History YMMV / MyWifeAndKids

* CrazyAwesome: If you don't mind Franklin (see below), he can seem like this.

* MoralEventHorizon: Michael crossed this in "Here Comes Da Judge" when he let Kady fall off her bike and ''wasn't even sorry''. Not only that, but aside from briefly getting the cold shoulder from her and Jay, he didn't suffer [[KarmaHoudini any form of comeuppance]].
** It should be noted that the writers probably took notice of this, seeing as in the next episode---the one where Clare steals the car---he was shown as a ''much'' more concerned parent, seeing as he gets ''very'' angry at her for doing something that could have gotten her hurt or killed.

* CreatorsPet: Franklin, and ''how''. It got to the point that he was included more than Michael's wife and kids. Think about that for a second. And of course, Franklin has to come save the day in several episodes — the remodel of the garage; when things turn sour, of course it turns out he's a certified contractor. Michael [[CurbStompBattle curbstomping]] everyone in foosball? Guess who's the one person who can beat him?

* FixerSue: Franklin.

* JerkSue: It's what Jay stands for. Her personality is pretty much a more promiscuous [[Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond Debra Barone]].

* RealLifeRelative: Michael's brother & sister were played with Keenan & Kim Wayans, Damon Wayans's older brother & younger sister. Two of his sons also played Junior's friends.

* JerkSue: It's what Jay stands for. Her personality is pretty much a more promiscuous [[EverybodyLovesRaymond Debra Barone]].

* DudeNotFunny: Funny or not, several of the punishments or "lessons" Michael and Jay give the kids can be downright cruel.

* JumpingTheShark: [[spoiler:Junior's girlfriend gets pregnant.]] This is followed by TheOtherDarrin (again), Mass {{Flanderization}}, and reliance on {{Running Gag}}s. The storylines also disappeared when the final season began.

* FridgeHorror: One episode involved Junior getting electrocuted and Michael thought he was dancing if Jay had not have pulled Junior away he could have died.

* MomentOfAwesome: A meta example - The final season featured Michael playing a one-on-one game of basketball against MichaelJordan, his all-time favourite basketball player. The credits to this episode show more of the footage of Wayans playing Jordan, ''and ends with Damon Wayans scoring against one of the greatest basketball players of all time''.

* CreatorsPet: Franklin, and ''how''. It got to the point that he was included more than Michael's wife and kids. Think about that for a second.
** And of course, Franklin has to come save the day in several episodes — the remodel of the garage as mentioned above; when things turn sour, of course it turns out he's a certified contractor. Michael [[CurbStompBattle curbstomping]] everyone in foosball? Guess who's the one person who can beat him?
** Michael has to deliver a baby? Guess who knows how to do that.
*** But, of course, one man's CreatorsPet moment is another man's MomentOfAwesome.

* TheScrappy: Depending on the episode almost anyone in the Kyle family can be this.

* FridgeHorror: One episode involved Junior getting electrocuted and Micheal thought he was dancing if Jay had not have pulled Junior away he could have died.

* {{Flanderization}}: Hoo boy, where to begin. Junior's stupidity, Claire's clumsiness, Jay's callousness, etc.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Isn't that genius kid [[{{Heroes}} Micah Sanders]]? Yep, it's him.

* MomentOfAwesome: A meta example - The final season featured Michael playing a one-on-one game of basketball against Michael Jordan, his all-time favourite basketball player. The credits to this episode show more of the footage of Wayans playing Jordan, ''and ends with Damon Wayans scoring against one of the greatest basketball players of all time''.

* TheWesley: Franklin, and ''how''. It got to the point that he was included more than Michael's wife and kids. Think about that for a second.
** And of course, Franklin has to come save the day in several episodes — the remodel of the garage as mentioned above; when things turn sour, of course it turns out he's a certified contractor. Michael [[CurbStompBattle curbstomping]] everyone in foosball? Guess who's the one person who can beat him?
** Michael has to deliver a baby? Guess who knows how to do that.
*** But, of course, one man's [[TheWesley Wesley]] moment is another man's MomentOfAwesome.

* JumpingTheShark: [[spoiler:Junior's girlfriend gets pregnant.]] This is followed by TheOtherDarrin (again), Mass Flanderization, CharacterDerailment, and reliance on {{Running Gag}}s. The storylines also disappeared when the final season began.

* CharacterDerailment: Michael, formerly a loving father who becomes incredibly cruel in later episodes. Junior goes through several distinct character changes, but this is justified and lampshaded through the fact that he's, well, a teenager.
** Interesting and heavily done with Claire in that the two actresses played her very different. Claire as played by Jazz-Raycole was girly and a bit bratty but overall smarter, more level headed and more caring, highlighted by the fact that in an episode where Junior was being made fun of by a [[JerkJock Bully at their school.]] Her solution? [[MomentOfAwesome punch him out with one blow]]. Meanwhile, Jennifer Freeman's Claire became a more typical BrattyTeenageDaughter archetype. She got better.

