That reminded me of Principal Lazarus, from "Welcome Back, Kotter"--which, in turn, led me to TV Tropes' page on this subject...
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheGhost
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That reminded me of Principal Lazarus, from "Welcome Back, Kotter"--which, in turn, led me to TV Tropes' page on this subject...
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheGhost
Not a person but an animal - in several consecutive episodes of Two and a Half Men there are numerous references to a cat owned by Charlie Harper's fiance Chelsea, but the cat is never seen. We do hear the cat when Charlie steps on it. Charlie himself still gets mentioned here and there despite his "death".
On The Big Bang Theory, Howard's mother is seen briefly walking through her kitchen, in an episode last season where Raj was over at her house for dinner. It has never really been clear if Carol Ann Susi is in fact the actress seen.
On The Big Bang Theory, Howard's mother is seen briefly walking through her kitchen, in an episode last season where Raj was over at her house for dinner. It has never really been clear if Carol Ann Susi is in fact the actress seen.
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The legs belonged to danced Mary Tyler Moore.
Also at Howard and Bernadette's wedding, and the camera pulls out to the "Google Satellite" view, there's a dress seen in the shot, but no face...
J
The backstory wasn't that George Jefferson would never step into a racist's house, but a WHITE MAN'S house. George Jefferson, and Henry Jefferson to a certain extent, were every bit as racist toward white people and Puerto Ricans as Archie Bunker was toward blacks and other minorities. George Jefferson called his daughter-in-law Jenny a Zebra since her parents were interracial.
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FredLeonard
Guest
Shows how political correctness and sensitivity have grown since the 70s. Now you couldn't get away with stuff they did on Norman Lear's sitcoms - especially the "Zebra" jokes now with Obama in office.
For the record, I was sorry to see Henry go and I preferred him to George.
I seriously doubt it matters who is President, since Jean Stapleton said a decade ago in an AITF retrospective that some people told her that the show might not be able to get on the air if it were presented at that time (circa 2003) when W was in the White House. The current push of political correctness has been around for at least 20 years.
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FredLeonard
Guest
Point is it's tough to make "Zebra" jokes about a mixed race sitcom character with a mixed race president in office.
It is true that political correctness has grown since the 70s, but I think that's because society is becoming more aware. In the 60s, it was not unusual for late night comics to make jokes about rape or child molestation - and that was in an era when there was actually a controversy about Barbara Eden showing her navel on camera. All that changed with the growing awareness the rape and child molestation were horrible crimes that scar their victims emotionally, and shouldn't be subjects for humor.
But remember that All in the Family did not promote bigotry - it did quite the opposite. IIRC, Archie had some bigoted viewpoints, but they were out of ignorance, never mean-spirited on his part - and over the years of the show, he was capable of learning. I think it would certainly be possible to do a similar show today, but Archie would be supporting the Tea Party and Ted Cruz types, and talking about Obama being a socialist.
Just last week, I saw a rerun of MASH from 1974-75, where a female officer screams rape at Frank Burns to cover up her intentions toward him. Hawkeye and Trapper rush over in a quick walk, with Trapper casually saying, "I've never been to a rape before." I forget Hawkeye's reply, but it was along similar lines with a casual joke.
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FredLeonard
Guest
Lest we forget, stations are still showing those MASH episodes and All in the Family episodes - not to mention Mel Brooks' films. Political correctness may stop jokes like that in new programs but it somehow doesn't stop old jokes from being re-run. At the same time, no OTA stations or cable channels are showing Amos n' Andy or Beulah.
Funny thing about Beulah. Take the same premise but make the smart, sassy maid who solves her employers' problems and make her White and you've got Hazel (which is still being re-run).
Studies done back in the day showed that many viewers agreed with Archie and thought All In The Family "promoted" their views.
Archie was very similar to another character whose time-slot her inherited: Ralph Kramden. Ralph kept threatening to hit his wife (domestic violence, spousal abuse) and it always got a big laugh from the studio audience. Of course, maybe that was because nobody ever thought he would be really do it. They did tone down the domestic violence angle on The Honeymooners. In early seasons, Ralph would say, "One of these days, Alice, pow right in the kisser." In later seasons, he'd say the vaguer "to the moon, Alice."
On All In The Family, there were occasional jokes about Archie supporting California governor Ronald Reagan who was considered extreme, a bit of a wacko and a long-shot (he'd lost the Republican nomination twice). Archie said he only did it to drive The Meathead crazy.
