A Very Special Episode About a Very Special Episode Pt. 1
Kristin Nilsen 0:00
And Edith kicked this guy's ass. She fought hard, and she outsmarted him, and you as the viewer, you were so proud of her, and the audience felt like they got to know Edith a little bit better that day, and it elicited one of the biggest and loudest audience responses in the history of the show.
Speaker 1 0:19
Hello World is a song that we're singing. Come on, get happy. Whole lot of love is what we'll be bringing we'll make you happy.
Kristin Nilsen 0:35
Welcome to the pop culture Preservation Society, the podcast for people born in the big wheel generation who thought Angel Dust was a candy that made you jump out of play glass windows.
Carolyn Cochrane 0:46
We believe our Gen X childhoods gave us unforgettable songs, stories, characters and images, and if we don't talk about them, they'll disappear, like Marshall will and Holly on a routine expedition.
Michelle Newman 0:58
And today and next week, we're saving the very special episodes of our favorite television shows that tackle difficult, shocking and often controversial topics that shook us then and that we still think about today. I'm Carolyn, I'm Kristen, and I'm Michelle, and we are your pop culture preservationists.
Kristin Nilsen 1:18
Before we begin, we'd like to be very clear about what's coming up so you can make an informed decision about whether or not this will be fun for you. The 70s and 80s provided us with copious amounts of well intentioned wisdom about the most sensitive and traumatic social issues of the day, drug addiction, eating disorders, suicide, sexual assault, child abuse and more. For some of you listening, this wasn't just entertainment or a cautionary tale, it was real life. We understand that, but because of the often ham handed way these topics were handled on television sitcoms, our discussion of these episodes will not be solemn or sensitive. It will probably be more in the realm of incredulous or the real life equivalent of the face palm emoji, there will definitely be laughter. And if that's not comfortable for you, we totally get it. We're so sorry that happened to you, and you officially have a signed note from your doctor to skip this one. Big hugs from the three of us, and we will see you next week instead.
Speaker 2 2:14
Hello. I'm Conrad Bain tonight on different strokes, we're starting a special two part show on a very sensitive and important subject. Now we urge families, children and parents alike, to watch both of these informative episodes and then to discuss the problem presented, which is of deep concern to all of us. It's
Michelle Newman 2:33
no question that television played a huge role in most of generation X's lives, and for many of us, we felt like we were raised by the families who lived in our screen, the Cunninghams, the Ingles, the Keatons, or even single dad, Captain Stubing. We wanted to be part of those families, and regardless of our own family dynamics, we often look to these people and families and the situations they found themselves in as models. We held them up and so when things got dicey or scary or shocking, we were paying attention. And the writers knew that I believe, and we all know what I'm referring to here, the episodes of our favorite shows that dealt with very difficult or controversial social issues like drug abuse, suicide, eating disorders, death, pregnancy, AIDS, racism, rape, pedophilia, shockingly, no quicksand. Oh. And usually right, and usually featured our favorite characters in terrifying situations that scared the shit out of us and ended with heavy handed moral lessons that served as a very valuable window into the social anxieties and dangers of the time. Now, I know little Michelle was terrified of these very special episodes, but she was also drawn to them like a moth to a freaking Inferno. What about you guys?
Kristin Nilsen 3:52
Oh, oh, absolutely. And my memory is that there was oftentimes a huge advertising push with this kind of Dun, dun, dun kind of music, it got special treatment. And if it was a funny show, the announcer would be like, Hey, this is not funny, and you need to listen on Tuesday night at seven, right? There was just this calling out for us, like you said, moth to a flame.
Carolyn Cochrane 4:15
And when we were sitting down with our families to watch these and then provide a launching pad for us to talk about some of these topics, no matter how kind of cringy they were, sometimes, at least, we were sitting down watching together for the most
Kristin Nilsen 4:31
part. That was true. These were oftentimes episodes that our parents made us watch or wanted to watch with us. And you're like, why are both mom and dad watching facts of life with me, it might have been a little confusing. And sometimes they would let you know that if you had any questions, you can talk to them. You can ask them about anything, which, of course, was not true. And other times, your parents said absolutely nothing, just hoping that that was implied, you know, just hoping that the TV show would do the job for them. You. And also, please don't ask questions.
Carolyn Cochrane 5:01
Oh, for sure. And you know, my mom, as I have shared, was all over those episodes that got, you know, some billing of sit down with your child and talk about whether it was the after school special how babies are made, or, you know, the James at 15 that we talked about, and, you know, losing his virginity. Well, yeah, these
Michelle Newman 5:19
were very much after school specials at night, prime time. After school specials kind of was, yeah, which
Carolyn Cochrane 5:27
was amazing how they could, in a lot of times, do it in a 30 minute episode. I mean, we'll talk later. Some of these were two parters, but oftentimes you got all of this was accomplished in, oh, really, what amounts to probably what, 22
Kristin Nilsen 5:38
minutes, 22 minutes. And sometimes they would even introduce like a disposable character to be the victim of the social drama of the day, and our main characters would be their saviors. And other times it would be your main characters who are suffering from the drama of the day. And you'd be like, that's weird. Blair, wasn't a drug addict last week, and it would only last the one episode to be like, Yep, I'm a drug addict. I'm not a drug addict anymore. I was last week, but now I'm not 22 minutes. She's fixed. Yeah, she's fixed. Now that's the legacy of the sitcom, is you can fix anything in 22 minutes, exactly, even drugs. That would have been brilliant,
Michelle Newman 6:13
as if somebody in like the mid 80s. Then let's say 85 would have developed a sitcom that was just a therapist sitting and all the old characters from all the old shows were coming in, right? So maybe one episode, here comes here comes Kimberly to talk about her eating disorder, and then the next one, oh, and here comes Arnold and Dudley, because they did just seem to be fixed. And, you know, that's not real life, right, right? Oh, my God, I would have been brilliant. Actually, we should, we should get a funny YouTube series about that therapists, and we get some of our friends to pretend to be, you know, blame, like you do.
Carolyn Cochrane 6:53
Or we can clip out the some of the dialog from the episodes. You know, how they do that in some of these YouTube videos, so you can have, you know, tutti coming in, and then, like talking and rollers gave you, and then you could say, have a seat, tutti. And then you can just act like the therapist. Can you imagine?
