# Television episodes that wouldn’t fly today **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 20, 2017, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312 "2017-02-20T12:21:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/21 "2017-02-20T18:24:06Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Inspired by the “songs that wouldn’t fly today” thread . . . Wow, I’m an inspiration! ---
**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:** [February 20, 2017, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/22 "2017-02-20T18:24:17Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Then there’s the _Golden Girls_ episode in which Dorothy’s lesbian friend comes to visit, and when told, at first Blanche thinks she’s Lebanese. Even in the 80s, that kind of ignorance was a stretch. (But of course it becomes pure comedy when Blanche is insulted because the friend has a crush on Rose, and not her.) > > And when Blanche’s brother announces he’s gay, super-hip Blanche has a hard time accepting it. In another episode, when he announces he’s marrying his partner, the audience roars with laughter at such a ridiculous idea. Blanche: “Well, aren’t there gay people who like WOMEN?” Sophia: “Yes, Blanche. They’re called lesbians.” ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/23 "2017-02-20T18:28:59Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Blanche: “Well, aren’t there gay people who like WOMEN?” > > Sophia: “Yes, Blanche. They’re called lesbians.” "Some people like men, some people like women. Some people like dogs and some people like cats, and frankly I’d rather have a lesbian in the house than a cat-person." Truer words were never spoken. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/24 "2017-02-20T18:37:03Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > Wow, I’m an inspiration! You’re the wind beneath my wings. But not enough to fly. ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/25 "2017-02-20T18:38:25Z")
There was an episode of _Love Boat_ that I didn’t think worked that well even when it aired. A woman on the cruise is seeking revenge on a man. Former boyfriend, I guess, but don’t remember. Anyway, they end up in one of their cabins, and the man is in the bathroom or other room changing, and they are conversing. The woman mentions how she just loves a bald head. The guy comes out without his hairpiece (bad-looking bald cap on the actor) and exclaims that he’s a bald guy. The woman had it set up so others would come to the room at the right time, and the guy made the big reveal not knowing there would be witnesses. The result was a shocked group as if this guy was some carnival freak. It was stupid then, and it would be even dumber now. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/26 "2017-02-20T18:47:14Z")
There was an episode of _The Dick Van Dyke Show_ where Rob thought the hospital had mixed up their baby with another couple’s child. He finally tracks down the other couple and invites them over to discuss the possibility. The punchline of the episode is when the couple arrive they’re black. Nothing really offensive about that but a writer probably couldn’t sell the idea today. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/27 "2017-02-20T19:06:59Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There was an episode of _The Dick Van Dyke Show_ where Rob thought the hospital had mixed up their baby with another couple’s child. He finally tracks down the other couple and invites them over to discuss the possibility. The punchline of the episode is when the couple arrive they’re black. > > Nothing really offensive about that but a writer probably couldn’t sell the idea today. A far worse episode from a modern viewpoint is [“The Bad Old Days”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4TKxQCKPrQ), where all the women on the show become subservient to their husbands. And although criticizing 50s shows for having dated gender roles is shooting fish in a barrel, [this “Father Knows Best” episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECJBxZOVLLY) is especially notable. Betty, a smart and beautiful teenager, is talked out of an engineering career so her husband “can come home to some nice pretty wife”. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/28 "2017-02-20T19:08:59Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > I would say that almost any 1970s or 1980s mention of homosexuality in an episode would not fly today. Even when the producers were trying for a sympathetic viewpoint, they tended to treat the subject with the usual stereotyping that we reject today. Case in point: Jodie Dallas of _Soap_. He goes through wanting a sex-change operation, then has a woman try to make him go straight, then agrees to a weekend with another woman (by whom he has a baby), etc. And most of the 70s and 80s programs that dealt with the subject consistently approach it from the viewpoint of the time: something was “wrong” with being homosexual, especially for a man. There was an episode of “Alice” where she sent her son on a weekend camping trip with several men, one of whom turned out to be gay, and when she found out, she asked her son if that particular man did anything to him. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/29 "2017-02-20T19:10:42Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There was an episode of _The Dick Van Dyke Show_ where Rob thought the hospital had mixed up their baby with another couple’s child. He finally tracks down the other couple and invites them over to discuss the possibility. The punchline of the episode is when the couple arrive they’re black. > > Nothing really offensive about that but a writer probably couldn’t sell the idea today. The audience roared with laughter, because no one saw it coming. Probably a lot of people would anticipate the joke now. That’s why it wouldn’t sell. There was a black couple in the hospital at the same time. \>YAWN\< But when it first aired, black people on TV for any reason were pretty unusual, so bringing on a black couple to be “The Peters,” people who have been omnipresent without being seen the whole episode, was daring, and that’s why it was so surprising. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/30 "2017-02-20T19:11:48Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > There was an episode of “Alice” where she sent her son on a weekend camping trip with several men, one of whom turned out to be gay, and when she found out, she asked her son if that particular man did anything to him. > > :smack: I’ll second that :smack:. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/31 "2017-02-20T19:14:09Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Betty, a smart and beautiful teenager, is talked out of an engineering career so her husband “can come home to some nice pretty wife”. Wait-- engineering school makes you mean and ugly? Does it do that to men too, or just women? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/32 "2017-02-20T19:16:12Z")
