This subject may have been discussed, sorry if I missed the thread if there is one. I looked and looked and didn't find one.

I like this show alot. So I hope I don't offend anyone. Why is is in the later seasons they seem to make Eric act retarted? I mean when he was in high school he seemed normal. But when he moved out and got an apartment and started going to college, he started acting like he was mental retarted.

Making wird noises, screaming for no reason, running around like he was brain dead, saying thing that made no sense, mumbbling to himself alot, acting if he was a grown person with a mind of a 6 year old retarted person.

No offense to retarted people, some of them are alot smarter then most give credit for. I work with mentally handicapped and retarted people 4 hours a day 4 days a week. I don't get paid much that is why I have a second job, I work for a program called THE ARC, not just arc the whole name is THE ARC, the is part of the name. If anyone would like to help or volunteer or become a member you can go to the website, there probably is a location near you if you live in the USA. http://www.thearc.org They also work with people with disabilities.

His character seem to act just like some of the people I work with.

This subject may have been discussed, sorry if I missed the thread if there is one. I looked and looked and didn't find one.

I like this show alot. So I hope I don't offend anyone. Why is is in the later seasons they seem to make Eric act retarted? I mean when he was in high school he seemed normal. But when he moved out and got an apartment and started going to college, he started acting like he was mental retarted.

Making wird noises, screaming for no reason, running around like he was brain dead, saying thing that made no sense, mumbbling to himself alot, acting if he was a grown person with a mind of a 6 year old retarted person.

No offense to retarted people, some of them are alot smarter then most give credit for. I work with mentally handicapped and retarted people 4 hours a day 4 days a week. I don't get paid much that is why I have a second job, I work for a program called THE ARC, not just arc the whole name is THE ARC, the is part of the name. If anyone would like to help or volunteer or become a member you can go to the website, there probably is a location near you if you live in the USA. http://www.thearc.org They also work with people with disabilities.

His character seem to act just like some of the people I work with.

I know, I didn't like it either, it seemed as if he kept getting stupider and stupider as each season passed.

Well.... He always was a little dumb but that is true. :crazy:

I don't think he acted ******** at all(and I'm sorry but I find that term offensive to people who are ********), IMO Eric was very smart, I mean anyone who can come up with "Lose One Friend, Lose All Friends, Lose Yourself" is pretty darn smart to me ;)

I agree with Sassette. Eric was a little dim-witted, sure, but not ********.

Also, saying that is pretty offensive to ppl who actually do have problems. Its not a phrase you should throw around lightly. :(

part of the reason BMW was so sucessful is because will made eric so funny
yes sometimes it was a bit too much but that eric at the end was alot different than eric at the begining. eric will always be one of my favorite characters on this show and i think i feel that way because of how stupid they made him.

Eric didn't act "********"? Did you not watch the last season? He would NEVER be able to function in the real world. EVER. He had a good heart, but he was completely devoid of, well, human aspects.

The DVD commentaries talk about how they finally found Eric's character when he turned stupid, but that's far, far from true. You don't spend six seasons developing a character who's a little slow, but who works hard to overcome his disabilities and then turn him into someone who can't function properly and call it "finding the character."

All of the characters changed going into the seventh season and none for the better. Eric's change was somewhat funny, I'll admit, but it was a horrible character change that ruined six years of writing.

I don't think he really was retarted he just liked to act wierd. I think they did it to make the show funnier. When he changed it made the show alot funnier and I liked it even though it was unrealistic.

So the show would be funny...

I agree, maybe they went a little too far, but it was certainly funny.

I agree

They did go too far in the olater seasons.

They did go too far in the olater seasons.
That's waht made it so funny imo. I think Eric did something silly in the second season and it worked so they ran with it.

Eric was hillarious IMO!

Eric became *really* stupid in season 6. I don't recall season 7, but I read it's even worse then. I liked him in season 6. He really cracked me up most of the time. But still I think the Eric from the first 4 seasons is better as a character. There's he's a real character, later he's just a one-dimensional (but funny) 'type'. I could relate to Eric in season 4. Afterwards... not anymore.

