History Main / DysfunctionalFamily

* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'': A mild example with Dexter's family. Dad is a wannabe candidate for JockDadNerdSon despite not being all that physically accomplished himself, Mom has massive OCD and germaphobia and compulsively cleans the house constantly as well as extremely bad-tempered if anyone ever questions her decisions or requests, Dee-Dee is a [[BigSSisterBully bully]] at her worst and TheDitz at other times, and Dexter himself keeps his giant lab a secret from his parents, and is rather alienated from his family because of his intellect, which the others have difficulty comprehending. Despite this, it rarely causes friction and the family is close.

* The Petes on ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' consist of a father who [[ParentalFavoritism abuses one child while spoiling the other]] when he's not neglecting both of them (Pete), a mother who is usually yelling at her husband and daughter (Peg), a son who is emotionally damaged, disillusioned with his father, and impatient to leave home (PJ), and a BrattyHalfPint daughter who gets on everyone's nerves (Pistol). They are the {{foil}} family for the main QuirkyHousehold from whom the show takes its name, and when PJ is in focus (and occasionally when he's not), it's portrayed more as a BigScrewedUpFamily.

** ''Unlike'' the Fire Nation Royal family, however, it was still very clear that they all loved all of their children and all of said children grew up to be functional healthy adults who still carry fond memories of their parents as well.

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': Bojack himself grew up in a very dysfunctional household where his parents [[NoAccountingForTaste just couldn't get along with each other]] [[AbusiveParents and often took out their frustrations on him]].

* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'': A mild example with Dexter's family. Dad is a wannabe candidate for JockDadNerdSon despite not being all that physically accomplished himself, Mom has massive OCD and germaphobia and compulsively cleans the house constantly as well as extremely bad-tempered if anyone ever questions her decisions or requests, Dee-Dee is a [[BigBrotherBully bully]] at her worst and TheDitz at other times, and Dexter himself keeps his giant lab a secret from his parents, and is rather alienated from his family because of his intellect, which the others have difficulty comprehending. Despite this, it rarely causes friction and the family is close.
** Mandark's family is one as well. He's the son of two hippie parents who raised their son according to counter-culture values. Unfortunately, their son is their opposite in every way, and their attempts at quelling his darker impulses failed. It probably didn't help that they named him "Susan".
*** It also doesn't help they HAD a daughter who only appeared once...
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': The Gleeful family, natch. [[EnfantTerrible Gideon]] just proves to be AbusiveOffspring to both his parents, to the point where his mother is traumatized and his father [[spoiler: is implied to constantly erase his memories of Gideon's outbursts of anger]].