* DarthWiki/DethroningMomentOfSuck: Michael kicks Junior out of the house, and then makes him live in the garage, even after [[spoiler:they find out Junior's girlfriend Vanessa pregnant, she has the child and moves into the garage with him]]. When they ''finally'' convert the garage into an apartment, Michael kicks them out and takes the newly-converted garage for himself, forcing Junior to move back into the house.
** Jay creates "Sweetheart's Day" in order to force Michael to buy her diamonds. The rest of the female cast go along with it to force their men to do the same.
** And then there was the episode where the family went to a Japanese restaurant, where the staff proceeds to rip off Michael in every way imaginable. And Jay treats Michael like he's the one being unreasonable.
** Turning the TV to the channel with the basketball game and refusing to turn it off until Michael paid them $20 is unreasonable. Giving the family a broken pager so they could give their table away and force them to stay at the bar (which had a three-drink minimum) is unreasonable. It was the staff that were being unreasonable, not Michael.

** And then there was the episode where the family went to a Japanese restaurant, where the staff proceeds to rip off Michael in every way imaginable. [[DarthWiki/WallBanger And Jay treats Michael like he's the one being unreasonable.]]

* DarthWiki/WallBanger: Several:
** In the episode "Sweetheart's Day", the four Kyle women invent the titular holiday to get their men to buy them diamonds. Michael gets Jaye pearls when she displays a bad attitude over the phone (Michael intends to base the price of the gift based on how well Jay treats him at any given moment) and encourages the other men to do the same; they don't, and Michael spends the rest of the episode attempting to apologize. What made the episode get here was that it made Jay look completely faultless, ignoring the fact that she invented the whole thing because, as she declared, Michael needed to prove how much he loved her by buying her diamonds — completely ignoring the years of happy marriage and their three children. Quite aside from making Michael look like an idiot for going along with such bullshit, Jay comes off as an ungrateful materialist, and is held up as the protagonist in the story for it. What an uplifting message for female viewers. And it isn't like he got her feces, because pearls cost money too. Should've given her a homemade gift. A liquid homemade gift.
*** Actually, Jay's biggest issue wasn't the fact that he didn't get her diamonds, it was the fact that she was rated (and was given a bad score). Before hearing about the "women rating system", she more or less just shrugged and said "I guess pearls are nice too". Michael gave her a 3/10 on the scale at that moment. Tell your woman that she's a 3 and see how many days it is until you sleep in the same room again. This was probably a reference to a very real occasion found in relationships where a woman will be momentarily stressed out by the current situation or problem and snaps at somebody in her family and a problem arises when the man acts or thinks like she's always like that. But even given Jay's defense, she's still far from spotless in the situation. While her biggest issue wasn't getting pearls instead of diamonds, it still was a huge part of her problem. Michael got her pearls over diamonds based on a momentary 3/10 rating, which is still a pretty nice gift. For breakfast, she gave her family all 10/10 and apparently limitless and famously good blueberry waffles. For Michael, she gave a 4/10 (higher than the 3/10 he gave her) and gave him ''strips of raw bacon''. While Jay was justified in being angry about being rated, she even managed to overreact to that.
** The episode where Michael takes the family to the Grand Canyon in an RV, his daughter refuses to go unless her boyfriend can go too, so they let him come too. Fair enough, except it was ''8-year-old Kady'' pulling this, not Claire (whose boyfriend is never even ''mentioned'') — Michael and Jay could've very easily just told her no, since she was ''8 years old'', but then [[TheWesley Franklin]] wouldn't have been in the episode.

