You notice something strange about the Lionel interracial dating episode??

[SitcomsHeydayfan]

Lionel and Archie's niece simply go dancing once or a few times and they get a FRAMED picture with Lionel's arm around her?? And she was leaving the next day to go back to Buffalo!

Married couples get a picture like that not dance partners for a few days! Plus they never gave an explanation as to why the framed picture HAS to be kept on the table next to Archie's chair.

Of course they had to do that for the storyline. I think the episode was in season 3 called "Lionel Steps Out" .

[OH Nuts!]

Well, it’s TV, it doesn’t ‘t have to be completely logical or realistic. Buy, YES, in real life this would be odd.

[cfr1970]

If I recall, Edith inadvertently placed the picture on that table without thinking when the phone rang and she went to get it. It wasn't intentionally placed there. After she got off the phone and Archie came home, she realized where she left it and tried to get it away from there quick.

Also, that niece Lionel dated was apparently scrapped from existence later on because when Billie came along in Archie Bunker's Place, she was now an only child to Fred. There was an episode that played recently where she confronts her father Fred about why her mother abandoned her and there's no mention of her having any siblings.

[SitcomsHeydayfan]

Originally Posted by Alan Brady's Hair

I think it's plausible. They met at Trudy's party, where someone was taking pictures. When Lionel showed up at the Bunkers, Linda was able to guess what he was carrying, so they must have discussed the picture. It's not unlikely that Linda said she'd like a copy of the picture, and that Lionel got a print made and had it framed.

I think it's less plausible that Edith just left the picture out. She should have stashed it somewhere so that Archie could stumble across it.

But it looked like a studio picture that married couples go get. There's no way you'd get a studio picture for just going on a few dancing dates.

Plus why would get a framed picture of someone who's leaving the next and you'd likely never see again?? It's clear it was done just for the plotline.

[SitcomsHeydayfan]

Originally Posted by Alan Brady's Hair

Nonetheless, the script said the picture was taken at a party.

As a general rule, if a pretty young stewardess says she wants a copy of a photo with a young man, the young man will get a copy of the photo, blown up and suitably framed.

Another oddity is Lionel showed ZERO interest in 11 years on the Jeffersons in dating white women. Yet the first woman he dates on AITF is a white woman.

[TV Guy]

Originally Posted by SitcomsHeydayfan

Another oddity is Lionel showed ZERO interest in 11 years on the Jeffersons in dating white women. Yet the first woman he dates on AITF is a white woman.

Lionel was engaged or married during all his appearances on The Jeffersons. He didn’t show any interest in any woman other than Jenny.

[SitcomsHeydayfan]

Originally Posted by TV Guy

Lionel was engaged or married during all his appearances on The Jeffersons. He didn’t show any interest in any woman other than Jenny.

Not true. In the beginning he was just dating Jenny. If Lionel took a break from Jenny and dated a white woman you would've seen the biggest temper tantrum in the history of TV!

If you thought Archie got mad at his niece for dating outside her race just imagine how unbelievably MAD Joltin' George would've been if his son dated outside of his race!

[SitcomsHeydayfan]

Originally Posted by Alan Brady's Hair

About half of the conflict in The Jeffersons is that George does think that Jenny is "outside of his race."

But he called her "zebra", "half & half", & "2 tone job". He made it clear that she was mixed and always liked that she APPEARED black with a black mother.

It's a TOTALY different story if Lionel dated a white girl with NO black parents at all!

[MikeLutton]

what if he married bunker's neice from the episode lionel steps out

[SitcomsHeydayfan]

Originally Posted by MikeL

what if he married bunker's neice from the episode lionel steps out

That would've never happened in the 1970s. Studio execs barely let Tom and Helen Willis be married. But that was a white man/black woman marriage. CBS actually got protest letters and calls when Tom and Helen first kissed!

So a white woman/black marriage would have been unthinkable back then on a weekly show!

[Johnny be good!]

Now it’s not a big deal mostly.

[SitcomsHeydayfan]

Originally Posted by Johnny be good!

Now it’s not a big deal mostly.

Right . You see interracial couples more often on TV. However it's still not common or anything.

Producers know it turns a lot of people off and you might be surprised to know that blacks can find it MORE upsetting than whites! Especially when it's a black man dating/marrying a white woman.

[Johnny be good!]

I know, it’s crazy.