Kristin Nilsen 7:10
So my very first memory of a very special episode was Janet Jackson as little penny on Good Times. Not only was it my first very special episode, it was also the first time I was introduced to the concept of a parent physically hurting their child as an issue. And I just have these distinct memories of Penny holding her arm. Do you remember that she's like, holding her arm like her mom had either grabbed her or pushed her or something? And I was my brain was bending like, wow. Her mom. Her mom did. I just couldn't wrap my brain around it at all. Well,
Carolyn Cochrane 7:46
watching it again as an adult, I watched that a couple days ago, and not only was I, not only was I impacted by the fact again, like you just said, Kristen, like this was her mom, but this was Janet's first acting gig, okay? And there's some really scary scenes. There's the scene where you know her mother's gonna burn her with an iron.
Unknown Speaker 8:09
I remember her locks the door so
Carolyn Cochrane 8:12
she couldn't run out. And so you just see Janice. Janice, you just see Janet's face as you know the mother is approaching, and she had just like, unplugged the iron and started to walk that way. And I just thought on so many levels, one that has to be traumatizing for Janet, and that acting experience, who they just like, threw her in the deep end. I have like, bad
Michelle Newman 8:35
nipple lightning right now. Oh yeah, the bad guy. I have a bad funny. I have a bad feeling at my job. Yeah, that was
Kristin Nilsen 8:43
her little face, you're right. Her, she was so good at that showing the fear. And I remember how the doorknob was kind of at shoulder level, you know, when she was locked in, and how she's like, I just remember that little the door, the door, like you said, the door was locked,
Carolyn Cochrane 8:59
and it was creepy and eerie. I'm wondering now if they gave us a little heads up before that those episodes came on. I don't remember any like Viewer discretion advised they maybe they did. I
Kristin Nilsen 9:12
remember that in particular, but I do remember it as a topic like we as if we knew it was coming.
Carolyn Cochrane 9:17
We somehow in the little promo ads. And then back when we had TV guides, and they had those hysterical sometimes promos where you'd be like, how can this make sense? Like Janet Jackson, abused by, you know, burned with an iron on the next good times. Yeah, good times.
Michelle Newman 9:34
Good. Good times.
Carolyn Cochrane 9:36
Well, speaking of the very first vse, as we'll refer to it, I think a little bit during this episode, I was trying to remember what mine might have been, and as I was doing some research, looking back at what are considered the earliest very special episodes, and I realized, I think the very first one I saw was one that was referred to in a podcast I recently listened to called mobik. Observaries and the death of a very special episode. So if you haven't listened ever to the podcast obituaries, it's hysterical, and a CBS reporter basically reports on people and things that have just like disappeared. And he loves obituaries. So it's called mobituaries. In this case, it's the very special episode. And he claims that the very first very special episode would have been an episode of Leave It to Beaver. And I remember this episode you guys. Okay, so it's in 1960 and the episode is titled The drunk. And in this episode, Ward hires a neighbor who happens to be a drunk, a local handyman who's going to be painting the house, and at one point in his painting, he asks beaver if they might have a little maybe alcohol around. And he kind of describes to Beaver what that is. And beaver said, Oh, well, once my dad got this bottle in a brown bag from my uncle, and I know where it is, I think it's called brandy. And the guy said, Oh, I'd love that. So basically, beaver gives him the brandy, and then mom and dad find out, because our painter gets intoxicated and beaver gets in trouble. Oh my goodness, that can't be but listen to this, Wally comes to his rescue. And I want you to hear what Wally says. And if this doesn't summarize what a very special episode is all about, I don't know what does you and
Speaker 3 11:21
mom shouldn't be as scared to tell us things. Somebody's got to tell a guy about all the bad junk in the world.
Carolyn Cochrane 11:26
Somebody's got to tell a guy about all the bad junk in the world. That is Wally esque. That is so Wally esque. It's very much what I think a very special episode is all about, is talking to kids are presenting children with some of these dicey topics that maybe parents haven't talked to them about. Now, of course, we didn't see regular episodes of TV shows that were considered very special until I think we'll talk about in this episode, kind of the 70s into the 80s were their heyday. But one other episode of a TV show that we've actually talked about a little bit that is also considered a very special episode and very ahead of its time, was the bewitched episode on Christmas Eve of 1970 now, if you remember we talked about this episode, it had to do with racism. Listen to what Elizabeth Montgomery had to say right before the episode aired.
Speaker 4 12:17
Hi. This is Elizabeth Montgomery, welcome to bewitched next on ABC. Tonight's show was created in the true spirit of Christmas. The story was written by the 10th grade English class at Thomas Jefferson High School in Los Angeles, my friends at Oscar Meyer and company, and I feel it is a very special bewitched conceived in the image of innocence and filled with truth.
Carolyn Cochrane 12:45
Basically, she's saying, this is a very special episode, and it's going to give you some stuff to think about. And I just was really, it just really struck me. These were two earlier these were two early TV shows that did kind of put some stuff out on the table for us to think about and talk about,
Kristin Nilsen 13:03
yeah, and the Hallmark being that these were comedies. These were comedies. Yes, exactly.
Michelle Newman 13:14
Well, almost every program had its share of very special episodes. There is one show that is considered the king at least pre Full House, and that is different strokes, which I think devoted about half its episodes tomorrow lessons, because let's not forget, in the late 70s, having a show with kids as the central characters was still a relatively new idea, and so different strokes was able to use those kids as a teaching tool, right? So let's see if you remember any of these. There's the one where Willis moves in with a friend named Jerry, who drives drunk and ends up in a coma. There's the one where Arnold's buddies SIP alcohol from a thermos at school and Arnold has to become like a 12 year old substance abuse counselor. There's the one where Arnold and his friend Sam HowlRound with an epileptic street performer who has a seizure, resulting in kids making fun of her, resulting in Arnold and Sam schooling them on how to
Kristin Nilsen 14:11
that one is too much. That's too much.
