[QUOTE=Raguleader]
Heh, and I went on Google to see if that was some obscure Shakespearian metaphor for knocking the snot out of someone. I need to use that from now on “Call the Bard” 
[/QUOTE]
Obviously that is what I meant. It’s an obscure Sumerian metaphor though. Used all through Gilgamesh. Yeah, that’s it.
[QUOTE=Rilchiam]
…characters on Fresh Prince, Will especially, but all of them in general, were too mean to Carlton, who did not deserve it. He was pompous, but not a jerk, and what bothered me was that Will openly scorned him for not being “down”, while Carlton only made comments about Will’s boorishness when provoked. Carlton was in a perfect position to lord it over Will, but he actually wanted to be friends. And the minute Will moved in, he started pushing Carlton around in his own home!
[/quote]
This drove my son crazy. He was always shouting at the TV – “Dude! That’s his house!” He also got irritated at Jimmy on “Yes, Dear” for the same reason – sure Greg was kind of a square, but Jimmy and his whole family were living in the guy’s house and Greg (according to Nick) deserved to be treated with respect & gratitude for taking them in.
Big time. The guy who played Carlton was actually a quite good looking guy, with an excellent physique. I remember one episode when Will & Carlton were at the gym or something and they had Carlton all tricked up in a silly, puffy sweat suit – if they’d dressed him in shorts and a tee-shirt he would have made ol’ skinny (at that time) Will look like a 12 year old boy. The guy was built. He was a dancer and looked like it. I think he got his start dancing, as a child, in Michael Jackson videos (?)
And yes, I’m sorry to say that I do know whether or not Susan Dey and David Cassidy had an off-camera relationship. According to Cassidy (in a book he wrote ten years ago or so), Dey had a big crush on him and chased him until he let her catch him. He had sex with her a couple of times and dumped her because – get this – he prefered a sluttier type of girl, and Dey was too wholesome and nice for him. Quite a gentlemanly comment for him to make, both about Dey and about the other girls he was dating at the time.
The one thing that always bothered me about Growin Pains was how Mike, the oldest child was a little flunky delinquent who snuck out of the house all the time, lied to his parents and treated his siblings like shit. Carol Seaver, was a good kid, who got good grades and cared about her family and the few friends she had. Of course Mike is the favored child by the parents, gets the girls, has tons of friends and always gets his way. Carol is portrayed as the fat, four-eyed geek with no friends because she has the audacity to be intelligent and get good grades.
The dad, a psychiatrist, could not see at all the cruelty the family bestowed upon Carol.
What a nice family program.
[QUOTE=Rilchiam]
Likewise, I thought the characters on Mary Tyler Moore were too mean to Ted. Especially Murray. Ted was dumb, but it was hardly his fault that Murray was in a job he thought was beneath him. Why didn’t he find opportunities for himself, if he was so smart? And while Ted did think highly of himself, I don’t recall him treating others poorly. The worst thing Murray did, IMO, was at Ted and Georgette’s wedding. The 1970s were the heyday of write-your-own-vows, but because the ceremony took place at a moment’s notice, Ted had to ask Murray to supply vows for him. So Murray relayed the vows to him in a whisper, which Ted immediately repeated without processing: “…never make you regret…Having married…Such a cluck.” What an absolutely cock thing to do to someone at their wedding.
(There was one instance of the tables being turned, though. I forget the circumstances, but Sue Ann somehow got Murray to wear a wedding gown. Ted walked in to see this, and absolutely went to town on him. It was his one shot at some getback, and boy did he take advantage of it. Good for him!)
[/QUOTE]
Ted Knight got to be the tormentor on “Too Close for Comfort,” with way he treated Monroe (who apparently had no redeeming qualities whatsoever).
You want Creepy?
Roy Williams.
Mickey Mouse Club.
'Nuff said.
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer]
Since non-sitcoms seem to qualify, I’ll observe that it often seemed to me that domestic violence was a subtext (beneath the lesbian subtext, of course) on Xena–at least for the first half of the series. Gabrielle said more than once that she was afraid of Xena, and Xena more than once physically hurt her–usually only a tap, it’s true, but on at least one occasions she was clearly trying to call the bard.
[/QUOTE]
Huh? Examples?
[QUOTE=CaerieD]
I could not bring myself to enjoy Everybody Love’s Raymond because of how incredibly hateful and cruel that entire family was. Oh, no, wait. I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy it because it sucked.
[/QUOTE]
That’s the first one I thought of. I would sometimes watch it, if nothing else was on. But even if the episode was lighthearted, I would be wary of all the yelling. My husband once commented that I looked angry while watching it.
I always thought Cheers was a little unsettling. A bunch of losers spending all day in a bar, and necglecting their families, so they can bitch and moan, to a bunch of other losers.
The whole weird ‘Gilmore Girls’ thing. The two under-40 Loreleis: incest much?
[QUOTE=Count Blucher]
The whole weird ‘Gilmore Girls’ thing. The two under-40 Loreleis: incest much?
[/QUOTE]
Wait,… what? How do you mean? 
[QUOTE=Batsinma Belfry]
I always thought Cheers was a little unsettling. A bunch of losers spending all day in a bar, and necglecting their families, so they can bitch and moan, to a bunch of other losers.
[/QUOTE]
I’m going to stand up for Cheers:
Sam / Coach / Woody / Diane / Carla / Rebecca: All work at the bar, so of course they’ll be there.
Cliff: Lives with Mom, no other social life.
