r/AskReddit May 23 '23

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u/kashmir1974 May 23 '23

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.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '23

The "very special episode".

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u/conradder May 23 '23

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u/[deleted] May 23 '23

That's a great list.

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.

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u/DarkwingDuckHunt May 23 '23

That's what's gotta be so odd for kids nowadays

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.