Still Standing



Family Sitcom, characterized by notoriously bad parents. Despite this fact, their three kids are actually (relatively) well-adjusted.

Set in Chicago, Bill and Judy Miller have never really given up their high-school antics, despite having three children to raise: brainy Brian, spoiled Lauren, and strange little Tina. Judy's unlucky-in-love sister Linda often pops in to trade barbs with Bill. The end of episodes usually deal with a role reversal by having the kids teach a lesson to the adults.

Has nothing to do with the Glurge-filled Strawman Political autobiography penned by a Miss USA contestant.

"Judy: Now keep your eyes on my butt all night long. Linda: Is it possible that we're too close?"
 * Adorkable: Brian
 * Adult Child: Bill and Judy. Made even worse due to the fact they have three children.
 * Brother-Sister Incest: Well sister-sister incest actually-In one episode, Judy thinks she got groped by her mother-in-law's boyfriend while he was hugging her, so she tries to recreate the moment with her sister Linda(I.E. hugging her and grabbing her ass) and both of them seem to enjoy it(Judy even makes a coment about Linda having tight glutes).Linda lampshades this later on when Judy wears tight pants in order to try and see if the boyfriend will try to grab her ass again.

"Bill: I just found out Brian's boss roots for the other team! Judy: Well, we can be accepting of that. It's a lifestyle choice... Bill: No, no, he likes the White Sox. Judy: What the...what kind of person would choose to live like that?!"
 * Christmas Cake: Poor, poor Linda...
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Perry, Linda's boyfriend.
 * Creepy Child: With an unblinking stare and a vindictive nature, Tina can come across as this. One example involves Linda scaring her once as a prank, only to result in Tina frightening her back more than once.
 * Discriminate and Switch: Bill telling Judy that Brian's employer likes the White Sox in Still Our Kids:


 * Double Standard: Bill is always hoping for Brian to meet a girl and get laid, but gets riled up any time Lauren even mentions boys, though it is only due to him being Mistaken for Gay.
 * Fake American: Unless you have seen his work in his home country (especially if you are from there), you would never guess...
 * Funny Background Event: When Judy is plotting a scheme to get the The Who tickets from their friends, you can see Tina walking into the kitchen, picking up a large cutting knife, then walking off. And then Lauren runs in looking scared.
 * Girl-On-Girl Is Hot: When a lesbian couple move in next door, Bill fantasizes about them and thinks a plant holder in their living room is a sex apparatus.
 * Hilariously Abusive Childhood: You can bet Brian, Lauren, and Tina will have some...interesting stories of the constant taunting and belittling from their parents.
 * But they tend to mean well and really love their kids. Their failures in parenting are usually just fleeting jokes. The last episode is kind of an easy one to use as evidence, with Judy and Bill breaking down over Brian leaving for college, but it's only one a bunch of moments where it's easy to root for (at least Judy) them for showing just how much they love their kids.
 * It's hinted that Bill had one, in one episode he mentons that his father made him fight a dog to settle a bet.
 * Hollywood Nerd: Brian.
 * Hot Mom: Judy, full freakin' stop.
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: All the episodes are "Still (something relevant to the episode)" except the pilot episode.
 * It's Been Done: Perry writes a song that happens to have the same tune as Kiss's "Rock and Roll All Nite".
 * Incest Subtext: Played with in one episode-Brian starts spending more time with Linda and they do things together like see musicals, go out to dinner and even go on a carriage ride, then Lauren tells her that Brian and her are basically dating since Brian started going places with Linda after his girlfriend dumped him, so Brian is essentially looking at her as his replacement girlfriend. Linda naturally gets squicked out by this and tells Brian that they should stop seeing each other because of the "akwardness" Brian is also sickened at the thought of it. Then at the end, Brian tries to sneak out of the house with Lauren to go see a musical and Linda catches him, Brian then realizes he's doing the same thing with Lauren that he did with Linda and gets squicked out again.
 * Line-of-Sight Name: Subverted. Brian claims he's holding a condom in his wallet for a friend named Dorian. The parents ground him, thinking he made up the name while staring at the front door. Turns out he actually has a friend named Dorian.
 * Manly Gay: Scotty, Fitz's son, qualifies as he's a Big Man on Campus jock character who hits on Brian and even asks him out when they work on a float for the parade together, which leads to -
 * Mistaken for Gay: Brian. Most of the speculation is due to him be much more soft spoken and intellectual than his family.
 * Only Sane Man: Brian, again.
 * Parental Hypocrisy: The parents were complete Jerkasses in high school, so they often run into this trope when disciplining their children.
 * Punny Name: Brian and Lauren's middle names are Hops and Barley, respectively.
 * Really Gets Around: Linda is implied to be this, but she seems to want to get married.
 * Retroactive Recognition: A pre-fame Ashley Tisdale plays Brian's girlfriend Bonnie.
 * The Cast Showoff: One episode had Lauren sing a jazz solo in a dream sequence. Her actress, Renee Olstead, is an accomplished jazz vocalist.
 * The Ditz: Lauren, usually. This role is also sometimes filled by Perry, Linda's on-again-off-again boyfriend/fiance/husband.
 * The Eighties: Bill and Judy still wish it was the eighties, when they ruled their high school.
 * The Smart Guy: Brian
 * Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Bill and Judy
 * Volleying Insults: This is pretty much the entirety of Bill and Linda's interaction with each other.
 * Wise Beyond Their Years: Tina, by far the youngest family member, is often seen as the most clever.