"Oh HELL No!": TV Moments That Make You Irate

[Blergh]

Sounds like they handled Abby the way Degrassi: The Next Generation handled Craig! OK, Craig had actually started out sympathetic but it wasn't too long before he showed inconsiderate and jerk moves to others then progressed to doing harm. Perhaps the worst was when,to impress his then-girlfriend Ashley, the aftermath of him having stolen his stepfather Joey's credit card and proceeded to spend thousands of Canadian$$ via trashing a hotel room and on junk. While Joey had gotten increasingly upset at Craig's spiraling erratic behavior (even going so far as to ask 'how can I help my son'?) , when he got the bill for the damages and the fraud, he (surprise) had the temerity to actually verbally confront Craig over this. Craig's response was to physically attack and beat him his much shorter, smaller and physically weaker  stepfather in his own in front of the man's girlfriend (Caitlyn) AND the man's young daughter Angie (Craig's half-sister). Only when Craig allowed  Ashley to pull him off and started consoling HIM (not the man beaten up nor the girlfriend much less young child who'd witnessed this) did Craig stop his attack on Joey. Craig was next seen in a mental ward with Ashley joining him in his pity party and it ALL got handwaved due to Craig being diagnosed as bipolar. I don't doubt that this would have been a challenge for Craig and all his loved one's to deal with. However, Craig DID beat up Joey, his widowed stepfather who'd opened his home to give him refuge from his then-living male parent who'd been constantly beating him up - and THAT is how he repaid Joey? Seriously, Joey should have told Craig that he'd find him group homes, therapy, etc. but Craig COULD NOT live under his roof again after what he did to him since NO ONE should have to live with someone who'd beat them up in their own home- especially in front of a young child. Of course, rather than deal with the fact that Angie HAD been seen being traumatized seeing her older half-brother attack her doting, caring and attentive father Joey, the show infuriatingly had Angie instantly act chummy with Craig despite the fact that he'd not apologized to her for having put Joey, Caitlin and herself through that!  Yeah, great work, Degrassi! Let's perpetuate the myth that tiny children aren't the least bit upset or traumatized by seeing violence in front of them and are so 'innocent' and 'loving' that they instantly forgive the perps instead of actually dealing with the reality that she HAD been traumatized (joining Caitlin to beg Craig to stop the attack and crying) and likely was just following all the adults' leads in instantly sweeping Craig's misdeed under the carpet since no one was willing to hold Craig responsible for having been a thug but just threw him endless pity parties instead of having him be accountable for the choices he knowingly and willingly made! Oh, and there was MORE that he did after this but IMO this had to be the worst (especially since NO ONE said 'how COULD you, Craig?' instead of 'Oh, poor Craig!')!ARGGHH!!!!

Edited June 19, 2022 by Blergh

[Cloud9Shopper]

I have not watched DeGrassi (my sister used to but I don’t remember it clearly and don’t want to watch it now) but I do see the parallels even from your description alone. 

I think the worship of Abby is what turns me off to the character so much. I listen to an ER podcast and they are getting ready to record the episode with a very preemie baby in which Abby, who is working in OB as an RN, is called down to the ER because apparently no other OB is available. So she just leaves her patient without another thought and is later called out on ignoring Coburn’s page and rightly reprimanded for not being there for her OB patient, who was scared and asking for her and ended up with a complication. The fans falling all over themselves to call Coburn a bitch for being so horrible to poor Abby (who is such an ADVOCATE and doing all this HARD WORK to care for the ER patient when she’s not even assigned to the ER) is equal parts hilarious and sad. I cringe to think of how they’ll defend her when her brother ruins Carter’s grandmother’s funeral. Probably act like Carter had no right to a peaceful funeral anyway and Abby just had to drag her drunk brother along and let him make a scene….

[Cinnabon]

11 hours ago, Blergh said:

Sounds like they handled Abby the way Degrassi: The Next Generation handled Craig! OK, Craig had actually started out sympathetic but it wasn't too long before he showed inconsiderate and jerk moves to others then progressed to doing harm. Perhaps the worst was when,to impress his then-girlfriend Ashley, the aftermath of him having stolen his stepfather Joey's credit card and proceeded to spend thousands of Canadian$$ via trashing a hotel room and on junk. While Joey had gotten increasingly upset at Craig's spiraling erratic behavior (even going so far as to ask 'how can I help my son'?) , when he got the bill for the damages and the fraud, he (surprise) had the temerity to actually verbally confront Craig over this. Craig's response was to physically attack and beat him his much shorter, smaller and physically weaker  stepfather in his own in front of the man's girlfriend (Caitlyn) AND the man's young daughter Angie (Craig's half-sister). Only when Craig allowed  Ashley to pull him off and started consoling HIM (not the man beaten up nor the girlfriend much less young child who'd witnessed this) did Craig stop his attack on Joey. Craig was next seen in a mental ward with Ashley joining him in his pity party and it ALL got handwaved due to Craig being diagnosed as bipolar. I don't doubt that this would have been a challenge for Craig and all his loved one's to deal with. However, Craig DID beat up Joey, his widowed stepfather who'd opened his home to give him refuge from his then-living male parent who'd been constantly beating him up - and THAT is how he repaid Joey? Seriously, Joey should have told Craig that he'd find him group homes, therapy, etc. but Craig COULD NOT live under his roof again after what he did to him since NO ONE should have to live with someone who'd beat them up in their own home- especially in front of a young child. Of course, rather than deal with the fact that Angie HAD been seen being traumatized seeing her older half-brother attack her doting, caring and attentive father Joey, the show infuriatingly had Angie instantly act chummy with Craig despite the fact that he'd not apologized to her for having put Joey, Caitlin and herself through that!  Yeah, great work, Degrassi! Let's perpetuate the myth that tiny children aren't the least bit upset or traumatized by seeing violence in front of them and are so 'innocent' and 'loving' that they instantly forgive the perps instead of actually dealing with the reality that she HAD been traumatized (joining Caitlin to beg Craig to stop the attack and crying) and likely was just following all the adults' leads in instantly sweeping Craig's misdeed under the carpet since no one was willing to hold Craig responsible for having been a thug but just threw him endless pity parties instead of having him be accountable for the choices he knowingly and willingly made! Oh, and there was MORE that he did after this but IMO this had to be the worst (especially since NO ONE said 'how COULD you, Craig?' instead of 'Oh, poor Craig!')!ARGGHH!!!!

Yep. I started out thinking Craig was the type I would have crushed on in high school, to later hating him. What a shame.

[Mabinogia]

11 hours ago, Blergh said:

Craig's response was to physically attack and beat him his much shorter, smaller and physically weaker  stepfather in his own in front of the man's girlfriend (Caitlyn) AND the man's young daughter Angie (Craig's half-sister).

I can't watch that scene it makes me so angry. I was never able to like Craig again after that, I don't care what his problems were. That was a deal breaker for me. I did feel for Craig, his mum died and he was stuck with a horribly abusive father until Joey rescued him, but if I were Joey that, and the time he almost kidnapped Angie, would have been it. Craig was just too dangerous to have around. 

[magicdog]

Emergency episode, "Women!" (1972):

Christy, a cub reporter for the local paper is hanging out with the boys at Station 51 to do a story on what they do.  She is antagonistic towards them in every way!  She is hung up on the battle of the sexes - specifically, how women could do everything a man could do  - and better! 

Not a single man goes unscathed here:  she tells Chet she could have fought a fire better than he did all by herself!

She tells Dr. Brackett (after seeing him chew out a nurse for screwing up) that he doesn't know what he's doing.

She tells Johnny and Roy that they're afraid of women and secretly are misogynists.

I wish the guys had put her feminist views to the test by having her dress up in their gear (which must have weighed 50+lbs easily) and try handling a fire hose and carry a dummy over her shoulder to prove just how Little Miss Libertine could do it all by herself so easily!! 

Unfortunately, we get an ending in which Johnny figures out she gets off on vitriolic confrontations and manages to get a date with her as long as he engages her in an argument!  

Another subplot was a girl who suffered an episode in which she came down off of "reds" too quickly.  At first no one, including her father have no idea what caused the episode.  Eventually we see her brother, "Artie" slither in and we learn from their conversations that he was the one who obtained the pills for her (apparently living with her strict father has made her desire for tranquilizers necessary) and when she asks him for help, he tells her it's her problem because he only got the pills for her and didn't turn her on to them!  What a guy!  

[Dr.OO7]

On 6/15/2022 at 7:46 AM, merylinkid said:

Well Claire was still made at Cliff for once upon dating Eunice Chantilly.   To the point she would only say her name with gritted teeth.    You know, about her HUSBAND.   Like lady, he MARRIED you.   So clearly whatever he felt for Eunice doesn't really matter.   Why you are bringing it up 30 years and 5 kids later I have no clue.

That's why I was glad for how Cliff tricked her into making an ass of herself (although I usually hate those kind of episodes) when he supposedly bought her that "taaaACKY barrette" that Eunice had liked, only to find out that he had indeed bought her the green bracelet that SHE had liked. For once, I actually liked that smug and amused look of Cliff's when she went from screaming at him to shrieking with joy.

I hate those ridiculous "I'm insanely jealous of someone my partner dated years before they even met me" stories. Like on "ER" when Cleo was acting all pissy and jealous about going to Mark and Elizabeth's wedding and coming up with all kinds of excuses instead of just bluntly admitting that she didn't want to go. For crying out loud, they had a fling that lasted a few months and ended a year before he met you and he's never given any indication that he's pining for this woman, so what the hell is your problem? 

Then Elizabeth herself follows it up a few months later by being rude and nasty to Susan even though Susan and Mark never even dated in the first place.

[Bastet]

8 hours ago, Dr.OO7 said:

Then Elizabeth herself follows it up a few months later by being rude and nasty to Susan even though Susan and Mark never even dated in the first place.

That was particularly appalling, because Elizabeth from day one was always someone who sought out the company, at work and socially, of her female colleagues (and not just doctors like her, but nurses as well).  For her of all people to be written in such a sexist way infuriated me.  It was ridiculous with Cleo, but with Elizabeth it was both ridiculous and blatantly out of character.

[Dr.OO7]

3 hours ago, Bastet said:

That was particularly appalling, because Elizabeth from day one was always someone who sought out the company, at work and socially, of her female colleagues (and not just doctors like her, but nurses as well).  For her of all people to be written in such a sexist way infuriated me.  It was ridiculous with Cleo, but with Elizabeth it was both ridiculous and blatantly out of character.

Exactly. The Elizabeth I knew and loved would have happily befriended Susan and TEASINGLY warned her, "Mark's mine now", not rudely rebuffed her efforts at friendship with a snide, passive-aggressive comment about breastfeeding.

[Spartan Girl]

I recently just discovered the TV Tropes site, and it has instantly won my love by giving out all the receipts on Marge Simpson being a hypocritical bitch with a victim complex.

Perhaps the most egregious example had to be in the episode “Friends and Family” where Homer befriended a new neighbor (Alison Janney) while Marge and the kids were hired out as Mr. Burns’ fake family (long story, don’t ask). Now, things were completely platonic between them, but the second Marge found out Homer dared to have a female friend, she not only assumed the worst, she turned into a full-blown psycho hag, screaming and throwing things at Homer—behavior that would have been easily labeled abusive if a man had done it.

But that’s not even the worst part. Oh no. When she found out Homer was telling the truth, instead of regretting her monstrous behavior and giving Homer the heartfelt apology he deserved, she goes, “Apparently, you didn’t do anything wrong….but I’m still right to be mad at you.” Because Homer even confiding in another woman, no matter how platonically, is unforgivable in her eyes. And then the whole thing became Homer explaining how his new friend was helping him be a better husband to her and catering to her fragile little ego.

Excuse me while I rage-vomit.

TV Tropes had this to add:

Quote

We are supposed to feel sorry for Marge while overlooking her hypocrisy. Homer can't be friends with a woman he has zero feelings for, but it's okay for Marge to form a romantic emotion attachment to Smithers as long as she takes her sexual frustration on Homer in “The Last Traction Hero.”

And that’s not even touching all the times Marge considered leaving Homer for another man like Jaq the bowler or her internet viewing buddy. In short, her fidelity record ain’t exactly clean. So she had zero right to get angry over Homer having a friend.

Edited June 23, 2022 by Spartan Girl

[Dr.OO7]

That reminds me of mid-90's General Hospital when Sonny and Brenda were together. Brenda spent their entire relationship acting incredibly inappropriately with her friend Miguel--draping herself all over him, provocatively dancing with him, and going on and ON about how hot and sexy he was. But if Sonny dared to complain about any of this, Brenda would scream at him about how he was being a controlling pig who didn't trust her. Meanwhile, if Sonny so much as said "Hello" to Lily--Miguel's fiancé, incidentally--Brenda would act as though this was equivalent to cheating.

It got even worse after both couples broke up--Brenda and Miguel jumped into bed the DAY AFTER Sonny and Brenda split and did everything they could think of to throw it in his face, yet they still continued to act angry and disgusted whenever they saw Sonny and Lily together.

Edited June 23, 2022 by Dr.OO7

[Ambrosefolly]

So this is kind of a show runner thing. On General Hospital, there is character, Liz Webber that has been played by Rebecca Herbst for over 20 years, and her longevity has a lot to do with the actress' popularity. They have given some character destroying shit to this character over the years, with a particularly bad one involving her keeping the "true" identity (which was reversed when the long time actor returned to the role) of a man she had fallen in love. Right after, they decided to have a storyline involving the character that had raped her as teenager. Was this storyline done to address Liz's sexual issues and rehab the character, maybe give material that would finally give Rebecca Herbst an Emmy? Nope, it was done in order to make Roger Hogworth's Franco, a serial killer that stalked and sexually terrorized Sam McCall, have some sort of redemption, as per what the female head writers said in an interview. So Liz Webber, a decades long show vet, was sideline in a storyline that should have had her front and center, in order to give Franco, a character that would have been written out if Roger wasn't playing him, center stage and to justify pairing a rape victim with a sexual assaulter. 

[Mabinogia]

5 hours ago, Ambrosefolly said:

So Liz Webber, a decades long show vet, was sideline in a storyline that should have had her front and center, in order to give Franco, a character that would have been written out if Roger wasn't playing him, center stage and to justify pairing a rape victim with a sexual assaulter. 

That made me so ragey. It didn't help that I really like Rebecca Herbst and I never got the appeal of Roger Howarth and hated his character. Of course General Hospital doesn't really have a great track record with...well...anything really. It's pretty much trashy tv. I watched it for years, but I wouldn't call it well written and it does tend to focus on and romanticize terrible, abusive men.

[merylinkid]

Well General Hospital has a history of having the victim be the rapists twu wuv.   Hello Luke and Laura.   So its no surprise that Laura's DAUGHTER IN LAW would follow that trend.   

GH has sucked since they changed it to General Mobster.   Maurice Bernard is not that good of an actor that he should have taken over an entire long running show.    Maybe Sonny should move to Chicago and marry Abby.

[Ambrosefolly]

8 hours ago, merylinkid said:

Well General Hospital has a history of having the victim be the rapists twu wuv.   Hello Luke and Laura.   So its no surprise that Laura's DAUGHTER IN LAW would follow that trend.   

GH has sucked since they changed it to General Mobster.   Maurice Bernard is not that good of an actor that he should have taken over an entire long running show.    Maybe Sonny should move to Chicago and marry Abby.

 I always applauded Douglas Murray for leaving the show because they were pairing Luke and Laura, but weirdly, the couple organically became the Super Couple, and the show almost got cancelled and that pairing help save it. While there were misogynistic tones to Liz's rape storyline (the scene were Lucky "confront" Laura about marrying her rapist was pretty terrible), part of the storyline showed how messed up LnL truly was as seen through their son's eyes. As mention on a blog years ago, due to the complexity of LnL's relationship, they should have stayed divorced. 

The added issue with handing over a storyline that was rightfully ReH's Liz Webber to RoHo's Franco was the purpose was to further hammer Franco into the canvas, even though after everything they tried (switching his paternity from being Jason's twin to being Scott Baldwin's son), having a sexual deviant and serial killer wasn't working. The couple wasn't organic. It didn't seem like Franco was raising the ratings, but they were going to make that character and the pairing with Liz happen, Liz's needs as a character be damned. Even in Laura's further adventures with Luke, she was presented as a heroic. 

[dalek]

My cable company recently added MeTV+ to the line up of stations I get as part of my cable package.  While I've been enjoying watching shows such as original flavor Hawaii 5-0 and Streets of San Francisco, late 60s early 70s cop shows sure had a habit of having their protagonists shoot fleeing unarmed suspects in the back.  Yes, the characters in question were murderers and/or murderous looneys, but they were clearly unarmed.  In one episode of Streets of San Francisco, Mike Stone shoots a guy who is running away who has dropped his gun, is quite a bit away and therefore in no danger of hurting Mike Stone and as far as I can tell, he shot him because he didn't want to chase after him.  

Thst sort of thing really stands out in a bad way given the current events of the past two years.

[GHScorpiosRule]

At first, I thought this might be a trope, but I don’t recall seeing it on other shows, and it pissed me off.

When I was watching Riptide (I found it on Philo), the first season finale was about using the adorable dolphins as drug mules. That alone had me in a rage blackout. But the replacement trainer, played by an actress who has always annoyed me (Elyssa Davalos), pissed me off. Murray had feelings for her; she’d have to a blind, ignorant nitwit not to notice. But she makes goo-goo eyes at Nick (Joe Penny). He TOLD her Murray was his friend, and he would not go out with her on a date. His friendship with Murray meant more. So she blackmails him. If he wants to know why her colleague was murdered and what was going on, he would meet her at the romantic restaurant. So he goes. Again she tries to get him to see her romantically, dismissing Murray and his feelings as if he’s nothing because you know, nerdy, socially awkward geek.🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 But Nick AGAIN states unequivocally, Murray and his friendship mean more and nothing would ever happen. I LOVED Nick for that.

Sure, they played Murray finding out about the date for laughs, and Cody and Nick discussing how Murray would go for the “heart ripped out of my chest”, but in the end Murray and Nick had a wonderful moment. But that Twat and what she did still pisses me off.

Edited July 4, 2022 by GHScorpiosRule

[magicdog]

9 hours ago, dalek said:

While I've been enjoying watching shows such as original flavor Hawaii 5-0 and Streets of San Francisco, late 60s early 70s cop shows sure had a habit of having their protagonists shoot fleeing unarmed suspects in the back.  Yes, the characters in question were murderers and/or murderous looneys, but they were clearly unarmed.  In one episode of Streets of San Francisco, Mike Stone shoots a guy who is running away who has dropped his gun, is quite a bit away and therefore in no danger of hurting Mike Stone and as far as I can tell, he shot him because he didn't want to chase after him.  

Even back then, people who knew a thing or two about LEOs knew it was a stretch to pull their guns and shoot people in the back.  Or that police pull their guns as frequently as they did on TV shows.  That's probably why Barney Miller resonated for so many years with real life LEOs.  They weren't out gunning down people - even criminals.

[Cinnabon]

5 minutes ago, magicdog said:

Even back then, people who knew a thing or two about LEOs knew it was a stretch to pull their guns and shoot people in the back.  Or that police pull their guns as frequently as they did on TV shows.  That's probably why Barney Miller resonated for so many years with real life LEOs.  They weren't out gunning down people - even criminals.

You can tell an American show from one of almost any other country because of this now. 🥲

[Spartan Girl]

Sorry guys, got another Simpsons episode to gripe about:

Remember how Homer got sent to electroshock therapy because nobody believed his new roofer friend Ray (Ray Romano) was real, only to find out that too late that he was real and Homer wasn’t crazy? Marge did not even offer one apology not only for committing him, but also for bitching at him nonstop to fix the roof when she could have easily gotten off her rancid whiny ass and called a repairman herself instead of just expecting Homer to do everything.

Dr. Hibbert at least got comeuppance for torturing Homer unnecessarily by being forced to fix the damn roof. But it drives me crazy thst there was no accountability for Marge, as per frickin’ usual.

[Dr.OO7]

On 7/4/2022 at 12:40 AM, magicdog said:

Even back then, people who knew a thing or two about LEOs knew it was a stretch to pull their guns and shoot people in the back.  Or that police pull their guns as frequently as they did on TV shows.  That's probably why Barney Miller resonated for so many years with real life LEOs.  They weren't out gunning down people - even criminals.

The ease and frequency at which TV cops kill people has disturbed me for years and even moreso recently. Aside from the glaring difference from real life--in which a cop will have to make the decision to shoot someone ONCE in his/her career, if at all, TV cops always get over it instantly instead of being forever haunted by having taken a life. Even if it was truly necessary and the officer in question had no choice, I can't imagine anyone taking it so casually.

[magicdog]

3 hours ago, Dr.OO7 said:

The ease and frequency at which TV cops kill people has disturbed me for years and even moreso recently. Aside from the glaring difference from real life--in which a cop will have to make the decision to shoot someone ONCE in his/her career, if at all, TV cops always get over it instantly instead of being forever haunted by having taken a life. Even if it was truly necessary and the officer in question had no choice, I can't imagine anyone taking it so casually.

Agreed.  Barney Miller dealt with things most shows up to that point casually ignored.  During the episode, "The Hero" (1975) Barney consoles Chano, who killed two bank robbers who were holding several people hostage.  It was the first time I had ever seen a character shoot a bad guy and having to wrestle emotionally with the fallout.   

In the same episode, Det. Yemana rings up the point of cops on TV always shooting the bad guys and why they never seemed to have  a problem.  Barney replies, they weren't around when the lights came back on.

[magicdog]

Got a bit annoyed by two different incidents in Quantum Leap (show was enjoyable but the writing was particularly weak in it's last season or so and IMO coasted on Scott Bakula's and Dean Stockwell's chemistry).

In, "Nowhere to Run" (1992),  Sam leaps into a Marine who is an amputee in a VA hospital.  He lost both legs below the knees while fighting in Vietnam.  When Al finds him, he tells him he has to repair [the leapee's] fractured marriage because according to their records, their eldest son joins the Marines after HS and is a hero in the Gulf War.  Later we find out the wife had confessed that she fell in love with someone else while her husband was up to his waist in rice paddies and effectively abandons him.  Later, after some more stuff like saving another patient from committing suicide (he was shot in the spine and paralyzed from the neck down), Sam (while still in the body of the leapee) is able to stand up and (from the people's POV, is floating around) punch out a cruel orderly.  Then Al tells Sam that he changed history but is surprised that he still has a son who goes on to be a hero in the Gulf War.  How?  He gets together with a hospital volunteer (played by Jennifer Aniston!).  Apparently Al claims to have never thought to check on the mom's name!!   Besides the lazy writing here, I was annoyed that we were worrying about saving the leapee's marriage when it seemed they should have focused on the suicidal patient he ultimately saves.  During the episode he sees that patient argue with his finacee and sends her away because of him being paralyzed and believing himself a burden.  She leaves crying and we never see her again or have any clue as to what happens to him (the episode taking place in 1968).

Then,  in "Killin' Time", Sam leaps into a killer who's holding a single mom and her young daughter hostage.  The serial killer is in "the waiting room" at the compound where all the time travel stuff is at.  Magically he pulls a gun on Al and escapes.  Big question here is how he could even GET a gun considering any weapon he might have been holding before leaping would have been in Sam's possession not his.  No one else at the compound is armed except security (and they weren't around in the waiting room) so we get this whole BS chase in which Al goes after the guy while Gushie (played by the late great Dennis Wolfberg) acts as Sam's holographic companion during the episode.  Then Al, after he corners the bad guy at a hooker's apartment, gets shot and  - what a coinky-dink - is wearing a bulletproof vest!  Aargh!!! 

[Spartan Girl]

Episode “Pretty Widdle Liar” of The Simpsons: Princess Marge is suddenly mystified by the discovery that entire town thinks she can do better than Homer, despite the fact that she has told Homer this to his face multiple times throughout the show’s run. Any other character would have told them to take a flying leap and mind their own business, but because Marge is a spineless twat that cares too much about other people’s opinions, frets about this to Homer, who once again must make a grand gesture to pander to her ego.

Personally, I think that you’re in a relationship with someone who had the nerve to say out loud that they can do better than you, yet insist on staying with you anyway, you should dump them. Because it’s a really shitty entitled thing to say. It’s not love, it’s a misguided sense of moral superiority.

[BlueSkies]

Lots of Simpsons mentions.  I didn’t see this one mentioned, sorry if it had been

When Maude Flanders dies.  It happened because Homer was drawing attention to himself to get t shirts thrown at him.  It misses than knocks Maude over the bleachers.

Ned watching it all crying….  The whole scene is one of the most fucked up things I ever watched 

[Egg McMuffin]

Killing off Maude Flanders was a bizarre decision. The whole point of the Flanders family is that they are this perfect, holier-than-thou traditional nuclear family. That went away with Maude’s death.

I get that the actress who played Maude, Maggie Roswell, left the show for a while. But they actually had a replacement actress do Maude for a few episodes after Roswell’s departure, so I don’t know why they didn’t just leave the recast in place. Roswell eventually returned, too.

[magicdog]

On 11/6/2022 at 3:55 PM, Egg McMuffin said:

Killing off Maude Flanders was a bizarre decision. The whole point of the Flanders family is that they are this perfect, holier-than-thou traditional nuclear family. That went away with Maude’s death.

It also pissed me off when she returned as a ghost.  When Ned asked how it was in the after life, she mentioned it was cold and lonely.  I hated they did that to a loving a devout woman!  Why couldn't it have been a better experience for her except to make a cheap joke at her expense?

[Spartan Girl]

Yeah, if they wanted to kill off Maude they could have done it in a more tasteful way than that.

The worst thing about killing off Maude is that it Flanderized Ned even more, turning him into a narrow minded fanatic that bordered on bigotry. Pairing him up with Edna improved his character a bit, but of course real life screwed that over. At least the writers gave Edna the dignity of an offscreen death.

[BlueSkies]

On 11/6/2022 at 6:55 PM, Egg McMuffin said:

Killing off Maude Flanders was a bizarre decision. The whole point of the Flanders family is that they are this perfect, holier-than-thou traditional nuclear family. That went away with Maude’s death.

I get that the actress who played Maude, Maggie Roswell, left the show for a while. But they actually had a replacement actress do Maude for a few episodes after Roswell’s departure, so I don’t know why they didn’t just leave the recast in place. Roswell eventually returned, too.

I mean from memory Homer took advantage of Ned’s good will a lot though.  Sometimes it was funny but sometimes not.

But Maude’s death scene was just uncalled for imo.  Then in the YouTube comments it said homers car was parked in the ambulance spot.  That’s all pretty twisted 

[Bethany]

I've been enjoying rediscovering Spin City (the sitcom with Michael J. Fox) that I remember liking back in the day.  Until, that is, the episode I saw last night where part of the "humour" of the show revolved around the Mayor remembering his first sexual encounter - with one of his teachers in high school.  Ugh.  The other guys were almost high fiving him as they looked dreamily at the idea that someone could have been lucky enough to have had sex with a teacher.  Frasier and Two and Half Men, to name two other sitcoms that have done this. also get me irate at this storyline.

Why am I thinking a  woman looking back misty eyed on a sexual encounter with HER high school teacher would not be something most sitcom writers would even consider?

Edited November 10, 2022 by Elizabeth Anne

[magicdog]

6 hours ago, Elizabeth Anne said:

Why am I thinking a  woman looking back misty eyed on a sexual encounter with HER high school teacher would not be something most sitcom writers would even consider?

Because a teenage boy getting busy with his teacher is considered heroic and cool while a girl is a victim of statutory rape and whose parents would have the scumbag arrested on said charges.

My father used to to joke that when he was a boy, all of his teacher were "old biddies" and not the sexy young things that came along in the 70s and later.  He used to say that HS would have been less of a drag if they had been!

FTR- I think such teachers are predators and have no business having sexual encounters with underage students (or current students under their authority).  Both male and female teachers should be sent off to jail in the name of equality under the law. 

[Ambrosefolly]

On 11/11/2022 at 12:25 AM, magicdog said:

Because a teenage boy getting busy with his teacher is considered heroic and cool while a girl is a victim of statutory rape and whose parents would have the scumbag arrested on said charges.

My father used to to joke that when he was a boy, all of his teacher were "old biddies" and not the sexy young things that came along in the 70s and later.  He used to say that HS would have been less of a drag if they had been!

FTR- I think such teachers are predators and have no business having sexual encounters with underage students (or current students under their authority).  Both male and female teachers should be sent off to jail in the name of equality under the law. 

All this talk reminds me of an episode of Law and Order, I think in the late 90s. It seems society was still trying to sell teenage girls as sophisticated seducers. I can get the argument of not thinking they are innocent little angels, but they are still, for the most part, unstable hormone driven kids. Anyways, (I can't find the episode and it has been a while since I say it), a murder happens that leads to man that has just been released from jail for the murder of his girlfriend. It turns out he was framed by the then 15 yr old daughter that he slept with. When they pointed out that she was 15, he goes "but going on 30" and the show implied that this was the truth. (She sent bikini photos of her to him while he was in prison to show how "mature" she was)*. Credit to the actress that played her, instead of a worldly woman, she came across as someone that was emotionally stunted to her teenage years. In the end the only person I felt sorry for was the brother that killed to "protect" her. This might not have been the intention of the episode, but the girl getting away with killing her mother that failed to protect her and sending her mother's boyfriend that had sex with before she was legally allowed to drive to prison for 20 years was deserved. 

*I got clarity about this when Mille Bobby Brown asshole influencer ex-boyfriend (who is 4 years older) talked about how intense she was when they were dating, and a commenter pointed out that of course she was, she was 16 years old! Doesn't matter that she has an adult job and people talk about her maturity, she was still little more than a child. 

[Spartan Girl]

A Charlie Brown Christmas: The way everyone treats Charlie Brown, from ignoring him when he’s trying to put together the play and cruelly calling him stupid for the little tree he picks. Linus can miss me with that Bible passage—where was his speechifying skills when his supposed best friend was being taunted and harangued?!

And even when they dress up the tree, do any of them give Charlie Brown the heartfelt apology he deserves?! NOPE. I know some will think that the gesture and the “Merry Christmas” is apology enough, but it’s really not. Especially when they go back to treating him like dirt in all the other shows…

@GHScorpiosRule is right: they’re worse than the jerks in Rudolph. At least they actually apologized to Rudolph in the end (and hopefully treated him better afterwards). 

[Sandman]

On 6/18/2022 at 4:30 PM, Spartan Girl said:

Especially this little gem: “People forget, there was no indication of who Hitler would become. You could argue that we were the ones that made a monster of him, by refusing to be his allies.”

I’m honestly not sure what degree of liberty the writers were taking with history here. From everything I’ve read, the Duke of Windsor was a shallow, vain idiot. This line seems distressingly plausible to me. 

[Zella]

25 minutes ago, Sandman said:

This line seems distressingly plausible to me. 

It was also not an attitude exclusive to the Duke of Windsor. The English aristocracy of the 1930s had more than its fair share of pro-Hitler fascist sympathizers. 

[Haleth]

10 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

@GHScorpiosRule is right: they’re worse than the jerks in Rudolph. At least they actually apologized to Rudolph in the end (and hopefully treated him better afterwards). 

Speaking of Rudolph, my annual rant and oh, hell no complaint is when Santa says there will be no Christmas this year because he can't deliver gifts.  Nice message for the kids, Santa, Christmas = presents.  Oh, hell no.

[Ohiopirate02]

11 hours ago, Zella said:

It was also not an attitude exclusive to the Duke of Windsor. The English aristocracy of the 1930s had more than its fair share of pro-Hitler fascist sympathizers. 

People forget that the Big Bad of the 1930s for aristocrats and other rich Europeans was Stalin and not Hitler or Mussolini or Franco.  Fascism was seen as a necessary evil to stop the spread of Russian style communism.  

[Sandman]

“At least he’s got the trains running on time” didn’t start out as a joke, after all. 

[Grrarrggh]

I'm still angry at The West Wing for how badly they wrote the Josh/Donna romance. Practically ruined the last 3 series, at least. Thank the gods for fanfic. 

[JustHereForFood]

On 11/29/2022 at 3:41 PM, Ohiopirate02 said:

People forget that the Big Bad of the 1930s for aristocrats and other rich Europeans was Stalin and not Hitler or Mussolini or Franco.  Fascism was seen as a necessary evil to stop the spread of Russian style communism.  

Not just for aristocrats, they were just as bad as the Nazis for every decent person.

[Spartan Girl]

Law and Order SVU bringing back my once-beloved Barba to defend Richard Wheatley and exonerate him so he can go on to kill more people and cause more mayhem on Organized Crime…then later having the audacity to tell Olivia “Why are you mad at me? I only took the case to protect you from being reamed by another attorney. You should be mad at Stabler but you’re not because because you’re in love with him like I’m in love with you.”

It’s almost as bad as what the Mothership did with Pod!Paul. And I really hate how this moment makes me side with Olivia when I can’t stand her anymore. 

Edited December 18, 2022 by Spartan Girl

[Spartan Girl]

In hindsight, the rest of the Simpsons making Homer give up his great new job and move them all back to Springfield in “You Only Move Twice” was a really crappy thing to do because all of Marge, Lisa, and Bart’s problems could have been easily solved in the new town:

• Bart had teachers that finally called him out on his crap and punished his troublemaking by sending him back to the remedial class—he could have finally grew up and started trying harder in school.
• Lisa was allergic to the plants in the park? Get allergy meds, or you know, just avoid that area if the allergies are that bad!
• And Marge, the perpetual victim, was bored out of her mind because the new Smart House did all the housework. Any other woman with tons of new free time would have done something reasonable like start a new hobby and get out and make new friends. But nooooooooo, too much work for a pathetic sad-sack like her. She just drinks and complains. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

I mean of course they were going to go back to Springfield, the status quo must always be upheld. But Homer was expected to give up a job he was happy with when the rest of them didn’t even TRY to work things out is infuriating.

[Zella]

53 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Lisa was allergic to the plants in the park? Get allergy meds, or you know, just avoid that area if the allergies are that bad!

As someone who has really bad pollen and environmental allergies, I don't really think it's that simple. I take 2 allergy meds every day and still have terrible problems with it, sometimes requiring additional steroid injections. And if the plants are in the park, I'd imagine they're native to the area and can't just be avoided, short of not leaving the house. 

[Spartan Girl]

15 minutes ago, Zella said:

As someone who has really bad pollen and environmental allergies, I don't really think it's that simple. I take 2 allergy meds every day and still have terrible problems with it, sometimes requiring additional steroid injections. And if the plants are in the park, I'd imagine they're native to the area and can't just be avoided, short of not leaving the house. 

Good point. But they still could have taken her to a doctor to diagnose her properly.

[Zella]

Just now, Spartan Girl said:

Good point. But they still could have taken her to a doctor to diagnose her properly.

Agreed. I've not watched the episode, so I'm sure it features some classic Simpson bad parenting. LOL 

I was just mainly objecting to the perception that environmental allergies are no big deal and can easily be remedied because they can, quite frankly, be debilitating for me, even with treatment. 

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, Zella said:

Agreed. I've not watched the episode, so I'm sure it features some classic Simpson bad parenting. LOL 

I was just mainly objecting to the perception that environmental allergies are no big deal and can easily be remedied because they can, quite frankly, be debilitating for me, even with treatment. 

Yeah. My ire is more directed at Marge than Bart and Lisa because the only reason she was so miserable in the new town is because she relishes having no life outside of housework, and for all the resentment she doles out about how much she supposedly gave up to marry Homer, nobody on that show ever brings up how Homer had to give up his dream job to make her happy.

Edited January 19, 2023 by Spartan Girl

[proserpina65]

20 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

In hindsight, the rest of the Simpsons making Homer give up his great new job and move them all back to Springfield in “You Only Move Twice” was a really crappy thing to do because all of Marge, Lisa, and Bart’s problems could have been easily solved in the new town:

• Bart had teachers that finally called him out on his crap and punished his troublemaking by sending him back to the remedial class—he could have finally grew up and started trying harder in school.
• Lisa was allergic to the plants in the park? Get allergy meds, or you know, just avoid that area if the allergies are that bad!
• And Marge, the perpetual victim, was bored out of her mind because the new Smart House did all the housework. Any other woman with tons of new free time would have done something reasonable like start a new hobby and get out and make new friends. But nooooooooo, too much work for a pathetic sad-sack like her. She just drinks and complains. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

I mean of course they were going to go back to Springfield, the status quo must always be upheld. But Homer was expected to give up a job he was happy with when the rest of them didn’t even TRY to work things out is infuriating.

To be fair, his new boss was a supervillain.  Sooner or later that was going to get Homer in some serious trouble.

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

To be fair, his new boss was a supervillain.  Sooner or later that was going to get Homer in some serious trouble.

Mr. Burns is a super villain too. At least Hank Scorpio treats his employees with respect, lol.

[Blergh]

I hope you all will forgive me because I can't recall the exact quotes here but one of the reasons I had to quit watching Degrassi: TNG was when the producers let Kevin Smith (as 'Kevin Smith') enact his own evident fantasies via running roughshod and overwhelming the actual cast when he was supposedly using the setting to film a movie. TBTP were so 'star-struck' by him that they had EVERY regular character OOC react to every single utterance he made as though  each said utterance was the funniest and most clever thing the characters had ever  heard in their lives instead of the more realistic (and, ultimately more humorous) deal of having them roll their eyes/groan at (at least some of) his attempts.

Anyway, IMO one of the worst (and inappropriate) exchanges had him actually make a supposed wisecrack about his own anatomy to Paige (Lauren Collins) which spurred her to find it hilarious.

 Let's not forget that 'Kevin Smith' (the character) was a grown adult man who had been put in the position to cast this movie at the school AND Paige was a high school legal minor girl!

How I wish Paige had said " EWW!, you're a grown man and I'm a high school girl so telling me ANYthing about your anatomy even 'jokingly'  is TOTALLY inappropriate! When *I* am offended, you've REALLY gone too far! GROSS and SHAME on YOU!"

And I hadn't forgotten that Paige had been traumatized via not just surviving the School Shooting (which seemed to have brought Degrassi to 'Kevin Smith's attention) but also had been raped. Yet, the showrunners allowed him to say that to her with her supposedly finding it clever instead of(as in character) reading him the Riot Act! Shame on THEM!

P.S. And folks wonder why so MANY Degrassi alums have wound up having had trainwreck lives despite the showrunners'  self-overpraises!

[magicdog]

Just caught an episode of Highway to Heaven called "Heavy Date" (1987) which gives me pause for if the right thing really was the right thing.

In the episode, we're introduced to Alice who's pregnant out of wedlock (sperm donor disappeared and is not involved).  She decides to give the child up for adoption.  She temporarily takes an apartment where she meets, Gary who is son of the building's owner.  He's a bit hapless (his mother is a bit of a hypochondriac and prone to hysterics) and is still at that age in which he's trying to decide what to do in life.  He lost his job but found another in construction.

He takes a shine to her and they start dating rather quickly and fall in love.  He still doesn't know she's pregnant (she barely shows) and by the 7th month, she finally tells him the truth.  He walks out in shock and somewhat angry since she should have told him way earlier.  When the adoption attorney contacts Alice asking for pictures of both her and the sperm donor she decides to send a picture she and Gary had taken together, figuring they'd be satisfied that the bio dad is handsome and healthy looking (she had no photos of bio dad).

Eventually, the baby is born, and Jonathan asks Gary to go to maternity ward to see the baby (which isn't his).  Alice chose not to see the baby since she will be giving it up and is staying on a different floor.  The would be adoptive parents ask questions of Gary to make sure there are no "issues" to be concerned about in the future.  Gary tells them that his mother is a loon who has been in an asylum for the past 8 years and her side of the family has a history of instability.  They decide not to adopt the baby.  He goes down  to Alice and proposes marriage to her and will be a father to her newborn son.  All's well that ends well I guess.

Except was it really for the best to interfere with an adoption to a good couple who would have given the baby a good home?  Was it really the right thing for Jonathan to get him to like another man's child that wasn't his responsibility?  Was it really right for this girl who had been dating him for a few months to marry someone who has a mother who is a bit difficult (when Mark announces the marriage, she puts her head in the oven!) and who has been having some stability issues (although supposedly they've been worked out offscreen due to the power of love or some BS).  A lot of things about this storyline and resolution just annoyed me!  

[Dr.OO7]

On 4/20/2022 at 12:07 PM, JustHereForFood said:

It was Easter, so The Thorn Birds were on TV and I could hear my mother watching it for XYth time. For all its faults, I loved the book, probably because I read it as a teenager when I had different opinions on romance than I do now. Still, the adaptation was not bad, as far as adaptations of long books go, but to get to my point, why on Earth does the midquel The Missing Years exist? It was a shitshow that not only was completely unnecessary, it managed to ruin every single character that appeared in it. Why do they always insist on showing it after the main series, as if it were a canon story? Wouldn't we all be better off pretending it never happened? (That was a rhetoric question, of course the answer is yes.) 

It was really awful. Completely inconsistent with the original both in story and in characterization. I like to imagine that it simply exists in some kind of alternate universe because said inconsistencies are so glaring:

The Original: Meggie blasts Ralph for not realizing that Dane was his son and thinking that she could go back to Luke after being with him.

The Missing Years: He finds her trying to do EXACTLY that.

There's too many others to count. Ironically, had it been consistent with the original/the book, it would have been fine.