* This is pretty much the basis of all of Creator/SethMacFarlane's cartoons, being ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow''.
** The Griffins (Family Guy) are of a more traditional sitcom setup in the style of The Simpsons. Peter Griffin is a {{Manchild}} who combines low intelligence and massive emotional immaturity with a dangerous lack of common sense. Lois Griffin is a shrewish housewife who can't control her husband's behavior. Chris Griffin, like his father, is a FatIdiot who shows lack of knowledge. Meg Griffin is the ButtMonkey of the entire family, if not the whole town. It's telling that the best adjusted members of the family are the one-year-old EnfantTerrible Stewie (who's a murderer a dozen times over) and KnowNothingKnowItAll FunnyAnimal Brian, who are able to rely on each other for emotional support.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' doesn't so much have dysfunctional families as it technically has a few families that might, under a generous reading, count as functional. The issues the Morgendorffers have, at least in part, derive from the somewhat messed-up nature of their parents' own families; Brittany has a stepmother who doesn't really "mother" and a father who spoils her and is dismissive of her younger brother, who's kind of a budding serial killer; Jodie's parents are extremely pushy and don't let her relax much; even relatively minor characters like Mr [=DeMartino=] have have histories involving bad parenting from screwed-up people.
* Possibly one of the earliest depictions of a dysfunctional family in animation is Creator/ChuckJones' "Three Bears" from ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes''. This is especially prominent in ''WesternAnimation/ABearForPunishment'' where Mama and Junyer celebrate Father's Day much to the annoyance of Papa Bear.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': While most of the families in South Park has some measure of problems, by far the worst are Kenny and Cartman's families. Kenny's parents are both unemployed alcoholics who constantly emotionally and physically abuse each other (though they dont generally target their kids), and their three children are forced to rely on each other for support. They've been taken by social services at least once. Cartman is the BastardBastard son of a Denver Broncos player, and lives with his enabling doormat of a mother, whose lax parenting has resulted in her son becoming a full-blown sociopath by age 10.
* ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' lives and breathes this trope, though it's more the "Idyllic outside, dysfunctional inside" version.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'':
** Seventy years later, most of the original Gaang has a more realistic, downplayed ParentsAsPeople-based version of this. Aang unknowingly favored his airbending son Tenzin over his other two kids (partly out of necessity as Tenzin would have to guide all future airbenders), Toph couldn't bring herself to discipline her kids (having been raised by overprotective parents) leading to one joining a gang and the other becoming an uptight jerk who never knew who her father was, Sokka doesn't seem to have started a family, and only Zuko's daughter seems to not be carrying any lingering luggage from her childhood. That being said, ''unlike'' the Fire Nation Royal family, it was still very clear that they all loved all of their children and all of said children grew up to be functional healthy adults who still carry fond memories of their parents as well.
* On ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold,'' the residents of the boarding house are presented as being dysfunctional TrueCompanions.
* The Petes on ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' consist of a father who [[ParentalFavoritism abuses one child while spoiling the other]] when he's not neglecting both of them (Pete), a mother who is usually yelling at her husband and daughter (Peg), a son who is emotionally damaged, disillusioned with his father, and impatient to leave home (PJ), and a BrattyHalfPint daughter who gets on everyone's nerves (Pistol). They are the {{foil}} family for the main QuirkyHousehold from whom the show takes its name, and when PJ is in focus (and occasionally when he's not), it's portrayed more as a BigScrewedUpFamily.

* Averted with the Tasmanian Devil's family on ''WesternAnimation/TazMania''. An early article about the show stated that the producers wanted the family to be overly functional as opposed to dysfunctional.
* ''WesternAnimation/ParadisePD'': The Crawford family. Kevin is a moronic, socially-inept loser. Randall is a hot-heated bigot who has no respect for his son whatsoever. Karen, despite being the most reasonable member of the household, is a CorruptPolitician who has no problem using Kevin as a guinea pig for her re-election campaigns. [[spoiler:Season 4 introduces Baby Kevin, an EnfantTerrible who is full of TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': [[MadScientist Heinz Doofenshmirtz]] lived with two generations of a dysfunctional family (the first was a severe case, the second was more mild though), which gives him a FreudianExcuse for his evil plans. He was [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood raised]] by emotionally [[AbusiveParents abusive]] and [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]] parents who eventually [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned]] him to [[RaisedByWolves live with wild animals]], while having a [[SiblingRivalry bitter jealousy]] of his [[ParentalFavoritism more favored brother]] (all PlayedForLaughs). He is currently divorced from his former wife (although they [[AmicableExes don't seem to resent each other]]), and he has an [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents uneasy relationship]] with his daughter (though fortunately she gradually warms up to him).
* ''WesternAnimation/ElTigre'': The Rivera family consist of generations of heroes and villains; father Rondolfo is the hero White Pantera, Grandpapi is the villain Puma Loco, and our titular character Manny is permanently stuck in the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, so more than a few squabbles occur. When the men are sent to family counseling, their counselor flat-out states that this is because they relate to each other as heroes and villains than as relatives. However, when the chips are down, they've always got each others backs.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': The Smith Family. There is continuing strife between the parents, Beth and Jerry, who married young after Beth became [[TeenPregnancy pregnant]] with their daughter, Summer, when they were in high school. Their relationship is further strained by Beth's relationship with her MadScientist father, Rick, and his influence over their teenage children, especially their son Morty. Despite this, the family seems to care for each other and Beth and Jerry do seem to love each other deep down.
* The Diamond Authority of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''. While the Diamonds do love each other, they've got serious issues and don't get along the best. White Diamond seems to never be around, Yellow Diamond seems unable to understand her sisters or take their issues seriously, Blue Diamond can be condescending to her sisters without meaning to, and Pink could annoy the others without meaning to and seemed unwilling to be open towards them. Back when Pink was around, how her sisters acted towards her ultimately alienated her and [[spoiler:she came to the conclusion they didn't give a darn about her at all]]. Despite Pink Diamond's [[spoiler:faked]] death briefly uniting the other three to use the Corruption attack, the situation doesn't seem to have changed all that much after six thousand years. As the major theme of the show is interpersonal relationships, it's understandable the main antagonists would represent a negative one.

