I use to love those episodes growing up. There just aren't sitcoms like that anymore. The two parters that glued viewers to their sets. The sitcoms that dealt with sensitive subject matter. Anybody agree? Disagree?

Yeah, I do.

I know it's popular to make fun of them, but I miss the days when sitcoms at least tried to do something serious. The overwhelming tone of almost every sitcom these days is irony and snark; the "Lettermanization" of network television.

I like snark in its place, but for real viewer investment, you need to inject some heart into a show. And nobody these days is doing it.

I liked watching them, as long as the producers remembered that they are sitcoms and didn't do it too often.

YES!!!

Diff'rent Strokes is a great example of that with the molester, hitchiking, and bank robbery episodes coming to mind.

No.

I enjoyed them it was interesting how they dealt with problems. My favorite was All In The Family Edith's 50th Birthday when she was attacked, it was one of the best two parter of the series.

The 'special' episodes were handled much better back in that era. 'Diff'rent Strokes', 'The Facts Of Life', and 'Gimme A Break' had some excellent special episodes.

http://www.youtube.com/user/MisterSitcom

Guys, if you go there you can find many of the controversial Diff'rent Strokes episodes - click on miscellaneous (bulimia, bicycle man, and sam's kidnapping are all there!)

RIP Gary Coleman :(
Very sad news today

I hope I don't sound like an old grump, but I've always disliked sitcom episodes that deal with serious or sensitive subjects. I watch sitcoms because I want...comedy. If I'm in the mood for drama on TV (hardly ever, actually), I'll watch a TV drama. I definitely wouldn't be interested in finding out that Gilligan is super-skinny because he has an eating disorder, or that Mr. Howell sleeps with Teddy because he has mental health problems, and so on....

Yes, i loved those episodes. I grew up in the 80's and 90's and always loved when a sitcom would get serious. Soem of my favorite serious sitcom episodes included "Blossom", "Home Improvement", "The Facts Of Life" and "Full House". those were great and i miss sitcoms like these ones.