A rightfully dying breed of television sitcom is what I like to call the “Oafs and Shrews” model, also known as Home Improvement Syndrome. This variety came to fruition in the early 90s and was, for some reason, infinitely popular a little over a decade. The use of the word “variety” was in error as these shows were almost totally identical. Similar programming isn’t necessarily a problem, at least not inherently, however what makes these shows so problematic are their grotesque depictions of marriage and the family unit and made it seem like all men are dumb but nice and all women are smart but mean. The families depicted should not, by rights, still be together, these marriages should not work, and the fact that they continued week after week with a more or less “happy” resolution every 22 minutes is unhealthy.

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