The babies might have been two by that point (there are two year olds that look like babies) and or it is just like Family Guy and the Simpsons, the other characters age up but some remain the same.
Blue is gross?
What's the deal with the Gross Sisters? Is it ever explained why they have blue skin?
Wild Mass Guessing here, but a couple of episodes showed their mom and dad having the same blue skin. Perhaps it's a genetic thing involving the pigment of their skin.
I like to think they're part Smurf. But in fact there is a rare skin disorder, Methemoglobinemia, that gives a blue tinge to the afflicted; oddly most of them are from Kentucky. Maybe the Grosses have people back in the hills?
It's just a visual effect to show that they have ashy skin. Penny turns the same color when she decides to emulate the Gross Sisters and says to the audience "Yeah, I'm ashy, and yeah, I'm in boot camp" in response to the audience seeing her altered state.
With friends like these?
Why is it that... Penny can accept that Dijonay is a backstabbing bitch, but once she's better at Penny with poetry... Dijonay's the anti-Christ?
I remember another episode that refutes that. Dijonay leaves Penny to care for her brothers and sisters while she goes out to a concert. The tickets turn out to be counterfeit and she's kicked out. Penny arrives with the kids and the musicians after they had a close encounter and Penny definitely didn't forgive Dijonay for ditching her nor did her brothers and sisters. It was then when Dijonay admitted out loud by herself that what she did was wrong. Penny hears it and forgives her. So yeah, she doesn't always get away with it.
For the besting Penny as a poet thing, I'm pretty sure it's a case of 'student surpassing the teacher' and Penny just couldn't take it. Though Penny is usually a good friend, she's not immune to the Green-Eyed Monster and can be self serving at the idea of being the best at something or the idea of popularity.
Channel Hop
Why did the show air on Centric? Owned by Viacom. One of Disney's rivals.
The show was actually pitched to Nickelodeon (also owned by Viacom), maybe it was their way of airing it.
Probably because Disney's rights to it expired and so Viacom acquired it.
The Thingy
In the Thingy episode, around the end, after Penny is proven wrong about her father cheating on her mother, Penny's mother makes a joke about only leaving her father for Denzel Washington. When Oscar says the same thing about Halle Berry, suddenly everything is dead serious and everyone was pissed off at him. Why? What makes what he said any different from what Trudy said?
Because only girls are allowed to say their fantasies in public. *rolls eyes* I guess it's funnier when Oscar suffers.
I always thought that that was the point... to point out a Double Standard...
Nah, I am pretty sure this show was just enacting the Double Standard
This (white) troper's problem is why Trudy picks Denzel Washington. Why not Billy Dee Williams?
Because people in this show's age bracket who aren't huge Star Wars nuts might not know who Billy Dee Williams is. That would be like Oscar saying Nichelle Nicholls or Pam Grier over Halle Berry.
Also, maybe Denzel is just her personal preference? And Bill Dee Williams is older while Denzel Washington is younger and maybe around Trudy's age bracket.
Bad Suga Mama
Why is Suga Mama never punished or called out for being such a horrible parent to Oscar? Seriously, she long jumped past parental favoritism and landed squarely in child abuse territory.
It kind of coincides with the unfortunate implications of black parents being more likely to enforce corporal punishment when their children speak out of turn - and Oscar is snarky, cracks jokes, and doesn't exactly give his mother the utmost of respect.
It still doesn't change the fact that Oscar is a grown man, has (by the time the series starts) been one for decades, and hasn't lived with his mother for a long time. Her hurting him (no matter what he says or does to provoke her in the first place) isn't "corporal punishment"—it's assault. If this show were set in anything like the real world (or if Oscar wasn't such a wimp) Suga Mama would've wound up in prison for hurting her son a long time ago, but since this show runs on Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male, The Unfair Sex and Designated Hero (and Oscar is too scared of his mother to truly stand up to her or call the cops on her) she keeps getting away with it.
A better question is: how come Oscar is always made out to be in the wrong when he retaliates against Suga Mama when she makes unprovoked remarks towards him? Stuff like this happens in real life too...when older relatives are abusive towards you, and you can never defend yourself without looking like the bad guy. I hate this Double Standard.
Actually, she was called on it when we meet her sister, Spice, when Trudy pointed out that how her parents treated her and Spice isn't different than how she is with her sons, Bobby and Oscar but she argues that Spice, quote, "isn't as sweet her boys.", which could imply that her parents' treatment of her was worse than what she does with Oscar and Bobby and, two, it is shown that she does love Oscar, she's just really lousy at showing it.
With friends like these.....(again)
If Lacienga is not friends with Penny, then why is she always with Penny and her friends?
They might be neighbors, or cousins.....nah.
