Due to hating myself I decided to marathon the infamous Warren 11. During the episode of A Warning from Warren, I was shocked to find how likable Helen was. The episode actually had me liking her for a short bit before I remembered why she was nice. The reason is that Andy is in a temper the entire episode and as he's being the nasty one Helen's the nice one.

There seems to be an unwritten rule for TAGS episodes that when Helen is nice someone else has to have her unreasonably nasty disposition. In the Black and White era Andy, Barney, and Thelma Lou alternated this role while in the colored episodes Andy handled it almost single handed. It really shows just how poorly designed Helen's character was that the only way to make her nice was to make someone else act just like her.

I never thought of it that way and don't know if it's true, but she could be charming. I think it was just out of her acting range to show anger and still be comedic and basically likable. Barney and Thelma Lou didn't cross that line, but she often did. Aneta said she wasn't that comfortable doing comedy and at times it showed. Her character was probably given more to do than she deserved, but after Don left they needed her to be Angry Helen even more than before, just to have more stories.

oh - I got confused, I thought "The Rule Of Helens" was like a law of nature or something, that states when thirty Helens agree on something, then it is probably true.

I never thought of it that way and don't know if it's true, but she could be charming. I think it was just out of her acting range to show anger and still be comedic and basically likable. Barney and Thelma Lou didn't cross that line, but she often did. Aneta said she wasn't that comfortable doing comedy and at times it showed. Her character was probably given more to do than she deserved, but after Don left they needed her to be Angry Helen even more than before, just to have more stories.

True, nobody could do over the top angry quite like Barney.