The colorful cast of Gayle.
open/close all folders
The Waters-Waters Family
Gayle Waters-Waters
The star of the show.
"What would you have done?"
A morally questionable New England mom, who takes suburban life very seriously.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: For Terry later in the series.
- Ax-Crazy: Prone to violence. Actually uses an ax to shave in one scene.
- Competition Freak: With Bonnie.
- Control Freak: To her family, but especially David. Demonstrated to be Justified in later episodes, as David apparently can't even manage safely going to the mall on his own without some degree of supervision.
- Characterization Marches On: Progresses from indiscriminate violence in the name of her own reputation, and arguably consistent emotional abuse, to still abrasive and occasionally destructive behavior, but with a noted concern for the rest of her family, even if she expresses it in bizarre and sometimes unhelpful ways. Also see Feeling Their Age below.
- Episode 31 also implies that Gayle, for all of her Control Freak and Education Mama tendencies, actually made the effort to make sure Terry had fun as a child. Given, she apparently deliberately restricted much of Terry's musical taste to
Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out" and outright describes her as culturally lacking but she also proudly acknowledges Terry as fairly socially competent in contrast to the New D's "Ichabod Crane child." It reframes a lot of interactions from Season 2 onwards as Anger Born of Worry.
- Episode 31 also implies that Gayle, for all of her Control Freak and Education Mama tendencies, actually made the effort to make sure Terry had fun as a child. Given, she apparently deliberately restricted much of Terry's musical taste to
- Dogged Nice Guy: Towards Bruce. More another reason to fight with Bonnie.
- Education Mama: To the level of teaching French to her dog and chaining an SAT tutor to her radiator so that Terry can have 24/7 attention.
- Evil Matriarch: Oh yeah. See My Beloved Smother below.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Mother: "No son of mine's gonna play Spanish guitar!"
- Feeling Their Age: Come Season 3 and Season 4, the New D presents issues that Gayle can't simply fix with Chobani and gratuitous violence; their relative youth and differing cultural context throw a wrench in Gayle's "she-king" status over Northbread. This is especially noticeably in Episodes 31, 36, and 40.
- Hopeless with Tech: Zigzagged. Implied to have only kept up with technology up until some point in the 2000s— she makes a well-informed comment about MapQuest directions but in the same episode screams about DVDs in desperation, not understanding what an iPad is. She also describes non-existent websites and services such as "Yahoo Maps" at times, and struggles with Bonnie to find the right word for "livestreaming."
- Hot-Blooded: "You got a problem with my cans, Bethany?"
- It's All About Me: Very, 'very' self-centered. Gets better.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Gayle spends the first 3 seasons domineering her husband, children, and neighbors. Given, it's presented as a lot less abusive from Season 2 onwards, but it's still there. Season 4 opens with a polite request from Bethany of the New D for Gayle and her Old D peers to cover ther bins. Gayle tries, rather theatrically, to prove her wrong at the town meeting. Not only does she prove Bethany right, she immediately gets herself sprayed by a skunk, falls out of a tree, and gets attacked by a squirrel, and raves like a madman the entire time, all for the whole town to see. She then urinates on herself in a misled attempt to treat her own wound, not realizing that the entirety of the meetings' attendees can hear her, if not outright see her do this. This is topped off by Gayle's stunningly embarrassing attempt at picking up Terry from the meeting. Needless to say, her reign of terror falls apart, to the tune of Whitney Houston.
- Morality Pet: A literal example. Gayle is different shades of cruel to all her family save for the animals. She is shown in many scenes idly stroking or playing with the family dog, and will often confide her troubles in the pig guarding her couscous chest.
- My Beloved Smother: Becomes this with Characterization Marches On, going rediculous lengths to ensure Terry's academic (and social) success.
- Obsessively Organized: Folding cold cuts before putting them away is just the tip of the iceberg.
- Suddenly Shouting: Often.
- Talks Like a Simile: Many, many, many times.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Related to Characterization Marches On above. Episode 10 concludes with the family so disgusted at Gayle claiming that Terry hooked up with her best friend Michaela's boyfriend, purely out of spite, that Ira and Terry attempt to permanently move out of the house. Ira is never seen after Season 1, and Terry eventually returns three episodes into Season 2. Contrast that with Gayle going to rediculous lengths to spare David and Terry embarassment and suffering come Season 3. While as mentioned in Villain Protagonist below, Gayle doesn't exactly become a morally-upstanding individual, her relationship with her family is still far less hostile and toxic than it had been characterized as before.
- Unusual Euphemism: Prone to these. Mixes them with Purple Prose at times.
