History Characters / Titus

* [[AbusiveParents Abusive Dad]]: Believes that emotional damage keeps kids in line better than physical abuse, as he told Erin's dad in "The Perfect Thanksgiving."

* TheAlcoholic: Just like Titus' dad in RealLife. Titus notes that he doesn't have a single photo where Ken ''isn't'' holding a beer.

Most episodes follow his exploits and his point of view. He knows that his life has been and is very screwed-up, but realizes that he himself has turned out relatively okay. Even though the show is about his family, everyone calls him by his last name except for his dad and Erin.

* DeadpanSnarker: At least the five year-old version of the character. The kid could do as much with an annoyed tone as Stacy Keach could do with a smarmy one.

* ToughLove: Grew up on the receiving end on this from Ken, and attempts to use it himself on Amy once she comes into his care. He...can't quite pull it off as well as his father can.

-->''"So I'm sitting in a meeting when my pager goes off with a message. It says 'Dad's dead.' So I race out of the meeting and drive all the way to Santa Maria because, naturally, I think 'MY DAD'S DEAD!'"''

Christopher's fiancée, a strong and independent woman whose family is just as messed-up as his. She is a calming influence on Titus, is one of the few people Papa Titus likes and is semi-openly lusted after by both Dave and Tommy. Despite her peacemaking personality, she has a buried Irish temper that everyone is afraid of. Her parents, Nora and Merritt, are miserably married alcoholics, her sister Kim is a sexually promiscuous drug addict and her brother Michael is a career criminal. Her childhood dream was to become the first person in her family to not be arrested. She brings in her niece Amy (Kim's daughter) after her stepfather (Kim's boyfriend) almost punches her in the face for calling Child Welfare on him.

* TheHeart: Usually believes the best of people, is the only person that can get Ken and Titus to make up during any one of their numerous fights, and with rare exception, gets along with everyone on the show.

* TheDitz: Parts of it might be marijuana talking, but in the cases he supposedly isn't stoned (like when he's a kid or during the episode 'Private Dave) he isn't much smarter.

* EvenTheGuysWantHim: He occasionally dances at a bar on the gay nights and apparently makes good money at it. He also sincerely believes himself to be a case of this trope as demonstrated by his reasoning that if Tommy isn't hot for him (Dave), he wouldn't be for any other man, thus he (Tommy) is not gay.
* HappilyAdopted: Subverted. Dave considers Ken to be his father and calls him "Dad" but Ken never formally adopted him. When Dave gets upset at that fact, Titus reassures him that the years of emotional abuse make up for it.
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: His mom (Ken's third wife) abandoned him when he was five because Ken was emotionally abusive to her. It's not known whether she did this on purpose or not[[note]]Titus once said that the real Dave just hung around the Titus household after his mother left because he liked Ken and everyone just rolled with it[[/note]].

-->'''Titus''': I see a carjacker, Tommy sees a grump valet with a gun.

-->'''Christopher''': (''while role-playing with Dave about how condescending their dad is'') Hey, Dad, I started my own business and I made more money in one year than you have in any year of your life! What do you think about that?! Heh heh heh... (''Ken appears behind him, beer in hand'')

You could consider him to be a MagnificentBastard, to some degree. The show revolves around the relationship between him and Christopher. He is a very difficult man to describe; he's gruff and difficult, but has JerkWithAHeartOfGold tendencies. He seems to enjoy watching Christopher suffer, but it seems to be a form of TrainingFromHell meets WaxOnWaxOff.

--> '''Ken:''' [[spoiler: (''while Titus and Dave are holding him back'') [[WouldntHitAGirl You never hit a woman!]] No matter how many times she's beaten you, stabbed you or tried to kill you!]]

** Ken was an emotionally abusive, womanizing bastard who drove wives away. But when Dave's mom left, he still kept taking care of Dave and Dave came to see Ken as his own father.

* ParentalSubstitute: Dave is actually his stepson from a short-lived marriage. But when Dave's mother left, Ken raised Dave as his own son.

* AgonyOfTheFeet: Tried a GroinAttack on Titus just as she did on his friend, and ended up howling in pain after the hit (to his cup).

* DoesNotLikeMen: Justified when you consider that [[spoiler:her mom's boyfriend beats the crap out of her when he's drunk and she was molested by a male babysitter whose son sexually harassed her]].

!!Dave Scovill (Zack Ward)

!!Tommy Shafter (David Shatraw)

!!Juanita Titus (Christine Estrabrook, Frances Fisher, Connie Stevens)

!!Amy Fitzpatrick (Rachel Roth)

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Erin has quite a temper.

%%* TheHeart

%%* OnlySaneWoman

* BiTheWay: In the middle of Season 3 hints are dropped that Dave doesn't mind being sexual around men (i.e., kissing Tommy to prove that Tommy isn't gay in the episode [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment "Tommy's Not Gay"]] and working at a bar on nights when gay men drink at half-price. See EvenTheGuysWantHim. Although it seems more like he believes himself to be a local sex god and acting benevolent/making money out of it than actually be interested in men.

%%* TheChick

* TheAlcoholic: Just like Titus' dad in RealLife.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Papa Titus would do some horrible things simply because it amused him. Stacy Keach, on the other hand, is universally considered to be one of the sweetest people alive.
** There's an outtake where Christopher and Jay Leno keep slapping Zack Ward harder and harder because the studio audience is reacting positively. Then Stacy, who wasn't in the scene, yelled "Hey!" and stepped in, holding Zack protectively while glaring at the audience for goading Titus and Leno into abusing his co-star.

* ButtMonkey: Titus REALLY can't catch a break.
%%* TheHero

%%* SixthRanger

!Christopher Titus (Creator/ChristopherTitus)

!Erin Fitzpatrick (Creator/CynthiaWatros)

!Dave Scovill (Zack Ward)

!Tommy Shafter (David Shatraw)

!Ken 'Papa' Titus (Creator/StacyKeach)

!Juanita Titus (Christine Estrabrook, Frances Fisher, Connie Stevens)

!Amy Fitzpatrick (Rachel Roth)

!Amy Fitzpatrick

* AgonyOfTheFeet: Tried a GroinAttack on Titus, and ended up howling in pain after the hit.

* AsHimself: Creator/ChristopherTitus as...Christopher Titus.

* KavorkaMan: Women find him charming... until they date and/or marry him. Then they try to kill him and/or ruin his life.
** This is best exemplified by a flashback where he's able to get into a random threesome ''in a movie theater'' by [[InvokedTrope invoking]] InTouchWithHisFeminineSide during the film.

%%* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood

-->'''Ken''': (''opens beer can, [[OhCrap Christopher freezes in shock]]'') I think without me pushin' you, you never would have made it.

* KavorkaMan: Women find him charming...until they date and/or marry him. Then they try to kill him and/or ruin his life.
* SinkOrSwimMentor: In one flashback, he's this trope personified.

%%* ToughLove

* EvenTheGuysWantHim: He occasionally at a bar on the gay nights and apparently makes good money at it. He also sincerely believes himself to be a case of this trope as demonstrated by his reasoning that if Tommy isn't hot for him (Dave), he wouldn't be for any other man, thus he (Tommy) is not gay.

!Ken 'Papa' Titus (Stacy Keach)

* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: His mom (Ken's third wife) abandoned him when he was five because Ken was emotionally abusive to her. It's not known whether she did this on purpose or not[[note]]Titus once said that the real Dave just hung around the Titus household after is mother left because he like Ken and never left[[/note]].