Occasionally subtlety worked. On Friends, one got the impression, but never confirmation, that Ross, Monica and Rachel all were the products of a Jewish-by-birth father, and a gentile mother, but Ross and Monica’s mother had converted to Judaism, while Rachel’s had not.
In both cases, the characters fathers were played by actors pretty well-known to be Jewish, and the mothers known not to be.
Rachel: referred to one grandmother as “Bobbe,” but also once explicitly told Phoebe she didn’t “have” Hanukkah in response to Phoebe’s holiday song.
Ross & Monica: their parents had a mezzuzah on their front door, and they gave each other Hanukkah presents, but they were not uncomfortable joining in a Christmas present exchange with the other friends. Chandler once told Monica the reason she can’t be a minister is that “You’re Jewish.” Ross, in one episode tried to get his son interested in Hanukkah, and he knows enough about it, that one suspects he went to Hebrew school.
Those were all really subtle things over a ten-year run, but they were also pretty clear.
I was still involved in Hillel when Friends was on, and “Who’s Jewish on Friends?” used to come up a lot.
Anyway, it’s not always just a matter of mentioning someone’s bar mitzvah once, then otherwise ignoring the person’s religious identity.
I imagine that if my understanding of the world came solely from TV and movies, I would think that only bad guys and old ladies were Christian and that all Christians are Catholic. Unless the old ladies are black. All black Christians on TV belong to a lively Protestant congregation with a sweaty Southern preacher and a hand-clapping choir that only sings “This Little Light of Mine” and “Oh Happy Day.”
And if it’s an all-black show, there will probably be at least one episode where at one of the characters is in the church choir and either can’t sing (Raejanne from “Living Single”) or they are embroiled in some crazy competition (Carlton and Ashley on “The Fresh Prince” and Nicki and Kim on “The Parkers”).
How’s this as a generalization: ordinary middle of the road whitebread protestant denominations are rarely seen in US television. If someone is religious, it is usually in some reasonably exotic or minority way, portrayed with identifying stereotypes, so as to add “authenticity” or distinction to a character.
In contrast, judging by UK TV, the local vicar is a major social character - there are whole shows devoted to such people, from comedy (“The Vicar of Dibley”) to solving crimes as a detective (“Father Brown”). Watching TV, one would think that religion, or religious institutions, played a major social role in the UK but not in the US - while the exact opposite is true, from what I understand.
You know, though, there was a TV show in the US where the main character was a minister. It was called 7th Heaven, and was about a minister and his family-- really, it focused more on the kids, and I think had a teenage demographic. I’ll admit I haven’t seen it that many times, but I did watch it more than you’d expect, because I had a client at the time who had a sister who watched it, no pun intended, religiously, reruns included, and he watched it with her sometimes. Anyway, I don’t think they ever gave a denomination for the minister, other than “Protestant.” The family was not terribly religious-- there was a lot more outward demonstration at my aunty and uncle’s, because we were shomer Shabbes and shomer kashrut. There was a short scene at church almost every episode, and the parents were very intrusive into the children’s lives when it came to preventing them from have sex, but aside from that, it was a pretty ordinary family show. It could have been an updated version of Father Knows Best, or My Three Sons.
*
The Vicar of Dibley* was hilarious. My (woman) rabbi had the whole series of DVD.
As usual, the expression “put two Jews in a room and you’ll get three opinions” is proven correct.
Not in my secular circles. Sabbath, baby. Sure, my grandmother said “Shabbos,” as did her children including my mom when speaking with her, but the rest of us usually used “Sabbath.” (FYI for gentiles–Ashkenazi Yiddish transliteration often substitutes “s” for “t” in common words, e.g. we say bas mitzvah vs. bat mitzvah) And this was in Great Neck, that most Jewy McJewowitz of Jewish Long Island enclaves. (Although I would imagine it’s the opposite now, since Sephardic Jews are now vastly more represented than we Ashkenazis since the big Iranian exodus in the 1980s. Generations before, Great Neck was full of 1st gen. Russian/Polish/German Jews who ‘moved on up from the (lower) East Side’ as well as Brooklyn and the Bronx to settle in suburbia.)
Anyhoo, if “Sabbath” is good enough for Tevye and Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, where they sing in Sabbath Prayer, “May God bless you and grant you long lives (May our Lord fulfill our Sabbath Prayer for you…)” it’s legit enough for me.
In short: OMG! Pockets of Jews in tiny enclaves say different things! Why do people have to make such absolutes? Jesus! (Or Moses! as the case may be. :D)
As far as the OP, I’m reminded of the scene in Gentleman’s Agreement where in a meeting with the goyishe newspaper, it’s the Jewish board member or editor who tries to convince the well-meaning publisher not to run with the “Anti-Semitism” story (not knowing it’s actually “I Was a Jew for Six Weeks” article). I believe the film’s producer, studio mogul Darryl F. Zanuck–often confused for a Jew because of his name, like Norman Jewison–received similar arguments from some of the Jewish studio owners for not producing Gentleman’s Agreement in the first place. “Let it lie there, don’t push our luck,” the board member/editor (can’t remember) tells the publisher. “We just want to be regular people, not causes.” This was, after all, not long post-WWII, and there was certainly feeling as in the nauseating post that started the trainwreck that the Jews had pushed/caused WWII.
So in some cases, at least historically even when there were more Jewish producers/studio owners, they preferred to play down so-called Jewish causes, rather than highlight them.
An addendum: even in the same neighborhood and general background, people differed. My BFF growing up had parents who grew up in the Bronx, and they always said “Shabbat.” My Brooklyn parents were egalitarian and said both “good Shabbas” and “Sabbath.” Even in Fiddler on the Roof, I’m pretty sure (at least in the film) while the song lyrics and title say “Sabbath Prayer,” Golde (or Yente) says “good Shabbas!” at some point to Yente (or Golde).
