I think we didn’t have the knowledge about transgender people back then, so I’m not sure if we use the appropriate terms.
I don’t know if I would have known those terms back then. I think that’s the biggest one.
I might have not done the hermaphrodite stuff today if I had that to do over in the one with Brad Pitt.”— Friends creator Marta Kauffman speaking to USA Today about the legacy of the ’90s TV staple. Many have pointed out that some storylines did not age well. In particular, Chandler’s (Matthew Perry) father is portrayed by Kathleen Turner as a transgender woman with a show called Viva Las Gaygas. In another episode, guest star Bratt Pitt’s character is revealed to have started a rumor in high school that Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) is a hermaphrodite.
Brian
I’ve seen a few Three’s Company episodes recently. I’m actually surprised there hasn’t been retroactive protesting against it, as it still airs on one of those classic TV channels.
The physical humor still holds up though.
Billy Budd
Kathleen Turner got fat and matron-like to soon. And her carreer suffered. Actresses are simply not allowed to grow old. She was terrific in BODY HEAT, and PRIZZI’s HONOR and in CRIMES OF PASSION.
Man About Town
That’s because she became stricken with rheumatoid arthritis, a painful disease that makes you look like you’ve blown up. She wrote about it in her memoir and how much it affected her life and her career.
Wicked Dickie
If they were to go through old tv shows and find offensive jokes, TV Land would be off the air.
Billy Budd
Racial bigotry and other not-politically-correct stuff are abundant in art from the past. For instance, old novels are full of the dreaded N word.
Kangol2
Racism, homophobia, misogyny, etc., are abundant in past art–books, movies, etc.–but does that make it OK? Just trying to figure out what you’re asserting here.
Billy Budd
My point is that you can prevent things from being said now or in the future. But you cannot censor what has happened in good art from the past. The times were different. When Tom Sawyer says that Huck Finn or whoever is a N*****, it is something normal.
ShowMeGuy
There is a difference between a joke being *insert label here*phobic or *insert label here*ist versus having that *label* as a theme for a joke.
Creamsicle
I’ve been watching Taxi recently, and the humor would cause tumblr and Twitter to explode with outrage.
The fat jokes alone in one of the early episodes even had me doing a double take. Maybe that’s because fat jokes on TV aren’t nearly as common as they used to be, now that so many people are fat.
kookookachoo
I suppose those episodes will join the several SNL episodes with cocaine references from back in the 70s, never to be seen again. lol
DuMaurier
This isn’t so much a defense as something to consider; when and where and considering what high schoolers can be like, a “hermaphrodite” revenge rumor is pretty believable in context. It wasn’t the “writers” doing it, it was the characters. Yes, I get that there’s a ‘blur’ factor there; did the writers’ insensitivity drown out a ‘ping!’ warning? But in the end, it was Ross and Pitt’s character acting out that way, and it seems believable to me. And that goes for a lot of the squirrelly, thoughtless, casually bigoted stuff this or that character might say or do.
Tiberious
For the time, having a transgendered character portrayed as someone her adult son should love and accept was already a big step in the right direction.
DCguy
If you want to really be shocked something went out on film. Watch the old movie “Breakfast at Tiffanys” with Audrey Hepburn.
Mickey Rooney plays her Chinese landlord SO racist, over the top, compete with fake buck teeth that I’m surprised it made it on screen even back then.
DennisBTR
It’s encouraging to see that at least some people get it – you can’t judge past actions by today’s standards. To do so is idiotic.