My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé: How Bad Could It Have Gotten?

Well, here we are, right before the big wedding and the grand finale of My Big, Fat, Obnoxious Finace.. Things couldn’t be any worse for Randi. Her brothers are positively livid over her impending nuptials and are planning to boycott the ceremony. Randi’s parents, despite gritting their teeth, are willing to go along with Randi and her hare-brained decision to marry Steve. The powder keg is all primed and ready to explode.

But, I’m guessing things could have been a whole lot worse than they are right now. The producers of the show were obviously trying to create a variety of situations where some or all of Randi’s friends and family would be close to revolt. All in the name of entertainment, of course.

When Randi’s parents, Catherine and Bruce, were first introduced to the obnoxious Steve and learned that he was Randi’s new boyfriend, they took the news fairly well. Her siblings, Melanie, Patrick, and Robert, reacted with mild interest. But when Randi announced that she was engaged to Steve, the tension level in her family ratcheted up a few notches. Most of the family was stunned, as expected, but seemed to console themselves with the idea that they could probably talk her out of the marriage before it happened. Even Randi’s best friend, Anna, took the news fairly well. Everyone seemed to have large, fake smiles plastered across their faces.

However, when the family learned that the wedding was only three days away, the cake really hit the fan. Randi’s mother simply looked at her and said, “No.” Her brothers stormed out of the room and packed their bags to go home. Her father looked relatively calm, but was probably wondering whether Randi would fit inside his duffle bag so he could drag her away from all this foolishness.

After what was probably a rough night’s sleep for everybody, the family calmed down a bit. Randi’s parents had a talk with her that amounted to, “We disagree with your decision, but we will support you because we love you.” Her brothers were still upset and wanted to leave. Their mother talked them into staying at the mansion for the three days, but they still maintained that they wouldn’t attend the ceremony.

That brings us to the present, and this is exactly where the producers want Randi’s family to be. I think they want to make sure that there is at least one family member in full revolt, but, at the same time, they don’t want the whole family in that state, since that would dramatically increase the chance that the family would all walk out as a group and leave the producers without a show.

Similarly, they don’t want the entire family to accept the marriage with grace, love, and support. That would go over with as big of a thud as the finale of Joe Schmo, where the butt of the million-dollar joke didn’t get upset and just laughed it off.

In this regard, the producers have done a brilliant job in pushing just the right buttons on just the right family members. They haven’t sent anyone completely over the edge, but they’ve put everybody right at that edge. To get Randi’s family into the agitated state they’re in, Steve had to do nothing more than act a bit crude. Steve’s own family encouraged and reinforced his crudity (“Do the Moose!”). After they demonstrated to Randi’s family exactly where he got all his bad manners from, they left the picture like wedding guests when the champagne runs out.

What would have happened, however, if Randi’s family had grudgingly accepted her fate? Well, I have no doubt that the producers of the show had many, many tricks up their collective tuxedo sleeves. We already saw a few of their tricks that fell flat. When Steve swiped a vase from the kitchen and gave it to Randi’s mom as a present, for example, he didn’t create any tension since Randi thought it was a good idea.

So, what else could the producers have done if they needed to stir up trouble? I suppose the possibilities are endless, but following are a few of my thoughts. I base a lot of these ideas on the loose ends that the show has introduced and then never followed through with.