Most Controversial Sitcoms of All Time

[TMC]

Examples to take for consideration:
*Three's Company-Noted mostly for its supposed sexual innudendos (which was likely something way before its time on TV) as well with the cast turmoil (e.g. Suzanne Somer's departure). It's funny since I used to consider this as simply a show that liked to milk the concept of basic "misunderstandings" as a typical premise in each episode.

*All In the Family-Likely one of the first sitcoms if not entertainment shows in general to deal with current political/social issues.

*Married With Children-To make a long story short, the show carried one banned episode and actually found itself delivering fruit baskets to a protesting Michigan woman who inadvertantly boosted the show's ratings.

*Diff'rent Strokes-The various criminal records of the stars speaks for itself.

*Roseanne

*Murphy Brown-You know that you're in trouble when the Vice President directly calls you out as an example of so called negativity.

*Ellen-Particularly when gay issues were being presented more and more towards the end.

*Hogan's Heroes-The rather shady demise of Bob Crane speaks for itself.

[edoug]

MAUDE- Maude had an abortion or was thinking about having one.
Abortion is still a subject a tv show would rarely touch today especially a sitcom.


[This message has been edited by edoug (edited 11-19-2001).]

[dawsongirl]

Originally posted by TMC:
*Hogan's Heroes-The rather shady demise of Bob Crane speaks for itself.

More the fact that it had "funny" Nazis and a show about soldiers in a WWII prison camp was just an absolutely horrible idea.

[Kristina]

Well DUH! The Facts Of Life, the show delt with drugs, sex, prostitution, friendship, and disorders.

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Blair: I’m an adult

Jo: Oh sure, most adults I know stomp their feet when they don’t get Chinese food!

[Penny Lane]

I have to go with All In The Family and Roseanne.

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Cupcake

[bb]

*Soap!!! When Soap first came to tv in 1977
ABC received 30,000 plus letters of protest.
Soap was for awhile banned in Baltimore and West Virginia for being so dirty. Funny to talk about it now, very tame in this day and age.

Ellen was very controversial. When DeGeneres came out my hometown newspaper begged the local cable system to block the showing ( they didnt ). However the next day after the lesbian/Ellen show aired the paper did an editoral not only slamming ABC, the local channels that showed it as well as the local cable system but the paper attacked the viewers too. Saying that anybody who watched
it deserves to "catch AIDS" and will "burn into the fires of Hell ". The paper was then and still is very homophobic though they toned down a bit in recent years due to its advertisers.

Though not a sitcom, when it first came out I believe all the ABC stations in Virginia refused to show NYPD Blue though that didnt last long either.

[Cloris Leachman Fan]

Originally posted by bb:
[B]Ellen was very controversial. When DeGeneres came out my hometown newspaper begged the local cable system to block the showing ( they didnt ). However the next day after the lesbian/Ellen show aired the paper did an editoral not only slamming ABC, the local channels that showed it as well as the local cable system but the paper attacked the viewers too. Saying that anybody who watched
it deserves to "catch AIDS" and will "burn into the fires of Hell ". The paper was then and still is very homophobic though they toned down a bit in recent years due to its advertisers.[B]

bb are you serious? They actually said that crap about Ellen? It's people like that, that are going to burn in hell for hating someone who likes to date their own sex, in my opinion. Gays/lesbians aren't wrong it's the people who think their wrong.

[boechsner]

The most controversial in no order are:

Roseanne (in general)
Married ...with Children (in general)
All in the Family (in general)
Soap (in general)
Three's Company (in general)
Maude (abortion)
Ellen (homosexuality)
Murphy Brown (single parenting)


These are the shows that generated lots of media attention and even stations refusing to air particular episodes. This was the case with Ellen and Maude.

[bb]

bb are you serious? They actually said that crap about Ellen? It's people like that, that are going to burn in hell for hating someone who likes to date their own sex, in my opinion. Gays/lesbians aren't wrong it's the people who think their wrong.[/QUOTE]

It was right in the paper the day after Ellen aired. The Star is very well known for their anti-gay views and this has been going on for years. In fact the Star said in an another editoral not long ago pretty much that money spent on AIDS/HIV research is a wste of money. Some of the crap I have seen in that paper says that only homosexuals get AIDS.

They have their own website which I would give out the address but I dont want to help out anything that promotes hate. Kinda like me giving out the Rev. Fred Phelps website( who is now launching a GOD HATES AMERICA thing plus celebrating the anniversary of the death of Matthew Sheppard..and he calls himself a pastor??).

Talk about controversial..one of the local radio stations in my state tried to interview him. Didnt work out as not only did the interview didnt happened but we received a memo ( as well as most other stations in WV ) that if we respect our listeners/ viewers we would not allow him to use our airwaves.


[This message has been edited by bb (edited 11-19-2001).]

[classic_tv_fan]

Originally posted by dawsongirl:
More the fact that it had "funny" Nazis and a show about soldiers in a WWII prison camp was just an absolutely horrible idea.

