Sally Forth Howard/Characters

Sally Forth

A married, middle-class American working mother.


 * Brainy Brunette: Of the "generally quiet, but definitely smart" variety. Particularly noticeable in the arcs involving her work place.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Her sense of humor is wry, and she does not suffer fools silently.
 * Family Versus Career: Averted. She juggles both quite handily (usually), and no one expects her to choose between them.
 * Happily Married
 * Housewife/White Collar Worker: She successfully balances the two most of the time. Her office job is middle management in marketing at a fairly large company, but what the company does or makes is unknown.
 * Women Are Wiser: Especially compared to the current version of Ted.

Ted Forth

Sally's husband.


 * Deadpan Snarker: Not as much as Sally but it seems her sense of humor has rubbed off on him.
 * Happily Married
 * Heroic BSOD: Almost had one when he found a college-era journal of Sally's where she writes that she never wants to get married. Later became a Call Back when Sally found out he was still hurt over it.
 * Man Child / One of Us: After the writer changed Ted became very into pop-culture and a little insane. On his own website Marciuliano implies that Ted takes psychiatric drugs.
 * White Collar Worker most of the time, with a stretch of unemployment that lasted about a year when he was downsized from his job in "strategic sourcing".

Hilary Forth

Sally and Ted's preteen daughter.

"Hilary: So I guess we're going to make a lot of mistakes then, huh?
 * Deadpan Snarker: How she puts up with her childish dad.
 * The Eeyore: Upon realizing that yes, she's got a boyfriend:

Jon: Or we'll have a great time together.

Hilary: Oh. Right. I like your way of thinking much better."

And later "Jon: I came to cheer you on for the [softball/little league] championship.

Hilary: Wow, is that what boyfriends and girlfriends do? Support each other?

Jon: What do you think they do?

Hilary: Get into petty arguments. Cheat. I've seen a lot of bad television."


 * Genre Savvy: Her Meet Cute with Jon is so unbearably cliche that she puts a stop to it and tells him what will likely happen next and tries to avert it as much as possible. Her parents even comment on how savvy she is.
 * Yandere: She's usually level-headed but was strangely cold and defensive towards Jon, then becomes close once he reveals he already knows Faye. Her weird behavior is explained as nervousness and "a lot of bad TV".

Kitty

The Forths' cat.

Jackie

Sally's younger sister.


 * Crazy Cat Lady: Years of unsuccessful relationships have her on the verge.
 * May-December Romance / Odd Couple: To Sally's horror and confusion she not only hooked up with  but also seems to be quite happy with him.
 * And now they're getting married, which caused Sally to bluescreen.

Laura

Sally's mother.


 * Evil Matriarch: Is not exactly nice to Sally and loves insulting Ted.

Sally's coworkers
Ralph

Sally's former Pointy-Haired Boss and currently her co-manager.


 * Odd Couple:

Alice

One of Sally's co-workers and main confidante.


 * Imagine Spot: How she survives the daily grind.

Jeff

Sally's blandly competent current boss.

The Art Department (I think)

Sally's hilariously lazy and incompetant staff. They make her yearn for Ralph.

Hilary's friends
Faye

Hilary's best friend.

Nona

Hilary and Faye's classmate.


 * Blonde, Brunette, Redhead
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Nona. She's basically a red-headed Luna Lovegood.
 * Dark and Troubled Present: It's implied that Faye's homelife isn't pleasant which is why she hangs out with Hilary so much.
 * Those Two Girls

Other characters
Aria

Ted's co-worker.


 * Everyone Loves Blondes: Aria is/was a major temptation for Ted: not only is she young and beautiful, she's also as much of a pop-culture lover as he is and once got him something (I think it was a lunchbox) that he'd always wanted.