TV Moments That Didn't Age Well

[Lily Adler]

What TV Moments didn't age well. Personally felt the I Love Lucy black eye episode didn't sit right with me.

 

[Zantera]

I can't think of something specific that has offended me but with shows like Friends and The Simpsons it's interesting some things they got away with in the 90s/early 00s that definitely would have caused an uproar today (and some of those scenes have and people want things edited out etc).

 

[Lily Adler]

I can't think of something specific that has offended me but with shows like Friends and The Simpsons it's interesting some things they got away with in the 90s/early 00s that definitely would have caused an uproar today (and some of those scenes have and people want things edited out etc).

There was an offhand joke in the episode The Simpsons go to Japan that didn't age well. It involved some get rich quick guy saying he was able to live a life of luxury through tricks and cutting corners and one of those was hiring trans models instead of female ones on his rented yacht party. The crowd responds in disgust.

 

[Prison Mike]

Pretty much anything involving Michael Scott in The Office. You won’t be able to do that same show today.

Then again, I don’t think you should view past shows/movies with the same standards you have today (or at least to the point where it affects your enjoyment that you previously had with watching that show or movie). There are things going on in current TV and movies that will be viewed differently 10 years from today.

 

[Lily Adler]

Pretty much anything involving Michael Scott in The Office. You won’t be able to do that same show today.

Then again, I don’t think you should view past shows/movies with the same standards you have today (or at least to the point where it affects your enjoyment that you previously had with watching that show or movie). There are things going on in current TV and movies that will be viewed differently 10 years from today.

Season 1 Michael, especially. The scene with Kelly was oh so cringe inducing.

 

[Prison Mike]

Yeah Michael is supposed to be cringe inducing.

 

[Drizzle]

Whenever Michael did something cringey and racist, he was always shown to be in the wrong for doing so. See also: Archie Bunker (but on a greater scale). Things like that I don't consider to have aged horribly because the writers were never condoning the actions of those characters to begin with.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

One of my favorite Simpson’s episodes was when Homer thinks that Bart is gay so he does everything he can to try to keep Bart straight

It’s one of the most hilarious episodes they’ve done but I can already imagine the uproar on Twitter if it would have been released today

 

[Erik20]

I can't think of something specific that has offended me but with shows like Friends and The Simpsons it's interesting some things they got away with in the 90s/early 00s that definitely would have caused an uproar today (and some of those scenes have and people want things edited out etc).

There are a lot of moments in Friends where the women make a comment about a guy (usually one of the male friends) doing or saying something that makes him look "gay" to them.

Then there's also Ross with his lesbian ex-wife, and Chandler with his transgender dad which are all storylines basically used as a joke.

 

[Lily Adler]

One of my favorite Simpson’s episodes was when Homer thinks that Bart is gay so he does everything he can to try to keep Bart straight

It’s one of the most hilarious episodes they’ve done but I can already imagine the uproar on Twitter if it would have been released today

There was an uproar back then too. And I love that episode. A lot of gay panic jokes probably wouldn't fly now. Seinfeld did a good job satiring it, though.

 

[Lily Adler]

There are a lot of moments in Friends where the women make a comment about a guy (usually one of the male friends) doing or saying something that makes him look "gay" to them.

Then there's also Ross with his lesbian ex-wife, and Chandler with his transgender dad which are all storylines basically used as a joke.

Phoebe's obvious bisexuality being played for laughs, but it did come in at funny times like Monica being mad she chose Rachel over her. Chandler coming off gay.

 

[DarkKnight88]

One of my favorite Simpson’s episodes was when Homer thinks that Bart is gay so he does everything he can to try to keep Bart straight

It’s one of the most hilarious episodes they’ve done but I can already imagine the uproar on Twitter if it would have been released today

It’s so satirical though with John Waters himself educating Homer in the end and having Homer be in the wrong (as he usually is). I think, like Seinfeld, they’ve held up pretty well in that regard compared to most shows from the 90s.

 

[DarkKnight88]

Whenever Michael did something cringey and racist, he was always shown to be in the wrong for doing so. See also: Archie Bunker (but on a greater scale). Things like that I don't consider to have aged horribly because the writers were never condoning the actions of those characters to begin with.

This. Like Curb Your Enthusiasm, the show is aware the character is wrong and they pay for it.

When I read the title of the thread to me it means a show that was unaware of itself or its character and when looked back a moment or episode doesn’t hold up because of it.

Bulldog from Frasier would definitely be MeToo’d and cancelled today in a heartbeat.

 

[Zantera]

I think the one thing in Friends that doesn't necessarily offends me but I find too low even for my taste is how they treat Chandler's dad. Him being closeted trans and then leaving Chandler's mom does lead to some jokes that are fairly funny but I almost get frustrated with how Chandler treats his dad because despite everything he actually seems like a pretty caring parent and he's basically frozen out because of the way he is.

The stuff with Monica being fat I can see offending some people, the way they treat someone being feminine as 'gay' constantly and so on. I don't really get overly offended about these scenarios and some of them are still funny to me but I can see a new sitcom being made today would have a lot of these elements gone.

 

[Prison Mike]

I thought Chandler’s dad was frozen out because he left them (he and his mom). Yeah the trans thing was played up for laughs but I thought the root of the tension was due to him leaving them? Could be wrong though.

 

[Bobber]

Always Sunny has always been doing stuff that was crossing the line, whilst it's been obvious that the creators were very aware what was right and what was wrong.

Having said that, some of their trans stuff really hasn't aged well.

 

[Dr.]

Now controversial because Piscopo is a Trump supporter...

 

[Zantera]

I thought Chandler’s dad was frozen out because he left them (he and his mom). Yeah the trans thing was played up for laughs but I thought the root of the tension was due to him leaving them? Could be wrong though.

That was a part of it but it seemed a lot of Chandler's hate (or negative feelings) towards his dad was because he embarrassed him and he does have a hard time with the drag show stuff.

 

[SV Fan]

Professional Wrestling was very guilty of playing up stereotypes back in the day. I am fairly certain something like this couldn't make TV today

 

[Primal Slayer]

Sex and the City views on bisexuals and trans. And forcing your only two gay characters into a romance because they are both the only major gays in the show.

 

[Erik20]

And forcing your only two gay characters into a romance because they are both the only major gays in the show.

Soap operas used to do that all the time with black people. Often they only had one black character in a smaller role. Then after a while the creators probably thought it was time to give them their own storyline, so another black actor enters the show, and guess who they happen to fall in love with...

 

[Silvermoth]

 

[Schlosser85]

Tbh I'm glad these shows were made when they were made before Twitter was around to freak out every five minutes.

That being said, there are some super cringey gay/trans jokes/characters.

Personally I always found Jack on Will and Grace a grating caricature and never thought that show was as progressive as it liked to think it was. Yea yea, Glee was a hot mess, but it did a better job presenting an effeminate flamboyant, potentially stereotypical gay man as an actual dimensional human being with serious dramatic storylines instead of treating him like a cartoon character.

 

[DarkKnight88]

Lol

90s sitcoms sure loved Trump!

 

[AndrewGilkison]