Michelle Newman 14:16
I don't know there's the one where Arnold is writing an article for the school paper and unearths a drug dealer in his investigation, which prompts Nancy Reagan to show up at school and she does to deliver her just say no message. What year do you think that one was that timing is excellent, Arnold. I know there's the one where Kimberly and Arnold decide to hitchhike home, but the man who picks them up tries to rape Kimberly and Arnold escapes, but then the police have to have to hypnotize him so that he can tell them where she is.
Kristin Nilsen 14:47
Wait, police don't hypnotize I don't think that's part of
Carolyn Cochrane 14:53
police work. This is 23 minutes again. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Michelle Newman 14:57
I don't know. Some of these could have been up two parts. I'm not sure I. There's the one in the final season when best friend Sam is kidnapped by a man whose own son died, who then threatens to kill Mr. Drummond. That one sounds like that. Do you guys remember that little house won the Persian about where the lady whose daughter drowned drowned she she kidnaps Laura and puts her down in the like,
Kristin Nilsen 15:19
yeah, yeah, in the potato place. Let's have
Michelle Newman 15:21
Melissa Gilbert on our therapy show as the first is the first, our first patient. And then there is perhaps the most memorable, very special episode of them all. And I know this to be true you guys, not just for me, but for most of our social media followers who we polled. And that is the two part, different strokes episode from 1983 entitled The bicycle man, where Arnold and Dudley are targeted by Mr. Carlson, I mean Mr. Horton Gordon jump the friendly man, very friendly man who owns the bicycle shop and feeds them pizza and wine and shows them adult cartoons in the back room because he wants to sexually abuse them, and so for personal reasons, I cannot have a discussion about this episode. Even watching it in 1983 was super triggering for me, and it's for that reason that we here at the pop culture Preservation Society will never be covering this episode in more detail than what I just gave you, but we would be remiss not to mention it, as we know many of you listening have feelings about this one. Do you guys?
Kristin Nilsen 16:27
There's a big there's a big problem for me right away with Gordon jump being the pedophile, because Gordon jump was Mr. Carlson and WKRP. And I realize people are actors and they're playing roles, but Gordon, John, you gotta be careful. All I saw was Mr. Carlson, and it just, it just didn't work. And you're right, it was too there were some that were just too creepy and too triggering. This was one of them, Sylvia on Little House. Was another that we're never gonna talk about either, where it's just too much. And here that is a lot of episodes from one show. It just wasn't on that long to have said, well,
Michelle Newman 17:01
that's not even all of them. That's just a handful. I just, I thought I chose to describe for you guys, those
Carolyn Cochrane 17:07
writers. I don't know what their agenda necessarily was, but I wanted to comment on that bicycle man episode because I was reading some comments on Reddit about that episode. And to your point, Kristen about Gordon jump. People like to this day, if they just see a picture of them, there are some people that have a visceral response to
Michelle Newman 17:28
raising my hand, raising my hand, absolutely so right
Carolyn Cochrane 17:31
about being so careful in maybe the rules that you choose and how that might impact you know, your career. I'm not sure, really, where his career went after that. Casting
Michelle Newman 17:42
matters. Remember, in our TV movie episode, we talked one of my most memorable TV movies was there's something about Amelia and they cast Ted Danson as the father who was sexually abusing his daughter. I always have that correlation between Ted Danson and that awful character, and there's something about Amelia, and
Kristin Nilsen 18:03
they're thinking of it as an acting role, and we're thinking of it there. Those are real people, and it's a story that we that we because we're just kids, and yes, we know they're actors, but still we have difficulty separating.
Michelle Newman 18:16
I will say that the Washington Post called that episode a calm, careful and intelligent treatment of a difficult and potentially traumatizing subject. There seems little possibility that watching this program would do children harm, and considerable likelihood it could do them good. And I disagree with that Washington Post, because it can unearth a lot of buried memories. It can cause a lot of PTSD. It's very triggering. And so I don't know that I necessarily agree with the Washington Post. Yeah, let's
Kristin Nilsen 18:47
disagree with the Washington Post. And at the same time, you know, we didn't have the research then that we do now about trauma and how you carry it with you. And so they're looking at it on the surface level as people who have no trauma.
Michelle Newman 19:02
Well, think about, think about any kids who were physically abused by their parent watching that episode of good times, like even if they were watching it as a 35 year old. Yeah, you know that's that's so triggering. The Washington Post did say that they thought the bicycle man could perhaps do some good. And listen to this. Obviously, the purpose of a very special episode is to raise awareness of an issue, and like most of the episodes do, with a voiceover or an appearance by one of the stars, to encourage those affected to seek help if necessary. And in the same year the bicycle man was released, which was 1983 a child in La Porte, Indiana and formed his mother of a pedophile in the area, and the La Porte Police Department credited this different strokes episode for the man's arrest. So there you go, right, yeah,
Kristin Nilsen 19:50
and I guess probably save one kid. It's worth it if we and if and that person likely abused more than one kid so well,
Michelle Newman 19:59
and also. But going back to there's something about Amelia. I remember the research I did for that was that that absolutely there were so many phone calls to the house by kids to the hotline number that they gave,
Carolyn Cochrane 20:12
yeah, for sure, and there's no doubt that this episode gave parents a way to have this discussion with their kids. It's probably not something you would have just said, sat down at a kitchen table on a Tuesday night without any reference, and said, Hey, Joey, I have something we I want to talk about with you, apropos of nothing, exactly. So to have these shows to refer to in a conversation, I think would be helpful,
Kristin Nilsen 20:37
yeah? Or it's the inspiration to do something, to say something, yeah, yes.
