WEBVTT - Death of the Very Special Episode 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:05.360 You know, I've spent many hours with children who've gotten 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:09.760 involved with drugs. They start your age even younger. 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:14.160 In March of nineteen eighty three, at the behest of 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:18.720 a sixth grader named Arnold Jackson, First Lady Nancy Reagan 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:22.640 visited a classroom at New York City's PS four h 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:24.919 six to talk about drugs. 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:28.600 And they're all tragic stories of kids with great potential 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:30.520 whose lives were ruined. 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:34.440 But this New York City classroom was actually on a 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:39.440 Los Angeles soundstage, and Arnold Jackson was a character played 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:41.440 by actor Gary Coleman. 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.960 Who children about Missus Rady's. 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:49.120 Well, I happened to be here in New York and 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:51.240 I saw that story about you in the paper, Arnold. 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.080 You know I'm very concerned about drug abuse, especially among 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:55.480 the young. 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:59.920 Missus Reagan was taping an episode of the popular NBC 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:04.600 sitcom Different Strokes to promote her Just Say No anti 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:05.480 drug campaign. 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.280 In the plot the series, regular Arnold actor Gary Coleman 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.160 gets some help from Missus Reagan in his own effort 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:14.120 to curb drug abuse among students. 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:18.000 Do you remember when the Nancy Reagan Different Strokes episode aired? 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:20.119 Yes, absolutely, because it was a big deal. 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:23.119 I mean, it was definitely like, this is something that 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:24.319 we have to talk about. 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:29.720 This is Jessica Shawl. She hosts the pop Culture Spotlight 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:34.319 on Serious Exam Radio, and it's written about television for decades. 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:36.360 I mean, I'm gen X. 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:38.520 The fact that my parents even knew I existed was 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.120 like a minor miracle, you know. So the fact that 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:45.080 adults were going on our shows, they weren't going on 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:47.280 the news, they were going on our shows to reach 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:50.040 us felt different and kind of. 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:55.120 Special, very special. Over thirty two million people watched The 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:58.600 First Lady that night. Do you remember what your reaction 0:01:58.840 --> 0:01:59.440 to it was. 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:03.280 I'm sure that I took it kind of earnestly as 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:07.720 a child, because we weren't cynical like children are now. 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.600 Let's say, in like the twenty twenties. I think in 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:12.880 the eighties there was a little bit more of like, oh, 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:15.600 I need to listen to the First Lady and what 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:16.359 she has to say. 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:17.360 This is Reagan. 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:23.160 I guess there's something I should say. I've tried drugs 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:24.600 a few times. 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:26.000 Thank you. 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:29.400 That took as much courage as it did for Arnold 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:30.240 to write a story. 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:36.160 This feels like the prototypical very special episode. 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:38.720 Yes, I mean absolutely. 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:43.680 The very special episode a mainstay of nineteen eighties and 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:47.640 early nineteen nineties television. It often came with a warning 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:52.080 to parents that the ordinarily hermetically sealed off world of 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:56.240 your favorite family friendly series was about to get injected 0:02:56.440 --> 0:03:01.200 with a dose of the real world. Tuesday, Very Special. 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:04.360 Fullhouse, We're starting a special two part show on a 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:06.120 very sensitive and important subject. 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:07.000 You figured we'd talk to. 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:10.200 You kids and your parents two about smits kind of 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:11.000 hard to talk about. 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:15.640 The laughs would still be there, just more muted. It 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:16.639 could get awkward. 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:19.359 Well, I get eight present that I'm doing pretty good. 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:24.639 This was the sitcom itself in an in between state, 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:29.040 experiencing its own well growing pains. 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:30.639 What happened to his second chance? 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:36.680 But never fear. The main characters would remain safe and unchanged, 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:39.280 and in the end, all would be back to normal. 