"Hello, I'm Jerri Blank. Thirty-two years ago I dropped out of high school and ran away from home. Oh, I made a lot of friends... did a lot of time. I was a boozer, a user and a loser. I stole the TV... Did some more time. But now I'm back in school! And though the faces may have changed, the hassles are just the same."
Gonk: Jerri is about as close to being one as is possible for a live action show.
Hartman Hips: Jerri's hips are out of proportion to the rest of her body. Mr. Blackman says when Jerri goes on a hunger strike:
"Are you joking? She could live off stored fat. Her hips alone could take us into the next semester!"
Hollywood Pudgy: Numerous comments are made about her being obese despite being fairly petite.
Hypocritical Humor: Being omnisexual does not keep Jerri from flinging around anti-gay comments. Nor does having Native American ancestry get in the way of her racism.
Incest Is Relative - Jerri discovers the transfer student she likes is actually her long-lost son. This discovery doesn't deter her from asking if they can still make out.
Kavorka Man: A rare female example—although not always successful in her pursuits, she has many more guys and girls of the week than her... unique appearance can account for.
Missing Mom: According to Sara, Jerri's mother died shortly after she ran away from a broken heart. Also is one to her son, Ricky.
Suddenly Ethnicity: The third season reveals that Jerri is Native American.
Tomboyish Name: They specifically wanted a name for the character that would come with the same nickname as a man's. Antonia —> Toni was the other front-runner and survives as her middle name.
Oh Jerri, I didn't know you were coming home this early. We would've left sooner.
Jerri's prim and proper stepmother. She was not at all happy when Jerri returned home, and always seeks to make her feel as unwanted and unloved as possible.
Commuting On A Bus: A regular in Season 1, and a frequent recurrer afterwards.
Elephant in the Living Room: Like everyone else, Sara treats Jerri as if she was a real (and unwanted) teenager, and very rarely acknowledges that she is the same age as her. It gets even stranger after her husband's death where she could easily kick Jerri out but continues to let her live with them.
Parental Favoritism: Openly and purposefully shows more affection for her biological son.
White Dwarf Starlet: In her youth, Sara was a stage actress who performed as Peter Pan. She gave up her career to start a family and still yearns for the life she left behind.
Guy Blank (Roberto Gari)
Jerri's elderly, immobile father.
Demoted to Extra: Part of the main cast in Season 1, and recurring in early Season 2 before being...
Racist Grandpa While Jerri is looking through his closet to find information on him after his death, you can clearly see a Klu Klux Klan robe. He had stipulated that he wanted no "darkies" to attend his funeral. Of course, we never see any racist behavior from him, as he is...
The Voiceless: And The Motionless—he is only ever seen in silent mid-action.
Jerri's half-brother, the son of Sara and Guy, who also attends Flatpoint High.
Ambiguously Gay - He watches gay porn with other bullies "to get our hate back". In one episode Mr. Jellineck shows up to their house in a speedo saying he's here to see him.
Principal of Flatpoint High. Blackman is more like a tyrant than a school administrator. Portraits and other portrayals of him can be seen in various places in the school, including the bathrooms.
Selective Obliviousness - Principal Blackman remains unaware that Noblet and Jellineck are lovers no matter what they say or do in his presence, even after he catches them together in the boiler room, and Jellineck has his pants off.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? - Greg Hollimon is a strong phobia of drowning. Making the brief shot of him canoeing in the school pool in the background a hard scene for him to perform.
""Noone makes friends with a failure. Okay? Understand?"
Teacher of history and English, editor of the school newspaper, and assistant to the principal. Perhaps all these responsibilities, his tendency to burst into tears, and his obsession with food are symptomatic of dealing with his gay affair with Geoffrey Jellineck.
Armoured Closet Gay: Has a wife and a child at home, and goes out of his way to pretend Geoffrey is nobody to him in public.
Sadist Teacher - Has a particular hatred for Jerri. Among many incidents between the two, in one episode Noblet says to Jerri, "Now I know you're upset, but it's been two days! You need to move on." Two days after her father was abruptly mauled to death by loose vicious attack dogs.
"Jerri, I was going to tell you this in privacy but I didn't think it would be suitably humiliating enough. You failed Jerri. You failed. You are a failure."
"Yes, maybe that's true. But do they care about me? I don't think so. Do you see the flaw in your logic now?"
Art teacher. Geoffrey seems to like the idea of being the artist more than, well, actually creating art. He's consumed with himself to the point that he twists other people's problems to be about him. The epitome of "But what about me?!"
Terrible Artist: Most of his artwork looks like this, at best.
Apparently he does not like seeing art better than his. In one episode, he rips up a realistic drawing of a turkey a student made and draw a turkey he made by tracing his hand
My Girl Is Not a Slut: Has this attitude towards herself—claims to be a virgin despite at the very least clearly having a sexual encounter with the chef at her second job.
""Just because your dad was killed in some freak accident nobody can have one!? Well, I'll tell you something. My daddy's alive and yours is dead and ain't nothing gonna change that!"
Flatpoint High's hilariously insensitive school counselor; appears in "The Goodbye Guy" and the finale.
Teacher/Student Romance - Tammy is in a commited and very open relationship with the school science teacher, to the point of being Sickeningly Sweet Hearts. The rest of the school thinks it's sweet though.
