Favorite Fictional Character --- Mr. Lynn Belvedere

Have I ever mentioned that I'm a sucker for 1980s sitcoms?  Give me The Golden Girls, Night Court, Murphy Brown, Benson, Who's the Boss?, Designing Women, Alf, and Mama's Family any day of the week.  Actually, I think I've done Favorite Fictional Character posts for all of those shows, and if I happen to catch them on TV, I'm watching them.  There are still a few shows that I loved back then, that I haven't gotten to yet, but I'm correcting that oversight, at least for one of those shows, today.  The character I'm going to feature today, was one of those characters that I would have loved to have in my own life.  I could have done without an Alf walking into my living room.  But growing up without a father in my life, a Mr. Belvedere would have have been more than welcome.

If you don't remember the show, I'll help you out a bit.  Think of a non-magical, older male version of Mary Poppins, and you get Mr. Belvedere.  I can't remember how he ended up in an American household, but this is a guy who was once a butler for Prime Minister Winston Churchill.  You can imagine how someone like that, would have to reorganize their entire way of thinking, in order to fit into an American family, complete with two working parents and three kids. A lot of the show was about his relationship with Wesley, the youngest of the three kids.  It was antagonist almost all the time, with Wesley always trying to get it over the "stuffy" Mr. Belvedere.  But you could tell there was a lot of love there, as Mr. Belvedere became a counselor to Wesley, and to all the kids.  

I agree with Wesley that Mr. Belvedere was a little stuffy at times.  And I even agree with the father, Mr. Owens, that the Englishman was a bit nosy, needing to know what was going on at all times.  But that's what a good nanny/housekeeper should be.  He should be nosy, he should try to sooth the members of the household when they are upset.  He should help them out with their problems, and how to deal with the various situations they found themselves in.  I kind of wish I had a Mr. Belvedere growing up, but at least I had him on my television screen.