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:41.880 It just might take more than one episode. 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:44.200 The resolution is a big part of it, and it 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:46.120 might not be resolved in twenty two minutes because it's 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:48.200 a big issue. It's a big issue, so it might 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.880 take two whole episodes, which is really enough to unpack. 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:56.920 Let's see AIDS molestation drug use, drug use. 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:02.000 They made headlines and big ratings until they were no 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:06.960 longer special, just cliched. And then the very special episode 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:10.280 was dropped from the schedule. I mean, who needs lessons 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:12.200 when you have Seinfeld. 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:15.240 And just saying basically, there are going to be no 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:17.760 very special episodes. That is the very thing that we 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:20.080 will never do. I mean, what was the quote, no 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:20.760 hugging nor. 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:24.719 Learning, No hugging nor learning from CBS Sunday Morning and 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:29.839 iHeart I'm Morocca and this is a very special episode 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:45.440 of mobituaries. This moment, the death of the very special episode. 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:57.560 Can you speculate on what was the very first very 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:01.000 special episode? I would speculate that it is a Norman 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:05.200 Lear show. That's Jessica Shaw again. I also would have 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:08.440 guessed that the very special episode began with the late 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:16.240 Norman Lear. But we found something even earlier than the 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:20.000 Norman Lear era. It is the February thirteenth, nineteen sixty 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:23.640 season three episode of Leave It to Beaver, Yes, Leave 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:28.120 It to Beaver, and the episode was described as follows. Andy, 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:31.720 a neighborhood drunk, is hired to paint the house and 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.760 Beaver unwittingly gives him some brandy, which you know I 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:37.440 had to say at the time must have been like, 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:38.919 WHOA what is this? 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:48.600 Let me ask you something. Beaver is your father? Would 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:49.680 he have a little bit of whiskey? 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.520 Hero? I'd never seen this before. 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:54.880 First of all, A plus research. 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:58.799 And it's it's so kind of surprising to see Jerry 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:02.839 Mathers as the Beaver or kind of interacting with this 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:04.159 alcoholic house painter. 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:08.280 Once Michael Billy set my father bottle, it was all 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:09.680 that buttonhead brandiant. 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:12.160 Well, that's about what I'm talking about Beaver. 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:16.159 Of course, Beaver's parents find out and reprimand him, But 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.600 big brother Wally makes the point that Beaver didn't know 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:23.400 Andy had a problem. After all, Ward and June Cleaver 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:24.840 hadn't told the boys. 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:27.560 You and Mom shouldn't be scared to tell us things. 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.160 Somebody's got to tell a guy about all the bad. 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:33.560 Junk in the world. He's somehow like the writer's kind 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:37.359 of saying, please, please, let us tell stories that have 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:39.080 a little bit more grit, that are a little bit 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:39.799 more complex. 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:42.800 It also feels like the entire premise of a very 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:45.440 special episode is built on that one line. 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:48.880 Yes, as Wally Cleaver put it. Somebody's got to tell 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:51.240 a guy about all the bad junk in the world. 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:55.839 Ten years later, another family sitcom dared to do just that. 0:06:56.680 --> 0:07:00.600 Bhy This is Elizabeth Montgomery Welcome to be Witch Next 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:04.560 on ABC. Tonight's show was created in the true spirit 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:05.640 of Christmas. 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:10.080 On Christmas Eve nineteen seventy, with silent night playing underneath. 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:15.080 Elizabeth Montgomery, who played good Witch Samantha Stevens on Bewitched, 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:20.080 spoke directly to viewers ahead of an episode entitled Sisters 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:21.000 at Heart. 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:25.240 My friends at Oscar Meyern Company, and I feel it 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:28.720 is a very special Bewitched, conceived in the image of 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:30.760 innocence and filled with truth. 