# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/41 "2007-12-03T17:12:59Z")
[QUOTE=muldoonthief] Another one from “The Jeffersons” - when George got stabbed by the girls gang, and the episode ended with him lying in an alley bleeding. And while Edith almost getting raped was definitely shocking, her shoving a bubbling hot casserole in the rapist’s face was the most awesome moment in sitcom history. [/QUOTE] Every All in the Family moment I thought of has already been mentioned. That show was just so high quality that nothing has really matched it. Not my favorite sitcom, but in a way the best written and acted. [That moment with Edith and David Dukes](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0509855/) was stunning, I suspect the “hot dish from the oven” into David Dukes face probably got a bigger cheer around the country then even the Classic Clap for Tinkerbelle ever did. I saw an interview with [David Dukes](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0241232/) about 10 years ago where he said, he was still remembered for that role and got shocked reactions when people recognized. He had kindly old ladies tell him that it was hard not to hate him. Archie and Meat Head got trapped in the basement of the Bar and they proceeded to get drunk and while wrapped for warmth in a bird dropping covered awning, Archie reveals what a shitty relationship he actually had with his Dad, accept Archie does not seem to realize it was shitty, but we see Mike having an epiphany about why Archie is Archie. Not quite shocking, but a stunning episode. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/42 "2007-12-03T17:14:02Z")
When Mr. Firley overheard an innocent conversation and misconstrued it as sexual. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/43 "2007-12-03T17:14:11Z")
Good Times had some terrible moments. I still remember Kim Fields playing Janet Jackson’s biological mom who was abusive, unplugging the hot steam iron with the intention of using it to burn her. And JJ’s fiancee running into Thelma’s room away from the fighting families and beginning to tie off to shoot up. ---
**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, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/44 "2007-12-03T17:18:48Z")
[QUOTE=lisacurl] Good Times had some terrible moments. I still remember Kim Fields playing Janet Jackson’s biological mom who was abusive, unplugging the hot steam iron with the intention of using it to burn her. [/QUOTE] That was actually Chip Fields, Kim’s mom. Kim Fields is actually younger than Janet Jackson. However, I do believe Kim was on Good Times in some fashion for a little while. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/45 "2007-12-03T17:20:44Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] Wasn’t there an episode of _The Jeffersons_ when George finds out about Martin Luther King’s death? IIRC, he began rampaging through his shop? home? [/QUOTE] It’s unlikely it was King. He died 7 years before _The Jeffersons_ debuted. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/46 "2007-12-03T17:24:11Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] It’s unlikely it was King. He died 7 years before _The Jeffersons_ debuted. [/QUOTE] I vaguely remember an episode with some flashbacks to that day. I think \*\*ivylass \*\* might be correct. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/47 "2007-12-03T17:26:51Z")
Roseanne, the kiss with Mariel Hemingway. And just in general Roseanne, two working blue collar parents living like normal everyday people. That just wasn’t and still more often than not isn’t done on sitcoms. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/48 "2007-12-03T17:31:59Z")
I also remember a Jefferson episode where George ended up giving mouth to mouth resuscitation to a KKK leader, who’d had a heart attack or something. After learning how he’d been rescued, the KKK leader muttered, “You should have let me die.” ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/49 "2007-12-03T17:32:31Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] I saw an interview with [David Dukes](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0241232/) about 10 years ago where he said, he was still remembered for that role and got shocked reactions when people recognized. He had kindly old ladies tell him that it was hard not to hate him. [/QUOTE] OK. So it wasn’t [David Duke.](http://www.davidduke.com/) Man, my head was spinning! ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/50 "2007-12-03T17:37:26Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] I also remember a Jefferson episode where George ended up giving mouth to mouth resuscitation to a KKK leader, who’d had a heart attack or something. After learning how he’d been rescued, the KKK leader muttered, “You should have let me die.” [/QUOTE] Jefferson’s were reminiscing about when they opened their first store. Yes, there was a ‘ **they shot MLK!** ’ episode for the Jeffersons. What tragic event happened the day George opened his first store? Movin’ On Up With “The Jeffersons” Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. George and Louise were recollecting April 4, 1968. George came home early from work announcing he was opening his first store. A white banker came to visit him and approve the loan. When George, Louise and Lionel went to the store George rented, a rioter broke the window announcing that King was killed. The next day, the banker came back with the loan. He did, however, tell George we would give it to him only if George rents another store in a better neighborhood. The banker didn’t approve of the Harlem store because he believed the rioters behaved like animals. George turned down the loan and threw the banker out. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/51 "2007-12-03T18:16:38Z")
The episode of “King of the Hill” when Peggy’s parachute failed to open shocked me. I kept thinking, “It’s a sitcom, it’s a comedy, it’s going to open at the last second and she’ll be fine,” and then WHAM, she hit the ground. IIRC, that was a season-ending episode as well, so we had to wait a few months to find out what happened. (She was in a full-body cast for a while.) ---
