Laura, Myra, and Maxine

This is so true! RIP Myra ❤️

Seriously, I think I could have written the same post!
It was really hard for me too to relate to Laura.
There were admittedly some occasions like once a season or so, when I could appreciate her after all.
Like that episode when she started a campaign for more Black History in school.
Or if she was allowed to tell a real creep off about his terrible behavior.
Most of the time though, she was only shallow (even though we were meant to see her as smart) and stuck-up.
Like you, I felt a much stronger connection to Myra.
The writers could never stop downplaying her good qualities to make their precious Laura look better.
But I was never convinced.
Like you, I found it very unrealistic too that Laura was supposed to be every guy's wet dream.
I have to say that Myra and most girls whom Eddie dated were much prettier than her.
I don't remember that Curtis said that to Myra, but I don't doubt that it's true.
However, I know she lost a job at a department store to Laura because she lied and was greedy.
Because when it was about making Laura look (supposedly) better, they simply had to ruin other characters.

Maxine and Myra actually represent two tropes that were common in sitcoms, dating all the way back to the 50s. Maxine was the "best friend," and Myra was Laura's "Frequent Foil." You'll note that Maxine was not quite as pretty or as smart as Laura, which has been done on sitcoms for ages to make the main character look better by comparison. But I did like that Maxine got some character development, and she was perfect for Waldo.

Myra is a fascinating character. She's cute, she's smart, she's funny, and she would have been perfect for Steve, except she is 100% psycho. 90% of the drama between her and Laura over Steve was driven by her alone. She had this crazy delusion that she had to compete with Laura for Steve, despite Laura making it very clear that she was not interested in him, and was more than happy to dump him on Myra. It got even worse when Steve couldn't take it anymore and dumped her, and then her insanity was truly revealed.

The "frequent foil" character is a common one in sitcoms, where they're a regular member of the cast and are a constant irritant/enemy of one of the leads, and yet at the end of the day, they're forced to call a truce and make up for the next episode. It's an easy way to drive up the drama going on in the story, but it can get annoying or tiring if not done right. Myra and Laura's animosity towards each other reminds me of Hawkeye and Frank Burns' relationship on M*A*S*H, where they too were constantly having fights or conflict between each other, but forced to work together because of the situation they were in.

You think Laura was "too perfect"? Did you miss all of the episodes where she made mistakes, was wrong/guilty, and had to get called out and be sorry for them?