# The First TV Show to Portray X: **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 9, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909 "2013-12-09T17:40:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/1 "2013-12-09T17:40:42Z")
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). ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/2 "2013-12-09T17:48:55Z")
_Star Trek_: _The City on the Edge of Forever_ - first utterance of the word “Hell” on primetime network TV. _Maude_: first show where the main character decides to have an abortion. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/3 "2013-12-09T18:44:06Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > _Star Trek_: _The City on the Edge of Forever_ - first utterance of the word “Hell” on primetime network TV. I don’t think this is true. The _**[episode of The Twilight Zone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunt_%28The_Twilight_Zone%29)**_ about the hillbilly who doesn’t realize he’s dead has the word hell in it. For all I know, there are earlier examples. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/4 "2013-12-09T18:50:47Z")
Wasn’t Soap the first American prime time show with an openly gay character? Billy Crystal, I think. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/5 "2013-12-09T18:54:16Z")
The first married couple to share a bed: Fred and Wilma Flintstone. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/6 "2013-12-09T19:02:25Z")
_ **Gunsmoke:** _ The first (and, so far as I know, only time) the bad guys got away on a Western (or any other kind of show).\* \*Chester “Care for a horehound, Mr Dillon?” fucked up. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/7 "2013-12-09T19:06:22Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The first married couple to share a bed: Fred and Wilma Flintstone. Not true. **Mary Kay and Johnny** had them beat by about 15 years. They also beat **I Love Lucy** in showing pregnancy > [@](#): > > Mary Kay and Johnny was the first program to show a couple sharing a bed, and the first television series to show a woman’s pregnancy on television.[1] In 1948, Mary Kay became pregnant. After unsuccessfully trying to hide it, the show’s producers wrote her pregnancy into the show. On December 31, 1948, the Stearnses’ son Christopher, less than one month old, appeared on the show and became a character. > **[Mary Kay and Johnny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Kay_and_Johnny)** > > Mary Kay and Johnny is an American sitcom starring real-life married couple Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns. It was the first sitcom broadcast on a television network in the United States. Mary Kay and Johnny initially aired live on the DuMont Television Network before moving to CBS and then NBC. > Plots centered around a bank employee and his "zany, but not dumb" wife and the problems that they encountered. Much of the activity occurred in the couple's apartment in Greenwich Village. > The March 6, 19... ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/8 "2013-12-09T19:08:02Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I don’t think this is true. The _**[episode of The Twilight Zone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunt_%28The_Twilight_Zone%29)**_ about the hillbilly who doesn’t realize he’s dead has the word hell in it. For all I know, there are earlier examples. The Star Trek episode may be the first case where “hell” was used as profanity, though, rather than as a transcendant geographical location. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/9 "2013-12-09T19:10:17Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Not true. **Mary Kay and Johnny** had them beat by about 15 years. They also beat **I Love Lucy** in showing pregnancy > > [Mary Kay and Johnny - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Kay_and_Johnny) Holy crap, the DuMont network! :eek: Does anybody here actually _remember_ that?!? It was a bit before my time, much to my chagrin! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/10 "2013-12-09T19:14:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Many episodes survived in full as late as 1975, when DuMont’s corporate successor, Metromedia, disposed of what was left of the DuMont archive in the East River. I used to work for Metromedia. This is just what I would expect from them! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/11 "2013-12-09T19:18:06Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I used to work for Metromedia. This is just what I would expect from them! :mad: They had to, to demonstrate that the archives were worthless. Otherwise they’d have had to pay for them, or pay taxes, or something. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/12 "2013-12-09T19:30:23Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The Star Trek episode may be the first case where “hell” was used as profanity, though, rather than as a transcendant geographical location. A little further research shows that Noel Coward’s _ **Blithe Spirit** _ (which has \*damns \*and \*hells \*as profanity) was broadcast without bleeping in 1956. ---
**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 9, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/13 "2013-12-09T19:36:40Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Wasn’t Soap the first American prime time show with an openly gay character? Billy Crystal, I think. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/14 "2013-12-09T20:37:38Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The first married couple to share a bed: Fred and Wilma Flintstone. They had separate beds. I remember asking my mom how they made Pebbles. She told me they did it in the car at the drive-in. Wasn’t the first show to have the sound of a toilet flushing _All in the Family_? Correct me if I’m wrong. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/15 "2013-12-09T20:55:06Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > **They had separate beds.** I remember asking my mom how they made Pebbles. She told me they did it in the car at the drive-in. Apparently not all the time: [http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/archive/index.php/t-86549.html](http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/archive/index.php/t-86549.html) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/16 "2013-12-09T20:59:32Z")
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). ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/17 "2013-12-09T21:14:43Z")
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’). ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/18 "2013-12-09T21:23:37Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > The first TV show to portray an inter-racial kiss was [IIRC] _Star Trek (TOS)_. 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. I just listened to the Nerdist podcast on this a couple weeks ago and they discuss this throughout. It’s worth a listen, imo. [http://www.nerdist.com/2013/10/mission-log-65-episode-065-platos-stepchildren/](http://www.nerdist.com/2013/10/mission-log-65-episode-065-platos-stepchildren/) ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/19 "2013-12-09T21:26:20Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > The first TV show to portray an inter-racial kiss was [IIRC] _Star Trek (TOS)_. They always like to claim this, but Sammy Davis Jr and Nancy Sinatra kissed the year before on [Movin’ with Nancy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movin%27_With_Nancy). It was only a peck on the cheek though. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909/20 "2013-12-09T21:26:58Z")
Although many shows may have done so metaphorically, _Happy Days_ was the first show to literally jump the shark. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-tv-show-to-portray-x/675909.md?page=2)