Funny thing about Beulah. Take the same premise but make the smart, sassy maid who solves her employers' problems and make her White and you've got Hazel (which is still being re-run).
Studies done back in the day showed that many viewers agreed with Archie and thought All In The Family "promoted" their views.
Archie was very similar to another character whose time-slot her inherited: Ralph Kramden. Ralph kept threatening to hit his wife (domestic violence, spousal abuse) and it always got a big laugh from the studio audience. Of course, maybe that was because nobody ever thought he would be really do it. They did tone down the domestic violence angle on The Honeymooners. In early seasons, Ralph would say, "One of these days, Alice, pow right in the kisser." In later seasons, he'd say the vaguer "to the moon, Alice."
On All In The Family, there were occasional jokes about Archie supporting California governor Ronald Reagan who was considered extreme, a bit of a wacko and a long-shot (he'd lost the Republican nomination twice). Archie said he only did it to drive The Meathead crazy.
This is correct. About 1991-ish, I was working late nights at a station which carried Larry King's then-late night radio talk show. King took a call from a listener who questioned him about the then-growing "political correctness" movement, to which King feigned ignorance.
It is somewhat amusing now to listen to old retro AT40 countdowns now, and hear Casey Kasem say "there is a girl in the countdown..." referring to Linda Ronstadt, and not some teenage starlet.
One area where "political correctness" has not been such a bad thing is the withdrawal from TV release of old cartoons containing often-offensive stereotypes, the bucktoothed "oh-so-solly-prease" Asians of WW II, and the countless variations on the tired "cannibal stew pot" gag (which was as much a cliche' with magazine cartoonists as their animation brethren decades ago.)
(I never did find that gag funny except for a magazine cartoon showing two stereotypical cannibal characters seated on the ground next to their kettle, and one remarks, "You know? We haven't been in a cartoon in years!")
Also right in your observations re Archie Bunker; Richard Nixon and his advisors discussed ways of appealing to "the Archie Bunker voter."
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FredLeonard
Guest
You look at some pre-World War II cartoons and comedies and Gandhi is presented as an objective of ridicule.
I don't believe the character of Dr. Richard Stone was ever seen on HBO's early '90's series "Dream On." And on Nickelodeon's early
'90's series "Fifteen," adults were talked about but never shown.
'90's series "Fifteen," adults were talked about but never shown.
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True; there's even one early 30's RKO cartoon found on public-domain DVDS (Cubby Bear's World Flight) which depicts Hitler and his henchmen as amiably singing beer-guzzlers in a German tavern. "What you don't know, etc." department...
On Emergency! Firemen/Paramedic Roy DeSoto wife, Joanne. Seen only once in the pilot episode and flashback episode.
A title that wouldn't get out of the first meeting today: 50 years ago this Friday (yes 11/22/63), the Cleveland ABC affiliate was going to show a half-hour special on Browns RB Jim Brown, but it was postponed a week for obvious reasons. The title? "Jim Brown: The Boy From Syracuse"
There are three different variants of such characters:
1. Partially seen (Wilson in "Home Improvement," Sam in "Richard Diamond")
2. Heard, but not seen (Charlie in "Charlie's Angels," Carlton in "Rhoda")
3. Neither heard nor seen, only referred to or spoken to on the phone (Vera, Maris, etc.)
There was one Bugs Bunny cartoon where Yosemite Sam originally concluded one of his high-decibel brags with "...and I ain't Mahatma Gandhi!" After Gandhi was killed, the line was redubbed: "and I ain't no namby-pamby!"
1. Partially seen (Wilson in "Home Improvement," Sam in "Richard Diamond")
2. Heard, but not seen (Charlie in "Charlie's Angels," Carlton in "Rhoda")
3. Neither heard nor seen, only referred to or spoken to on the phone (Vera, Maris, etc.)
There was one Bugs Bunny cartoon where Yosemite Sam originally concluded one of his high-decibel brags with "...and I ain't Mahatma Gandhi!" After Gandhi was killed, the line was redubbed: "and I ain't no namby-pamby!"
I was watching A Christmas Story with my daughter Sunday (Yes, we're getting started early, but at least we don't have decorations out yet. 
) and because of this thread I thought that if it was done now the Chinese restaurant scene definitely wouldn't be included, or at least the waiters singing Deck the Halls would be out.
) and because of this thread I thought that if it was done now the Chinese restaurant scene definitely wouldn't be included, or at least the waiters singing Deck the Halls would be out.- Status