- Villain Protagonist: Very slightly less so as the series continues, though she remains ridiculously self-centered.
David Gayle Waters-Waters
The usual view.
"Oh, tiddlywinks!"
The timid and ineffectual father of the Waters-Waters family. An avid birdwatcher.
- Henpecked Husband: He's ridiculously meek and terrified of Gayle at her worst.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: An older variation with Gayle.
- Parenting the Husband: Downplayed. Certainly more emotionally available than Gayle to Terry, but still can't quite go out on his own. He manages to get Terry's Common App stolen from him by teenagers at the mall come Episode 28, and gets trapped in an Hollister for 48 hours straight hardly 2 episodes later. Gayle's bizarre tracking device on him seems justified in light of how easily he lands himself in trouble without her interference.
- Sarcastic Devotee: To Gayle. Really starts being prominent come Season 4.David: Ever since you beat up Terry’s boyfriend, you’ve been so happy. It’s nice to see, ah, an emotional range from you for a change.
- The Faceless: Any visible expression from him is from the shoulders down, usually.
Terry Gross Waters-Waters
"I've never cared about anything less in my life."
The book-smart daughter of the family, en route to an Ivy League school— if Gayle's antics don't kill her first.
- Chuunibyou: An older western version that gets Played With. While much less socially awkward that other examples, she still refers to herself as a b-girl and spends some of her afternoons breakdancing to Linkin Park. See Not Like Other Girls below.
- Embarrassing Hobby: ZigZagged. Hides her breakdancing from her family, but still is bold enough to perform at a talent show at school. She's not very good at it.
- Girl Next Door: This among her peers.
- Not Like Other Girls: Discussed. She describes herself as this in Episode 39, demonstrating that, despite her intelligence and wit, she's still an teenager with misconceptions about the world. Gayle, for once, really does know better.
- Not So Above It All: Eventually begins showing eccentricities late in the series, on a similar level to that of her parents, up to and including romantic interest in a lizard-human hybrid.
- Senior Year Struggles: Several episodes center on the ups-and-downs of Terry's year before college. Gayle's antics often add to these struggles— or as in several moments in Season 4, actually make things easier.
- Straight Man: Often on the receiving end of her mother's antics.
- The Social Expert: Downplayed. Terry has her quirks like any other high schooler, but she very easily charms the people of the New Development and seems reasonably popular with her peers. It causes Gayle to compare her to a congresswoman at one point.
- Totally Radical: Only with the rest of Dark Tower B-boi Squad. Gayle, ironically, is the one who notices how incredibly cringeworthy it is. Terry drops it by the end of the episode when Gayle impersonates Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson in order to spare her ridicule from her peers.
Ira Glass Waters-Waters
"Shame on you."
The son that completed the Waters-Waters' odd Nuclear Family. Actually, abducted at a young age by Gayle at a Costco. Eventually left to find his real parents.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: A weird example in that Ira's still Put on a Bus in Episode 10; the audience sees him exit the series, but it seems as if every record of his presence or memory disappears from Northbread as soon as he leaves.
- Possibly because of the below Early-Installment Weirdness. It'd be very hard to characterize Gayle as an morally-complicated, albeit extremely chaotic, person if it was still acknowledged
she had kidnapped a child for well over a decade, much less still had him around.
- Possibly because of the below Early-Installment Weirdness. It'd be very hard to characterize Gayle as an morally-complicated, albeit extremely chaotic, person if it was still acknowledged
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Arguably his presence in Season 1. Later episodes began reshaping Gayle’s dynamic with the rest of the family, making her kidnapping (and subsequent severe neglect) of Ira seem very out of place.
- Put on a Bus: Eventually written out of the series, apparently beginning a trip back to his actual parents.
- Stockholm Syndrome: Gayle notes that his case of this is starting to wear off around the time the series starts.
- Suddenly Voiced: When he calls the old woman out in Episode 8.
- The Unfavorite: Gayle treats him purely as a utility, whether to help her operate a tandem kayak (the reason she kidnapped him in the first place; when her health club gets rowing machines she thinks nothing of selling him on eBay) or to get her an in with Bruce through his dental appointments. He also seems to have somehow avoided the aggressive Education Mama treatment that she even extends to household pets. Once he takes off, nobody ever mentions him again.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He disappears from the series after heading off to find his real parents in Season 1, with the only reference to him in subsequent seasons being a brief reuse of a prior clip in a flashback sequence.
Gayle's Neighbors
Bonnie Kin
Gayle's best frenemy.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Towards Bruce. More another reason to fight with Gayle.
- Education Mama: Her son Brendan is valedictorian at the same school where Terry is salutatorian, to Gayle's disgust.
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat: A master.