Michelle Newman 20:41
So even though different strokes certainly cornered the market on the very special episode, these episodes didn't always have to do with kids being in dicey situations, right? No, that
Kristin Nilsen 20:54
is absolutely true. In fact, one of the most memorable, very special episodes for me and for a lot of people, was a 1977 episode of All in the Family called Edith's 50th birthday. I mean, let's just think about that for a minute. How old was Edith, and how, how far past our 50th birthdays are we? And on her 50th birthday, that was 1977 that's long past when we started watching all in the family. Okay, so just get that in your head. Okay, so it's called Edith's 50th birthday, when Edith answers the door to who she thinks is a police officer, but instead turns out to be a serial rapist, and he attacks Edith. It's pretty graphic, not with nudity, but with the real violence that actually takes place. And truthfully, I probably couldn't watch it today. I remember tuning into that episode. It was, of course, highly advertised, like they are, and I was scared watching it, and I was very sympathetic, but it also exposed my ignorance about what rape is, because I couldn't figure out why Edith was his target. She was a 50 year old woman, not a supermodel. And to me, in my child brain, it didn't add up, and they didn't really explain that part of it that rape is an act of violence. It's not an act of sexual attraction. I mean, not in my memory. I don't remember them doing that in the episode. Or either that or it just went right over my head. And the other memorable thing about that episode was how Edith fought him off. Edith, of course, was the endearing numbskull who deferred to her domineering husband, and Edith kicked this guy's ass. She fought hard and she outsmarted him, and you as the viewer, you were so proud of her and the audience felt like they got to know Edith a little bit better that day, and it elicited one of the biggest and loudest audience responses in the history of the show in 2017 Norman Lear, who was the creator of the show, he just died last year. Over he was over 100 I think he was 101 he just died. So in 2017 he was asked to recall the biggest audience uproar from the show's run. And he said, I never heard a bigger sound on television than when Edith got away from the guy who was attempting to rape her. That was an explosion.
Michelle Newman 23:08
I'm just sitting here wondering what prompts the writers to write that now, when we are talking about these one with the ones with kids, we're understanding and like I'll talk in just a little bit, there was a huge influx of very special episodes about eating disorders, because this was a very real reflection of what was happening in our country and how people were starting to talk about it more, and with kids too, putting them in situations where there might be someone a friend drinking or right or having to deal With a friend's death or something like that. I just that is so disturbing that what you just described to me is so disturbing. And what did something happen? Did one of the writers come and maybe it happened to them, and they're like, we should put Edith in this to show so we can show that it can happen. I know, but I don't know about it can't be apropos of nothing. It can't not It absolutely is not apropos of nothing. There has to be a reason. I don't have the information about Edith's episode, but let's not forget Edith's cousin Maude, who started in her own very special episode, in a special to be continued, in which she learns that she is pregnant at the age of 47 and I'll tell you where this came from in just a second. So Maude struggles with the decision of whether or not she should get an abortion, and in the second part of that episode, she does indeed decide to terminate the pregnancy. So this aired in november of 1972
Kristin Nilsen 24:35
on CBS Roe versus Wade had just passed in January of 1972 so this show is about legal abortion. The show was really trying to humanize the weight of this very real decision making situation. They wanted to show the human act of grappling with it. Because this thing, this, this 47 year old quasi, you know, perimenopausal woman being pregnant that happened to me. Millions of people every single day, and yet no one was talking about it. It was always shrouded in secrecy. People only thought of abortion in terms of teen moms or hussies. Of course, that being a myth, right? That's just something that a lot of people still do. Kristen, yes, people think that, right? Yeah, sadly, I don't even know what to say about that anyway. Maude's daughter, Carolyn, played by Adrienne Barbeau, classmate of my mom. She is an adult, and she has children of her own. So in other words, Maude is a grandmother. She's a pregnant grandmother, and Carolyn is encouraging Maude to terminate the pregnancy. So when it first aired, it got a huge audience and just a small amount of protest. But when it reran that summer, 39 stations refused to air it and actually ran it, and they actually ran it without ads because all of their sponsors backed out. This tells me that there was an organized effort. This was not the feeling of the country per se. It was an organized effort. So Norman Lear said, Actually, I think it was Norman Lear. He says, The funny thing is, this is when you were asking, Where did these come from? He said, The funny thing is that initially we weren't even thinking about abortion. There was a group called Zero population growth, and they announced that they were giving a $10,000 prize for comedies that had something to do with controlling population. So everyone came in with their ideas about vasectomies. So initially this was supposed to be an episode about Walter maude's husband getting a vasectomy, but the storyline grew, and with it, the impact it became something much greater than Walter getting a vasectomy.
Carolyn Cochrane 26:42
Yeah, I want to comment on this episode because obviously I was seven, so I'm not sitting down to watch Maude, but I do have distinct memories of this episode because Lillian was all over it, and let's just say it was not because she was excited to watch it, and so I actually talked to her about it, because I said, Mom, I know that this was a big deal, but I also know I didn't sit down and watch it. And I know in my body, it has a feeling of this is really bad. And I said, I, I'm guessing I overheard you talking about it, and she has memories. She's She said, Oh yeah. Like you probably heard it at church. Like she remembers the priest on the altar, you know, giving a sermon about it. And she remembers walking out with her best friend, who happened to be our next door neighbor, and saying something like, they don't need to be, you know, telling us not to watch it. We're not going to watch it. They need to be telling, you know, the world not to watch it. She and now listeners, this is not at all what she thinks. And when we have this discussion, she was, this was a long time ago, yes, just think how I have evolved. But all I know is that it got Lillian worked up, and Carolyn was gonna, like, avoid anything that gets Lillian worked up. And she was, yeah, she was worked up. So I think between church and probably her Catholic Reporter newspaper, that might have been the groups that you know organized, exactly that organized and said, We are this is not a good thing. We're not talking about this. They were probably reeling, sadly, from the Roe v Wade decision, which have, if you watch this episode again, it really hurts your heart, to be honest, because, in a way, they're celebrating Adrian Barbeau has a line where she's like, Mom, this isn't your abortion when it was unsafe. That's not what it is now, like, it's legal. And I just, I just was sad. It
Kristin Nilsen 28:38
made you sad for right now, yeah, yeah, for
Carolyn Cochrane 28:40
right now to think this was 1972 Yeah, and we're celebrating the fact that women were given a right to choose, and Maude is having to make this choice, and Adrian Barbeau telling her it's okay now, you know you don't have to worry about it being unsafe and and
Kristin Nilsen 28:56
you were a small child seven, you were A small child, and here we are now. We're old ladies, and how, how far backward have we flipped? It's really we need mod back. Oh, but Bea Arthur has died, hasn't she?