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:35.480 That's right. She even called the episode very special. That's 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:39.280 because the usual bad things that happened on Bewitched involved 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:43.720 spells gone awry, but in this instance, magic was used 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:45.760 to shine a light on racism. 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.640 You've grown the part he said that we shall be colors, 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:51.560 so we couldn't be sisters. 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:56.400 She's a big jump. That's daughter Tabitha, who is white 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:59.920 and also a witch. Her new friend, Lisa is black. 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.960 Tabitha ends up using witchcraft so she and Lisa can 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:07.480 look more alike. She first turns Lisa white, then turns 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:12.480 herself black, then turns the both of them polka dot. Additionally, 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:16.720 Samantha puts a spell on her husband's racist client. He 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:21.000 starts to see everyone, including himself, as black, and by 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:24.480 the end of the episode, he's learned his lesson. I 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:29.360 discovered something about myself. I found out I'm a racist. 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:33.000 A racist. 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:37.800 Oh not the obvious, out in the open type of racist. 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:38.240 Not me. 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:43.200 No, I was a sneaky racist. I was so sneaky 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:44.440 I didn't even know it myself. 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:48.440 Quick side note this episode was co written by a 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:52.640 classroom of black students at Jefferson High School in Los Angeles, 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:56.200 making it even more special. But the Beaver and Bewitched 0:08:56.240 --> 0:09:03.480 episodes were very much exceptions to the rule. The sitcoms 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:06.760 of the nineteen sixties were happily stuck in their own 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:11.200 fantasy world, completely divorced from the reality of the times. 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:15.880 Did divorce even come up? In our season two episode 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:20.080 on Television's Rural Purge, we talked about the country themed 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:24.680 shows that dominated the airwaves that decade, especially at CBS 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:28.640 on the Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres. There were no 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:33.040 anti war protests, no racism, since there were rarely black 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:38.480 characters or political assassinations. And how's this for a metaphor. 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.720 Petticoat Junction was a show centered around the spur of 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:45.760 a railroad that basically went nowhere. 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:49.840 Come ride the little train that is rolling down the 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:51.680 tracks to the junk show. 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:56.520 Yeah, where's Norman? Lare was like, Oh, we're going somewhere right. 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:59.720 Right, This train is actually going to a real place. 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:01.840 My name is Norman Lear. 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:06.720 Norman Lear has changed the face of television. Until nineteen 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:09.800 seventy one, he was a very successful, if largely unheralded 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:13.000 producer writer in Hollywood, but then he burst upon the 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:15.640 public consciousness when he took on bigotry with his All 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:16.240 in the Family. 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:23.000 All in the Family starred Carol O'Connor as Archie Bunker, 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:27.760 a man who longed for yesteryear, pigheaded and yes, bigoted, 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:33.240 but also surprisingly likable. Every episode was special. The series 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:38.760 regularly addressed racism, sexism, anti semitism. It featured one of 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:42.280 the very first gay characters on television, and don't matter 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:45.120 the topic, Archie Bunker didn't hold back. 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:49.080 His proud Roger is as queer as a four dollar 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:49.920 bill and he knows. 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:52.679 It's not only cruel, Daddy. 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:53.839 That's an outright line. 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:54.840 Hello, something, Archie. 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:58.160 Just because a guy is sensitive and he's an intellectual 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:00.560 and he wears glasses, you make him out of I. 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:02.840 Never said a guy who wears glasses as a quia. 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:05.520 A guy who wears glasses is a four eyes. 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:07.240 A guy who was a fag is a quia. 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:10.880 So I have to say, and it might be a 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:14.040 super unpopular opinion. I'm glad they use that word that 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:16.079 they use that slur, because that's part of what made 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:17.040 the show so real. 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:19.240 Yeah, they didn't shy away from anything. 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:22.400 Isn't it so interesting that that scene could not air 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:23.600 in twenty twenty three? 