I like Eric better in the later seasons cause he truly had a heart of gold, even Feeny saw that.

Eric didn't get stupider, he was ALWAYS that dumb. I've seen him be just as dumb in Season 2 as he was in Season 7, the only difference is he just got a bit goofier in the later seasons.

I like Eric better in the later seasons cause he truly had a heart of gold, even Feeny saw that.

Eric didn't get stupider, he was ALWAYS that dumb. I've seen him be just as dumb in Season 2 as he was in Season 7, the only difference is he just got a bit goofier in the later seasons.

Eric was normal is seasons 1 and 2
He was dim-witted in seasons 3 and 4
He was dumber than before in season 5
He was an idiot in season 6

stupid people are funny to watch

I now see I was wrong about when Eric became too stupid. It wasn't in season 6, it was in late season 5: the episode with the word-of-the-day-calendar.

But indeed, stupid people are funny to watch. Still, I think they went too far. Eric no longer was a real person to me, but merely a flat character to laugh at/with.

I'll have to correct what I said earlier on. Eric was definately more s\dim-witted ins eason 6, but he wasn't ********. He also was still a real three dimensional character (before I said he wasn't). I realized that after seeing the season 6 episodes in which Eric is playing Santa Claus at the mall, and the one in which Alan is having his midlife crisis.

I think they should come back for a reunion show in a couple of more years...and like secretly Eric will be talking to someone...and we'll find out that he's like...a genius! He's just been hiding it for all these years! hehe I'm just kidding. He wasn't so dumb in the beginning of the show. He was smarter back then, and he was a lady magnet. All of that seemed to change over the years...

I now have seen the first episodes of season 7. They went too far with Eric. He's a moron now!

I mean: he was dim-witted, yes, even stupid at times in season 6, but he still was Eric. He was a three-dimensional character that was believeable. It was believeable he was in college and was able to survive in the real world. Remember the episode in season 6 where he wanted to adopt Tommy? That wasn't a moron talking- that was a genuine, caring Eric. And the episode in which he helped Alan go through his mid-life crisis, telling him how great of a dad he is? He wanted to get Feeny and the dean to get together and it worked. He was still silly and stupid at times.

But in season 7, he was stupid *all the time*! No, not even 'stupid'. 'Stupid' would be a compliment. Joey from Friends is stupid, but still somewhat believeable (until he began to spreak 'French'). But Eric in season 7 was just retarted. I don't wanna offend anyone. In fact, I think people with a mental disability are much smarter than Eric was in season 7! He became a cartoon character. This was a guy who couldn't even get himself dressed without any help. He had some good moments, like at Cory's wedding, but after that he changed back to the insensitive jerk he was before this season.

I mean: he was insulting Shawn in the episode in which Cory is a tele-marketeer for a brief time. He called him "trailerboy". Was this the same Eric who lived together with Shawn in season 5 and sat down to have an emotional talk with him in season 6? That episode by the way showed hands down the worst side of Eric. He was at his lowest point here. He found a "lucky penny" and acted as a child! He got struck by lightning while sitting inside! The audience went all "aaaww" when he gave his penny to Cory. This wasn't an "aaaawww" moment! Eric pushing Shawn to the wall after he saw him kissing with Topanga, thát was "aaawww". Eric supporting Cory after Topanga took off with her parents to live in Pittsburgh, thát was "aaaaw". Not Eric the clown.

Remember in season 4 when Alan was so proud of his son, because he took the SAT's and he succeeded? He almost had tears in his eyes. He had faith in Eric. By season 7, Alan lost all faith. He wanted to protect Eric from the real world by holding him inside his own store. He was actually afraid Eric couldn't make it on his own.

Why did Will Friedle put up with all this crap? He should've demanded a good part, not only being the silly idiot for comic relief. It wasn't comic relief to me. It ruïned a lot of viewing pleasure for me.