The Nazis were portrayed as bungling idiots, they were funny much in the same sense as the Kingstone Cops were in the old silent films. I don't think Hogan's Heroes EVER glorified Nazis or treated the whole subject of Nazi POW camps lightly. You will find very serious undertones in the series as a whole...personally, I think it was a stroke of genius that someone COULD make a very funny TV series with the backdrop being so somber. I would think that the extreme controversy that must have surrounded this show when it first aired probably helped increase its popularity (plus the fact that it was such a well-written show).

[neo123]

Originally posted by bb:
*Ellen was very controversial. When DeGeneres came out my hometown newspaper begged the local cable system to block the showing ( they didnt ). However the next day after the lesbian/Ellen show aired the paper did an editoral not only slamming ABC, the local channels that showed it as well as the local cable system but the paper attacked the viewers too. Saying that anybody who watched it deserves to "catch AIDS" and will "burn into the fires of Hell ". The paper was then and still is very homophobic though they toned down a bit in recent years due to its advertisers.


Oh for God's sake - sounds to me like the newspaper in your area could use an upgrade to GETTING SOME CLASS - and the people in your town need to chill!! That's bs!!


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"Reality is merely an illusion...howbeit a very persistant one!"
Albert Einstien

"You can get more accomplished with a kind word and a gun, than a kind word alone." Al Cappone.

Hey ALF fans visit
my ALF site (http://www.alf-online.net/).

[duane]

Originally posted by neo123:
Oh for God's sake - sounds to me like the newspaper in your area could use an upgrade to GETTING SOME CLASS - and the people in your town need to chill!! That's bs!!




Ellen has to be by far the most controversial
sitcom of all time. We can talk about All In the Family, 3's Company, even Soap but I have never seen a sitcom/ sitcom star that was attacked more than Ellen and Ellen DeGeneres. For the longest time, even after ABC dropped Ellen many religious broadcasts were still talking about "dyke Ellen" ( as I heard on one such broadcast ). I also remember that the Southern Baptist boycotted Disney/ABC because of Ellen thoug by the time the boycott started Ellen I believe was already off ABC. I still have a hard time to this day believing that Disney extending their benefits package to partnets of gay employees were the chief reason. Unless you work for Disney why should one care and what about the fact that many businesses do this. I work for a nationally known reatil chain and they offer some benefits to partners of our gay/lesbian employees how come the Southern Baptists havent boycotted us yet?

Interesting that some pastors were spending more time talking about Ellen DeGeneres than the teachings of Jesus Christ. Also interesting that many of the things the Bible is against
like sex before marriage, lying, stealing,
living in sin- no one cares anymore if its in a sitcom , but show 2 gay guys( or 2 lesbians )who are both happy and healthy, well thats just two much !!

I also remember reading that some gay/lesbian bars made a deal with Direct TV
to beam in an ABC station from a distant market to show Ellen's coming out because the local ABC station wouldnt show it. Plus Ellen herself received death threats.

Yet it really shouldnt be. This is another example of how screwed up our society is. I am willing to bet money if I put together a sitcom about incest ( daughter leaves husband because she fell in love with her father ) and it got sold to one of the regular networks , I bet even that wouldnt draw the protests and such as say a sitcom about 2 gay men living together trying to enjoy life. GO FIGURE !!!

To some the ONLY way to show a gay man on tv is to show them in a hospital bed down to his last breath dying of AIDS. So sick!!


I am friends with BB ( in fact he was the one who told me about this website ) and I have been to his hometown many of times and that rag of a newspaper, we'll they had a field day the day Ellen came out. The paper is runned by an 83 year old man who is ultra conservative so his attacks again DeGeneres is hardly a surprise.

When it comes to issue of gays on tv, as far as I am concerned a lot of society needs to take a chill pill. It IS BS!!!

[dawsongirl]

Originally posted by classic_tv_fan:
The Nazis were portrayed as bungling idiots, they were funny much in the same sense as the Kingstone Cops were in the old silent films. I don't think Hogan's Heroes EVER glorified Nazis or treated the whole subject of Nazi POW camps lightly. You will find very serious undertones in the series as a whole...personally, I think it was a stroke of genius that someone COULD make a very funny TV series with the backdrop being so somber. I would think that the extreme controversy that must have surrounded this show when it first aired probably helped increase its popularity (plus the fact that it was such a well-written show).

I agree. I've always wondered why people were so hard on HH. Heck, you can even get a decent WWII history lesson by watching. http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif

[classic_tv_fan]

I meant to say 'Keystone Cops' and not 'Kingstone Cops'! Anyway...

Robert Clary, who played LeBeau, was a survivor of the Holocaust, so he must have felt that HH did not disrespect the memory of the victims of that tragedy. Werner Klemperer, from what I've read, insisted that the character (Klink) he portrayed never come out on top, and Klink certainly never did fare well in this series!

I can think of many movies that are being made nowadays that are more controversial with all of the gratutious violence, etc.[/b][/QUOTE]




[This message has been edited by classic_tv_fan (edited 11-24-2001).]