A few weeks ago I talked about how Seinfeld seems so dated today.
With the technology we have it effectively makes many of those episodes
moot if they were made today. But Seinfeld isn’t alone. Night Court was a
silly, slapstick show. But the funny thing is, especially in it’s early
days, it did a lot stuff that wouldn’t be very PC today. Even toward
the end of its run the show started to be safer, but in the first couple
seasons even I can’t believe the stuff they somehow got away with. What
do I mean? Glad you asked!
Female’s as Objects
The show had a very odd sense of humor in its early days. One episode the plot was Christine getting mugged. Now most sitcoms would have that mugging happen off screen. Not this show, as we get to see it. True it’s exaggerated to be funny…but how is something like that ever funny? Though the episode ends well with her. There were also many times also when the men would be leering at a woman, openly expressing their desire for them. Yeah women were also strong but usually if they were they were also callous and mean. Strange.
Making fun of little people and other minorities
Yeah, this happened. The episode involved Dam getting a new boss who was a little person. A very successful, highly educated little person. But Dan couldn’t accept that and threw every insult he could at him. Heck at one point when Judge Stone indicates that everyone has the right to work, Dan agrees “in circuses, freak show”. Wow! Tell me anyone would dare to have a character say anything like that today? Another episode involved Fielding’s friend having a sex change. Yeah the insults were flying then too. Compare that to a Just Shoot Me episode when Finch has a friend who did that, but quickly accepts it and is fine with it. Fielding was a little slower to adjust. We’ll get back to Fielding in a bit.
Religion
There is one episode where five women give birth in the courtoom. Long story. But the interesting thing in the episode is the religious symbolism. We first see Art dragging a basketball hoop in. But the wood the basket is connected to resembles a cross. And Art drags it in like…well, I think you got the idea. At the end of the episode, Harry actually speaks to it (or to God) as he thinks about the events of the episode. How many shows today would openly have that kind of religious symbol like that? Or a character openly praying to it? Later on in another episode, Dan pretends to be a Nun. Yeah that would go over well today.
Hookers/Mentally Ill
Some of the running gags on this show involve people who are really, well, not well. We see hookers come in and out of the courtroom, making jokes about getting paid to have sex. One very early episode we see a depressed hooker who looks like she is having a bad trip, threaten to kill herself! They were also there for laughs, but what so funny about women who do that? You’d never see that today. But the more common trend was people who were mentally ill. They usually thought they were aliens or something, and would even hold the courtroom hostage with weapons! Yikes. The best part would be the snickering these people would get when Harry would suggest turning the case “over to the boys at belle vue”. Took me years to realize BellVue was a real New York hospital. Now while these people are treated nice and some of the best episodes involve these kind of stories, it’s just so weird to watch these episode and know that today these kinds of jokes and/or characters would never appear on TV. If they did it wouldn’t be for laughs.
Dan Fielding
How many characters are as lecherous and scummy as this guy? John Larroquette found a way to play one of the scumbags of all time in such a way that we loved him! You’d never see a womanzing character like this today……..
But wait! Before you jump into the comment box to indicate a certain recent character who could give Fielding a run for his money, I’ve already though of that. So, let’s discuss it here. Why Dan Fielding is a bigger lech than Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother.
Now I will admit I am not a major fan of this show but did research a bit so I feel safe in this character analysis. Yes Barney was a womanizer and a lech, not to mention a massive ego. However, in the digging I did I could not find any scene where Barney would actively drool over some woman who was clearly not interested, harass his co-workers endlessly, and basically treat every woman as a conquest. Also, Barney had a refined sophistcated quality about him. I can see was the character is popular and why Neil Patrick Harris liked playing him. There was nothing classy about Fielding. Oh sure he was a damn good lawyer but he was also a slimeball. He would get his comeuppance almost every single episode which we always loved to see. The one thing both these characters share is a heart underneath that crassness, which is why they both managed to have friends. But yes, Fielding is a bigger scumbag than Barney Stinson in my opinion.
Since it’s possible I didn’t get the right impression from the clips I saw, please feel free to comment if you disagree with me. Dan Fielding was a unique character and one who stands alone. John Larrquette has said that Fielding said things that no one had ever said on TV at the time. And I would bet anything if they did that show again today, Fielding would be much subtler and more apologetic.
It really bugs me how PC things are today…but that’s another rant. That’s it for now folks! Did I forget a good example? Comment and let me know.
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