Cobain
05-20-2014, 10:31 PM
One of the things that really bothered me about this show is how Jack acts like a little dog towards Janet. On many occasions it appeared as though Janet was Jack's mother instead of a roommate. There was one show in particular where Janet yelled at Jack to sit and he did. I guess the producers felt this was good comedy but to me it wasn't. If anything it made me hate Janet's character even more.
Janet controlling Jack wasn't necessary in my opinion. I remember reading in the book (by Mann) where Janet complained to the producers for this very thing. If you recall back to the episode in which Janet's parents visited (Season 5) there was a scene in which Janet wanted Jack to stay instead of going out on a date. Janet grabbed/pinched Jack's arm and he agreed to stay. If you listen carefully you can hear the audience react very negatively. It was an, "Oh, did you see what she just did" moment. Another issue I had was how physical Janet was with Jack, and not sensually. There were many moments where Janet wanted Jack to do something and she would make him do it by hitting or grabbing him.
To be quite honest I never thought that was necessary for the show. The one episode in which Joyce Dewitt didn't appear sort of showed that. Jack's GF Linda was in that episode and the show went very smoothly without the girls being overbearing of Jack. I understand the producers probably wanted someone to keep Jack grounded. That was OK in the early years when Jack was younger, but for them to stick with that idea in the later seasons was ridiculous.
This issue sometimes ruined an entire episode for me as a fan. If anything it would have been nice if they had Jack's character fight back against Janet, or at least put her in her place. There were many episodes in which Janet was accusatory of Jack only to be wrong. However, the producers would always have Jack quickly forgive Janet. I believe they could have got more out of the show if they had more episodes in which Janet was the one being taught a lesson. There's always a character in a sitcom in which they are the ones being taught a lesson or being put in their place. An example of that would be Archie Bunker. But it's not always reserved for the main character. Look at George from Seinfeld.
I wasn't a fan of Janet controlling Jack the way she did. But since it was the case I believe the producers could have got more out of that scenario in the show. While I'm critical of how they had Janet act with Jack I'm also saying they could have got more out of that. They had many chances to portray Janet's character as being wrong, but they never followed through all the way. Here are some examples in which they could have had moments that really put Janet in her place if they gave the other actors enough dialogue:
- When Janet accused Jack of sleeping with her sister and told Jack to move out. Janet eventually apologized, but they missed an opportunity for Jack or Janet's sister to put her in her place.
- The episode in which Dean Traver's niece makes advances to Jack. Janet doesn't believe Jack and really becomes a thorn in Jack's side. Janet was wrong again, but they missed a chance for Jack to really give it to Janet.
- The episode in which Janet's attitude changes when she puts on the wig. There's a scene in which Janet laughs at Mr. Furley when he asks her out. Don Knotts was a gifted actor, and if they gave him a lengthy moment he could have given it to Janet.
One of the reasons why I'm bringing this up is because of how bad the final season was. That season tanked in the ratings. One of the reasons was because they had no storyline arch or anything to work off of. If they developed Janet's character more in the way I described they might have done better in that final season.
Janet controlling Jack wasn't necessary in my opinion. I remember reading in the book (by Mann) where Janet complained to the producers for this very thing. If you recall back to the episode in which Janet's parents visited (Season 5) there was a scene in which Janet wanted Jack to stay instead of going out on a date. Janet grabbed/pinched Jack's arm and he agreed to stay. If you listen carefully you can hear the audience react very negatively. It was an, "Oh, did you see what she just did" moment. Another issue I had was how physical Janet was with Jack, and not sensually. There were many moments where Janet wanted Jack to do something and she would make him do it by hitting or grabbing him.
To be quite honest I never thought that was necessary for the show. The one episode in which Joyce Dewitt didn't appear sort of showed that. Jack's GF Linda was in that episode and the show went very smoothly without the girls being overbearing of Jack. I understand the producers probably wanted someone to keep Jack grounded. That was OK in the early years when Jack was younger, but for them to stick with that idea in the later seasons was ridiculous.
This issue sometimes ruined an entire episode for me as a fan. If anything it would have been nice if they had Jack's character fight back against Janet, or at least put her in her place. There were many episodes in which Janet was accusatory of Jack only to be wrong. However, the producers would always have Jack quickly forgive Janet. I believe they could have got more out of the show if they had more episodes in which Janet was the one being taught a lesson. There's always a character in a sitcom in which they are the ones being taught a lesson or being put in their place. An example of that would be Archie Bunker. But it's not always reserved for the main character. Look at George from Seinfeld.
I wasn't a fan of Janet controlling Jack the way she did. But since it was the case I believe the producers could have got more out of that scenario in the show. While I'm critical of how they had Janet act with Jack I'm also saying they could have got more out of that. They had many chances to portray Janet's character as being wrong, but they never followed through all the way. Here are some examples in which they could have had moments that really put Janet in her place if they gave the other actors enough dialogue:
- When Janet accused Jack of sleeping with her sister and told Jack to move out. Janet eventually apologized, but they missed an opportunity for Jack or Janet's sister to put her in her place.
- The episode in which Dean Traver's niece makes advances to Jack. Janet doesn't believe Jack and really becomes a thorn in Jack's side. Janet was wrong again, but they missed a chance for Jack to really give it to Janet.
- The episode in which Janet's attitude changes when she puts on the wig. There's a scene in which Janet laughs at Mr. Furley when he asks her out. Don Knotts was a gifted actor, and if they gave him a lengthy moment he could have given it to Janet.
One of the reasons why I'm bringing this up is because of how bad the final season was. That season tanked in the ratings. One of the reasons was because they had no storyline arch or anything to work off of. If they developed Janet's character more in the way I described they might have done better in that final season.