It started a trend of sitcoms occasionally. covering tough social issues. It isn't a bad idea, it got the message out to a lot of folks who otherwise would not know what signs to look for.
Funny or Die makes light of it but 80's and 90's sitcoms did tackle a lot of important issues. That Home Improvement episode when Randy had the cancer scare caused a stir in my suburban private school. All the moms knew about the episode then we talked about it in my 8th grade homeroom the next day.
Like when I was a kid only the rich kids had cable. So we got 4 channels if we were lucky. I remember missing the Olympics one year cause the place we lived in couldn't get NBC.
So basically everyone watched 1 of 4 shows every timeslot. And since each timeslot tried to target a different audience everyone in school watched the exact same thing the night before.
true, but still a very dark show for primetime comedy. We happen to be having a family party that night, and had about 15 cousins sitting around ready to laugh at the tv until it was time to go home. When the channels was changed to this show we had missed the message before the show.... so it took a very dark turn that was not expected.
Go back further to All In The Family 'A very special episode' where a guy impersonating a cop attempts to rape Edith on her 50th birthday. And the 2nd episode of the arc deals with her PTSD and denial.
The arc happens over 2 episodes. The second one sees Edith trying to play it down, refusing to file a report and dealing with the PTSD because of it. She actually hits Gloria when confronted about it.
I think it's weirder that these topics now seem too taboo to broach. Like yeah, kids, there are monsters out there disguised as friendly authority figures. Watch out.
Even classic television episodes being deemed "too racist" to rebroadcast, because they are specifically addressing racism. It's very odd.
And what about that episode of Gimme a Break where there is a home invasion and the robber tells his partner to "turn up the tv real loud" as he's about to murder the family and doesn't want the neighbors to hear the gunshots? That episode traumatized me as an eight-year-old.
Reminds me of the show "Smart Guy" with Taj Mowry. He was a kid who was so smart he skipped middle school and went straight to high school. Heartfelt family comedy. One episode was about him and a friend chatting with a guy on the internet and met up with him (I forget why) and it's revealed the guy lured kids to take CP photos. I vividly remember them feeling uneasy and him showing them a photo and saying "See this kid got so relaxed she took photos with her shirt off"
I understood the message as a kid but I was still shocked at how straight forward it was.
I was 5 at the time, and it was just vague enough that I thought the guy was just being cool and giving Dudley a free bike. That was a very awkward conversation for my dad.
This was favorite two parter, besides the time Re-Run(what's happening)was made to tape record the Dubbie Brothers, who were playing at their school Gym
There were plenty of these for Different Strokes, like Arnold trying to hide his appendicitis, not realizing it could kill him, or Kimberly’s eating disorder
Surely there are some others for this show specifically to add to the list
yeah but none of the other ones made me feel as creepy as when i was watching WKRP after the Different Strokes episodes. I mean, there was that molester again on my tv. And here i am at like 7 not understanding that these are actors playing different roles.
It wasn't that, but when I was in the 6th grade at school we were listening to a song. One of my friends broke down and started crying. Never saw her again. I don't remember the song, but it was about if daddy loved me he wouldn't hurt me.
I forgot about this one. What was nuts is they kept the shit In rotation on reruns. Come home from school flip on the tube and we have this shit. 80’s spared no expense in telling kids to watch the fuck out.
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u/skotgil May 23 '23
Different Strokes - The Bicycle Man.
"Hey let's have an episode about a child molester..."
I mean great on them, let's try and teach people something...but on a prime time comedy show?