"These days, crazy is the new lovable. All you need to get viewers hooked
on a character is a succulent psychological disorder or two: Awww, he's so
obsessive-compulsive! Look, an alcoholic with violent mood swings! How cute! Her
sense of self is so malleable. Oh, I love it when she gets all socially
withdrawn and displays flattened affect like that!
Lead characters still
have back stories, but they're usually accompanied by a psychiatric
interpretation that justifies a whole host of dangerous quirks, from grandiosity
to paranoia to sociopathic tendencies. Robert McKee's screenwriting bible
'Story' has been replaced by the DSM-IV: Writers simply close their eyes and
point to a page, then delight in the possibilities presented by long lists of
lively maladies and disturbing behavioral tics. "
I think one of the major changes behind this change on TV is a change in culture. Where we once believed ourselves to be normal and healthy people, I think more and more Americans are starting to see themselves as mentally unbalanced. In come cases it is because more Americans are becoming aware of honest problems that they have, there are some who are adjusting to the new norm of thinking of yourself as being imbalanced, though they are not. I think that there is some benefit in having these characters in TV shows, but like everything else it is a matter of balance.
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