The television trope of a leading male character being a fat, schlubby funny guy and having a hot, skinny and sometimes younger wife has been around since at least Ralph and Alice Kramden in The Honeymooners. These differences always strike people as odd because studies have shown that long term couples tend to have similar BMIs. This makes sense when people share meals and exercise habits. Certainly couples exist in the world where the husband is a tubalub and the wife is thin, but in situation comedies it’s almost a requirement.
Since a list didn’t seem to exist, here is the full accounting of television shows featuring a fat husband and a skinny wife*.
- The Honeymooners – Ralph and Alice Kramden
- The Simpsons – Homer and Marge Simpson
- Family Guy – Peter and Lois Griffin
- King of Queens – Doug and Carrie Heffernan
- According to Jim – Jim and Cheryl
- The Sopranos – Tony and Carmela Soprano
- Still Standing – Bill and Judy Miller
- Modern Family – Jay and Gloria Pritchett, Cameron Tucker and Mitchell Pritchett
- Fresh Prince of Bel-Air – Philip and Vivian Banks
- Grounded for Life – Sean and Claudia Finnerty
- Just the Ten of Us – Graham and Elizabeth Lubbock
- Lucky Louie – Louie and Kim
- The Flintstones – Fred and Wilma Flintstone, Barney and Betty Rubble
- Entourage – Turtle and all of his girlfriends
- Family Matters – Carl and Harriette Winslow
- The Big C – Paul and Cathy Jamison
- Game of Thrones – Robert Baratheon and Cersei Lannister
- Parks and Recreation – Jerry and Gayle Gergich
- Roc – Roc and Eleanor Emerson
- The Drew Carey Show – Drew Carey and all of his wives
- That ’70s Show – Bob and Midge Pinciotti
The origin of this trope has been well documented by Slate and others and the intention here isn’t to dissect the subject, but to document it.
*It should be noted that homosexual couples are no exception. On Modern Family Cam and Mitchell fit the bill. Cam is larger and literally plays the clown on the show.
While on the related subject of Ed O’Neil a decision was made to not include Married with Children due to Al Bundy not quite fitting the trope. Al is lazy, unmotivated and not many people’s idea of husband material, but when you look at the modern incarnation of Jay Pritchett on Modern Family the more obvious difference between him and Gloria can be seen. Al and Peggy are just too similar, in so many ways.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
