One very common theme for a TV show is the evils of smoking. Episodes of shows dealing with this topic have been done more times then I can say grace over! It has been done as far back as the "Honeymooners" and continues to get done today. In 1983, there was an episode of "Gimme a Break!" called "Julie Smokes". In this episode, the topic of how terrible it is to smoke was dealt with in a typical and highly predictable manner. The fact that I am mentioning it now is because of an episode of another show that I saw this very evening. Here in New Jersey, there is a syndication channel that shows episodes of "Happy Days" at nine-thirty weeknights. Tonight's episode was from 1979 and it was called "Smokin Ain't Cool". Early in this episode, the character of Joanie was caught smoking. By the end of the episode, she had learned her lesson in very much the same way that Julie would learn hers four years later. A very good example of how, the more TV changes, the more it stays the same! There are two things about the "Gimme a Break!" episode that I realize that I have written about before, but I would like to mention again. One thing that I really liked about this episode is the blouse that the chief found when he was going through Julie's room. This is the one with the hand prints over her bosoms! On top of this, I liked the scene in which Katie was headed for the mall. In this scene, she was dressed very nicely and was carrying a pretty grey purse. I thought she looked lovely with this purse over her shoulder!

Do you know any recent sitcoms that have done smoking episodes? I haven't seen that trope in a long time. I know they still play a lot of anti-smoking commercials on MTV.

Do you know any recent sitcoms that have done smoking episodes? I haven't seen that trope in a long time. I know they still play a lot of anti-smoking commercials on MTV.


The most recent sitcoms that I can recall that had an anti-smoking theme were "Mad About You" and "Friends".

There was a King of Queens episode where the wife was hiding her habit.

I remember that episode. I couldn't understand why the chief couldn't smell the cigarette Julie had just fired up before he walked back in the room to apologize.

I remember that episode. I couldn't understand why the chief couldn't smell the cigarette Julie had just fired up before he walked back in the room to apologize.

I remember that episode. I couldn't understand why the chief couldn't smell the cigarette Julie had just fired up before he walked back in the room to apologize.


That is a good point. In any event, I can only think of one thing that would have made that episode even better. That is, if we got to see Julie wearing the blouse with the hand prints on her bosoms!