[QUOTE=TV time]
Three’s Company - Using blatent homosexual cliches to cheat an elderly landloard may not be as bad as the ones mentioned above, but still…
[/QUOTE]
What was the deal with this, exactly? Roper & Ferley just did not want boy/girl roomates in their building, or was it not allowed by the laws of the building? Was this legal, even in the 1970’s? Was it common? Or was it just a made up premise?
“The Honeymooners”: Ah, for the halcyon days when the threat of domestic violence was uproarious. How Political Correctness has deprived us of such humor.
“I Love Lucy”: For Og’s sake, why? The woman is dumber than a concrete trampoline and causes endless problems. I think he needs to swap off with Jackie Gleason until Lucy learns to get her act together. “One of these days…to the moon, Lucy!”
“Gilligan’s Island”: How is it that nobody on the island realizes that the Professor (note that he’s the only one with a private hut) is keeping them there for some unstated neferious purpose by always coming up with some brilliant plan for escape and then putting the unwitting eponymous charcacter in a lynchpin role where he causes the plan to fail. These people are too stupid to live.
“My Three Sons”: First of all, it stars Fred MacMurray, who is a legenendary creep. (See Double Indemnity, The Apartment, et cetera.) Second, it starts out in some Chicago suburb with the apparently recently widowed pere Douglas , “Bub” (who I believe was the uncle of the deceased) and the titular three sons. As the series progressed, characters continued to disappear suddenly, often with little warning, and usually never to be referred to again, starting with “Bub” (perhaps getting suspicious as to the death of his relative) who was quickly replaced with “Uncle Charlie”, and going through the rest of the lineup, resulting in a final cast with only the youngest and dumbest of the orginal three sons, plus a neighbor boy “adopted” (read: kidnapped) just prior to the Douglas family exodus to suburban North Hollywood, and the acquistion of various female members of the [del]cult[/del]family prior to the show’s finale. More creepy than Alfred Hitchcock in ladies undergarmets.
“I Dream Of Jeannie”: The sadomasichistic undercurrent of the show is a clear subtext, but Maj. Healey’s infatuation with his best friend’s wife was pretty risque, even if (despite not being able to show her belly button) she did live, unmarried, with a NASA astronaut. And being able to stuff your girlfriend/wife/sex slave does have a lot of anti-feminist undercurrents; I don’t see why Gloria Steinem wasn’t protesting this show more vigorously than a Playmate Pillowfight camera shoot.
“Bewitched”: Seriously, did Samantha totally not notice that they switched out her regular husband with Folger’s Crystals? I know she’s a “witch” and all (she did manage to conceal her coke use but the post-snort twitching nose was a dead giveaway) but still you would have think she’d noticed the difference at some point. Then again, the new guy was a little less nervous than the old one, and they were otherwise pretty interchangable so maybe she figured that it was best not to rock the boat as long as hubby keeps bringing home money for nose candy.
“Head Of The Class”: Elizabeth Berkeley was so desperate to distance herself from this show that she starred in Showgirls. What does that tell you about it?
“Saved By The Bell”: Like “Head Of The Class” for the remedial set. Plus, various incarnations of it were on continuously on some channel from 1989 through 1997, prompting Bill Clinton to issue his infamous “Executive Order #39762” resulting in a secret joint CIA/Mossad/FSB operation to destroy every existing tape and execute the original cast members who were then buried in a mass grave outside of Kosovo.
“Friends”: a bunch of pasty white folk living way above their means in one of the most ethnically diverse and expensive cities on the planet. And as the series progressed two of the female leads became progressively more anorexic while the males became more bloated, giving a sort of hybrid Romero zombie film look, and everybody sleeps with everybody else. I mean, I guess if you’re making seven figures an episode you’ll probably be willing to portray a pedarist cannibal if they ask you, but seriously, creepy beyond belief.
There is more, but I have not the time. Check your local t.v. listings for the next creepfest.
Stranger
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
Wife abuse? We’re looking for stuff that’s creepy, offensive or unsettling.
[/QUOTE]
Aw, you’re right. My mistake – the studio audience certainly lapped it up. Carry on.
[QUOTE=TV time]
Three’s Company - Using blatent homosexual cliches to cheat an elderly landloard may not be as bad as the ones mentioned above, but still…
[/QUOTE]
What was the deal with this, exactly? Roper & Ferley just did not want boy/girl roomates in their building, or was it not allowed by the laws of the building? Was this legal, even in the 1970’s? Was it common? Or was it just a made up premise?
[QUOTE=Spiral Stairs]
I always thought the married couple on Mad About You hid severe insecurity and marital instability behind a relentless and utterly impenetrable wall of sarcasm and irony. Why anyone would want to live with, or spend five minutes with, either of them always escaped me.
[/QUOTE]
Helen Hunt was pretty cute back before they stuffed her in a bamboo cage and gave her nothing but a glass of water and a rice ball a day. (This is, of course, after her post-Trancers dental work.) However, having to pretend to be married to a self-effacing, passive-agressive “nice guy” for the better part of a decade is enough to turn any character into a hateful, sniping harridan. I bet she spent a significant portion of her off-camera time watching Reiser’s death scene in Aliens over and over again, imagining herself in the Sigourney Weaver role.
Stranger
Bnanza: Who was killing off every Cartwright wife?
Okay, well, all of All in the Family. “Here’s this guy – he’s a racist, sexist bigot! Har, har!”
What about the mom, Claire Huxtable on The Cosby Show? I still can’t quite articulate what creeps me out about her. She’s mean, she’s angry, she’s manipulative. You’re not good enough for her. Everything has to be on her terms.
