# Shocking moments in sitcom history **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 3, 2007, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624 "2007-12-03T04:49:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/1 "2007-12-03T04:49:05Z")
So I’m sitting here tonight, with TVLand playing in the background while I’m doing some work. I’m half-listening to “The Jeffersons,” and George is giving Lionel something (a watch, maybe). Well I tuned out briefly, only to be brought back in by Weezy exclaiming “N!gger, please!” Wow! Wasn’t expecting that! Especially from Louise. Shocking moment #1. Another sitcom moment (shocking moment #2) that always gets me is Carrol O’Connor’s raw emotion in the ‘All in the Family’ Christmas episode [“The Draft Dodger,”](http://www.tv.com/all-in-the-family/the-draft-dodger/episode/38256/summary.html) when Archie starts yelling about the “rotten [goddamn] war” in Vietnam. Whenever I see that scene, I always feel really uncomfortable and I don’t know why. Is there anything in mild ol’ sitcom land that’s gotten you to sit up and take notice over the years? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/2 "2007-12-03T04:57:57Z")
When Maude Findlay had an (illegal) abortion, my jaw dropped a mile or two. Somehow real life had suddenly broken through into the sitcom continuum. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/3 "2007-12-03T05:15:10Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] When Maude Findlay had an (illegal) abortion, my jaw dropped a mile or two. Somehow real life had suddenly broken through into the sitcom continuum. [/QUOTE] It’s been years since I’ve seen the episode but I thought abortion was legal in the state where Maude lived. (Incidentally, for those of you who’ve never seen the episode, it aired aired before the _Roe v. Wade_ decision when the legality of abortion was still up to the individual states.) ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/4 "2007-12-03T05:26:10Z")
[QUOTE=NDP] It’s been years since I’ve seen the episode but I thought abortion was legal in the state where Maude lived. (Incidentally, for those of you who’ve never seen the episode, it aired aired before the _Roe v. Wade_ decision when the legality of abortion was still up to the individual states.) [/QUOTE] You’re right. Abortion was legal in New York at that time. :smack: Nevertheless, a sitcom character undergoing an abortion (even a legal one) was quite an eye-opener in 1972. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/5 "2007-12-03T07:47:42Z")
David Dukes attempting to rape Edith Bunker on her 50th birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/6 "2007-12-03T07:52:48Z")
I find it interesting that so far we have two episodes of All In the Family, and an episode each from two different AItF spinoffs… ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/7 "2007-12-03T08:06:40Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] When Maude Findlay had an (illegal) abortion, my jaw dropped a mile or two. Somehow real life had suddenly broken through into the sitcom continuum. [/QUOTE] I think it’s more shocking that we were led to believe that Maude had sex. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/8 "2007-12-03T08:10:58Z")
I’m not sure what kind of ‘shocking’ you’re looking for, but I remember being fairly stunned when Radar came into the OR to announce that Henry Blake’s plane had been shot down and he was dead. I’m not sure if it was the first time that a major character in a sitcom was killed off like that, but Henry was a beloved character. That was also the moment that, for me, MASH jumped the shark. It was the final episode of the season, and when the next one started Trapper John was also gone, and we started the BJ Hunnicutt/emotional Hawkeye era. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/9 "2007-12-03T08:42:59Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] … but I remember being fairly stunned when Radar came into the OR to announce that Henry Blake’s plane had been shot down and he was dead. . [/QUOTE] Hey… **Sam Stone** you popped my last balloon 😉 Thats what I came in here to say… tsfr ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/10 "2007-12-03T13:04:55Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Lendervedder] Another sitcom moment (shocking moment #2) that always gets me is Carrol O’Connor’s raw emotion in the ‘All in the Family’ Christmas episode [“The Draft Dodger,”](http://www.tv.com/all-in-the-family/the-draft-dodger/episode/38256/summary.html) when Archie starts yelling about the “rotten [goddamn] war” in Vietnam. Whenever I see that scene, I always feel really uncomfortable and I don’t know why. [/QUOTE] I saw the title and my first thought was Sammy Davis Jr kissing Archie Bunker. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/11 "2007-12-03T13:15:17Z")
The Gordon Jump pedophile episode of _Diff’rent Strokes_ shocked me, at the time. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/12 "2007-12-03T13:21:12Z")
That one epsode where the castaways almost got rescued but Gilligan messed it up. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/13 "2007-12-03T13:22:19Z")
Bobby being in the shower. What? _Dallas_ wasn’t a sitcom? But it was hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/14 "2007-12-03T13:35:31Z")
Archie’s scene reacting to Edith’s death on All in the Family. The scene on Good Times where the mother (Florida?) learns of her husband’s death (via telegram??? Would they really do that?) ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/15 "2007-12-03T13:37:41Z")
Look no further than that tempest known as the Brady Bunch: When, despite their parents’ efforts to teach them _not_ to play ball in the house, the Brady kids ignored that advice, and the ball hit Marcia flat on the nose, over and over and over and over… And who can forget the shocking moment in Brady Bunch history when, while defending a law suit against a malingering claimant, Mike Brady dropped the briefcase, causing the “drop heard round the world”? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/16 "2007-12-03T13:38:21Z")
Newhart. Suzanne Pleshett. Need I say more? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/17 "2007-12-03T13:54:30Z")
Obligatory _Blackadder Goes Forth_ reference. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/18 "2007-12-03T14:06:48Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] Archie’s scene reacting to Edith’s death on All in the Family. The scene on Good Times where the mother (Florida?) learns of her husband’s death (via telegram??? Would they really do that?) [/QUOTE] I was shocked a bit ('cause I was watching this when I was, like, 9) when JJ married some girl that was a junkie. They elope and (if my memory serves right) after JJ argues that she wasn’t a junkie, the episode ended with JJ discovering that she had left the hotel room that they’ve rented, via the window. It was even more shocking because my nine year-old brain assumed that she had killed herself by jumping out the window. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/19 "2007-12-03T14:28:57Z")
[QUOTE=JohnT] I was shocked a bit ('cause I was watching this when I was, like, 9) when JJ married some girl that was a junkie. They elope and (if my memory serves right) after JJ argues that she wasn’t a junkie, the episode ended with JJ discovering that she had left the hotel room that they’ve rented, via the window. It was even more shocking because my nine year-old brain assumed that she had killed herself by jumping out the window. :eek: [/QUOTE] Dyn-o-mite! ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/20 "2007-12-03T14:34:31Z")
[QUOTE=phungi] Look no further than that tempest known as the Brady Bunch: When, despite their parents’ efforts to teach them _not_ to play ball in the house, the Brady kids ignored that advice, and the ball hit Marcia flat on the nose, over and over and over and over… [/QUOTE] Minor quibble … Marcia was hit in the nose as she was walking into the backyard through the open sliding-glass door. She wasn’t in the house. The catastrophe that occurred as a result of playing ball in the house was the lamp breaking. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624.md?page=2)