Frasier: Introduced to bar by Diane, finds other loser friends to commiserate with. Frequents bar with wife, Lilith. Has outside interests, boring though they may be. 
Norm: You got me there.
Most aren’t neglecting family. And while I know it is an exaggeration, they all go after work, and Cheers seems to close with the restaurant, so maybe 11-12.
So, while you have likable losers for the most part, I don’t get “creepy, offensive, or unsettling”.
[QUOTE=OBJECTION!!]
Is there a name for when characters are suddenly played by a different actor? The instance I’m referring to is when they changed actors for Vivian in Fresh Prince.
[/QUOTE]
I’ve always called it “regenerating.”
As in, “She looks different, Did she regenerate at the end of last season?” “No, she just cut her hair.”
[QUOTE=Batsinma Belfry]
I always thought Cheers was a little unsettling. A bunch of losers spending all day in a bar, and necglecting their families, so they can bitch and moan, to a bunch of other losers.
[/QUOTE]
They were only there on Thursdays. I never saw them in there on any other night.
[QUOTE=Batsinma Belfry]
That’s the first one I thought of. I would sometimes watch it, if nothing else was on. But even if the episode was lighthearted, I would be wary of all the yelling. My husband once commented that I looked angry while watching it.
I always thought Cheers was a little unsettling. A bunch of losers spending all day in a bar, and necglecting their families, so they can bitch and moan, to a bunch of other losers.
[/QUOTE]
See, this is the thing that gets me about Everybody Loves Raymond, the way it seems to polarize the opinions of those who watch it (at least on the SDMB). My family LOVES the show, partly because in many ways it reminds us of our family, only much much MUCH worse, with negative traits exaggerated to the point of comical caricature.. Kinda like how Jewish people don’t take horrible offense at “The Hebrew Hammer” (well, many don’t, I’m sure some do, but your matzos may vary), or how doctors presumably can laugh at Scrubs.
[QUOTE=Priceguy]
Huh? Examples?
[/QUOTE]
There’s an early first season episode, “The Reckoning,” where Xena is on trial for murder, and during a frenzied fight with her jailers, Xena winds up smacking Gabrielle. Despite this, Gabby sticks by Xena through her acquittal, and stays with her on subsequent adventures where, every so often, Xena winds up laying one on her for one reason or another (including outright attacks during their famous “Rift” episodes). The abusive subtext was there through much of the series.
The interesting thing is, the producers, writers and actors knew it. There was one episode that ended with Lucy Lawless doing a PSA about domestic violence and encouraging abused women to get help. I remember it seeming a little out of context at the time, but I guess those in the show started to get a little queasy about what they were producing; the PSA was an act of penance, so to speak.
[QUOTE=Not A Tame Lion]
The interesting thing is, the producers, writers and actors knew it. There was one episode that ended with Lucy Lawless doing a PSA about domestic violence and encouraging abused women to get help. I remember it seeming a little out of context at the time, but I guess those in the show started to get a little queasy about what they were producing; the PSA was an act of penance, so to speak.
[/QUOTE]
That reminds me, you ever watch a sitcom called Dinosaurs? One episode had them eating a plant that made them all really happy and goofy (basically they got stoned), and at the end, they realized the error of their ways and destroyed the plant. Then the son, Robby, did a PSA about how there is a spreading epidemic of family sitcoms doing PSAs, and how when one show does it, other shows feel the need to do it to. Basically, the PSA was asking viewers to put a stop to PSAs in sitcoms.
Oh, and I have yet to see the episode, but I understand the ending of the show was a real downer:
A catastrophe of some sort is made worse by various mismanaged and poorly inspired Wesayso attempts to fix the problem, and the show ends with the entire planet going into an ice age, the obvious implication being that all of the characters freeze and/or starve to death.
[QUOTE=Zebra]
The love/hate relationship with Skippy or Steve Urkel really bothered me too. How bad must their lives be at their never seen home if they constantly show up at the neighbors for abuse.
[/QUOTE]
Well in defense of Faimly Matters Urkel almost never showed up at the Winslows house with out destroying something by the end of the day. It wasn’t so much he showed up to be abused, it was he went there becasue they put up with his shit. I remember some episode where Karl was getting pissed becasue Steve had driven his insurance rates through the ceiling.
I personaly would have shot the bastard when he drove the car through the garage door. I mean, he is a cop after all.
[QUOTE=saoirse]
They were only there on Thursdays. I never saw them in there on any other night.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, but now they are there every freaking day!
They went to a bowling alley once, and were greeted with shouts of “NORM!” When asked, Norm replied to the effect of, “Well, I do have a life, you know!”
[QUOTE=silenus]
Yeah, but now they are there every freaking day!
[/QUOTE]
Well, their show got canceled, what else do you think they have to do now?
[QUOTE=The Chao Goes Mu]
The one thing that always bothered me about Growin Pains was how Mike, the oldest child was a little flunky delinquent who snuck out of the house all the time, lied to his parents and treated his siblings like shit. Carol Seaver, was a good kid, who got good grades and cared about her family and the few friends she had. Of course Mike is the favored child by the parents, gets the girls, has tons of friends and always gets his way. Carol is portrayed as the fat, four-eyed geek with no friends because she has the audacity to be intelligent and get good grades.
The dad, a psychiatrist, could not see at all the cruelty the family bestowed upon Carol.
What a nice family program.
[/QUOTE]
Moral: Creepy != unrealistic.