* CharacterDerailment: Michael, formerly a loving father who becomes incredibly cruel in later episodes. Junior goes through several distinct character changes, but this is justified and lampshaded through the fact that he's, well, a teenager.
** Interesting & heavily done with Claire in that the two actresses played her very different. Claire as played by Jazz-Raycole was girly and a bit bratty but overall smarter, more level headed and more caring, highlighted by the fact that in an episode where Junior was being made fun of by a [[JerkJock Bully at their school.]] Her solution? [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome punch him out with one blow]]. Meanwhile, Jennifer Freeman's Claire became a more typical BrattyTeenageDaughter archetype. She got better over time though.
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: A meta example - The final season featured Michael playing a one-on-one game of basketball against Michael Jordan, his all-time favourite basketball player. The credits to this episode show more of the footage of Wayans playing Jordan, ''and ends with Damon Wayans scoring against one of the greatest Basketball players of all time''.
* DethroningMomentOfSuck: Michael kicks Junior out of the house, and then makes him live in the garage, even after [[spoiler:they find out Junior's girlfriend Vanessa pregnant, she has the child & moves into the garage with him]]. When they ''finally'' convert the garage into an apartment, Michael kicks them out & takes the newly converted garage for himself, forcing Junior to move back into the house.
** Jay creates "Sweetheart's Day" in order to force Michael to buy her diamonds. The rest of the female cast go along with it to force their men to do the same.
** And then there was the episode where the family went to a Japanese Restaurant, where the staff proceeds to rip off Michael in every way imaginable. [[WallBanger And Jay treats Michael like he's the one being unreasonable.]]
** This troper seems to recall that Michael was being unreasonable. The staff was following the rules set down by the owners and Michael (because he didn't want to be there in the first place) was acting like a jackass.
*** Turning the tv to the channel with the basketball game and refusing to turn it off until Michael paid them $20 is unreasonable. Giving the family a broken pager so they could give their table away and force them to stay at the bar which had a 3-drink minimum is unreasonable. It was the staff that were being unreasonable, not Michael.
* FixerSue: Franklin.
* {{Flanderization}}: Hoo boy, where to begin. Junior's stupidity, Claire's clumsiness, Jay's callousness, etc.
* JerkSue: It's what Jay stands for. Her personality is pretty much a more promiscuous [[EverybodyLovesRaymond Debra Barone]].
* JumpingTheShark ([[spoiler: Junior's girlfriend gets pregnant]]. This is followed by TheOtherDarrin (Again), Mass Flanderization, CharacterDerailment and reliance on {{RunningGag}}s. The storylines also disappeared when the final season began.
* WallBanger: Several:
** In the episode "Sweetheart's Day", the four Kyle women invent the titular holiday to get their men to buy them diamonds. Michael gets Jaye pearls when she displays a bad attitude over the phone (Micheal intends to base the price of the gift based on how well Jay treats him at any given moment) and encourages the other men to do the same; of course, they don't, and Michael spends the rest of the episode attempting to apologize. What made the episode a Wall Banger was that it made Jaye look completely faultless, ignoring the fact that she invented the whole thing because, as she declared, Michael needed to prove how much he loved her by buying her diamonds — completely ignoring the years of happy marriage and their three children. Quite aside from making Michael look like an idiot for going along with such bullshit, Jaye comes off as an ungrateful materialist, and is held up as the protagonist in the story for it. What an uplifting message for female viewers. And it isn't like he got her feces. Pearls cost money too. Should given her a homemade gift. A liquid home made gift.
*** Actually, Jay's biggest issue wasn't the fact that he didn't get her diamonds, it was the fact that she was rated (and was given a bad score no less). Before hearing about the "women rating system" she more or less just shrugged and said "oh well I guess pearls are nice too." Michael gave her a 3/10 on the scale at that moment. Tell your woman that she's a 3 and see how many days it is until you sleep in the same room again. This was probably a reference to a very real occasion found in relationships where a woman will be momentarily stressed out by the current situation or problem and snaps at somebody in her family and a problem arises when the man acts or thinks like she's always like that. But even given Jay's defense, she's still far from spotless in the situation. While her biggest issue wasn't getting pearls instead of diamonds, it still was a huge part of her problem. Michael got her pearls over diamonds based on a momentary 3/10 rating, which is still a pretty nice gift. For breakfast, she gave her family all 10/10 and apparently limitless and famously good blueberry waffles. For Michael, she gave a 4/10 (higher than the 3/10 he gave her) and gave him ''strips of raw bacon.'' While Jay was justified in being angry about being rated, she even managed to overreact to that.
** See the ManipulativeBastard entry above.
** The episode where Michael takes the family to the Grand Canyon in an RV, his daughter refuses to go unless her boyfriend can go too, so they let him come too. Fair enough, except it was ''8 year old Kady'' pulling this, not Claire (Whose boyfriend is never even ''mentioned'') - Michael & Jay could have very easily just told her no, since she was ''8 years old'', but then [[TheWesley Franklin]] wouldn't have been in the episode.
* TheWesley: Franklin.
** And how. It got to the point that he was included more than Michael's wife & kids. ''Think about that for a second''.
*** And of course Franklin has to come save the day in several episodes - the remodel of the garage as mentioned above - when things turn sour, of course it turns out he's a certified contractor. Micheal [[CurbStompBattle curbstomping]] everyone in foosball? Guess who's the one person who can beat him?
*** Michael has to deliver a baby? Guess who knows how to do that.
**** But, of course, one man's [[TheWesley Wesley]] moment is another man's {{CrowningMomentOfAwesome}}.