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.560 Right right? The big reveal near the end of that 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.720 episode is that the person Archie thought was gay is 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:32.840 in fact straight, while a pal he had assumed to 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:36.400 be straight is actually gay. Huge numbers of people were 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:41.440 being introduced to things they were not familiar with. Maybe 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:43.760 they didn't even think they knew a gay person. 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:48.240 Yeah, absolutely, I imagine that was eye opening to them. 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:53.480 Another Milestone episode from nineteen seventy seven was about Archie's 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:56.600 wife Edith, fending off a rapist. It was a two 0:11:56.679 --> 0:12:00.720 parter called Edith's fiftieth birthday, and I remember being talked 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:04.120 about in hushed tones. I didn't have to be told 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:08.000 that it wasn't for kids. What are you going to do? 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:10.360 You ain't taken off? 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:13.960 You're close, are you? Yeah? 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:15.520 Then I'm going to take yours off. 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:17.720 Wouldn't you like a cup of coffeees? 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:24.640 Norman Lear became the biggest TV producer of the decade, 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:28.240 helping to create an entire universe of sitcoms and. 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:32.880 Then there's mod. 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:36.720 On the most famous episode of Maud, the title character, 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:41.280 a feminist plate by b Arthur, became unexpectedly pregnant and 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:44.319 had to decide whether she'd carried the child's term. 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:45.000 Mother. 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:49.640 Listen to me, it's a simple operation now, But when 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:52.440 you were growing up, it was illegal and it was 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:55.600 dangerous and it was sinister, and you've never gotten over that. 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:58.040 Now you tell me that's not true. 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:04.600 It's not true, and you're right, I've never gotten note. 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:08.480 Maud had the abortion. Lear was also the force behind 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:13.120 some of the first sitcoms centered around black characters, including 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:13.920 Good Times. 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.760 You Couldn't help but notice all those bruises on Penny's. 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:20.400 Back, a nineteen seventy seven episode featured a young Janet 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:23.200 Jackson playing the victim of child's abuse. 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:28.800 Oh those pennies at the awkward age. She's always falling down? 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:29.840 Isn't that true? 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:30.040 Dear? 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:31.160 Didn't you fall down? 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:34.360 Ah? One time I fell out of the tree and 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:37.800 I landed on my pussy cat and a squished them. 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:40.319 And Pussycat sure leads a tough life. 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:44.199 What TV shows are certainly a good way to talk 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:47.680 about these issues and call people's attention to them in 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:49.680 a way that they may not be considering it. 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:53.200 That's Norman lear from a conversation I had with him 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:56.280 back in twenty fifteen for CBS Sunday Morning. 0:13:56.720 --> 0:14:01.480 Most people in their own emotionally crowded lives hear about 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:06.360 these things, visit it in a short conversation, but their 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:10.680 minds are not really there. So I think speaking about 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:13.520 it in a comedy where they were even getting laughs 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:15.480 about it can only be a good thing. 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:17.679 If you control them in with a story. At least 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:21.000 you can maybe get them to then talk about it at. 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:24.440 Home in the next conversation they're familiar with it and 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:26.880 perhaps a little bit more ready to embrace. 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:32.240 Norman told me that even decades later, he heard from 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:34.520 viewers about the impact of his shows. 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:39.960 It's so touching. And we watched it as a family. 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.800 We don't watch anything as a family now, and we 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:46.640 talked about Archie and we talked about the subject matter. 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:51.160 And the one thing that I think the show accomplished 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:54.320 that I can count on because I've heard it through 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:58.000 all the years, was that there are big words to me. 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:01.240 We talked to the show and we. 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:05.200 Talked think about the things that Norman Lear was able 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:08.160 to get away with, quote unquote, get away with talking about. 