- The Rival: To Gayle.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: To Gayle, ultimately. She was even Best Woman at her wedding.
- Worthy Opponent: Gayle regards her as this.
Brendan Kin
Unnervingly polite.
- Boring, but Practical: Apparently valedictorian by a slim degree over Terry, but without the same personable traits she has. Supposedly wants to own an H&R Block when he's older.
- Creepy Child: An older variation. Whereas Gayle's treatment of Terry has, at worst, made her slightly socially awkward, Bonnie's Education Mama tendencies have rendered him intelligent but very, very strange.Gayle: What's your favorite animal, Brendan?Brendan: Mosquito!Gayle: [wincing] Oh...
Reggie Kin
- It's All About Me: He tends to go off into disjointed monologues about himself and his interests while ostensibly talking "to" other people.
- Motor Mouth: And blissfully unaware that his audience isn't listening.
- Self-Made Man: According to him, "First dollar I ever made, shaving my father's back. I have invested in the stock change and it has paid back - CHECK. ME. OUT!"
- Testosterone Poisoning: Tries to be this, with some success. He largely ends up bothering whoever he talks to instead, though.
Bruce
Easily engaged.
- Depraved Dentist: Inverted. He's very much a Nice Guy and is a friend to his patients beyond his practice.
- Kavorka Man: Despite being an unremarkable-looking heavyset middle-aged bald guy (and, for that matter, apparently Happily Married), he's treated by Gayle as wildly attractive and she and Bonnie fiercely compete for his attention.
- Nice Guy: A friendly neighbor and local dentist to Gayle and her family.
- Oblivious to Love: Including to Gayle and Bonnie duking it out for his affections right in front of him.
- Only Sane Man: Seems to be the only one who notices the extent of Gayle and Bonnie's Blue-and-Orange Morality and their otherwise erratic and chaotic behavior. The above Oblivious to Love trope still applies, though.
- Seduction-Proof Marriage: He ditches Gayle in the middle of what she more or less considers a date because it's date night with his wife.
Linda
Still rationing her Rainforest Cafe references.
- Abandoned Catchphrase: A Parodied and Invoked Trope. Apparently referenced the "Rainforest Cafe" chain of restaurants so much that Gayle had to start having her limit the amount of times she said the phrase per day.
- The Ditz: Considers the Rosie O’Donnell Show her favorite book. Implied to be the product of Gayle and Bonnie experimenting with methods to stop parents from forcing their kids to be cool.
- Flanderization: Downplayed. Her The Ditz qualities become much more emphasized in the third season, complete with an awkward jingle. She's still relatively moral and collected compared to Gayle and Bonnie.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Downplayed. Gayle and Bonnie bully her as much as they do each other and everyone else, but they still invite her to social functions and plan with her on how to approach issues in Northbread.
- Only Sane Man: Played With. Purely in comparison to Gayle and Bonnie, but she's definitely the most rational of the trio.
Rick Gausmann
Local thespian.
- Giftedly Bad: Played With. Not necessarily a downright terrible actor, but not quite good enough to reach the Hollywood screens he apparently aims for.
- Nice Guy: Exaggerated. So nice that he never realizes when he’s being unhelpful.
The New D
Bethany Fox
Concerned about her community.
- Alpha Bitch: Subverted. Introduced as the new town meeting organizer, she seems like this to the people of the Old Development. Though Gayle immediately perceives her as a megalomaniacal threat, and Bethany does speak with a distinctly Rich Bitch affect, she's actually quite friendly and polite when asking her neighbors to cover their bins.
- Disapproving Look: Has one of these when Gayle begins demonstrating exactly why Bethany is right about the Old D's trash bins.
- Foil: To Gayle, at least in Episode 36. Whereas Gayle is domineering, destructive, and a self-pronounced tyrannical "she-king" from the Old D, Bethany is cordial, concerned, and a diplomatic representative of the New D. This is despite Gayle regularly taking things from her yard in a Phantom of the Opera mask.
The Jennies
"Oh, it's Jenny."
- Foil: To Terry and Brendan. Where Brendan's deeply uncanny and Terry's lodged in the last years of an edgy, Linkin Park-filled phase of her youth, the Jennies are optimistic, well-adjusted preteens, who, despite being dreadfully normal in comparison, are already every bit as talented and intelligent as the pair. Gayle notices this, as noted below.
- Gentleman and a Scholar: A sort-of Child Prodigy version that's demonstrated in Episode 39. They all have varied interests and talents, but demonstrate extreme (yet not entirely unrealistic) proficiency at them despite being so young and well-adjusted, much to Gayle's dismay. Still susceptible to mistakes."That one just dropped her flute, like a small imbecile, 'cause they have flaws. Good."
