It was about 20 years earlier, in The Danny Thomas Show. When Jean Hagen left the show after the 1955-1956 season, Danny opened the 1956-1957 season by telling Terry and Rusty, “Mommy’s gone to heaven.”
Add to that list Filipino Leon Lontoc, who played “Henry,” Amos Burke’s (“Burke’s Law” (1963) chauffeur.
Ellen was the first sitcom to have its lead character “come out”, and was also the first sitcom to have a homosexual lead.
Will & Grace was the first sitcom to have a gay man as a lead character, and the first sitcom that premiered with a homosexual lead.
However, I believe that Three’s Company was the first sitcom to have a man who was PRETENDING to be gay as a lead character.
I’ve often head Star Trek credited as the first American TV show to feature an interracial kiss, but depending on how you define “interracial” that had already been achieved on I Love Lucy. I wouldn’t be surprised if ILL were the first sitcom about an American woman married to a foreign man, or even the first sitcom to feature a mixed ethnic marriage at all, but there may have been some earlier show that I don’t know about.
Nope and nope. As mentioned upthread, Jody in Soap came out, and Tony Randall’s Sidney in Love, Sidney was gay and the lead character.
Although as jayjay noted, Sidney’s sexuality was downplayed after the pilot.
Tough call. Burns & Allen premiered in 1950, but who knows whether George Burns did that shtick from the very begining? My Friend Irma (1952) featured a character who would step out and provide narration, then step back into the scene, which definitely broke the fourth wall.
My Little Margie (also 1952) usually ended with Margie’s father looking straight at the camera and saying “Well…that’s my little Margie.” Mr. Peepers (still another from 1952) had the main character start episodes with a little talk about his day. Whether those bits counted as “breaking the wall” are up to debate.
Oh, and before I forget, All in the Family had a lesbian character. IIRC it was an aunt or cousin of Edith’s who wanted to leave a family heirloom to her partner.
He wasn’t the lead character, though. He was part of a large ensemble case. There were plenty of shows before Ellen that had gay characters, but Ellen was THE lead (and title character) on Ellen. Ellen was the first and remains one of the only sitcoms to have a lesbian lead character – I can’t think of another except for DeGeneres’s later, short-lived sitcom The Ellen Show.
*I’m too young to remember that show, but the Wikipedia article refers to Sidney as being “in the closet”. I’d argue that Will & Grace is a perceived first when it comes to having a gay man as the lead, perhaps because it was the first sitcom where the male lead was openly gay. (Or does anyone know of an earlier example?) Both the audience and other characters on the show were aware that Will was gay, and this was stated explicitly in practically every episode.
First white man to kiss a black woman: Star Trek: TOS (CPT Kirk kissing Lt Uhura)
First black man to kiss a white man: All In The Family (George Jefferson kissing Archie Bunker)
[QUOTE=Lamia;10367971Will & Grace was the first sitcom to have a gay man as a lead character, and the first sitcom that premiered with a homosexual lead.
Also, if memory serves, wasn’t Swoozie Kurtz’s character one of the first unmarried-mom-who-kept-her-baby characters on tv?
Love, Phil
[QUOTE=First black man to kiss a white man: All In The Family (George Jefferson kissing Archie Bunker)[/QUOTE]
Also, I remember a scene from All in the Family where Sammy Davis, Jr laid one on Archie Bunker’s cheek during a photo op. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_UBgkFHm8o The kiss happened during the last 10 seconds or so of the clip, but the whole video is priceless.
Love, Phil
It would be Beaver. While many scenes on *the Brady Bunch *took place in the second-floor bathroom, there was not actually a toilet (that could be seen) in the room. That Mike Brady was a hell of an Architect
First Spin-Off of a Spin-Off? Depends…I’d say Gomer Pyle, USMC…if you count Andy Griffith as a spin-off of the Danny Thomas Show, instead of a backdoor pilot. The first spin-off of a spin-off featuring a regular character would be Good Times, I would say…
Jodie began as a flamboyant cross-dresser who planned to get a sex change so he could stay with his male lover. His subsequent relationships included (a) a straight woman whom he got pregnant, (b) a lesbian housemate with whom he enjoyed a platonic relationship, © another woman whom he wanted marry. That seems like the opposite of coming out of the closet. Ellen, on the other hand, started out dating men exclusively and then came out quite publicly and settled in with another woman. As for Sidney’s sexuality, it wasn’t merely downplayed, it pretty much disappeared after the pilot.
One area where Soap may have had a huge first for which it doesn’t get enough credit is in Jodie’s battle for custody of his child. The idea that a gay man could be a better parent than a straight woman is still anathema to many people, much more so in the '70s.
I thought that was Sammy Davis, Jr. who kissed Archie.
What was the first US sitcom to have an all non-white main cast? Sanford & Son premiered in 1972. After that, there’s Good Times in 1974, The Jeffersons in 1975, and What’s Happening? in 1976.
Any before that?
How 'bout Amos and Andy??? According to Wikipedia:
And to muddle up the “who was the first couple to sleep in the same bed” question…according to yesterday’s New York Times it was the Munsters!:
I remember an episodeof “I Love Lucy,” in which Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel end up in a crummy motel on their way to California. For reasons I’ve forgotten, they aren’t actually able to get to sleep, but at one point, Lucy and Ricky (or Fred and Ethel?) actually share a regular double bed.
So, they may have been beaten by Mary Kay and Johnny, but “I Love Lucy” could be the earliest surviving show to show a married couple in bed together.
It seems Dracula’s daughter was a month behind America’s favorite witch:
http://www.harpiesbizarre.com/bedtime.htm
Reportedly, Mary Kay’s pregnancy was written into Mary Kay and Johnny!
Well, it didn’t take long to debunk the New York Times! And that website you mention–I’ve heard of obsessive fans, but this guy takes the cake!
And now I’m waiting for someone to mention that Mary Kay kissed a black gay man on *Mary Kay and Johnny *
Isn’t Lebanon in Asia? The Danny Thomas Show has 'em beat!
According to Wikipedia, the 1947 show Mary Kay and Johnny, mentioned upthread, had not two but three firsts.
I think that’s different because in MASH, Henry Blake dies in the episode.
Did we land on which sitcom first showed an actual toilet (and not just the bowl)?
What was the first sitcom to…
[ul]
[li]Honestly deal with a woman’s menstrual period?[/li][li]Honestly discuss a young woman getting her first period?[/li][li]Discuss constipation, defecation, urination or vomiting?[/li][li]Have a Jewish (or other obviously non-Christian) character?[/li][/ul]