Favorite Shows That Pushed The Envelope
 

What are some of your most beloved TV shows that hit the social taboos hard?

Some of mine include:
All In The Family
Roseanne
To a lesser extent, Murphy Brown

I have never seen Nip/Tuck.
I've seen a few episodes of Sex And The City & didn't really care for it. The brunette was the only one I liked (though I liked SJP in LA Story).
I know Maude will be a popular choice on this board, but I've seen only a couple of episodes.

- Jake

I'll add that I recently rented all 7 episodes of Fat Actress. I liked all the episodes except for #s 5 and 6, which were terrible.
It's way too soon for me to say it's a favorite.

- Jake

I've never seen a whole episode. I think they air it here on PBS on Saturdays.


How about explaining that one? :shrug:

- Jake

The Jeffersons I love!
Three's Company (for it's time it was risque, right?)
Queer As Folk is pretty cool
Sex and the City is great!
Desperate Housewives
I Love Lucy (my favorite show of all time. I can include it in this list because Lucy was pregnant and that was considered pushing the envelope back then)

I almost listed The Jeffersons but didn't think it really fit. But you're right, the whole mixed marriage thing was definitely pushing the envelope at the time.

If I remember, Carol Brady was the first character to say the word pregnant on the air, & she & Mike were the first to share a bed. Lucy & Ricky had two beds pushed together for awhile, I know.

- Jake

Carol and Mike's inuendo was really pushing the envelope back then, now that you mention it.

And back in the 50's, did couples really sleep in seperate beds? That seems crazy!

That and not being allowed to say pregnant.
I heard these Brady first in an interview with Florence Henderson years ago, so who knows how reliable her claims are.

- Jake

The L-Word!
Grace Under Fire, would that one count?
and there's others, on the tip of my tongue, so I'll have to add them later when the caffeine kicks in.

Seinfeld! And of course Curb Your Enthusiasm. They expose the taboos and unwritten etiquette of our daily lives and make a mockery of it all!

Most definitely 'Roseanne', that show really aimed to test the limits of network television. And 'Will and Grace', that should count right? Back in the early 90s, I think NBC would have preferred to die then show a sitcom with openly gay characters.

Didn't Roseanne do one really early on, too? I seem to remember a big hype around it, and some ABC affiliates refused to air the episode. It turned out to be a really big nothing moment. ER also did one fairly early on - back when ER was groundbreaking... I never saw Buffy, though, so I have no time reference of when it was on in relation to Roseanne and ER.. Could have been years before and I'd never have known it. :)

Northern Exposure (at the time, it was pretty ground breaking and envelope pushing)

Six Feet Undahhhhh

Curb Your Enthusiasm (everything Larry does pushes the envelope)

Home Movies (an alcoholic soccer coach? come on now! hilarious!)

Strangers With Candy (a 46 year old highshool drop out and former prostitute and junkie returns to high school to start over again!)

South Park (don't even need to comment)

Chapelle's Show (the African American KKK leader!)

Queer as Folk (British Series - WAY better writing and far superior characters)

Arrested Development (everything about this show pushes the envelope!)

The Milton Berle Show
The Tonight Show
I Love Lucy
The Prisoner
All In The Family
ER (the "live" episode)
Saturday Night Live
Twin Peaks
The Simpsons
South Park
Reno 911

OMG - Strangers with Candy was F***ing hilarious!!!

Roseanne
I Love Lucy
Maude
L Word
My So-Called Life

I can't think of many more other than what was already mentioned. However, I'll add Married With Children and The Sopranos to the list.

Sigh... My So-Called Life. I think that is my all time favorite show. The writing in that show, the characters are so complex and unique. Each character is different in their thinking and approach to life. I have it on DVD. Perhaps it's time to drag it off the shelf for the 20th time! Swoon.

Yeah, and Roseanne is a great show too. I think it's coming out on DVD soon.

Golden Girls tackled some issues on their show. Remember Dorothy's lesbian friend who came to stay with them. She fell in love with Rose. For the time, that was really ground breaking material. It's tame by today's standards, but that was some risky stuff for a popular sitcom to address.

...
 

I finally went to buy it - and it's out of print now - therefore insanely expensive everywhere I've found it (on-line) ugh SO frustrating :mad:

I LOVED that show so much...that Christmas episode with Julianna Hatfield? Oh - so heart wrenching...

Family Guy?

I had never heard of the show the L-Word. I honestly thought you meant Liberal. :laugh:

I didn't watch Grace Under Fire; how did it push the envelope?

- Jake

Not that there's anything wrong with that. :shrug:

- Jake

Yeah!! I kept thinking before I posted that there was one other one that I couldn't think of...this was IT! :thumbsup:

I missed it when it was on network TV in the 90's, but caught up with the whole series when it was on the "N" channel last year.

Isn't about time for a "reunion show" or something? :nod:

BTW...anyone catch the series on the Trio channel called Brilliant, But Cancelled? They show TV series that were way ahead of their time and were canceled after just a few episodes or in some cases one season.

Roseanne had so many: gays, farting in public, parental abuse all come to mind.

- Jake

No wonder I've had several students who love this show. I always wondered.

- Jake

If I remember the Roseanne one, you just saw the back of Mariel Heminway's head, not the real kiss, and there was controversy about it.

- Jake

Sweet! ;)
That Steviegoat is a major issue in our society. :nod: ;)

- Jake

Don't think I've heard of The Prisoner.

I do remember when Gloria's rape, Edith's attempted rape, & Maude's abortion were all the talk.

The Simpsons is a great choice as well.

- Jake

Never saw these three.
(What, no Little House? Are you forgetting that one where Mrs. Olsen was turning tricks for opium? :shrug: ;) )

- Jake

Okay, Peg. :cool:
(Another reason I hated the early '90s.)

Still haven't seen The Sopranos.

- Jake

I'm surprised to hear that Roseanne isn't out on DVD yet. It was such a big show, & so many lesser ones have been out awhile. I would guess the delay has something to do with syndication, but Seinfeld is a newer show & is out.

- Jake

Rose was Betty White, right?
I just remember all the publicity that the show got for implying that single old ladies on TV could have sex & not be slutty (other than the Rue character).

- Jake

lol! The L-word is a lesbian Sex In The City, or so they call it (I hardly ever watched SITC so I couldn't say).
It's very addictive, like a soap opera:D

Grace Under Fire: about a divorced from abusive man ex-alcoholic mum with two kids, and that in comedy form. Pretty black humor, I think, that's why I loved it.

That show was a big deal & then just fell off suddenly when they revealed the mystery.
I remember Lara Flynn Boyle being on the show, and at the time her skull was under her skin.

- Jake

There is actually a Family Guy Club at my school. :shocked:
I just learned that Alex Boorstein (Miss Swan) is the wife.

- Jake

Okay, Buck :cool:

The Sopranos was much better its first few seasons. I haven't seen the last two seasons that have been on. The acting is superb though.

I would love this.
What did they have that we haven't included yet?

- Jake

:laugh: and *shudder* at the thought of Mrs. Olsen turning tricks for anything.

Now Little House did tackle issues such as blindness, alcoholism, death, bear-maulings, marriage issues and drug addiction!!!

-----

L-Word is billed as a lesbian Sex and the City - but it's not. It's quite different if you ask me.

I like both - the L Word, as Mari pointed out, is more soap-opera-esque. And the L-Word is great because the "L-word" isn't neccessarily "lesbian" The old intro (Season one) had all these "L-words": laugh, love, longing, liberal etc...

:laugh: Yeah - and there's a hilarious scene in one of the shows where the three women buy condoms...it's HILARIOUS!!!!