This explains the cruelty masked as comedy.
The Tragedy of Michael Kyle: Why the "Perfect" TV Dad Was Actually a Portrait of Quiet Desperation michael richard kyle
So, why do we love him?
Think about his origin. We learn sparingly, but significantly, that Michael was abandoned by his father. He had to fight for everything. The "Michael Kyle" we see—the controlling, the obsessive, the man who needs to be the smartest person in every room—is not a natural state. It’s a fortress. He built his entire personality on the bedrock of "I will never fail like I was failed." This explains the cruelty masked as comedy
Rest in complexity, Mr. Kyle. You weren't just a dad. You were a survival mechanism wearing a smirk. michael richard kyle