From Sunday thru Thursday, it is a ritual of mine to check over the TV schedule for the next morning into the early afternoon. I went through the listing for Channel 11, and, sure enough, "America's Court" is still on at three in the morning. For anyone who might be new to this page, this is the time that syndicated episodes of "Gimme a Break!" used to be shown. In any event, during the late night hours tonight, on the same channel, there will be an episode of "Friends" called "The One with the Ski Trip". Thinking about how an episode like this measure up to episodes of "Gimme a Break!" goes back to the social Darwinism that I have written quite a bit about on this page in the recent past. Throughout the run of "Gimme a Break!", there was quite a bit of mention of the bras worn by Nell, Katie and Julie. At the start of the series, Samantha was still a couple of years away from bra-wearing potential. However, the show lasted long past the time that she sprouted a chest. I do not remember if her existence as a person who wears a bra ever got mentioned. In any event, by the time that this show came out, it had already become acceptable to mention such topics as bras, pantyhose and mental retardation on prime time TV. It was through shows like "All in the Family" that the world learned that nobody turns into a pumpkin just because a controversial topic gets mentioned. However, the topics that came up in shows like "Gimme a Break!" were the minor leagues compared to what you would get when shows like "Friends" would come around! In this particular episode, five of the six main characters headed to a ski resort in Upstate New York. On their way, they stopped in a rest area to use the bathroom. I am not sure if they locked themselves out of their car or if the battery died on them or what. I do remember that Joey had an idea on how to get them moving again, but that he needed the wire of a woman's bra. There was a big debate about whether it would be Monica, Rachel or Phoebe who would surrender her bra! After much ado, it was Phoebe who was brave enough to reach down her blouse and pull out her bra. The notion of Lisa Kudrow unhooking her bra really activated my twenty-something hormones! Just like the thought of Lauri Hendler stuffing Kleenex down her bra activated my teenage hormones! And thinking about it all in retrospect still causes a forty-six-year old me to salivate!