They are neighbours, but Lacieniga seems to willingly hang out with Penny and her friends. I don't know, is this Character Development where she learns to become more of a Lovable Alpha Bitch? I recall some episodes where she actually isn't that much of a jerkass.
From what I can tell, they mostly just tolerate each other because they're neighbors and because they're both friends with Dijonay. While Lacienega does become less jerkish as time goes on, she and Penny never really consider each other friends.
Reality is Unrealistic
Is Trudy black or white?
She's black. In one episode that takes place in the fifties, she's even flat-out stated to be a "colored veterinarian".
She's just light skinned. And for some reason, even lighter than her mother and father, brother and sisters as well.
This troper always assumed she was Latina. It's possible she could be mixed race however.
She's just a light-skinned AA.
To the troper who mentioned that she's lighter than the rest of her family 'for some reason,' it's common in AA families to have varying degrees of melanin. She also could have had lighter toned grandparents/aunts/uncles/etc.
Since we only see some of her relatives anyway, she probably has a lighter-skinned grandparent or great-grandparent somewhere. As one of the many AA tropers, this troper can tell you quite a few of us do have relatives that do look several shades lighter than ourselves.
Whose chores are they?
In one episode, Oscar has Penny do a ton of tough chores, only for it to turn out that Trudy asked him to do all those chores. He then pays Penny five bucks (if I recall correctly) despite all the hard work she did. This prompts her to stage a mini revolt with the other kids because of their "unfair" allowances. In the end, the moral is that allowances are a privilege, not a right, and she goes home. That's okay and all, but Penny started the mini revolt because Oscar got away with tricking her in to doing all his work with no remorse. Doesn't that lead to a Broken Aesop of sorts?
This show is full of those.
It's rather hard to take some of these seriously given how shitty people act to each other. I guess one of the points of the show was that life's not fair and that some people will get away with stuff, but it's so outlandish in trying to present other aesops and morals that it's hard to take it seriously.
The Idol show
Maybe this is due to bring in a different country but... During the American Idol spoof, Wizard Kelly is perfectly allowed to manipulate the competition in order to make the more marketable girl win. The girls can only stop him by making their friend quit the show. But couldn't they report what they found to the FCC that the contest was rigged? People must've had to pay to vote so this is a breach of confidence.
And while we're at it, why didn't they copy all of that data? Having a back-up to report what they found would've been the smarter thing to do?
Dijonay, again
In the episode "Adventures of Bebe Sitting," there's one scene that doesn't sit straight with me. While Dijonay is exposed for taking advantage of Penny and Penny claims that she doesn't know Dijonay, why did Dijonay's own siblings refuse to claim that they knew her? I don't like Dijonay, but I think that's a little messed up for her own siblings to not claim her as a sister.
Dejonay did say she was going to spend the evening with Penny and the kids, but then she ditches them to go to the concert. Maybe the siblings were angry she did that to them, not just Penny, and decided her getting a taste of her own medicine would make her realize how awful her actions were.
The impact would not have been felt if Dijonay's siblings didn't call her out. She's used to ditching Penny/being a terrible friend and getting a slap on the wrist. She's not used to her siblings acknowledging her as a terrible person (and considering how big her family is, there can't be anything worse than to have so many people in your life who lack respect for you).
The Proud Snax
How is it that Oscar hasn't been sued and/or arrested for selling snacks that actually poison people?
Rule of Funny is the main answer due to the nature of the show. OR it's probably because Oscar never intentionally gets anyone sick with his snacks or because the people who indulge in his snacks know what they are getting into before consuming it.
Better yet, how did Oscar even start his own snack company to begin with if he's essentially selling toxic waste in chip bags?
^Well, that's kind of a meta question, actually. That aside, exactly how bad the Proud Snax are vary from episode to episode, as some of the episodes have it where they taste like crap (however ya'll would describe "crap" to taste like), while others have it where they seem "passable but not great" with a few tweaks to the recipe, though, while he's started a business, it doesn't mean it's a successful one (some details imply Oscar's ideas might've been more successful, at least, in the short term). On that subject, you'd have to wonder as to how, for awhile, 1) no one caught on to (actual) monkeys running the factory or 2) where'd he get the money for a startup.
The House Party Episode
In the episode where Penny throws a house party but all of her friends end up going to another one, her parents invite kids from school that Penny is not friends with. And to top it off, her parents begin treating her like she is a child, bringing up games that she like as a child, neglecting that she is no longer at the age where she would enjoy those things. Obviously, Penny is very upset and embarrassed by this, but she is portrayed as being an angry brat for this. I never understood this when Trudy and Oscar were the ones who seemed to forget she's 14 and tried to force her to have fun with kids she doesn't like.
