Favorite Fictional Character --- Helen Roper

It's March 15th, 1977 and I'm exactly 7 months old. Jimmy Carter is in the White House, Evergreen (Love Theme from ‘A Star Is Born’) by Barbara Streisand is the number one song on the charts, Joe Hahn of Linkin Park was born, it had been exactly 2,021 years since the assassination of Julius Caesar, and Three's Company made its broadcast debut.

To be perfectly frank, I'm not a huge fan of the show. I didn't understand a lot of the humor when I was a kid, and I find the gay for laughs thing rather offensive as an adult. The one redeeming factor for me is the caftan wearing, sex starved character of Helen Roper, played by the amazing Audra Lindley.

Helen is the neglected wife of the building's landlord, Stanley Roper. I'm not going to pretend that she doesn't have her faults, because some of the things she says to him can be pretty mean. But, much like Endora from Bewitched and Mona from Who's the Boss, Helen has a style and wit that while it can be caustic at times, has nothing but affection behind it. She takes the three "kids" under her wing, and acts like a second mother to them. Granted it's not the normal kind of mothering we expect in sitcoms, but it's love all the same. 

I'm not sure I could take Helen in large doses, but I would love to have her as a neighbor. I bet she is the kind of person I would love to hang out with occasionally, drinking a few margaritas and gossiping up a storm. I think she is the kind of person who's advise I would actually listen to, as long as I filtered it first.