Were there "fat jokes" about Natalie?

[Impressions]

I don't think there were any direct fat jokes towards Natalie, but there were jokes about her liking fatty foods, especially in season 1:

• Molly gives Natalie a piece of cake in "Adoption" and Nat says, "And you're giving me gifts already" and Molly said "It's your cake."
• Tootie exclaims that she doesn't know what to do with all the jelly beans in "Dope," and Natalie says "Oh, we'll find a place for them."

[RetroGuy2000]

That's true. And as '80s pointed out, Natalie also decides against a piece of fruit in favor of a less healthy option.

I don't think that's a joke as much as it's a truth about her character. It's also incredibly endearing.

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

Okay, so in one of the FOL documentary look-backs, Mindy Cohn praises the show for how "in 9 seasons there was never a fat joke about Natalie. Not one!"

The question is, is she right?

I think she is. There were never any fat jokes like the ones Mama's Family used about Roseanne. Remember the joke in Mama's Family when Mama said she had a nightmare Roseanne was trying to sit on one of her kids or asked Bubba if he was on the Roseanne diet? Those are spiteful, insensitive jokes about someone's weight. They're not funny and can be taken as mean. I'm glad The Facts of Life was a show with class and dignity when it came to stuff like this.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by Impressions

I don't think there were any direct fat jokes towards Natalie, but there were jokes about her liking fatty foods, especially in season 1:

• Molly gives Natalie a piece of cake in "Adoption" and Nat says, "And you're giving me gifts already" and Molly said "It's your cake."

That's not a joke about Natalie and food. The joke is Natalie "proving her point" by pointing out they're giving her gifts already, and Blair pointing out the item offered her was already hers to begin with.

Originally Posted by Impressions

Tootie exclaims that she doesn't know what to do with all the jelly beans in "Dope," and Natalie says "Oh, we'll find a place for them."

Yes, now that is a great example, lol.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by Christopher

I think she is. There were never any fat jokes like the ones Mama's Family used about Roseanne. Remember the joke in Mama's Family when Mama said she had a nightmare Roseanne was trying to sit on one of her kids or asked Bubba if he was on the Roseanne diet? Those are spiteful, insensitive jokes about someone's weight. They're not funny and can be taken as mean. I'm glad The Facts of Life was a show with class and dignity when it came to stuff like this.

That's different though, because she's Mama; she can get away with saying things most anyone else couldn't. Like Vicki Lawrence says, Mama is kind of like Archie Bunker in that respect.

[Impressions]

Originally Posted by '80sSitcoms

That's not a joke about Natalie and food. The joke is Natalie "proving her point" by pointing out they're giving her gifts already, and Blair pointing out the item offered her was already hers to

Well, I guess with that first example, it was a bit of a stretch. I guess I was trying to find something that wasn’t really there.

But I mean I can’t think of any direct fat jokes per say, but I definitely think the writers did draw attention and hinted at her weight issue and her looks in general. They often just deal with it in a comedic way, and not in the form of an insult really but in the form of self-deprecating humor and back door compliments.

For example, like that time in “A Friend in Deed” when Natalie said she was going to get an “everything job” when she saves enough money. This was in reference to Blair’s mother’s new facelift. Or there was that time when said she needed a pack of Oreos to get her through the night to take care of the baby in the episode “A Baby in the House.” The cast also poked at her weight a little in the episode “Sex Symbol.” In the first scene, Neil gives her a kind of a back door compliment saying she’s not like the other girls, because she “doesn’t care about her looks.” It was a little insulting but Natalie just brushed it off and laughed. The cast also, rather cruelly and uncharacteristically might I add, laughed at the thought that Natalie is a sex symbol because Neil went around saying she was easy, which we know isn’t true. They were kinda saying that she wasn’t good looking enough to be easy or slutty? Which I mean could be considered a backdoor compliment in a way, I suppose, but again, that could be a stretch too.

So yeah, the fat humor is kinda there. It’s just hidden as subtle nuances throughout the show. I’m sure there’s more examples that I could pick over but I think I addressed a few of them from the first three seasons, which I’m currently rewatching now that I have the full series on DVD.