Series / Herman's Head

Genius: I'm Herman's intellect. Without me he couldn't hold his job, pay his rent or tie his shoe laces.
Angel: I'm Herman's sensitivity. Without me he wouldn't feel tenderness, honesty, or love... the good things in life.
Wimp: I'm Herman's anxiety and I keep him out of trouble and believe me, there's trouble everywhere.
Animal: I'm Herman's lust. Without me he'd miss out on all the good stuff. You know, fun, food, babes.
Narrator: Sometimes they agree... Usually they don't. But the struggle is going on inside all of us and it's all going on inside...Herman's Head.

— The first season opening titles explains it all for you.

Originally broadcast on Fox (1991-1994), this half-hour Sitcom would have been just an ordinary office-based comedy - except for its use of one of the most imaginative devices ever tried on broadcast television: the viewers were allowed to see the inner workings of the title character's mind. The inside of Herman Brooks' (William Ragsdale) head was presented as an attic in which dwelt the Insiders: four characters representing the conflicting forces which drove Herman's personality: Angel (Herman's sense of selflessness, charity, and justice), Animal (Herman's desire for sensate pleasures, such as food, sleep, and sex), Genius (Herman's storehouse of knowledge and wisdom), and Wimp (Herman's sense of fear and apprehension).

Outside of the "attic", Herman is a young writer working as a fact-checker for a Manhattan magazine, with a typical assortment of supporting characters: His boss Mr. Bracken, a walking encyclopedia, but iffy on personal skills; Louise, a meek-but-sweet plain-jane (played by Yeardley Smith, best known as the voice of Lisa Simpson); and Heddy, a man-hungry social-climbing beauty for whom Herman intermittently pines for. Playing counterpoint to the office crew is Herman's best friend Jay (Hank Azaria, also better known for his many roles on The Simpsons), a part-time Lothario whose success at writing drives Herman to match him.

Each episode mated a typical sitcom situation with the unique perspective on Herman's choices and motivations afforded by the "Inside" scenes. The conflicts, alliances and negotiations between the four Insiders made for just as much comedy as the events in the "outside" world — and sometimes more, as in the episode where the constantly-warring Angel and Animal discovered a woman they both agreed on.

The show was canceled after its third season.

See also Inside Out, Poison Berry in My Brain, and Yumi's Cells for stories with a similar premise in animated movie, manga and webtoon form respectively.

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This show provides examples of:

• Actor Allusion: Louise (Yeardley Smith's character) tells off an old friend (Maureen McCormick) of the boss without realizing who it is. When the boss confronts the staff about it, not knowing who spoke to Maureen but knowing that she sounded "like a cartoon character", Louise gets an Oh, Crap! moment — only for the boss to turn and start yelling at another woman, who protests in a Betty Boop voice. In another episode she complains about people mistaking her for Lisa Simpson when she's talking to them on the phone.
• Ambiguously Bi:
  • Both Louise and Heddy seem intrigued by Herman's lesbian ex, Rebecca.
  • When Bracken consults Heddy on a gift for his wife saying that "She knows what a woman wants", Heddy's flustered reaction implies that she might have Experimented in College.
• The Artifact / Demoted to Extra: Towards the end of the show's run, the Insider characters featured less and less prominently as the show focused more on Herman and his real environment.
• Bait-and-Switch Credits : The original opening has a narrator telling us that "sometimes [the insiders] agree... usually they don't," while showing them all arguing loudly. But in most episodes they usually do agree, except for Angel and Animal, and even then, their discussions are more in the form of sarcastic sniping than loud arguments.

• Can't Hold His Liquor: Herman. The Insiders get... weird when Herman is drunk.
• Casanova Wannabe: Animal's general purpose. One episode features Herman staying awake for so long that all the other three aspects pass out... leaving Animal in sole control. Hilarity Ensues.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Any given episode would usually start with Herman doing something wrong, then Hilarity Ensues as he runs about trying to resolve the situation, with an Aesop over not having done it in the first place. Some of the third season episodes would have Herman fail to "fix" things (such as when he cheated on his Girl of the Week) presumably in order to reinforce the Aesop.
• Christmas Episode: "A Charlie Brown Fitzer".
• Chubby Chaser: Animal was more than happy to go after a fat chick at a bar.
• Comically Missing the Point : Herman's boss is a very serious man who tries to have fun but has no idea how. In one episode, he gets a ventriloquist's dummy and puts together a very convincing show... except that instead of telling jokes, he and the dummy exchange dry historical facts. He is shocked when he is told that's not how a ventriloquism act is supposed to go.

• The Conscience: Angel, who is literally Herman's sense of right and wrong.

