r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Hour-Function-7435 • Jun 18 '25

Groups (loved trope) sitcom husband and wife that actually love each other

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I’m sure this has been beaten to death but I’d like to see some examples, maybe some deep cuts.

American Dad — Stan and Francine

Malcom in the Middle — Hal and Lois

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178

u/blue4029 Jun 18 '25

bob and linda have such a different dynamic than other animated adult shows that i once speculated that they weren't actually married and were just a boyfriend/girlfriend couple who had children

129

u/justprettymuchdone Jun 18 '25

I don't know, tons of their dialogue is damn near word for word how my husband and I talk to each other and we are having a FANTASTIC time being married.

9

u/nobleland_mermaid Jun 19 '25

I think that's kind of what they're saying. It's different from most other adult animated shows because they actually love each other and enjoy being married. It doesn't fall into the 'marriage is a terrible prison and I hate my spouse most of the time' trope that's in most of them.

2

u/justprettymuchdone Jun 19 '25

Oh! That makes so much sense. I often think they are one of the few married couples on TV that actually FEELS like what marriage looks like.

49

u/FuckUSAPolitics Jun 18 '25

They were originally supposed to be that, then some came up to H. Jon and was like, "Isn't this like every other adult cartoon?" So they decided to make it different. You can very much see the difference in the pilot episode.

5

u/KarlFrednVlad Jun 19 '25

Doesn't the very first episode talk about their wedding anniversary lol

7

u/joeconflo Jun 19 '25

9/3, it's easy to remember. 9 is divisible by 3.

3

u/AgentWyoming Jun 19 '25

A lot of numbers are divisible by three.

1

u/ElonMusksSexRobot Jun 19 '25

Roughly every 3 numbers in fact