Wow, I’m an inspiration!
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.
You’re the wind beneath my wings.
But not enough to fly.
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.
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”, 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 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”.
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:
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.
I’ll second that :smack:.
Wait-- engineering school makes you mean and ugly? Does it do that to men too, or just women?
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.
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.
Where are the bears when you need them?
(Uh, that’s not a gay joke.)
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.
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 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.
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.
Wasn’t there an episode of I Love Lucy where Ricky spanked Lucy?
What kind of engineer did he think she wanted to be? a train engineer?
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.
A childless married woman without a job was probably more common than it is now, but definitely not unusual.