• Da Editor: Mr. Bracken, although in Research rather than News. The gruff boss who still cares for his employees is played straight though.
• Desk Sweep of Passion: When Herman and Heddy finally get together, they argue and fight, then kiss violently, and each sweeps a half of their boss's desk! Then they have sex on it and spend the night in the office.

• Ear Worm: The Gilligan's Island theme song becomes this for Animal in episode 3. When Herman gets drunk, all the insiders start singing it.

• Fanservice Extra: Lita Ford in red lingerie.

• A Form You Are Comfortable With: God takes the form of Leslie Nielsen.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Genius is choleric, Animal is sanguine, Wimp is melancholic, and Angel is phlegmatic. Together, they make Herman a fairly well-balanced person.
• Freudian Trio Literally: Animal (Id), Angel (Ego), Genius (Superego) It's not surprising Wimp faded into the background in later episodes.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: In the first episode, the insiders must choose between having sex with Jay's ex-girlfriend, or telling her Jay wants her back. Animal has to be tied down so they can choose the latter.
• Fun with Acronyms: In 'A Kept Herman':
  Heddy: I'm reporting it to that National Organization of Women, whatever it's called.
  Louise: You mean NOW?
  Heddy: Yes, now! This can't wait.
• Ghost in the Machine
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: Played with - They don't dress up in halos or horns, but essentially the Insiders are this to Herman, particularly when Angel and Animal argue - naturally, Angel's the good one, and selfish Animal is the bad one.
• Greek Chorus
• Groin Attack: Animal uses one on Wimp in episode 2.
  • When Angel suggests using one on a guy attacking Herman, the others are appalled.
• Half-Hour Comedy
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: Mr. Bracken does not approve of random people abusing his employees like he does.
• Hypocritical Humor: Animal yells at Wimp to stick up for himself...then immediately begs Genius for help.
  • See Groin Attack.
• I Take Offense to That Last One: Animal and Angel recall an incident when Herman was a kid when he had to make a speech, causing him to stutter, wet himself, and throw up. Wimp had only managed to forget the pants-wetting.
• Idiot Ball: Trope Namer — Hank Azaria coined it when he asked the writers, "Hey, who's carrying the Idiot Ball this week?" - referring to which character was going to act dumb in order to get the plot going.
• Imagine Spot: A standard way to show how each of the four personas viewed a situation. For example, in a case where Herman is debating telling his boss that he made a major mistake:
  Genius: Boss gives him a stern, but fair lecture.
  Wimp: Boss holding Wimp in a headlock, and then popping his head clean off.
  Angel: Boss thanking her for Herman's honesty and integrity.
  Animal: Has Wimp in the same headlock as above, trying to duplicate the head popping.
• Jaw Drop: Genius, Angel and Wimp when Victoria Stark orders Herman to kiss her.
• Jerkass: Heddy, Animal, Mr. Macken, and Jay.
• Literal Metaphor: When God (Leslie Nielsen) shoots down Genius' half-baked modernism:
  "You'll still go to Hell."
  "You mean, we will be so eaten up with remorse that we'll FEEL like hell."
  "No, I mean Hell, eternal damnation."
  "You mean, it will last so long that it will FEEL like an eternity."
  "No, I mean eternity, forever and ever."
• Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: Jay.
• Ma'am Shock: In one episode, Heddy plans to seduce a fourteen-year-old boy, reasoning that he is at his sexual peak. She is put off from this when he calls her, "Ma'am."
• Nervous Wreck: Wimp's whole character.
• Of Course I'm Not a Virgin: When Louise admits she's still a virgin, she quickly gets annoyed over how everyone treats it as strange.
• Orphaned Punchline: Louise's "Captain, it is I - Ensign Pulver - and I've just thrown your stinking palm tree overboard!"
• Professionals Do It on Desks: Herman and Heddy have sex on Mr. Bracken's desk. A few episodes later, high-powered editor Victoria Stark has sex with Herman on her desk.
• Record Scratch: In "Herman Au Naturel", Angel does this to the steelpan calypso record Genius and Animal are dancing to.
• Scenery Censor: Various well-placed props keep "Herman Au Naturel" in the pre-watershed slots.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Genius, which makes it difficult for Animal to understand him.
• Shout-Out: Many for The Simpsons. A Running Gag involved Louise being mistaken for Lisa Simpson every time she talked to someone on the phone.
• Sitcom
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Herman and Heddy fight (they argue, but it's also a physical fight), and then soon start kissing violently in the first-season's episode "9 1/2 Hours".
• The Smart Guy: Genius.
• Unusual Euphemism: Many are used by the Insiders in episode 2.
• Will They or Won't They?: Herman and Heddy, despite Heddy's oft-stated intentions of trapping a rich man to drain dry, start falling for each other by the third season, but resist their attraction with no small amount of angst on both sides over it.
• Work Com
• World of Snark

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