It's one thing to be tidy, it's another thing entirely to be a neat freak. Many TV characters have exhibited neat-freak behavior. Sometimes, this behavior is played up for laughs. Other times, it can be a great source of drama. Here are some of the most intense examples of neat-freak behavior from popular TV shows.
Gustavo Fring's clothing obsession, "Breaking Bad"
While a villain covered in blood and guts will always be scary, a villain who dresses in an immaculate suit will always be so much creepier. So it was with Gustavo Fring, the drug lord at the top of the meth food chain in Seasons 3 and 4 of "Breaking Bad."
But Fring's attitude toward his own wardrobe makes him a neat freak, if not an OCD case study. In "Salud," Gus carefully places a towel on the floor and neatly folds his jacket before vomiting. He is more concerned about getting his clothes dirty than he is about overthrowing the cartel and vomiting poison out of his system.
Likewise, in his very last on-screen appearance, Gus is again shown being obsessive about looking neat and tidy. Despite the fact that half his face is blown off, Fring's final action is to straighten his tie.
Adrian Monk's OCD, "Monk"
Nearly every episode of "Monk" revolved around Adrian Monk's annoying neat-freak tendencies. In one episode, he couldn't concentrate at a crime scene because a police officer wasn't wearing matching socks. He's such a neat freak that he compulsively cleans his hands with wet wipes after every handshake, cuts his pancakes into squares so they will be "even," and straightens lamps when he enters crime scenes.
Sheldon's hatred of messes and stains, "The Big Bang Theory"
Sheldon has a notorious inability to tolerate messes. He won't let Leonard floss his teeth too close to the bathroom mirror for fear of mouth splatter. And even though Penny lives across the hall, Sheldon feels compelled to break into her apartment and clean it for her.
In the episode where the couch cushion gets stained, Sheldon pretty much goes nuts. The stain won't come out and swapping the cushion for another one won't placate him. At one point, he simply has to hover over his spot; he's too much of a neat freak to risk sitting on it.
Bloberta's overly intense cleaning system, "Moral Orel"
On the Adult Swim show "Moral Orel," desperate housewife Bloberta sublimates all of her depression and self-loathing into her cleaning routine. Her home is always spotless, despite the fact that she has two young boys who are always getting in trouble. But Bloberta takes her cleaning a bit too far. She's such a neat freak that cleaning the tiles in her home is a two-step process. First, she cleans the tops of the tiles. Then, she turns over the tiles so she can clean the other side. She gives neat freak a whole new meaning.