Trudy and Oscar are in that "parents-who-forget-how-old-their-kids-are-and-treat-them-like-little-kids" trope. As for being forced to be nice to the kids she doesn't like, it has more to do with the fact that they're guests in their home.
Oscar vs the Talking Baby
When it comes to Oscar's rivalry with the talking baby, why can't the former just ignore the talking baby so the baby can eventually get bored of Oscar?
For one, ignoring does not work. And two, Rule of Funny. If people in Sitcoms weren't picking up and dropping the Idiot Ball at every possible opportunity we wouldn't have a plot.
I don't completely agree. Ignoring will work on some occasions, but considering Oscar's Butt-Monkey status, it's less likely to work.
Penny and AJ
In the episode "Tiger Whisperer", Penny is shown to have a telepathic connection to AJ the circus tiger, but it is never explained how. After this, she is never able to do this with another animal again.
More on the friends....
How come Oscar and Trudy try to force a friendship between Penny and Lacienega even after Penny says many times that Lacienega doesn’t like her and doesn’t want to be her friend???
They're friends with the Boulevardezes themselves, and it'd be awkward as hell if their kids didn't get along.
That's not a good excuse. They don't have to like each other, but they can at least be civil and polite when they are around the adults. I can see Penny being civil, but Lacienega isn't interested in a friendship.
The girls try to be civil to each other and have some type of friendship depending on the episode. Most of the time they are not friends though and unless they’re hanging out as a family where the girls are expected to be nice the parents shouldn’t push two girls who don’t get along to be friends.
EZ Jackster music
In the episode "EZ-Jackster," there's something that doesn't sit right with me. Now I understand the record companies dealing with issues after the "EZ-Jackster" thing, but how comes businesses like the news business, malls, and hair salons have to suffer as well? That has nothing to do with downloading free music.
Production music?
To go off the "production music" question, yes, in some scenarios, you'd have to pay for copyright/royalty free music and some compositions of production music were composed for specific use (and thus aren't available for download).
Even more of Penny having crappy friends...
Okay, seriously, why the heck is Penny still even friends with LaCienega and Dijonay? Zoey I understand, she's relatively nice compared to the other two of them and only really backstabs Penny when she's under peer pressure.. LaCienega and Dijonay on the other hand, literally have done nothing but pulled Chronic Backstabbing Disorder numerous times, Penny's outright stated that LaCienega doesn't want to be her friend, and Dijonay refuses to learn from her mistakes and keeps being a bad friend. On top of all that, Sugar Mama has told Penny numerous times to drop them!
When you’re younger. sometimes, you’re friends with people out of convenience/proximity. Penny has known DiJonay since they were little, and DiJonay knew LaCieniga for a bit when they were younger and Penny’s parents are best friends with LaCieniga's parents so she tries to be civil towards her.
How do Trudy and Oscar make it work?
Why are Oscar and Trudy still together, given how incompatible they frequently are? Oscar's jerkishness, stupidity, immaturity, and roving eye are always angering Trudy, and Trudy has a bad temper and often flat-out assaults Oscar over something he's done to make her mad (which is NOT right, no matter how much she's right to be angry with him). Why haven't they divorced or at least separated after all of this time and conflict? (The only thing that seems to bring them together is their mutual love for their children.) They both honestly could do better than each other—Oscar with a more patient and even-tempered woman who never lays a finger on him, and Trudy with a man who's everything Oscar isn't and never angers her. Even Trudy's mother wonders at one point why they haven't broken up yet.
For that matter, how did they even become a couple in the first place? (Trudy wasn't even Oscar's first choice for a wife—Oscar admits in one episode he'd rather be married to Ginger Snaps.)
Suga Mama's rivalry.
Okay there’s one thing I don’t get. I was watching a scene in the episode "Teacher's Pet" and Suga Mama and Ms. Dinkins were going back and forth with the Darnell Sisters. When Suga Mama says that the Darnell Sisters never beat her and Dinkins, the Darnell Sisters respond with "well apparantly Father Time did." What were the sisters trying to imply?
Probably a dig on how poorly Suga Momma and Ms. Dinkins aged.
Lacienega's LPDZ outfit in "Hip-Hop Helicopter"
Okay so what's so wrong with Lacienega's LPDZ outfit? It didn't seem too revealing. Out of all the girls, hers was the only decent outfit (and maybe even Zoey's because hers wasn't showing her midriff).
I’m assuming it’s because it’s still a tight short black dress, which doesn’t sound bad nor is inherently sexual or anything but like Trudy said unfortunately people will see outfits like that as mature and will be interested in them for the wrong reasons, and the girls are too young to dress "mature" and shouldn’t grow up too fast by doing so.