Michelle Newman 29:10
She can't come to our but Adrian Barbeau, we
Kristin Nilsen 29:13
could have Adrian Barbeau do something
Carolyn Cochrane 29:14
good. Wait someone. Oh, maybe it's your mom. I swear someone else knows her. Does your mom keep in touch with
Kristin Nilsen 29:20
no, not at all. In fact, I don't think they were in the same class. I think, Oh, she was just a beautiful girl, so my mom knew her.
Carolyn Cochrane 29:26
Oh, okay, no, in my story, they were good friends. They'd go over to each other's houses, you know, put makeup on each other and talk about boys.
Michelle Newman 29:36
I'm just sitting here thinking back to when I was saying, what would make the writers, you know do come up with write the episode about Edith, or now there's this one, and I'm thinking, because, like I said, there weren't, at this time, there weren't a ton of shows where the kids were the central characters. There was a mouthful, but not a ton. And, goodness gracious, Little House on the Prairie, starting in 1974 Her certainly gave us put those kids in a lot of very special situations. But actually, it's so smart, isn't it, because these are issues that women were facing that nobody was talking about that. So like all good art, should do it should it should prompt a discussion, some disagreement, a debate. And, my goodness, this was the early 70s. And, I mean, I just have to really applaud those writers and the producers for allowing all of this to be on the air. It is making people talk. These are definitely things that women, not all women, these are deaf, because, you know, we've got the women's lib movement too, but Right, a lot of women, still in early 1970s couldn't freely
Kristin Nilsen 30:44
talk about, absolutely not. I mean, think about, or worry
Michelle Newman 30:48
out loud about worry out loud about opening the door and getting raped, right? That's that's a taboo subject for a lot of people, so it really was genius of them to do
Carolyn Cochrane 30:57
well. Norman Lear, I mean, I think we just have so much gratitude. I think we should have so much gratitude for what he did. I mean, really, it started with, you know, all in the family and those topics that were that they discussed everything from, you know, homosexuality, the racism, the anti semitism. There was a lot. And I was, it was interesting. Again, doing my research, I read about when it had to change its time slot because the government kind of cracked down on the you know, seven to nine was the family time, and so you couldn't have certain subject matter shows airing during that time. And the cast members of on the family did a parody song about what this message was sending to the networks, and show my
Speaker 1 31:45
pregnancy and John boy can have v, d plus a quick vase after nine o'clock. These are
Carolyn Cochrane 32:02
the our next episode that I want to talk about isn't really controversial, but it boy, oh boy. Was a very special episode. This would be the Laverne and Shirley episode where Laverne loses her boyfriend called Why did the fireman? The guest star of this episode is Ted Danson. He plays laverne's firefighting boyfriend who sadly perishes in a fire that
Kristin Nilsen 32:26
just seems so serious for Laverne. Surely you guys,
Michelle Newman 32:29
I know my God, but tackling death right? Like trying to maybe model how we process it did? I
Carolyn Cochrane 32:37
just, I want to share a few things I found interesting as I was doing research on this, because, again, this is, I can't say this enough, if you haven't already gathered the short amount of time that these writers have to get this message across on a sitcom. So you know, there's going to have to be some laughs, and they're going to have to be strategically placed so they're not too cringy. And the first almost half of this episode is indeed that it's kind of funny. It's Laverne. It's a very Laverne centric episode, because we go from her meeting and falling in love with Ted Danson to he's about to propose to her, so we know he's going to ask her to marry him, like several months go by in this 122, minute episode, which is, again, amazing, and they do it so well that you're not like feeling that this is like whiplash or that doesn't make any sense. Is
Kristin Nilsen 33:31
there a musical montage of them, like getting ice cream together? I'm thinking they're probably wise. Yeah, Fonzie and pinky,
Carolyn Cochrane 33:39
I've got to say I searched high and low for this Laverne and Shirley episode on all the internets, I mean, on all the places nowhere. Single other episode of all Laverne and Shirley, I could not find this one. Yeah. So I just was going a little bit by memory, but mostly by stuff that I had read about the episode, that's so spooky, actually, yeah, isn't it? I'd love to know if anyone knows why that's the case. I would love to know it. But, um, so anyway, we do get this. There's probably a musical montage. I don't know. I could totally see it. I could totally see
Kristin Nilsen 34:14
you got to yoga, Pepsi, if it's in advance, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Carolyn Cochrane 34:18
And so we as the viewers know that he is going to propose to her, but she doesn't know that yet. And of course, right before it's going to happen, there's a fire, and Ted goes in and saves a family, but dies in the process. And this is going to sound funny, but it wasn't funny in the episode. It was very serious, because Lenny and squeaky are volunteer firemen, and they have to know
Speaker 5 34:44
they're not supposed to laugh, no, but they have to deliver
Carolyn Cochrane 34:47
the news to La Verne. Oh, can you imagine Lenny and squeaky? I know, so it might just be one of their very only, or very few dramatic moments in that series, because they pull. It off was
Michelle Newman 35:00
about to say, which makes it more impactful in my mind. Now again, I have, I don't have, I have no memory of this episode, but love Laverne and Shirley, so imagining Lenny and squeaky having to then wear their heart outside, right? Because they're usually just so jokey and so and not go for the joke. I can see them though, being very earnest and very, very sensitive in telling her this, and that makes it even more impactful for the viewer, I think, right?
