And any woman who wasn’t seemingly size 0 with breast implants was deemed ugly and made the pit of many fat-shaming jokes.īy season 2 of Married, Applegate, who was 16 at the time - legally, a child - was already being catcalled by the show’s live studio audience. Slut-shaming comments from son and brother Bud to his sister Kelly, played by Christina Applegate, were an ongoing gag. In the 30-minute block that was originally during what networks call “the family-friendly hour” between 8 and 9 p.m., half-clothed and high-heeled women prancing across the screen to the tune of incredibly sexist remarks by husband and father Al Bundy, played by Ed O'Neill, were common. Married.With Children was a hit, but not without its controversy. In 1987, former writers of Laverne & Shirley and Diff’rent Strokes created the first prime-time TV show for the then-new Fox network, and it would become the longest-running live-action show on the network, before its finale in 1997. But blaming the problematic characters on Friends for any residual racism, sexism or any other bad-ism is not the hill to die on. Ross, Chandler, Joey, Monica, Rachel and Phoebe all had their flaws, ranging from objectifying women (and men), fat shaming, making homosexuality the butt of jokes and more. That’s not to say it was perfect by any means. But if there is one TV show of that decade to blame for its incredibly insensitive plot points, it’s not Friends. At least not to me, a 32-year-old who prefers to remember the ’90s in all of its slumber partying, popcorn making, ABC’s T.G.I.F glory. Prime-time network television of the 1990s is not an obvious premise for arguments over cultural insensitivity. Reviving the once-beloved series only to strike it down with accusations of homophobia, sexism and toxic masculinity got me thinking: Does my generation not remember the crude, crass and currently Hulu-streamed Married.With Children? This all comes after the popular NBC show was added to Netflix’s streaming service a few years ago. Today, millennials are the poster children of political correctness and cancel culture, warriors of climate change who spit in the face of hypocrisy and corruption in government - mainly in the form of memes, but, let’s hope they vote.īut recently, some angsty 20- and 30-somethings have decided that the 1990s sitcom Friends is highly and particularly problematic and toxic. It’s long been understood that hindsight is 20/20, making it no surprise that each generation takes its turn criticizing the one before it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |