I don't think either of the boys were actually molested, but I do remember them taking baths or something? And posing for nude photos? And being given booze? (Although not called "Jesus Juice" at the time.) However, the number of '?'s in my comment should tell you how cloudy my recollection is.
Hey, I remember Punky in the refrigerator. Another, different kind of very special Punky was when the Challenger exploded and Buzz Aldrin came to visit her to tell her she should not give up her dreams to become an astronaut.
Somehow I avoided ever seeing Different Strokes. I don't understand quite how; it's not like I didn't watch plenty of TV.
I caught the ass end of the 80s (I'm 23). I saw the Punky Brewster ep (have 2 older sisters). But there were also the PSA episodes on Family Ties and oooh... Saved by the Bell. Like the ones with the caffeine pills.
Perfect Strangers - Balki is sent to an internment camp after his island nation of Mypos declares war on the United States.
Oh my God. I don't remember this; I can't imagine how I would have forgotten it. I guess I didn't see it or I was just too young to understand how effing hilarious it is.
When I was young, my family did not have a television set. As I got older, we bought one to use as a monitor for the Apple II but rules were fairly strict about disconnecting it and using it as a receiver. So I didn't really watch too much. But there was a period in 9th grade or so when I would go to my grandparents' house after school every day, where there was a television set and cookies, and blessedly little supervision. I would watch channel 7, which carried a Diff'rent Strokes rerun at 3 pm, Three's Company rerun at 3:30, and a The Jeffersons rerun 4. at 4:30 I generally had to go home. So these were my introduction to the wonderful world of TV-watching. (There were some variations -- I seem to remember at some point they switched out The Jeffersons for Sanford and Son -- and some days I would watch Scooby-Doo instead of Three's Company -- but the three shows I remember as my afternoon TV at Grandma's, are em>Diff'rent Strokes, Three's Company, and The Jeffersons.) This went on for two years or so. And still when I think about television, the first thing that comes to mind (after advertisements) is situation comedy reruns. TV Land is the perfect channel.
Oddly, though I remember a lot of very special episodes, the only ones I remember distinctly are from Mr. Belvedere: one about AIDS, one about teen pregnancy.
Dudley got molested not Arnold.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 02-10-06 10:15 PM
I don't think either of the boys were actually molested, but I do remember them taking baths or something? And posing for nude photos? And being given booze? (Although not called "Jesus Juice" at the time.) However, the number of '?'s in my comment should tell you how cloudy my recollection is.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 02-10-06 10:20 PM
I'm pretty sure Dudley played "King Neptune" in the tub with Mr. Carlson.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 02-10-06 10:40 PM
Hey, I remember Punky in the refrigerator. Another, different kind of very special Punky was when the Challenger exploded and Buzz Aldrin came to visit her to tell her she should not give up her dreams to become an astronaut.
Somehow I avoided ever seeing Different Strokes. I don't understand quite how; it's not like I didn't watch plenty of TV.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 02-10-06 10:40 PM
Tia, thank your lucky stars.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 02-10-06 10:41 PM
give up her dreams of being an astronaut.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 02-10-06 10:44 PM
I caught the ass end of the 80s (I'm 23). I saw the Punky Brewster ep (have 2 older sisters). But there were also the PSA episodes on Family Ties and oooh... Saved by the Bell. Like the ones with the caffeine pills.
Posted by tweedledopey | Link to this comment | 02-10-06 10:45 PM
Perfect Strangers - Balki is sent to an internment camp after his island nation of Mypos declares war on the United States.
Oh my God. I don't remember this; I can't imagine how I would have forgotten it. I guess I didn't see it or I was just too young to understand how effing hilarious it is.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 02-10-06 10:50 PM
Tia, thank your lucky stars.
Whatchoo talkin' bout, Bitch?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 02-11-06 6:29 AM
Wasn't there also a Very Special Episode of Diff'rent Strokes dealing with epilepsy?
And I can't believe that no Very Special Blossoms were listed. Practically every single episode was A Very Special Blossom.
Posted by Matthew Harvey | Link to this comment | 02-11-06 6:35 AM
When I was young, my family did not have a television set. As I got older, we bought one to use as a monitor for the Apple II but rules were fairly strict about disconnecting it and using it as a receiver. So I didn't really watch too much. But there was a period in 9th grade or so when I would go to my grandparents' house after school every day, where there was a television set and cookies, and blessedly little supervision. I would watch channel 7, which carried a Diff'rent Strokes rerun at 3 pm, Three's Company rerun at 3:30, and a The Jeffersons rerun 4. at 4:30 I generally had to go home. So these were my introduction to the wonderful world of TV-watching. (There were some variations -- I seem to remember at some point they switched out The Jeffersons for Sanford and Son -- and some days I would watch Scooby-Doo instead of Three's Company -- but the three shows I remember as my afternoon TV at Grandma's, are em>Diff'rent Strokes, Three's Company, and The Jeffersons.) This went on for two years or so. And still when I think about television, the first thing that comes to mind (after advertisements) is situation comedy reruns. TV Land is the perfect channel.
Posted by Jeremy Osner | Link to this comment | 02-11-06 8:22 AM
Apos, I think you just made me curl up and die.
Even as a child, the minstrely of that tagline made me ashamed to be a human being. Seriously: Worst. Television. Ever.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 02-11-06 9:48 AM
8 - Do you even think it's real? Perhaps someone should go take that one out.
Posted by Adam Kotsko | Link to this comment | 02-11-06 10:09 AM
Oddly, though I remember a lot of very special episodes, the only ones I remember distinctly are from Mr. Belvedere: one about AIDS, one about teen pregnancy.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 02-11-06 10:59 AM
Facts of Life - Natalie is almost raped by a clown on Halloween.
I'm a bad person.
Posted by tom | Link to this comment | 02-11-06 11:27 AM
13--good point; I'm a sucker.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 02-11-06 11:33 AM
It's the duty of an educated public to make sure that lists of Very Special Episodes are as accurate as possible.
Posted by Adam Kotsko | Link to this comment | 02-11-06 11:42 AM
I never thought I would have seen two Perfect Strangers references in the same day.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 02-11-06 4:14 PM
That is unutterably cute until the last half when it gets seriously creepy. (I watched it with the sound off because I'm listening to something else.)
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 02-11-06 4:54 PM
With the sound on, it is both cute and creepy the whole way through.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 02-11-06 5:26 PM
I couldn't bear to watch the whole way through, because of the sound of the voice.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 02-11-06 5:29 PM
Yeah, it's like getting hit on by the computer from War Games: Would..You..Like..To..Be..My..Valentine? How..About..A..Nice..Game..Of..Chess?
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 02-11-06 5:34 PM