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.520 And he was so powerful at that point that I 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:12.680 have to imagine that there were I mean, there was 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:15.520 that whole standards and practices department at every network that 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.320 there must have been people who pushed back against certain things, 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:21.119 lines that he wanted to do, or maybe maybe topics. 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:25.960 There was indeed pushback to many viewers shows like Norman 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:30.360 Lear's were too candid. Additionally, there was outrage over the 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:34.960 nineteen seventy four Linda Blair made for TV movie Born Innocent, 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:39.440 which included graphic sexual violence and aired at eight PM 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:43.840 when many children were watching TV. The networks went on defense. 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:46.920 The period from seven to nine PM is known in 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:49.640 television as the family viewing period. 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:52.320 A period during which parents and children are supposed to 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:55.160 be able to sit together and watch television without being 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:58.280 made to feel uncomfortable or so the networks to find 0:15:58.320 --> 0:15:59.359 the family owner. 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:03.000 Which meant that in nineteen seventy five, shows like All 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:06.240 in the Family, which had been airing at eight pm Eastern, 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:10.320 had to move to later in the evening. Let's All Sing, 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:16.840 the nineteen seventy five version of those were the day 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:21.360 the cast recorded a parody of their opening number, mocking 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:25.160 the Family Hour concept and celebrating what their later time 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:27.760 slot would allow them to talk about. 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:30.040 Seeing Congers. 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:36.040 Robert Can Propose to Build. 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:41.760 In court, Lear and other writers and producers challenged the 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:45.560 Family Hour. The court ruled that the Family Hour concept 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.840 was a violation of the First Amendment, but it also 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:51.800 said it had no authority to dictate how the network's 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:54.720 programmed We Can Show. 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:58.840 My Pregnancy and John Boy Can Have b D. 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:04.720 Plus a quick ves sent. 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:20.840 After nine o'clock. The Family Hour wasn't going away anytime soon. 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:24.240 On the other side of the break the nineteen eighties 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:27.959 and the heyday of the Very Special Episode. 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.320 It was one of those things like can we just 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:34.760 farm out parenting to this show. Yes, cool, We're super 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:35.320 happy with that. 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:45.600 Hello, I'm Conrad Vain Tonight on Different Strokes, we're starting 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.760 a special two part show on a very sensitive and 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:49.680 important subject. 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:54.600 Different Strokes was one of the biggest hit sitcoms of 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:59.240 the early nineteen eighties, airing at eight pm Eastern on Saturdays, 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:04.000 prying family time. So in February nineteen eighty three, when 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:08.280 Conrad Bain, who played the wealthy adoptive father of Arnold 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:12.959 and Willis Jackson, spoke directly to viewers before the episode, 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:15.080 you knew it was serious. 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:19.040 Now we urge families, children and parents alike to watch 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:21.720 both of these informative episodes and then to discuss the 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:24.720 problem presented, which is of deep concern to all of us. 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:29.200 He's saying, this is what we're going to show you. Parents, children, 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:30.919 sit down and discuss. 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:35.480 This is how America we do very special episodes. Okay, 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:39.600 So this episode was about stranger danger and pedophiles. It's 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:42.760 Arnold and his friend Dudley, and they become friends with 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.360 the owner of a local bicycle shop, mister Wharton. 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:48.959 You know, guys, you can just have an awful lot 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:50.560 of fun with your close office. 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:53.679 Les's of course you live at the North Pole, going 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:54.800 to freeze your tush off? 0:18:57.400 --> 0:18:59.280 What kind of fun? 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:04.359 Well, for instance, as Skinny Dippit, mister Hohrton gives the 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:08.760 kids wine, which is later discovered by Conrad Bain's character. 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:11.480 Here Arnold explains what happened. 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:14.439 Well, while I was there with Dudley, he gave us 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:15.439 some pizza and wine. 