History YMMV / Becker

** When Jake inherits $25,000 from his grandmother's estate, he decides that he wants to use the money to buy a boat. Margaret reads Jake the riot act when he informs her of the decision, and convinces him that it would be wiser to use the money to go to college. However, a college degree doesn't guarantee success, and it could prove to be just as much of a waste of money. Margaret ironically can attest to this, given that she is a brilliant nurse yet she is stuck in a dead-end job at a failing practice.

** When Jake inherits $25,000 from his grandmother's estate, he decides that he wants to use the money to buy a boat. Margaret reads Jake the riot act when he informs her of the decision, and convinces him that it would be wiser to use the money to go to college rather than buy a boat. However, a college degree doesn't guarantee success, and it could prove to be just as much of a waste of money. Margaret ironically can attest to this, given that she is a brilliant nurse yet she is stuck in a dead-end job at a failing practice.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Take away the laugh track, and you have a sad story of a group of [[JadedWashout Jaded Washouts]] stuck in a crappy neighborhood, wondering what their lives could’ve been like if they didn’t miss out on their dreams.

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: John Becker has plenty, being a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
** Margaret gets most of hers trying to make Becker feel better about himself when he is down.

-->"You're not listening! I can't help. ''Nobody'' can help. That facility is not going to reopen, and I'll tell you why: there is no money! There's no money because the federal government cut taxes, which is all anybody seems to care about anymore. That means less money for the state, which means less money for the city, which means we had to cut services, which means fewer cops, fewer firemen, bad air, bad water and crappy schools which will turn out yet another generation of voters [[ViciousCycle too stupid and greedy to care about anything else besides cutting taxes]]! So don't you come in here and tell me to fix your problem, because there's not a DAMN THING I CAN DO ABOUT IT!... Where did that come from?"

* DeaderThanDisco: For most of the series' duration, {{Series/Becker}} aired in the coveted Monday night slot following {{Series/The King of Queens}} and {{Series/Everybody Loves Raymond}}, and the show was arguably as popular as its sister series' while it was on the air. While ELR and TKOQ are still ubiquitously syndicated as of 2018, {{Series/Becker}} has largely descended into obscurity. It is not aired in syndication, and would probably only be remembered by an average TV fan as "Ted Danson's other sitcom."

* ValuesDissonance: Bob’s hobby of sexually harassing women is never met with anything more than snarky rejection, but it’s easy to imagine that some of the behaviors he displayed in the show would be met with some legal problems today.

-->"You're not listening! I can't help. ''Nobody'' can help. That facility is not going to reopen, and I'll tell you why: there is no money! There's no money because the federal government cut taxes, which is all anybody seems to care about anymore. That means less money for the state, which means less money for the city, which means we had to cut services, which means fewer cops, fewer firemen, bad air, bad water and crappy schools which will turn out another generation of voters [[ViciousCycle too stupid and greedy to care about anything else besides cutting taxes]]! So don't you come in here and tell me to fix your problem, because there's not a DAMN THING I CAN DO ABOUT IT!... Where did that come from?"

-->"You're not listening! I can't help. Nobody can help. That facility is not going to reopen, and I'll tell you why: there is no money! There's no money because the federal government cut taxes, which is all anybody seems to care about anymore. That means less money for the state, which means less money for the city, which means we had to cut services, which means fewer cops, fewer firemen, bad air, bad water and crappy schools which will turn out another generation of voters [[ViciousCycle too stupid and greedy to care about anything else besides cutting taxes]]! So don't you come in here and tell me to fix your problem, because there's not a DAMN THING I CAN DO ABOUT IT!... Where did that come from?"

* {{Anvilicious}}: Becker, frustrated that the local mental health facility is closing down and flooding his waiting room with mental patients, goes down to the local government office to complain. He finds an old bureaucrat, who says he wants to help Becker with his problem, he really does... [[https://youtu.be/sQ1pGV68iIA?t=14m44s but]]. There's just not enough money in the budget to help him. It turns out the bureaucrat, like Becker himself, wears JadeColoredGlasses, and believes HumansAreMorons:

* {{Anvilicious}}: Becker, frustrated that the local mental health facility is closing down and flooding his waiting room with mental patients, goes down to the local government office to complain. He finds an old bureaucrat, who says he wants to help Becker with his problem, he really does...but. There's just not enough money in the budget to help him. It turns out the bureaucrat, like Becker himself, wears JadeColoredGlasses, and believes HumansAreMorons:

-->"You're not listening! I can't help. Nobody can help. That facility is not going to reopen, and I'll tell you why: there is no money! There's no money because the federal government cut taxes, which is all anybody seems to care about anymore. That means less money for the state, which means less money for the city, which means we had to cut services, which means fewer cops, fewer firemen, bad air, bad water and crappy schools which will turn out another generation of voters too stupid and greedy to care about anything else besides cutting taxes! So don't you come in here and tell me to fix your problem, because there's not a DAMN THING I CAN DO ABOUT IT!... Where did that come from?"

* ValuesDissonance: Bob’s hobby of sexually harassing women is never met with anything more than snarky rejection, but it’s easy to imagine that some of them behaviors he displayed in the show would be met with some legal problems today.

* SoOkayItsAverage: Other than a few one-liners from Bob, the show's humor is fairly dry and sarcastic with little in the way of generating uproarious laughter. The series is certainly watchable, but it never really rose to the comedic heights of its sister shows, {{Series/Everybody Loves Raymond}} and {{Series/The King of Queens}}. This no doubt contributed to the series' descent into obscurity in the years since it's gone off the air.

* DeaderThanDisco: For most of the series' duration, {{Series/Becker}} aired in the coveted Monday night slot following {{Series/The King of Queens}} and {{Series/Everybody Loves Raymond}}, and the show was arguably as popular as its sister series' while it was on the air. While ELR and TKoQ are still ubiquitously syndicated as of 2018, {{Series/Becker}} has largely descended into obscurity. It is not aired in syndication, and would probably only be remembered by an average TV fan as "Ted Danson's other sitcom."

* SeasonalRot: Season 5 and 6 were not nearly as well received as the previous seasons. Possibly due to Terry Farrell's dismissal in Season 5 and Saverio Guerra's resignation in Season 6. Not to mention Chris Connor and Hector being their respective {{Replacement Scrapp|y}}ies.

** Depending on your personal political view, this is either WriterOnBoard, SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped, or even [[DontShootTheMessage Don't Shoot The Message]].

* ReplacementScrappy: Chris Connor in Season 5. She becomes Reggie's replacement as the owner and manager of the diner and Becker's verbal sparring partner and ShipTease LoveInterest. She is little more than a [[FlatCharacter boring]] MarySue who was there to give Becker a girlfriend. She also had no personality, unlike Reggie who was just as flawed and sharp tongued as Becker.
* SeasonalRot: Season 5 and 6 were not nearly as well received as the previous seasons. Possibly due to Terry Farrell's dismissal in Season 5 and Saverio Guerra's resignation in Season 6. Not to mention Chris Connor and Hector being their respective [[ReplacementScrappy Replacement Scrappys.]]

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Bob. So much that he became a main character in Season 3.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: There's an episode where Becker is invited to a medical conference and is given an invitation for two. Since it's to some tropical locale, all his friends try to convince him that they should be the person he takes:
--> '''Bob:''' Bob would like to go away.
--> '''Becker:''' Good. Go away.

** Depending on your personal political view, this is either WriterOnBoard, SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped, or even [[DontShootTheMessage Don't Shoot The Message]].