Carolyn Cochrane 35:27
And kind of flips in terms of, you know, the feeling of the episode. We it's been kind of light hearted and fun, and we're excited for Laverne, then we know about this fire happening, and then Lenny and squidgy, who, you know, 100 or 99% of the time, they're gonna make us laugh with something goofy. They present the message. So it's this transition from, you know, this happy go lucky part of the episode to this somber, melancholy part, and they're the ones who kind of flip it. And from then on, it's a pretty serious episode, very, very sad. Penny Marshall has said it's her favorite episode of Laverne and Shirley that she did, and it gave permission for the show and the viewers to kind of there weren't a whole lot of shows talking about grief and mourning, because Laverne her whole attitude towards Ted danson's death was, if she doesn't acknowledge it, it didn't happen like he's just out there. He's just out there somewhere, doing his job. He's still here, as long as she never says he's dead. And one of the most impactful scenes maybe ever in La Verne and Shirley comes when Mr. DeFazio. Do you guys remember Mr. DeFazio? They actually address the death of La Verne's mother. It's rarely talked about in the entire series, but in this episode it is. And he tells her that grief never ever goes away. It's never going to completely leave you, but you can move on and that. And then she kind of accepts this, and that's kind of the end of the episode, and we know that she's gonna move on. We're gonna move on. Next week is gonna be funny. Yes. And I read a couple of comments about this episode that I thought were, were kind of again, what these very special episodes are meant to do. It said community can be built on grief, and with 30 million viewers watching, maybe people felt less alone knowing that someone else had been touched by the unthinkable and that you had again, this springboard to talk about like you could say, did anyone watch Laverne and Shirley last night? I know how she felt, and you could have the conversations and you didn't feel alone. And I think that's that's pretty powerful
Michelle Newman 37:39
well, and it's because, like I said earlier, at the beginning of the episode, we felt either raised by these families, or we felt like they were our friends, or they were our parents, or whatever. So someone who sees Laverne going through that, and maybe they've just lost someone, and they, they see that they they feel like they almost, you know, they have a partner in this, exactly this grief journey, and it makes it all just seem more okay. I don't know about okay. I mean, that's relative, right? Who's Who's really okay, but it makes you feel seen. I mean, certainly even the children ones, even, even the children ones. I mean, my goodness gracious. You know you can be triggered by the bicycle man, but you could also see it as, oh, I'm not alone, and this happened to me, right, right, right, right.
Kristin Nilsen 38:24
Or a little penny, it could be the first time that somebody realized that it's not okay for them to be treated that way, and that maybe they should tell a trusted adult. I think that's the point.
Carolyn Cochrane 38:42
Paraded. Another very special episode that did an incredible job of being funny and light hearted for the beginning and then taking a hard turn, but we never felt like it was whiplash or anything. Was the episode of WKRP in Cincinnati that aired on February 11, 1980 and it was titled in concert. In this episode, we get the reaction of the radio station staff after a terrible tragedy has happened at a concert where most of the employees of the radio station have were actually at in some way, shape or form. So we know it's a big deal. And we hear them saying about what time they have to get there, and that it's general admission, and this is the route you should take to avoid all the traffic. So we get the feeling that this is a big deal, and a lot of people are going to be there. Well, the episode is actually based on a huge concert that was happening in Cincinnati on December the third, 1979 when the who was in concert in Cincinnati and they were playing riverfront Coliseum, almost 20,000 tickets were sold for that event. The episode mimics what happened in real life on December the third, when 1000s of people packed themselves up to the entrance and when the doors were finally opened on the west side of the Coliseum, that was one of the issues, not all the door. Opened, people rushed the gates, and people were crushed. 11 people died, and 23 others were injured. Oh, my God, huge, huge event. And I vaguely remember this on my radar as a kid when this happened 1979 and the writers knew that they needed to address this issue. I mean, they're a radio station in Cincinnati, so they want to write about it. The producers on the network are a little bit like, it's too soon. Can't do it, they insist. And so the episode does indeed get made and airs in February. So this is just a few months after it happens. And the second half of the episode, once we all know people are going to the concert, we kind of go to commercial, and you can just tell there is a whole different feel to the screen, like watching the faces of the characters, and they're slowly learning about what had happened the night before and how people had died. And Les Nessman has to cover the story, and it's heartbreaking. And Mr. Carlson is feeling very guilty that the radio station promoted the event and that they gave away free tickets. So he is grappling with all of that. They're all dealing with it in their own ways, but super, super sad. And the very end of the episode, you get venus flytrap playing this gentle jazz number called Remembering the rain by Bill Evans, and just as he starts to play it, Mr. Carlson walks into the studio and kind of shares that he feels guilty, but that it's important that the radio station does some things, voices their concerns to make sure this doesn't ever happen again. You
Michelle Newman 41:45
Well, eating disorders was a big topic of these very special episodes in the late 70s and throughout the 80s, which was surely a reflection of the times, anorexia and bulimia was suddenly getting the air time it really hadn't before, as society started to address these dangers publicly. Remember the TV movie The best little girl in the world in 1981 with Jennifer Jason Lee. So all of a sudden it's becoming just more acceptable to talk about it,
Kristin Nilsen 42:14
or recognizing that we needed to be aware. Yeah, maybe the death of Karen Carpenter started it all that
Michelle Newman 42:20
just that this is something that we need to, we need to address publicly, and certainly with, you know, with young, young girls. So there's another different strokes episode, shockingly titled bulimia, where Kimberly struggled with an eating disorder, with bulimia, just like Dana Plato, the actress who played Kimberly, actually did. In fact, this would be her final episode. It was January 17 of 1986 Yeah. Do we
Kristin Nilsen 42:49
know if her bulimia ran concurrently with the episode? Is there were they? I
Michelle Newman 42:54
read that. I read that the episode was written almost like in reaction to her own eating disorder. I don't know what. I wonder she that she loved, yeah, in season one, of the facts of life, and let's not forget, the facts of life is a spin off of Different Strokes. And I would argue that the facts of life has almost as many very special episodes as different strokes. But in season one, season one, you guys, this is in March of 1980 there's an episode called dieting, where Blair sets up Sue Ann, who was only on for one season. I loved Sue Ann, with a long, blonde, curly hair, like wife in real life. Her name's Julie pirkerski. I don't, yeah, I read that she married a dentist. Oh, I don't did she? Maybe she divorced a dentist, and we better Google that. Fact check. Anyway, Blair sets up Sue Ann on a date with a popular, popular rich boy, and then teases her about being a chubby he
Speaker 6 43:55
sounds heavy duty. Not any more heavy duty than you, dear. If I were you, I'd lose some of that. Every girl I've ever seen Scott with looks like she's right out of vogue. Go ahead. Go ahead. Keep shoveling it in. You know you're in running for Chubb out of the year yourself, Blair. We'll see who the porker is.
