Give Love to Maids, Butlers, Cooks

[Jimmy Todd]

I'm sure this has been done in the past, but who are some of your favorite t.v. maids, butlers, cooks or other " domestic technicians," no matter how big or small their role was? What I like about my choices, with the exception of two, is despite their small screen time, they made an impact and added to their respective shows. The other two, Alice and Florence, had much larger roles.
Some of mine are:
1. Mrs. Gunnerson(Dynasty). She made the most of her few appearances, and always conveyed very well the subtext of her history with, as she would say, "Mrs -cough- Colby."
2. Joseph(Dynasty)- I loved how he despised both of Blake's wives and anything that could be discerned from that. His scene with Alexis in the studio on Season 2 alone earns him a spot.
3. Alice(The Brady Bunch). The best and funniest one on the show.
4. Florence(The Jeffersons)- Hilarious, especially in the first few seasons. She also had great chemistry with Sherman Hemsley.
5. Chao-Li (Falcon Crest) His presence was as integral to the show as any other character, imho. I loved his relationship with Angela. The greatest non-sexual love story in Soapland.

 

[Daniel Avery]

My favorite has to be Niles the butler on The Nanny, played to the hilt by Daniel Davis. The withering put-downs, the perfect comic timing, and self-deprecating humor made him an all-around treat in every scene, a great complement to the more earthy humor Fran Drescher brought to the series.

A close second is Benson the butler on Soap. Benson was not given a lot to do beyond act as the Greek Chorus for the show, observing the wacky behavior of the Tate family and rolling his eyes a lot. He obviously could have been doing much more with his life (he became Lieutenant Governor in his spin-off show), but I think he stuck around the Tates as long as he did because they were just so damn entertaining and he enjoyed making fun of them.

I get a different sort of pleasure out of every scene Dark Shadows's Mrs. Johnson appeared in, mostly because the actress, Clarice Blackburn, recognized (even if it wasn't in the script) that Mrs. Johnson was the voice of the average audience member, the one who recognized the house and the people in it were cursed. The show used her sparingly despite the seemingly enormous size of Collinwood and the lack of (other) household staff. If someone were to repeat the whole "the house is cursed!" line too many times, the other characters might have to actually listen to her, so she wasn't around much---especially once the crazier plots took hold.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Getting into the wayback machine....

On Another World in the 1970s, one of the main characters was Iris Carrington Wheeler--vain, spoiled, manipulative. She was an adult but was so devoted to her father and to being the apple of his eye that she refused to let any other woman get close to him. She made enemies of everyone she came into contact with (eventually), so it stands to reason that the only person who would be genuinely close to her (and that Iris could say anything to) was her maid, Vivien Gorrow. She had to pay someone to put up with her. Vivien was not the brightest bulb, and in fact was created to give a bit of comic relief the way many soap domestics do. But over time the relationship between Vivien and "Mrs. Wheeler" became one of mutual devotion and actual caring behavior. Iris could be horrible to everyone in town (and usually was), but even when she read the riot act to her maid for whatever reason the plot dictated, she always begged Vivien's forgiveness. They would write these tense, dramatic showdowns between Iris and her stepmother Rachel or maybe Iris's latest ill-fated husband---and then Vivien would bring Iris some poorly-made tea, or bring her a magazine that turned out to be a year old and everything would be fine. When Iris got her own show, Texas, Vivien of course went with her to continue the hijinks until Beverlee McKinsey (and Iris) left that series.

Their relationship was so much a part of the show that SCTV, the Canadian sketch show known for parodying popular television shows, added two characters sending up Iris and Vivien in their soap sketches titled The Days Of The Week. AW was very popular in Canada at that time. Of course it was totally played for laughs...

 

[Emelee]

Memory, memory... Let's see who I can remember of my favorites.

• Benson, Soap
• Geoffrey, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
• Consuela, Family Guy
• Manuel, Fawly Towers
• Joseph Anders, Dynasty
• Maria the Forrester's maid, The Bold and the Beautiful
• Bannister & Church, The Gilded Age
• Duckworth, Ducktales
• Berta, Two and a Half Men
• Bottom, Upstart Crow
• Turton, Belgravia

And of course, Barkley from Modern Family

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Rosie Andrews from Sons and Daughters was great. She had unwavering loyalty to Gordon but didn’t hide her disdain for Patricia and was always ready to call her out on her bull.