Presenting 10 1980s sitcoms that wouldn't fly today

[TMC]

https://screenrant.com/hit-sitcoms-8...oday-outdated/

Growing Pains, The Facts of Life, Diff'rent Strokes, Charles in Charge and Mr. Belvedere are among the 1980s comedies that would seem outdated in 2020.

[merlinjones]

I didn't care for that brand of sitcom even in the 80s. (Though I admit to liking the theme song to Charles in Charge).

I never realized the pitch for Growing Pains was that the dad was stay at home. That's a revelation.

[cfr1970]

I have to disagree with his choice of The Facts of Life. In fact, he doesn't even say WHY he feels this show "wouldn't fly today". If you're going to make claims like this, you need to back it up with valid reasons. Just saying the characters were "80's stereotypes" doesn't cut it.
And I don't even know where he gets that from. The characters were simply a diverse mix of teenage girls and you can clearly do the same thing today and it would be relevant.

[Bloodsucking Bernie]

People who makes these list never seem to relize, if these shows were done today the character wouldn' have 80s personality. They would all have modern personalities. You can only judge them on the premises of the show. So a bunch of girls living together, a stay at home dad or a rich family with a butler, how exactly do those premises not work. Is Charlie's in Charge any different than Jessie which was just on the Disney channel. List like these make no sense there always just an excuse to pretend the 80s are dated. Most of us who like 80s shows know better.

[TMC]

I somewhat agree that Diff'rent Strokes would probably be hard to fly today. More cynical people would immediately write the show off as a "white savior narrative" (the whole premise of DS is when you get right down to it, about a benevolent wealthy white person in Mr. Drummond coming in to "rescue" two orphaned black kids from the mean streets of Harlem) a la that movie with Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side.

I suspect that the argument about Growing Pains is that nowadays, it probably isn't that big of a deal for the mom to be in effect, the breadwinner while the dad stayed at home. Also, the various backstage problems like Kirk Cameron becoming a diva following his religious awakening and Tracey Gold's eating disorder has made the show harder to revisit.

Mr. Belvedere in a round about way, was kind of the same show as Charles in Charge. Both were about a outsider/hired domestic worker who helps solves the daily problems of their employers. I don't know if that necessarily means that those types of shows are too dated to work today. The article did mention that Mr. Belvedere fell victim to the "very special episode" trap that was present in sitcoms from the '80s.

I think that I addressed elsewhere that Webster as a show doesn't seem to stand to the test of time, because it was already a very bland and saccharine show. It wanted to cash-in on the success of Diff'rent Strokes had a smidgen of Norman Lear-esque social commentary and Gary Coleman's Arnold Jackson was a way more interesting character than Emmanuel Lewis' Webster Long. What didn't help Webster was that it was often times a very dark, creepy and depressing show. Punky Brewster had the same issue in that it was a show ostensibly for kids, but it went way over the edge in wanting to show them the harsh realities of life and the world.

Silver Spoons kind of strikes me as a show with a very basic premise. In this case, what if man-children were suddenly forced to become responsible. Again, I don't necessarily think that something like that can't work today. It's just that it's kind of hard to remember anything else about the show other than how the dad had a mansion that was full of arcade games, a race car shaped bed and a working train that weaved its way through the mansion.

[cfr1970]

Originally Posted by TMC

I somewhat agree that Diff'rent Strokes would probably be hard to fly today. More cynical people would immediately wrote the show off as a "white savior narrative" (the whole premise of DS is when you get right down to it, about a benevolent wealthy white person in Mr. Drummond coming in to "rescue" two orphaned black kids from the mean streets of Harlem) a la that movie with Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side.

I can actually see today's warped media bringing the show back but flipping it and turning it into a rich black family that takes in a couple of poor white trash kids.

But I do see how the original premise of Different Strokes wouldn't be acceptable today. I haven't watched this show in a long time, and when I saw the opening of the first few episodes it was kind of startling watching through 21st century eyes.

You see a rich old white man pull up in a limo and pluck 2 little black boys off the playground and take them back to his apartment. All the while the looks on their faces implies that they've never been there before since they're all pointing in awe at the big building.

To someone who never seen it before, it looks like this man was trolling the parks for little black boys to take home with him with sinister intentions. And then you see both Willis & Arnold sitting apparently naked in a hot tub while chatting with Mr. Drummond. The whole thing just comes off downright creepy today.