- Hive Mind: Played With and Parodied. Gayle initially treats them as this. Ride in a collective on Razor scooters in apparently perfect posture around the neighborhood in weirdly uniform outfits, often to carry out one errand together in unison— though they do this entirely by choice, have their own (albeit similar) personalities and otherwise are just a normal group of pre-teen friends. Though, they're ALL named Jenny.
- Identically Named Group: A particularly large one.
- Nice Girl: All very, very pleasant and polite.
- One-Steve Limit: Actively avert this.
- The Dividual: Always appear with each other. Essentially constitute one character, because of the above Hive Mind trope, but have enough individuality to play this trope straight instead.
- The Dreaded: PlayedWith. For whatever reason, initially this to Gayle. Given, as mentioned in Hive Mind, they're bizarrely picture perfect preteen girls, but they're certainly not threatening.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Downplayed. They're just very well-organized. Gayle considers them this, though.
Minor Characters
Peggy Gausman
Rick's unseen wife.- Butt-Monkey: Essentially only mentioned when she endures some sort abuse from Gayle.
Ina Garten
- Helpful Hallucination: Advises Gayle on how to steal driveway gravel and beach towels.
- Special Guest: Parodied. Of course, the Barefoot Contessa star doesn't actually appear, but is played by an actor representing Gayle's hallucinations of her. Instructs Gayle on how to "properly" make her croutons.
Lisa Waters
- Cool Aunt: Parodied. She's might be superficially more pleasant than her sister, and takes in Terry on a whim, but she's very insistent on enforcing rules that either don't make much sense, make her guests uncomfortable, or result in self-injury.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: While Gayle might be chaotic, her sister is just plain strange. This eventually results in her injuring herself, forcing Terry to return back home. (Not that Terry minded at that point.)
- New-Age Retro Hippie: Hard to overstate.Lisa: Take it off! Woosh, woosh!
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: As she's also played by Chris Fleming, she's essentially identical to Gayle in appearance with the exception of her interesting fashion choices.
Marty Taylor
- And I Must Scream: An SAT Tutor chained to the radiator in Terry's room throughout most of her life, fed only on a diet of raw steaks. Played for Laughs.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Has it worse than Ira in that he essentially just vanishes. Similarly to Ira, it was probably hard to characterize Gayle as person with any semblance of morals if she continued to keep him captive.
Jay
- Dating What Mommy Hates: Gayle dislikes Jay for reasons that can be summarized as "not being from New England." Eventually culminates in Gayle attacking Jay with her legs, but this is implied to have no lasting damage beyond Jay and Terry seemingly quietly breaking up.
- Boy of the Week: Appears in Episodes 18 and 19, and is referenced in Episode 20, but mostly sets a precedent for how Gayle approaches her child's romantic partners.
- Long-Distance Relationship: Met Terry at summer camp and continues dating her at least up until Gayle beats him up.
- Male Gaze: Parodied. Episode 18 features a shot of Jay's behind, with Gayle apparently finding Jay's butt apparently ridiculously well-endowed, to the point of finding it threatening. Due to Jay's outfits, it's hard for the audience to see how true this actually is.
Dennis
- Dating What Mommy Hates: Even more so than Jay for Gayle, though she at least realizes that Dennis is trying to ask Terry out. Subverted, because Terry turns Dennis down at the end of the day.
- Embarrassing Hobby: Equally bad, if not worse, than Terry at break dancing.
- Boy of the Week: Unlike Jay, though, Terry seems pretty oblivious to his advances. His feelings are never reciprocated.
- Straight Edge Evil: Subverted, as Dennis definitely isn't evil, but he does serve as a vague antagonist for Gayle (and her daughter's dignity) in Episode 39. Implied to be Straight Edge, as a passing character, implied to be familiar with him, calls him a "narc" as an insult.
- Straw Loser: Though unlike other examples, he isn't there to make Terry nor Gayle seem cooler in comparison— but he does serve to show that Gayle can be right about things, for once. He also demonstrates that Terry's personal take on break is genuinely lame and simply validated by equally bad break dancers.Dennis tries to do a trick with his hat in order to congratulate himself on trying to ask out Terry, but drops it on the ground instead. Another high schooler named Chase sees him embarrassing himself.Chase: Tool.Brendan: —I'm not a tool!Chase: Narc.Brendan: ...Shut up, Chase!
- Totally Radical: Parodied. Dark Tower B-boi Squad seems to try and use slang to emulate their break dancing idols, but their slang doesn't seem particularly coherent, and especially doesn't seem cool. Gayle notices.