Michelle Newman 44:16
The intense pressure to be thin causes Sue Ann, to go on a starvation diet and pass out and you guys, the body shaming in this episode is intense, and it's a constant by every character, Mrs. Garrett included, it's pretty much impossible to watch today. Like, wow, you can't I? Like, literally just halfway through, I just was like, stop. I need to go, like, buy celery for dinner. I don't know. I can't the number
Kristin Nilsen 44:38
of, all of, all of the things that TV shows don't and can't do anymore. It's one of the hallmarks of the change in our culture, is poking fun at Fat people. There was a running it was definitely okay to poke fun at Fat people, to call people chubby. And then, of course, the the lazy joke is the. Person who eats and eats and eats and eats which all of us who have eating disorders of one kind or or struggle with obesity. Nobody does that. Nobody eats in front of people like the way they depict fat people eating on TV in the 70s and the 80s. That's the beginning
Michelle Newman 45:17
of that episode. Suanne comes walking down the stairs with a big old like just walking down the stairs at the same time she's eating a big old piece of cake. Of course, of course. Which is so it's, it's like a silent message if you eat cake, right? Look what's gonna happen kids if you eat cake, so horrible. So some other ones I wanted to mention on the facts of life, because, like I said, it was also ripe with very special episodes. Do you remember Cynthia who beat Blair for class president? And then OD on pills too, I think. And I mentioned
Kristin Nilsen 45:57
that we don't use anymore either. Like we would talk about pills, pills. Now we would say a specific thing. They OD on, you know, it was a fentanyl overdose or something. But now,
Michelle Newman 46:07
drugs pills is like, right? Pills, popping pills. Remember Cynthia was popping pills? Or, do you remember when Trudy secretly went to New York City and almost got trafficked at the diner, the guy was like sex. It was she didn't though. Or when Natalie i This is, I forgot about this. And you guys, I don't think I watched it then I was a huge Facts of Life fan, but the very last seasons, like when they have like the gift store, and George Clooney is the handyman, and Phyllis is on it with Mackenzie. Is it? Mackenzie Aston, those I watched it sporadically. I think it was in college by then, so I don't remember this, but I think this is brilliant. Natalie loses her virginity willingly to her boyfriend, snake, who's Demone from Fast Times original high. Now, what I love about this, so I just read this. I haven't watched it, and I should try to find it. I love though, that they wrote Natalie willingly losing her virginity, like, I guess everyone else is like, Oh, did he pressure you? Did he? Did he force himself on you? And she's like, No, I wanted to, like, just showing, and I know this could be very controversial, and even to some of you listening now, but I'm just gonna go on record saying I appreciate that they're showing Natalie as having, you know, sex agency, over her sexuality and over her twice, right? And she he was her boyfriend. Now we do find out, I think snake was kind of a snake basically like kind of a dud, but that was a guess. Lots of backlash from sponsors and from people that all of a sudden, Natalie, little Natalie from packs of life is gonna do it.
Kristin Nilsen 47:42
And I love that it's Natalie too, because it just shows that, because they didn't choose the Super Model One, it wasn't Blair, they chose the regular person. Because guess what? Regular people have sex, and teenagers have sex as much as nobody they do. But
Michelle Newman 47:57
in teenagers want to, and they can make a choice, you know, based on their own, you know, morals or whatever desires, I should say. Well anyway, as the 80s went on, we had very special episodes, a lot more very special episodes dealing with eating disorders. I mean, growing pains, Blossom Saved by the Bell. I think Full House had like 12 or like 28 episodes dealing with the no but it did have a very memorable one where DJ wants to look good in a bathing suit, so she quits eating and passes out after running at like speed 10 on the treadmill.
Kristin Nilsen 48:38
And let's not forget that sometimes the very special episode was about celebrating something instead of warning you about something. And this is where the Golden Girls come into play. I think the Golden Girls could have single handedly taught the world that gay people exist
Michelle Newman 48:55
and right, and that's right. That's why so many gay people love the Golden Girls.
Kristin Nilsen 48:59
Probably for a long time. I knew that the Golden Girls had a cult following in the gay community, but I thought it was because of the camp, not not intentional camp, but the kind of very comforting camp that you can only get on the lanai. But now I see that there was a continuous thread of acknowledgement and acceptance in several very special episodes, not just one, but many. There's the episode called, isn't it romantic where Dorothy has some good friends who are roommates. Didn't every grandma have some good friends who had been roommates for 30 years, and you're like, grandma, they're not roommates. And grandma's like, of course they are. They're best friends. I mean, they're best friends for 30 years. Well, Rose is your grandma, and when one of the roommates dies, Rose befriends and comforts the grieving woman, except that the roommate starts to fall in love with Rose, and that's when Rose wakes up and smells the coffee. But the reason this is a very special episode is because Rose is such a kind and caring person. This isn't a punch line. Oh my god, she's falling in love with. Rose. It's not a punch line. It's an opportunity to see another human being with very human feelings. In there's another episode called Scared Straight, in which rose strikes again when blanche's Brother Clayton confesses to her, not Blanche, that he is gay, and this forces a coming out story that allows blanche to be the angry, confused family member, and rose to be the therapist who guides everyone through to acceptance. And then Clayton comes back in sister of the bride, an episode called sister of the bride, except now he's engaged to a man, and he's asking for blanche's blessing, more confusion and conflict with Blanche, and also more opportunities for resolution and acceptance. But this is the big one, an episode called 72 hours. They address the AIDS crisis by giving rose an HIV scare after a blood transfusion. If you want people to care about a cure for HIV and AIDS, give it to Rose and Ireland. That'll work people up. They're like, not Betty White, no. And this had a huge, huge impact. Think these little old ladies, these little old ladies, did so much good work
Michelle Newman 51:11
well, and that's such a great one. For education, too, for for the older women, who, who, who might, you know, older women not either not part of the gay community or not accepting of it, but love The Golden Girls. Yes, love rose. So when they see rose put in this very real situation that could happen, I bet it made them think a little bit. I
Kristin Nilsen 51:34
have to imagine, because my parents were, were huge fans of The Golden Girls, and they were they I wasn't. I wasn't say they're Puritans. They're not Puritans, but they're and they're not conservative either, but, you know, socially, maybe a little conservative. And I have to believe that the Golden Girls has contributed to how they approach people in the gay community today, which is with an open and loving heart.