[JamesG]

Originally Posted by cfr1970

To someone who never seen it before, it looks like this man was trolling the parks for little black boys to take home with him with sinister intentions. And then you see both Willis & Arnold sitting apparently naked in a hot tub while chatting with Mr. Drummond. The whole thing just comes off downright creepy today.

Creepy Intro

[cfr1970]

It seems like they were trying to go for a Jeffersons type opening but somewhere along the way things went terribly wrong lol.

[icecream]

Originally Posted by TMC

I somewhat agree that Diff'rent Strokes would probably be hard to fly today. More cynical people would immediately wrote the show off as a "white savior narrative" (the whole premise of DS is when you get right down to it, about a benevolent wealthy white person in Mr. Drummond coming in to "rescue" two orphaned black kids from the mean streets of Harlem) a la that movie with Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side.

The Blind Side is a popular movie that Sandra Bullock won her first Oscar for, hardly a flop or something the premise is rejected.

[Tubehead]

i know one would be family ties!! i couldn't image Alex p keaton talking about donald trump!! another show i wouldn't think would make would be sanford & son!! did you guys catch the reboot of All in the family & the jefferson' or All in the family & good times!! they were pretty good!! I really liked jamie fox as george jefferson!! another show i would add is amen!! it really wasn't christian based but they talked about god & church!! so i don't think it would fly today!! it also stars Sherman Hemsley aka george jefferson!!

here's an few
sea hunt me & my uncle bill really liked it !!i think it could be tv series or movie trilogy!! i recently gotten 1 thru 4 the complete tv series! it was back in the 1960s & it was in black & white!! i don't think it would coast much money to make!! cause there mostly under water most of the time!! it about this group who hunt for buried treasures or stop people form steeling buried treasures
dinosaurs
bosom buddies
perfect strangers
home inmprovment well last man standing is kind of liked home improvement
family matters
saved by the bell
the golden girls

[TMC]

A big theme for '80s sitcoms (on all three networks) were that they were family-centered shows with a moral lesson in every episode. It's not that surprising that the virtually all of the shows on that particular list can fit into that category. Cheers was one of the few hit sitcoms of it's time that was for adults and had adult themes.

[dee2364]

I grew up watching Diff'rent Strokes as a kid, and looking back on it as an adult, the entire premise feels so strange and unnatural to me now. Mr. Drummond wasn't just a rich white guy but very white bread, the exact type that would be backwards enough to hire a black maid in the 1970s and have a patronizing attitude towards blacks.

[dee2364]

Originally Posted by TMC

I somewhat agree that Diff'rent Strokes would probably be hard to fly today. More cynical people would immediately write the show off as a "white savior narrative" (the whole premise of DS is when you get right down to it, about a benevolent wealthy white person in Mr. Drummond coming in to "rescue" two orphaned black kids from the mean streets of Harlem) a la that movie with Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side.

That is not even remotely what the "white savior" trope is.

This trope is the scenario of a white person entering the realm of a race of people who are in some kind of conflict and becomes the one who rises to the occasion and saves the day. For example, Lawrence of Arabia (white man saves Arabs), Dances with Wolves (white man saves Native Americans), The Magnificent Seven (white men save Mexican indigenous people), Fern Gully (white man saves elf kingdom from evil loggers), Avatar (white man saves blue alien people), etc.

It's called the "white savior" trope because the people needing to be saved are often portrayed as being completely helpless against the invaders until the white character stumbles into town and becomes their leader and hero.

With that being said, the criticism about Diff'rent Strokes would be coming from the other side. Racists would be ranting that this was nothing more than "SJW Hollyweird BS," "forced diversity," and "anti-white propaganda" because it's perpetuating "white guilt." Mr. Drummond would be written off as a "soyboy beta cuck" and "SJW."

Just putting this out there because it's amazing to me how people who are so adamant about so-called "PC" ruining everything are completely deaf, blind and dumb to the toxicity coming out of certain camps. These camps are right now as we speak tearing down Star Wars for daring to have female and minority characters (which the franchise has always had), but somehow it's the PC Crowd that is the bigger threat.

[Sal]

A few other shows that wouldn't fly today:


I'll Fly Away
Flying Blind
The Flying Nun
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Wings
Pan-Am

plus Fantasy Island ("Boss! Boss! Where's the plane? There's no plane!")

and of course....Superman!

("It's a bird, it's a plane....no, wait, it really is a bird!")

[king of comedy]

The Facts of Life is still relevant today and more than Differant Strokes.