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:17.000 What else went on there? 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:19.240 He showed us some pictures. 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:26.120 Everybody was naked naked, and he showed us some kinky cartoons. 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:29.479 What do you mean by kinky? 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:31.240 Well, you told. 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:34.000 Me about the birds and bees, but that's nothing compared 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:39.520 to what those mice were doing. 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.960 Who was laughing? Who is laughing? 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:44.200 Here? 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:46.800 I know? I think part of the awkwardness is that 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:51.360 Carrie Coleman was such a star and they couldn't resist 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:56.080 having him show his comedic chops, and here it is jarring. 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:57.200 I wonder if. 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:01.119 Maybe it's more jarring, and if they fell more compelled 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:03.480 to make sure the laughs were there. Because the audience 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:06.200 of Different Strokes was a younger audience as opposed to 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:10.480 the leer shows. Those were smart, smart shows, and those 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:13.960 were smart enough that adults were watching they weren't sort 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:15.960 of here I'm going to spoonfeed us had come to 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:16.560 a child. 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:20.800 That's Jessica Shaw again, and she's right. This was a 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:25.920 younger audience, and this episode did have an impact. Newspapers 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:29.840 reported the arrest of at least one suspected child molester 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:34.679 in Indiana after a young boy recognized and reported predatory 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:38.719 behavior in an adult. Now it's important to note that 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:43.520 the term very special episode was never actually used by programmers. 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:46.640 It just sort of became a joke later, so there's 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:50.560 no strict definition. I think of it as any episode 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:55.000 of a family show where quote unquote sensitive subject matter 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:58.240 was discussed, whether or not there was an actual warning 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:02.840 from Conrad Bain and probably no show had more very 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:08.840 special episodes than different strokes. They covered kidnapping, bulimia, drinking, 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:13.359 and just one month after that Stranger Danger episode came 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:18.840 the Nancy Reagan Just Say No episode. The Reagan era 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:23.240 became the golden age of very special episodes, and sometimes 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:27.080 at the direction of Washington itself. In the case of drugs, 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:29.879 the White House wanted to get the just say no 0:21:30.040 --> 0:21:33.920 message out to as many kids as possible. Congress was 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:37.680 also applying pressure Chuck Schumer, than a New York House 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:41.399 Rep co wrote a letter asking networks to devise an 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:47.439 intensified campaign of public service announcements and instructive programs. Author 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:51.159 Philip Sepanski makes the case that the networks were eager 0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:55.399 to comply. This was a period of deregulation when the 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:59.119 networks stood to get even richer. They wanted to show 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:03.320 that they could be responsible programmers without the old rules 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:06.000 that forced them to be. So it was a win 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:09.879 win for the government and the networks. Plus, kids learned 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:14.800 something while their parents theoretically received guidance on how to explain, 0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:18.000 as Wally Cleefer put it, all the bad junk in 0:22:18.040 --> 0:22:22.760 the world. Here's an elegant transition AIDS. It's the eighties, 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:27.600 so this is right when AIDS emerges, obviously as a 0:22:27.640 --> 0:22:30.520 major crisis, and there were very special episodes about it. 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:32.320 Now but Nancy Reagan, I can tell you that much. 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:35.960 Let's go into Mister Belvidere, a show that I must 0:22:35.960 --> 0:22:38.280 confess I never saw until now. 0:22:38.280 --> 0:22:41.320 That's Belvidere, Lynn Belvidere, Queen. 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:46.320 That's a girl's name. Mister Belvidere is a British butler 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:50.280 who works for the Owens family in suburban Pittsburgh. Here 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:53.600 he is greeting a friend of youngest child, Wesley. 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:56.280 Everyone you remember, where's his friend? Danny? 0:22:56.560 --> 0:22:56.760 Oh? 0:22:57.119 --> 0:22:58.080 Oh, Danny? 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:02.400 Hi a champ? How's it going well? 0:23:02.400 --> 0:23:03.080 I get eight. 0:23:03.080 --> 0:23:08.359 President that I'm doing pretty good? Okay. So it's very direct. 0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:11.879 And I also think at that point, look at what 0:23:11.960 --> 0:23:13.919 was going on in the White House. No one was 0:23:14.040 --> 0:23:18.439 talking about AIDS, so you can bet that families weren't 0:23:18.480 --> 0:23:19.760