Eric was just...Eric:lol:

However he was the only reasonable person in the two-parter where everybody else fight with each other. Eric brought them back together. Also, he's pretty serious in 'Brotherly Shove' when he's hurt when Cory sorts out their parent's garage with Shawn and Topanga instead of him. Jack and Shawn note: "Eric does seem to be fit today". :lol:

Not to mention he was terrific in the finale! You see, I was writing this while I was still watching the seventh season. ;) Interesting development he had, though.

I like Eric better in the later seasons cause he truly had a heart of gold, even Feeny saw that.

I agree.

I think the dumb factor was always there. I loved when he got goofier over the years because it was just funny. One of my favorite Eric moments is when he pretty much stalked Topanga and hid in the couch and all that stuff. I think that was one of the episodes where Angela's father was in town? Not sure.

Anyway, Eric did have a heart of gold. Between looking after Tommy, giving money to the monkey owner, and everything else, I feel like he just wouldn't have been Eric if he weren't that dummy that everybody loved.

It was good t.v. He was smart/normal when the show first started but I guess that was boring.

He always seemed to be intelligent in my eye, even though he was later butchered into he comedic relief. My favorite moment with him however was whenever he said "TOPANGA!!!!!" and that one when he beileaved he was a secret agent and made his own theme song... Priceless

Yeah. My theory is that since episodes started getting more serious in later years, they needed someone for comic relief. So since Eric sort of has always been a bit dimwitted, they sort of exaggerated that to add more humor to the show. Still I think he's always been a more caring character. After all, he was his nuttiest in the final season, but that was the same season he came up with 'Lose on friend. Lose all friends. Lose yourself.' It seems like his personality is always different depending on the episode. I feel that Will did a really good job playing all these different personalities.

Eric was freakin awesome, he became so funny towards the last years of the show. They should give him his own show

"I'm batman"

lol soooo funny

WARRR ERIC MATTHEWS!

Eric was freakin awesome, he became so funny towards the last years of the show. They should give him his own show

"I'm batman"

lol soooo funny

WARRR ERIC MATTHEWS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsKQ_dDAhJY

I didn't like what they did to some of the characters toward the end of the series. I can't remember character's names, but Eric is Cory's best friend, right? and then Cory's brother. Those two, I think, changed the most during the series run; and not really for the better.

Andrea

Their characterizations started to become weird as the show went on. When Jack first appeared, he was an endearing character but suddenly he became self absorbed. Cory just became... I have no idea to describe it. Shawn was probably the most consitent character in the series.

Eric was boring in the first couple seasons. I mean all he cared about was girls and that's all he ever talked about. It was like putting a cardboard cut-out in the show as Cory's older brother and saying "Here cardboard cut-out, be the older brother to this young and confused adolescent. When he became "stupid" as everyone says in this thread, his character had more substance. He was goofy, funny but he cared deeply about things and he was a great brother and one of my favorite characters on the show.

Eric was boring in the first couple seasons. I mean all he cared about was girls and that's all he ever talked about. It was like putting a cardboard cut-out in the show as Cory's older brother and saying "Here cardboard cut-out, be the older brother to this young and confused adolescent. When he became "stupid" as everyone says in this thread, his character had more substance. He was goofy, funny but he cared deeply about things and he was a great brother and one of my favorite characters on the show.

Eric in the early years wasn't the most intelligent kid, but he was a cool ladies man and the popular kid in school. He wasn't an IMBECILE like he's portrayed in the latter seasons. BMW lost a good share of its integrity (while it heart, drama, comedy, and romance it wasn't as inherently cheesy or sappy like say Full House or Family Matters) by Flanderizing Eric like that

Well.... He always was a little dumb but that is true. :crazy:
No, Eric was just a bit of an air-head in the early seasons. During the later seasons, the writers turned him into a complete buffoon, mental incompetent. They gave him a personality transplant. I'll never understand why.