Titus/Characters

Christopher Titus (Christopher Titus)
""A lie is a lie... unless your friends and family are in on it. Then it's a commonly-held belief.""

Most episodes follow his exploits and his point of view. He knows that his life has been and is very screwed up, but realizes that he himself has turned out relatively okay. Even though the show is about his family, everyone calls him by his last name except for his dad and Erin.


 * Butt Monkey
 * The Danza
 * The Hero
 * Hilariously Abusive Childhood
 * The Woobie

Erin Fitzpatrick (Cynthia Watros)
""So I'm sitting in a meeting when my pager goes off with a message. It says "Dad's dead." So I race out of the meeting and drive all the way to Santa Maria because, naturally, I think "MY DAD'S DEAD"!""

Christopher's fiancée, a strong and independent woman whose family is just as messed up as his. She is a calming influence on Titus, is one of the few people Papa Titus likes, and is semi-openly lusted after by both Dave and Tommy. Despite her peacemaking personality, she has a buried Irish temper that everyone is afraid of. Her parents, Nora and Merritt, are miserably married alcoholics, her sister, Kim, is a sexually promiscuous drug addict, and her brother, Michael, is a career criminal. Her childhood dream was to become the first person in her family to not be arrested. She brings in her niece Amy (Kim's daughter) after her stepfather (Kim's boyfriend) almost punches her in the face for calling Child Welfare on him.


 * Beware the Nice Ones
 * The Chick
 * The Heart
 * Hilariously Abusive Childhood
 * Ms. Fanservice
 * Only Sane Man

Dave Scovill (Zack Ward)
"Christopher: I want you to tell me what you want!

Dave: (between sobs) But I told you...what I want. I...wanna...get bitten by a radioactive spider and get super powers!"

Christopher's stepbrother and close friend. He has a short attention span, is easily swayed by food, smokes pot, is a Cloudcuckoolander and has an obsession with Asian women. (Actor Zack Ward is light-skinned, has red hair and freckles, yet is married to an Asian woman. The writers found this funny and wrote it in.) He is blissfully unaware of how messed-up he is.


 * Big Eater
 * Cloudcuckoolander
 * The Ditz
 * Hilariously Abusive Childhood: His mom (Ken's third wife) abandoned him when he was five because Ken was emotionally abusive to her. It's not known whether she did this on purpose or not.
 * The Lancer
 * The Stoner
 * Erudite Stoner and Genius Ditz: Titus claims that, despite Dave's stupidity, he shows flashes of brilliance, such as when he used a can of beer to save Papa Titus from dying of a heart attack (Don't ask!) and has a vast knowledge of uterine biology because he once got so high, he remembered his own birth.

Tommy Shafter (David Shatraw)
"Tommy:"Now, Mr. Titus, this is something my father taught me. *starts making hand gestures* Father and son start together...and then, they grow apart...until the son's ready to be a man...and then, they grow together again."

Papa Titus:"Can you get him away from me?""

Friend of the family and accountant for Titus' custom car shop. Growing up in a relatively stable household, Tommy is the only 'normal' member of the cast, and he is just as screwed-up as everyone else. Eccentric, flamboyant and anal, his effeminate mannerisms are subverted as he is heterosexual, but those mannerisms are picked up from his actually gay father.


 * Ambiguously Gay and Mistaken for Gay: Justified in that Tommy imitated his father, who was a Straight Gay who kept his true sexuality under wraps for many years.
 * Stalker with a Crush: On the episode "Tommy's Girlfriend," where Tommy's high school sweetheart (played by Nicole Sullivan) ends up trapped in Titus's car shop after Tommy crashes his car into hers.
 * The Chick

Ken 'Papa' Titus (Stacy Keach)
"Christopher: (while role-playing with Dave about how condescending their dad is) Hey, Dad, I started my own business and I made more money in one year than you have in any year of your life! What do you think about that?! Heh heh heh... (Papa Titus appears behind him, beer in hand)

Papa Titus: (opens beer can, Christopher freezes in shock) I think without me pushin' you, you never would have made it."

You could consider him to be a Magnificent Bastard, to some degree. The show revolves around the relationship between him and Christopher. He is a very difficult man to describe; he's gruff and difficult, but has Jerk with a Heart of Gold tendencies. He seems to enjoy watching Christopher suffer, but it seems to be a form of Training From Hell meets Wax On, Wax Off.


 * Abusive Parent: Believes that emotional damage keeps kids in line instead of physical abuse (as he told Erin's dad in "The Perfect Thanksgiving.")
 * Hidden Depths: According to the Christmas episode "Houseboat" and the episode "Grandma Titus," Ken is a brutal parent because his mother was abusive to him in his childhood (his mother, in turn was emotionally abused by Ken's own father).
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 * Kavorka Man: Women find him charming...until they date and/or marry him. Then they try to kill him and/or ruin his life.
 * Magnificent Bastard
 * Sink or Swim Mentor
 * The Alcoholic: Just like Titus's dad in real life
 * Tough Love

Juanita Titus
"Juanita: "Get down! The aliens can see you!"

Young Christopher: "They look like trash cans, Mom."

Juanita: "They always do! They're aliens, not morons! Go get your metal hat!" (brandishes a shotgun and shoves the business end of it out the window): HOW DARE YOU INVADE MY PLANET!" (fires)"


 * Axe Crazy: Chased after Ken with a broken wine bottle at the end of "Mom's Not Nuts," and.
 * Crazy Awesome: Despite Juanita's schizophrenic episodes, violent behavior, drug abuse and poor choice in men, she was a beauty contest winner (even qualifying for Miss California back in the 1960s), a great cook, a talented piano player, and spoke four different languages.
 * Manipulative Bitch: Ken and Christopher have described Juanita as this.
 * The Other Darrin: Three different actresses played Juanita on episodes where she is part of the story.
 * The Other Darrin: Three different actresses played Juanita on episodes where she is part of the story.

Amy Fitzpatrick

 * Does Not Like Men: Justified when you consider that.
 * Sixth Ranger
 * Hidden Depths: "The Protector" and "Amy's Birthday" shed light on why Amy is such a broken child:.
 * Hidden Depths: "The Protector" and "Amy's Birthday" shed light on why Amy is such a broken child:.