In this thread, think of any value for X, and name the first TV show you can think of that portrayed it.
For example, the first TV show to portray a toilet (depending on how broadly you want to define “toilet,”) was Leave it to Beaver.
The first TV show to portray an inter-racial kiss was [IIRC] Star Trek (TOS).
You can substitute X with anything you want, no matter how important (the first gay kiss; the first suicide) or ridiculous (the first character to get slapped upside the head with a kielbasa).
I’ll start: The first TV show to portray Jews (in a sitcom) was The Goldbergs (the 50’s version, not the current one).
I don’t think this is true. The episode of The Twilight Zone about the hillbilly who doesn’t realize he’s dead has the word hell in it. For all I know, there are earlier examples.
Well Barney Miller had a recurring character from the first season to final episode that was openly gay. Marty. But he was not a cast regular. He had 8 appearances over the run of the show. So that takes us back to 1975. SOAP went on in 1977.
Wasn’t Gene Roddenberry’s Genesis II the first show to feature a woman’s navel? In this case, Mariette Hartley’s, who actually played a mutant with two navels because she had a double circulatory system. It was Roddenberry’s way of getting back at the censors for all the times they had to cut out shots of navels in ST: TOS (though G II aired on CBS, not NBC).
These might not be the earliest references, but these set the bar:
‘Star Trek’ (TOS) might be the first mention of a black hole, in this ep called a ‘black star’ (‘Tomorrow Is Yesterday’).
‘Babylon 5’ might be the first mention of a ‘gravity well’ (‘Messages from Earth).’
‘Outer Limits’ might be the first mention of a ‘gofer’ (‘Second Chance’)
Also, ‘Outer Limits’ might be the appearance of the term ‘DNA’ (‘Wolf 359’).
I want to say it’s the first interracial kiss between a Caucasian and African (American) on a fictional series. There were kisses between Caucasian and Asian before this and Sammy Davis Jr. kissed Nancy Sinatra on the air shortly before this as well.
All that being said, the kiss between Kirk and Uhura is still a pretty important moment in network TV and evidently Shatner and Nichols conspired to ruin some of the “safer” takes just to make sure the kiss made the final cut.