> [@Obeseus](#): > > There was an episode of _Love Boat_ that I didn’t think worked that well even when it aired. A lot of things on _The Love Boat_ didn’t work when it aired. Seriously, I don’t know how that show stayed on the air so long. 80s TV really was awful. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/33 "2017-02-20T19:35:22Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > There was an episode of “Alice” where she sent her son on a weekend camping trip with several men, one of whom turned out to be gay, and when she found out, she asked her son if that particular man did anything to him. > > :smack: Boys Beware! One of the things it’s going to be hard for future generations to really wrap their minds around was the degree to which male homosexuality and pedophilia were conflated in the popular imagination. Not that one lead to the other, but that there was no admitted distinction between them. > [@Obeseus](#): > > There was an episode of _Love Boat_ that I didn’t think worked that well even when it aired. A woman on the cruise is seeking revenge on a man. Former boyfriend, I guess, but don’t remember. Anyway, they end up in one of their cabins, and the man is in the bathroom or other room changing, and they are conversing. The woman mentions how she just loves a bald head. The guy comes out without his hairpiece (bad-looking bald cap on the actor) and exclaims that he’s a bald guy. The woman had it set up so others would come to the room at the right time, and the guy made the big reveal not knowing there would be witnesses. The result was a shocked group as if this guy was some carnival freak. It was stupid then, and it would be even dumber now. Where are the bears when you need them? (Uh, that’s _not_ a gay joke.) ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/34 "2017-02-20T19:39:30Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Wait-- engineering school makes you mean and ugly? Does it do that to men too, or just women? Well toward the end of the episode Betty’s date says engineering is for men because “if the nice pretty girls are in the dust and heat, who are the guys going to come home to?”. He also claims if pretty girls aren’t staying at home, men will have no incentive to do their hard work for the good of society. Yes, even by the standards of the day it’s very old fashioned. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/35 "2017-02-20T19:39:46Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Exactly, and women damned well did that in the early 1980s, too, so not far removed from “All In The Family”'s airdates: That’s how my parents lived when they were first married, as both of them were RNs but my dad went back to school to become a CRNA, and my mom supported him. > > So Gloria’s situation was old-fashioned even by the standards of her generation. I wouldn’t call it “old-fashioned”. It was an uncommon situation even in 1971, but not because Gloria didn’t have a job - that was not at all unusual in 1971. What was uncommon was that blue-collar Archie would be willing to support both of them- but I don’t think there was ever a time when that was common in general US society (although there may be subcultures where it is) ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/36 "2017-02-20T19:54:17Z")
A couple of mentions of WKRP made me think of a particular episode that would at least draw ire nowadays: The ep. has Andy, Mr. Carlson, and Herb going out of town to make a presentation to a prospective client (someone who they want to buy ad time on the station). While at the hotel, Herb encounters a woman who clearly recognizes him – even though he can’t seem to place her. Later in the ep., Herb is making out with the woman - who reveals that (in her words): “I used to be a man!” and then it dawns on Herb that this was an old classmate of his whom he knew as a ‘boy.’ I am fairly certain that a lot of transgender activists would take exception to the depiction, because 1) the character’s line about “used to be a man” (transgender people assert that they’ve always known they were the ‘opposite’ sex and don’t see it as “used to be a man”) and, more importantly, 2) it perpetuates the nasty stereotype that transgenders are always out to ‘fool’ people – that they hide their “true nature” until after they’ve had sex in order to get one over on the ‘normal’ people. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/37 "2017-02-20T20:00:30Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > As God as my witness, I thought it would. As God is my witness, a turkey flew into my radiator and caused $1200 worth of damage the other day. So yes, turkeys can fly, but I’m not sure about God. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/38 "2017-02-20T20:58:27Z")
Wasn’t there an episode of _I Love Lucy_ where Ricky spanked Lucy? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/39 "2017-02-20T21:38:27Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Well toward the end of the episode Betty’s date says engineering is for men because “if the nice pretty girls are in the dust and heat, who are the guys going to come home to?” What kind of engineer did he think she wanted to be? a train engineer? > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Wasn’t there an episode of _I Love Lucy_ where Ricky spanked Lucy? Speaking of trains, Sheldon spanked Amy a couple of seasons ago, but the dynamics were totally different, and it turned out Amy liked it. A lot. And apparently the harder the better. _That_ would not have flown on _I Love Lucy_. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312/40 "2017-02-20T23:35:39Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I wouldn’t call it “old-fashioned”. It was an uncommon situation even in 1971, but not because Gloria didn’t have a job - that was not at all unusual in 1971. What was uncommon was that blue-collar Archie would be willing to support both of them- but I don’t think there was ever a time when that was common in general US society (although there may be subcultures where it is) A childless married woman without a job was probably more common than it is now, but definitely not unusual. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-episodes-that-wouldn-t-fly-today/780312.md?page=3)