Throughout the past week or so, I have written quite a bit about where "Gimme a Break!" fits into the Social Darwinism of TV. I have done a lot of comparing of "Gimme a Break!" with other shows that came before before and after it. I would say that shows like "All in the Family" broke down the barriers for shows like "Gimme a Break!". Shows like "Gimme a Break!", in turn broke down barriers for shows like "Friends". I concentrated quite a bit on an episode of "Friends" that was on the W.B. 11 two night ago. I found a lot of things that went on in this episode to be like updated versions of things that had gone on in "Gimme a Break!". This had to do with the liberalism of being able to talk about such topics as religion, politics, war and even the wearing (or not wearing) of bras! One thing that I briefly mentioned in my last thread is that fact that the character of Chandler lit up a cigarette. The issue of it being bad to smoke has been mentioned as far back as the "Honeymooners". However, by the time of the "Brady Bunch" it got dealt with in a much more controversial way. We then go through, "All in the Family", "The Facts of Life", "Gimme a Break!" and eventually "Friends". The progression of time in terms of how to relate to smoking and the people who do it all goes back to the Social Darwinism that I have already written so much about. I would say that the second-season "Gimme a Break!" episode called "Julie Smokes" was very daring for its time. However, later on, other shows took the barriers that eighties shows broke down and ran with them. "Friends" is a prime example. It was implied in "Friends" that Chandler's reasons for having started smoking were related to the stress of being an only child, his parents divorce, other children making fun of him and so on. Well, one night after the "Ski Trip" episode, there was an episode of "Friends" that dealt with the issue of Chandler being talked into giving up smoking. I would say that the circumstances in which Chandler got manipulated into giving up smoking was very much like an updated version of the circumstances in which Julie got manipulated into giving up smoking on "Gimme a Break!". Any thoughts anyone?