* Most members of the Grape family in ''Film/WhatsEatingGilbertGrape'' are pretty screwed up. Mr. Grape killed himself some time ago, and Bonnie Grape, his wife, has taken to PostStressOvereating to deal with the grief, becoming morbidly obese in the process. With exception of Janice and Larry, who have left the family house and are implied to be better off, most of their children aren't faring well either. Arnie is good at heart, but he often gets into reckless mischief, and due to his developmental disability, he cannot grasp why some of things he's doing are illegal and dangerous or learn from his mistakes. Gilbert and Amy taken over as [[PromotedToParent the family's primary caregivers in Bonnie's stead]], with all the stress that entails. Gilbert also feels like he's wasting his life away taking care of others in a dying small town. Ellen, like Gilbert and Amy, is relatively well-adjusted, but she's still too immature and impatient to take care of Arnie and is rather bratty.

* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'': The show was meant as a subversion of the clean-cut DomCom shows of the early '80s about loving, wholesome, upper middle-class families, instead featuring a lower-class family who seem to constantly be at each others' throats. This show and ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' are arguably the [[TropeCodifier Trope Codifiers]] of the Dysfunctional Family sitcom, as they started the trend of [[DomCom Dom Coms]] featuring dysfunctional families. The Bundys are a family of maladjusted people who generally don't get along; the father is a Jaded Washout and a Bumbling Dad, the mother does nothing all day but sit on the couch and eat bonbons, their kids are unhappy (sometimes) and dislike each other (almost always), and the family is generally fairly poor. It is safe to say the Bundys' household income is divided as 99-1 with Peg getting the upper percentage while Bud and Kelly combined get the lower one. That leaves Al with nothing. The kids are divided on which parent is the LesserOfTwoEvils, sometimes going with mom because Al can be a bit of a ControlFreak at times especially if he demands family time, and the other times with Al himself since Peg is a lazy, negligent mother who won't feed them at all. The viewer usually only sees the kids warming up to Al, with Peg out of the picture.

* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'': The show was meant as a subversion of the clean-cut DomCom shows of the early '80s about loving, wholesome, upper middle-class families, instead featuring a lower-class family who seem to constantly be at each others' throats. This show and ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' are arguably the [[TropeCodifier Trope Codifiers]] of the Dysfunctional Family sitcom, as they started the trend of [[DomCom Dom Coms]] featuring dysfunctional families. It is safe to say the Bundys' household income is divided as 99-1 with Peg getting the upper percentage while Bud and Kelly combined get the lower one. That leaves Al with nothing. The kids are divided on which parent is the LesserOfTwoEvils, sometimes going with mom because Al can be a bit of a ControlFreak at times especially if he demands family time, and the other times with Al himself since Peg is a lazy, negligent mother who won't feed them at all. The viewer usually only sees the kids warming up to Al, with Peg out of the picture.

* This is pretty much the Basis of all of Creator/SethMacFarlane's cartoons, being ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow''.