couple, or he dies from being poisoned to death with drain cleaner. Either way, it'd be a win-win situation for her.
- Stepford Smiler: She's always acting very sweet and friendly, which only makes it more sad to see how her husband abuses her both physically and emotionally.
- Sole Survivor: She was the only member of her family who survived an American bombing strike which destroyed her village.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Nguyen-Nguyen made no effort to cover up poisoning Chet, nor is she ever exonerated because she killed him to escape the abuse she suffers by Chet. She is convicted of murder and spends the remainder of the series, and possibly her life, in prison.
- Took a Level in Badass: Once she's gone to prison for poisoning Chet; by Season 5, she seems to run the prison. Even in a "scared straight" program, she openly taunts the kids. This is best exemplified when she was eating her dinner while using one inmate as a stool and another as her feeder.
- War Refugees: Very similarly to Mr. Holtenwasser, Nguyen-Nguyen is another immigrant who survived a war (the Vietnam War in her case), and also lost her own family as well.
- Wartime Wedding: She met Chet after a fierce battle that took place in her village, which was bombed by American forces to eliminate the local Viet Cong guerrillas.
Goldman Family
Alice Goldman
Alice Goldman
Voiced by: Jamie Denbo
Kevin's girlfriend starting in Season 4
- Girl Next Door: Fits this trope to a T. She's cute, down-to-earth, and very frank and outspoken.
- Jewish and Nerdy: A downplayed example. She is very intelligent and has a lot of interests in "nerdy" things. She and Kevin bonded over a mutual love of Shire of Frodo. However, she does not have the stereotypical nasal accent that is often present with this trope.
- Nice Girl: Very much so. She sees the potential in Kevin and tries to be encouraging to him when many others have given up on him, understands and laughs at his attempts at Self-Deprecation and occasionally corrects them, and it's clear that Kevin's parents like her as well.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Her assertiveness also means that she will also call out behaviors she doesn't like. When Kevin becomes clingy and insecure after learning she's more socially (and possibly sexually) experienced than he is, she tells him so. She delivers a big one when Kevin hits her brother thinking he's another boyfriend trying to "move in" on her and breaks up with him. However, when she watches Kevin entertaining Sue's child-rearing class and seeing how sincere he is and how good with the kids he is, she remembers how good-hearted he is and decides to give him another chance.
Dr. Goldman
Dr. Erwin Goldman
Voiced by: Fred Melamed
A clinical psychotherapist who is Alice's father.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: His attempts to be "cool" make Alice cringe visibly.
- Berserk Button: His job as a therapist means he's generally very chill. Get caught doing heavy petting on his daughter's bed? No problem. Make a faux pas regarding his religion? No problem. Punch his son in the jaw hard enough to break it in a fit of jealousy? No problem. Accidentally set fire to the synagogue? No problem! [[spoiler: But when he catches Kevin and Alice in the midst of a full-blown sexual session, he explodes in the exact