Michelle Newman 51:57
Well. And I was thinking, But, and I was specifically thinking about, you know, the very real threat and fear of having a blood transfusion and, and that's what's, you know, a lot of older people were going through that at the time. And there was a lot of misinformation out there. There was a lot of ignorance. There was a lot of this was the only way you can get AIDS, especially people that weren't accepting of the gay community, and so to see rose going through that, that very real scare as a result of a situation that they could be in? Yes, of the writers, yeah,
Carolyn Cochrane 52:33
100% and I think, you know, AIDS just wasn't talked about at all. I mean, it was like taboo subject. So so much misinformation was out there from, you know, how you contracted it, to how you could pass it on. There's also an episode of a TV program called Mr. Belvedere. I did not watch that, but it has a very special episode that deals with a young boy, so like a student in one of the main characters classes who got AIDS from a blood transfusion. And this is along the same time as we have the Ryan White issue going on in Kokomo, Indiana, because they play out the storyline in Mr. Belvedere of this boy, like the parents don't want any of their kids standing near him or being near him. And it's out of the mouths of babes, where one of the children actor says, you know, he's, there's nothing wrong with him. He can't give it to us like we're gonna stand with them and, you know, they stand all next to each other and hold hands and that kind of thing. So in that case, yeah, these very special episodes can really make an impact. And if they
Michelle Newman 53:36
can, yeah, yeah, it's amazing that we were that is a real information source. Then if those children are saying those truths about how you can and cannot contract HIV, that is an information source. Yes, it's not the you're always still going to have people who are like, Oh, that's ridiculous, you know, sure, I would never let my kids. I mean, you're still going to have that, but it's sort of like, if you reach, you know, like I talked about with with the bicycle man, and how that one pedophile was caught, or that to dance in movie, and how so many kids called the hotline. If that Mr. Belvedere episode or the Golden Girls episode, helped educate just a small handful of people in a different way, then it's worth it. Yeah, yeah, it gets
Carolyn Cochrane 54:20
on people's radar as something you can talk about. It's not as taboo. So the more people that are talking about it, the less chance for misinformation. I mean, there's more of an opportunity to educate people. Thank you for being a friend.
Unknown Speaker 54:36
Travel down the road back again. Your heart is
Carolyn Cochrane 54:42
true, You're a pal and a confident Well, as it is apparent from our discussion, there were so many of these very special episodes, and they have really found their place in pop culture. The vse was a cultural phenomenon, and it has become a TV trope. It's been parodied. And everything from Family Guy to The Simpsons. There's an entire YouTube Funny or Die series where these vses are revisited in humorous ways. There's, you know, one liners, and lots of TV shows, and we all know what they're referring to. I mean, you can just say vse and we know what they're referring to, but again, probably the Gen Xers know what they're referring to, because this was a time in history that these were a thing, and then, as we said earlier, they just kind of disappeared. One of the theories as to why they disappeared is because of Larry David and because of Seinfeld. Oh, my God. And what I find interesting is a lot of these shows we just mentioned the shows that had a bunch of very special episodes. We're talking family ties, facts of life, different strokes, Punky Brewster, Golden Girls blossom. These were all NBC shows. You know, I love my networks, and now Larry David and Seinfeld are coming along also in NBC sitcom. And he was so strongly against those kind of episodes that there was a motto of the writers and the cast all during this that series airing, and it was no hugging, no learning that was had to be like every script. Had to make sure there was t shirt and no learning. There's no
Kristin Nilsen 56:19
resolution. It's true. If you think about Seinfeld episodes, there was no resolution. We're
Carolyn Cochrane 56:24
not going to learn a lesson at the end at all. We're just going to have this moment in life, moral compass. So Larry David and Seinfeld actually might be the actual reason that so funny. These episodes died away.
Kristin Nilsen 56:42
I think it's interesting this season, we've sort of had a very unintentional theme, and that is that the 70s and the 80s cared deeply about making us informed and responsible and caring and compassionate citizens. We started with our episode on PSAs, teaching us about everything from littering to drug abuse to flying your kite around electrical substations. Then there was our James at 15 episode, which was all about helping teens navigate all the land mines that come with adolescents, including sex and drugs and drinking and cults. And then today, we're examining what are really 22 minute public service announcements, all of which were intended to show us something difficult and help us make better choices. Essentially, I don't care how ham handed these were. Their intentions were quite lovely, because just like Whitney Houston, they believed that children were our future. Teach them all and all that, right? The electric babysitter really was taking care of us. And if you think we're done celebrating this very Gen X themed phenomenon, we're not, because next week, the three of us will each take one very special episode that left a mark on us personally and walk you through all the awkward tutelage they provided for our developing minds. Thank you so much for listening today, and we will see you for more very special episodes next week. I know.
Michelle Newman 58:02
I wonder which one we're all going to pick. You have to come back next week to find out. And we want to give a huge shout out to our amazing Patreon supporters. Your contributions at all levels of membership directly help us create this podcast and keep it and this whole society trucking. And today, we're giving a special shout out to patrons. Leanne, Karen, Robert, Cindy, Colette, Susan, Charles, Emily Mindell, Mendel, is it Mendel? Mendel, how do you let us know I was Yeah, M, E, N, D, A, l, Mendel, I'd say Mendel, yeah. Julie, Sherry, Megan, Linda, Jill, Erica, Mel, Stephanie, Colleen, Mike and Jay s
Carolyn Cochrane 58:48
and don't forget, another way that you can support us is by sharing the podcast with friends, and also by leaving reviews. You can go on Apple podcasts and give us five stars, because that's what we want. And if you don't want to give us five, just move along. Keep on trucking. Yeah, keep on trucking. You can also leave a review, and those really help us to be seen by more folks and helps with the little fun algorithm. So head on over to your podcast platform and give us a good review.
Kristin Nilsen 59:17
In the meantime, let's raise our glasses for a toast courtesy of the cast of Threes Company, two good times, two Happy
Carolyn Cochrane 59:25
Days, Two Little House on the Prairie. The
Kristin Nilsen 59:29
information, opinions and comments expressed on the pop culture Preservation Society podcast belong solely to Carolyn the crushologist and hello Newman, and are in no way representative of our employers or affiliates. And though we truly believe we're always right. There's always a first time the PCPs is written, produced and recorded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home of the fictional wjm studios and our beloved Mary Richards. Nanu. Nanu, keep on truckin, and May the Force Be With You. You.