**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, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/52 "2007-12-03T18:19:40Z")
Seinfeld episode where Elaine is trying to get her boyfriend to change his name because he shares it (“Joel Rifkin”) with a notorious serial killer. She’s looking through a football program. “What about Dion? A lot of these guys are named Dion. Oh, _O.J._.” The episode aired before OJ’s trial, but in reruns it’s shocking! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/53 "2007-12-03T18:20:39Z")
[QUOTE=kunilou] Not to diminish the shock factor of the episode by picking nits, but I thought it was a roast that Edith flung into the rapist’s face. [/QUOTE] Nah, that’s OK. I like to pick nits, too. It was a cake. Edith was baking it for her 50th birthday and was going to take it next door where Archie, Mike, and Gloria were waiting to throw her a party. TV Land aired the episode about two or three weeks ago. ---
**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, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/54 "2007-12-03T18:40:58Z")
**WKRP** “There’s a monkey on my foot…ahhhh” tsfr ---
**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/55 "2007-12-03T18:46:35Z")
[QUOTE=Gangster Octopus] There was the episode of _South Park_ where they said “Shit” about 175 times. [/QUOTE] I didn’t find this that shocking because it was pretty well hyped up before the show aired. But I distinctly remember the underpants gnome episode was the first (and maybe only) time I heard the word “pussy” on tv. ``` GNOME Is that all you've got, pussy?! CARTMAN What?! STAN Hey, he talks! CARTMAN Yeah, he called me a pussy! I'm not a pussy, you're a pussy! GNOME You're a pussy, pussy! ``` I still smile everytime I see a travelocity commercial. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/56 "2007-12-03T18:49:25Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] OK. So it wasn’t [David Duke.](http://www.davidduke.com/) Man, my head was spinning! [/QUOTE] On preview, I realized, that my post was in desperate need of a link for just that reason. [QUOTE=ThisSpaceForRent] WKRP “There’s a monkey on my foot…ahhhh” [/QUOTE] That is one of my favorite series, I don’t get the reference. What episode? However, the Turkey drop the first time I saw it was shocking. It increased the laugh value a lot and of course made for the classic line, “As God is my witness, I thought Turkeys could fly.” Jim ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/57 "2007-12-03T18:57:35Z")
Not actually a sitcom, but I remember one of the Saturday Night Live news skits where, at the scene opening, a seated Chevy Chase is on the phone and said “no, you don’t blow on it…that’s just an expression”. Then, seeing they’re “on”, hangs up. This was the '70s…I really couldn’t (and still can’t) believe the censors would let him say something like that (or maybe that line wasn’t in the script?) ---
**Author:** ![neorxnawange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f4b2a3/32.png) [@neorxnawange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neorxnawange)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/58 "2007-12-03T19:02:55Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Lendervedder] Thinking back to ‘Arrested Development,’ there were many, many moments where I was thinking “Holy crap, did they just say that?” Like: Michael (to GOB): Get rid of the Seaward. _Lucille walks up_ Lucille: I’ll leave when I’m good and ready. Tobias: I’m afraid I just blue myself. Oscar: Maybe I’ll put it in her brownie! [/QUOTE] Every time Tobias opened his mouth he said something I couldn’t believe I was hearing on prime-time TV: \*“Well, yes, but I’m afraid I prematurely shot my wad on what was supposed to be a dry run, if you will, so now I’m afraid I have something of a mess on my hands.” “I’ll be your wingman. Even it means me taking a chubby, I will suck it up.” “Well, Michael, you really are quite the Cupid, aren’t you? I tell you, you can zing your arrow into my buttocks any time.” “No, no, no, no. I was scared too, but I realized it was of being a leading man. Oh, I can just taste those meaty leading man parts in my mouth.”\* ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/59 "2007-12-03T19:09:58Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] That is one of my favorite series, I don’t get the reference. What episode? [/quote] The station had hired a new DJ (“Doug Winner”, played by Philip Charles MacKenzie) who was overall a pretty sleazy character, accepting payola and using cocaine and such (the former supplying the money to support the latter). During one such scene, Carlson interrupts the new guy and Johnny (who by this time pretty much has the new guy pegged, though others are still fooled by his nice-guy facade) and Johnny claims the white substance is actually foot powder. Carlson blithely dumps it into his shoes, to Doug’s annoyance and Johnny’s (and the audience’s) amusement. Later on, when the truth about the new guy comes out, Carlson freaks. “I have a monkey on my foot!” Then he takes off his shoe and begins slapping his foot, as though it had fallen asleep. I dunno about shocking; I just thought it was hilarious. The episode was titled _Johnny Comes Back_ (Doug having been hired to replace Johnny during a time the latter was exploring job oportunities in L.A.) and it’s from the first season. My recollection of the plot may not be exact. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624/60 "2007-12-03T19:21:57Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Lendervedder] Thinking back to ‘Arrested Development,’ there were many, many moments where I was thinking “Holy crap, did they just say that?” [/QUOTE] How about: Lindsay Funke: We’re super rich again, Mikey! And I’m going to buy a car. A Volvo! Michael: Lindsay, you’re not going to start spending money again. [she hands him a picture] Michael: And this is not a Volvo… Lindsay Funke: Oh, that’s from sitting on the copier. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-moments-in-sitcom-history/428624.md?page=4)