As we draw to an end of TV mustache week, we must mention possibly the greatest mustached man on TV for the last 20 years- Ned Flanders. We recapped some pretty cartoony characters, so it feeds the irony beast that perhaps the most serious of these recaps is about a cartoon character. Or not, you really shouldn't read that much into these posts.
We know who Ned is: strong christian morals, overtly friendly, a push-over, a widower, a surprising physique, a lefty, raised by beatniks, constantly upbeat, 60 years-old, a genuinely nice guy whose self is governed by his beliefs and is disciplined enough to follow through on them, and all his life he wanted purple drapes.
We know him- so let's talk about his mustache, and really the path he carved out for other mustaches to follow.
Ned is, simply put, a nerd. It is within that nerdy annoyance we have in him, that we see a part of ourselves in. Never betraying that bond with the audience, and taking it to ridiculous heights and emotional places--- why that's just strong TV. Ned is a character full of quirks. His mustache just happens to be a visible quirk (and he refers to it, such as: his "Nose Neighbour," "Mr. Tickles," "The Ole Soup Strainer," "The Cookie Duster," "The Pushbroom," and "Dr. Fuzzenstein.") It's not outlandish that Ned has a mustache. It's just fact that he does.
The season 16 episode, "Home Away From Homer", Ned moves Humbleton, PA, where everything is more dopey sweet than he is. In Humbleton, Ned is asked to shave his mustache, which he refuses. Truly a great moment for mustaches on television. For all his christian morals, pent up anger at his parents, and responsibilities in raising 2 sons- Ned never gives anything less than himself. Ned Flanders, one of the dorkiest people ever shown on TV, showed television, nay the world, on how to not look so dorky while wearing a mustache.
Great mustache TV characters are not the star of their show. They are the perspective, after all who wouldn't want to see the world through the eyes of a man with a strip of hormonal hair on their face. Mustaches themselves are a kooky attribute, and the men who carry them don't make themselves more kooky by having a mustache. They make the mustache more serious by being themselves.
Oh, and if you ever get gum in your mustache- just freeze it and hit it with a hammer.
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