For over a week, I have been posting messages on this board about where "Gimme a Break!" fits into Social Darwinism. The main thing that started me on this kick was seeing a reality show called "America's Court" put in the time slot when syndicated episodes of "Gimme a Break!" were once shown. I would say that this is very symbolic of the trend of Reality TV taking over the vast majority of the channels during the vast majority of hours of the day. It is kind of like talk shows being on during the hours of the afternoon in which game shows were once shown. These are all examples of how the world is constantly changing. In among these threads, I have written about how "Gimme a Break!" was made during the early phase of Social Darwinism in terms of being able to approach such topics as racism, sexism, ageism and even learning disabilities. The media was slowly but surely learning that refusing to talk about such things does not keep them from existing. Well, another topic that I would say fits into the Social Darwinism of the situation is the bathroom habits of both people and animals. This is another reality of life that we have nothing to gain by not talking about. One thing that was commonly joked about by "Brady Bunch" watchers is the fact that, throughout the run of the series, you never saw a toilet! There were a bunch a scenes shot in various bathrooms, but the camera was always at such an angle so that a toilet was never in sight. We saw the shower, the sink, the vanity but no toilet! By the time that "All in the Family" came around, this barrier had been knocked down. In addition to the mentions of the bathroom habits of the human characters, there were also occasional references to the bathroom activities of the Jeffersons' cat and Barney Heffner's dog. "Gimme a Break!" made some effort to take the barriers that shows like "All in the Family" knocked down and run with them. There was the occasional mention of toilet related things. Finally, we come to the "Friend's episode that I have already written so much about in the past week or so. So far, I have already told you about everything from Phoebe taking off her bra to Chandler tossing a cigarette butt on the ground. You see, the main reason that they stopped in the first place was to use the bathrooms at the rest stop. Monica and Phoebe were quite vocal about their need to go. Rachel was very reluctant to use the bathroom at a place like this. Her words were "they never have any paper. I make it a rule, no paper, no tushy"! However, Monica was very concerned about the fact that going as long as Rachel had already ridden in the car without using a toilet quite unhealthy. With Phoebe's help, she was able to talk Rachel into going. I would say that "Gimme a Break!" is a very good example of a stepping stone between what we got during "Brady Bunch" days and shows that feature events like the one that I just described. Now I understand that some of the people reading this might not watch "Friends" and thus, not be familiar with the characters that I mentioned. However, I would think that, from the content in which I wrote about them you can still get the gist of the story.

Seems a silly topic, but when you think about how married couples in sitcoms of the 50s(?) had to have separate beds, as a common rule of television, it does become interesting... the silly do's & dont's of TV over time.
Although I have to admit, I never caught the "no toilet on screen" agenda. And really question, just what messed the up minds that were behind it, were thinking. They ain't nothing sexy about a toilet, so what's the problem? Honestly, the folks behind the censors must have a seriously sketchy mind.
As for Gimme a Break!... I missed the toilet agenda. But the show was great at pushing the envelope, in it's time. I watched season 1 (and a bit of 2) some months ago. Off the top of my head, the issue of a teen on birth-control and the homosexual partner (cop)... I know there's way more topics they burned up. I remember noticing it and thinking, the show did push buttons. Fantastic buttons, lol
I should watch the rest of it.

Seems a silly topic, but when you think about how married couples in sitcoms of the 50s(?) had to have separate beds, as a common rule of television, it does become interesting... the silly do's & dont's of TV over time.
Although I have to admit, I never caught the "no toilet on screen" agenda. And really question, just what messed the up minds that were behind it, were thinking. They ain't nothing sexy about a toilet, so what's the problem? Honestly, the folks behind the censors must have a seriously sketchy mind.
As for Gimme a Break!... I missed the toilet agenda. But the show was great at pushing the envelope, in it's time. I watched season 1 (and a bit of 2) some months ago. Off the top of my head, the issue of a teen on birth-control and the homosexual partner (cop)... I know there's way more topics they burned up. I remember noticing it and thinking, the show did push buttons. Fantastic buttons, lol
I should watch the rest of it.


Very nice to hear from you. In the first place, I see that you are new to this site and I would like to say, "welcome aboard"!. I remember seeing old episodes of shows in which husbands and wives would sleep in separate beds. It seemed pretty silly to me! I see your point about "Gimme a Break!" dealing with birth control, homosexuality and a bunch of other controversial topics. I think they did a pretty good job of it too. They took the barriers that "All in the Family" broke down and ran with them. By the way, do you ever watch "Friends"? I would say that shows like "Friends" took the issues that shows like "Gimme a Break!" ran with and ran even further. I have made a bunch of references to how shows like "Friends" went even further than "Gimme a Break!" in terms of getting into such topics as sex, religion and war. If you are familiar with "Friends", I would be very interested in what you think of the comparisons that I have made.

Seems a silly topic, but when you think about how married couples in sitcoms of the 50s(?) had to have separate beds, as a common rule of television, it does become interesting... the silly do's & dont's of TV over time.
Although I have to admit, I never caught the "no toilet on screen" agenda. And really question, just what messed the up minds that were behind it, were thinking. They ain't nothing sexy about a toilet, so what's the problem? Honestly, the folks behind the censors must have a seriously sketchy mind.
As for Gimme a Break!... I missed the toilet agenda. But the show was great at pushing the envelope, in it's time. I watched season 1 (and a bit of 2) some months ago. Off the top of my head, the issue of a teen on birth-control and the homosexual partner (cop)... I know there's way more topics they burned up. I remember noticing it and thinking, the show did push buttons. Fantastic buttons, lol
I should watch the rest of it.


This thread is one of a series by me in which I compared situations that developed on "Gimme a Break!" to situations that developed on the much more recent series known as "Friends". This is the only thread in this series that generated a reply. Because that show's Jennifer Aniston recently got voted most beautiful woman in the world, I thought it would be fitting to bring this thread to the top of the page. Over on the "Friends" page somebody has already posted a thread about this topic and I have replied to it. I would be very interested in what any of you guys think of that thread or my response.