Maybe it’s 'cause she’s an attorney?
[QUOTE=a35362]
Okay, well, all of All in the Family. “Here’s this guy – he’s a racist, sexist bigot! Har, har!”
What about the mom, Claire Huxtable on The Cosby Show? I still can’t quite articulate what creeps me out about her. She’s mean, she’s angry, she’s manipulative. You’re not good enough for her. Everything has to be on her terms.
[/QUOTE]
So she’s Sherry Palmer to Bill Cosby’s David? I mean, somebody has to take charge of the family, and all Cosby is doing is sitting around in eye-burning sweaters eating Jello pudding and making stupid faces at his increasingly dissociated children.
“All In The Family” was creepy just for the upholstery and wallpaper alone. I think they used the same set for Buffalo Bill’s house in The Silence Of The Lambs. Then there’s Sally Struthers, who is a whole boatload of creepy onto herself; witness The Getaway.
Stranger
[QUOTE=Autumn Almanac]
Ihe best example I can name was actually from a movie-- the terrible modern remake of Cheaper by the Dozen. The viewer is supposed to root for the kids even though they act like insufferable assholes. And the parents are the villains because they won’t cede all decision-making authority to their kids.
[/QUOTE]
That really bothered me, and I’m 24. My uncle, who is in his 50s and has two kids, didn’t mind. I thought that was weird.
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train]
“Head Of The Class”: Elizabeth Berkeley was so desperate to distance herself from this show that she starred in Showgirls. What does that tell you about it?
“Saved By The Bell”: Like “Head Of The Class” for the remedial set. Plus, various incarnations of it were on continuously on some channel from 1989 through 1997, prompting Bill Clinton to issue his infamous “Executive Order #39762” resulting in a secret joint CIA/Mossad/FSB operation to destroy every existing tape and execute the original cast members who were then buried in a mass grave outside of Kosovo.
Stranger
[/QUOTE]
Actually, Elizabeth Berkley was on “Saved By the Bell,” not “Head of the Class.”
Slightly breaking the rules of the OP, but I think it could fit. How about the attempted rape prevalent in a lot of old cartoons, and even current children’s entertainment? For example, Pete in old Mickey mouse cartoons, always kidnapping Minnie for Mickey to save. This isn’t even something you have to force, or have a twisted mind for - it’s pretty clear that his intentions were to rape Minnie (or why else is he kidnapping her?). The same goes for Bowser and Princess Toadstool (I mean…sigh…Peach).
Not a sitcom, but the homoerotic play between Clark & Lex in Smallville is just weird.
[QUOTE=pizzabrat]
Slightly breaking the rules of the OP, but I think it could fit. How about the attempted rape prevalent in a lot of old cartoons, and even current children’s entertainment?
[/QUOTE]
Well hell, what about Pepe Le Pew. A whole series of cartoons about rape. Ha ha ha. Even when I was a kid I got the subtext and it creeped me out.
And the whole Popeye, Olive Oyl, and Bluto triangle. Gross.
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train]
…“Bewitched”: Seriously, did Samantha totally not notice that they switched out her regular husband with Folger’s Crystals? I know she’s a “witch” and all (she did manage to conceal her coke use but the post-snort twitching nose was a dead giveaway) but still you would have think she’d noticed the difference at some point. Then again, the new guy was a little less nervous than the old one, and they were otherwise pretty interchangable so maybe she figured that it was best not to rock the boat as long as hubby keeps bringing home money for nose candy…
[/QUOTE]
I find it creepy that Darrin effectively hated everything about his wife’s culture and heritage and insisted she reject it. And Sam went along with it! Even when her witchcraft saved the day! Make Samantha Jewish or black instead of a witch and the show would be incredibely racist even by 60s standards.
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas]
Not a sitcom, but the homoerotic play between Clark & Lex in Smallville is just weird.
[/QUOTE]
Not half as weird as the episode where Clark discovered his heat vision. It was triggered when he was having lusty daydreams about the hawt new Kryptofreak teacher-babe.
The implication being: Clark thinking about sex = burning hot death spews from his eyes.
Later in the episode, Pa Kent helps Clark practice his heat vision, by setting up straw dummies for him to spew hot death at. How Pa Kent accomplished this, they didn’t go into, but I was imagining it involved a quick trip to the Smallville dirty bookstore on Pa’s part.
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas]
Grace seems to be the only woman (or possibly person) who can stand Will.
[/QUOTE]
Whaddaya mean? It has to be the other way around. Will is cool. Grace is the annoying one.
But to get back to sitcoms, I disagree about Seinfeld. It’s not creepy. The unlikablity is not subtext. It’s right up front. It’s creepy on Everybody Loves Raymond or Friends. Where there is some pretense that these are nice people. These are not nice people.
And I disagree about the Honeymooners. You can’t really take that line seriously. You know he would never hit her and if he did she’d send him to the moon before packing up and leaving. It’s just marital venting. On the other hand I Love Lucy is creepy. She acts like a child, he treats her like a child. That’s a creepy marriage.
[QUOTE=gigi]
Seinfeld is generally lighthearted but in essence the characters aren’t considered particularly nice people. They tend to be self-centered and not empathetic.
[/QUOTE]
Wasn’t this addressed in the final episode and they all went to prison because of it?
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
Whaddaya mean? It has to be the other way around. Will is cool. Grace is the annoying one.
[/QUOTE]
I find them both annoying and smary as hell. I only watched the show for Karen and Jack. Now that was a cool relationship.