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<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&amp;#039;Drama" data-source="post: 427647" data-attributes="member: 23">I&#039;d agree with this.This has struck me as I watched. I&#039;d have thought it would be&nbsp; fairly progressive to have a black couple making up half the main cast.This is interesting, thanks. One of these first episodes featured Barbie and Joan talking about sex, with Barbie drawing attention to the fact that she wore no bra, leading to a plot where Joan removed hers but Eddie didn&#039;t notice. As I watched I thought it was quite racy for what I assumed would be a 7-8pm kind of time slot, so this makes more sense of it.Yes. Other sitcoms of the era were rife with casual racism and stereotypical views and portrayals, but often lacked the balance that&#039;s present here by quietly showing us how misguided Eddie&#039;s views are. Half the point of this series seems to be that Eddie&#039;s regular put-downs of non-white people (uncouth, uneducated, backwards, etc.)&nbsp; actually fit Eddie himself better than the Reynoldses, who don&#039;t even need to rebut most of his views since they&#039;re living proof that he&#039;s misinformed.Sadly, Eddie&#039;s outlook wasn&#039;t hugely uncommon at the time (and it still has currency today). I&#039;m sure there were probably people who felt Eddie was speaking up for them, just as some couldn&#039;t see beyond the satire of Alf Garnett and admired him for his views.I think series like this are time capsules as much as anything. Terminology and views like this weren&#039;t as unacceptable then as they are today, and it&#039;s important we don&#039;t forget that.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 427647, member: 23"] I'd agree with this. This has struck me as I watched. I'd have thought it would be fairly progressive to have a black couple making up half the main cast. This is interesting, thanks. One of these first episodes featured Barbie and Joan talking about sex, with Barbie drawing attention to the fact that she wore no bra, leading to a plot where Joan removed hers but Eddie didn't notice. As I watched I thought it was quite racy for what I assumed would be a 7-8pm kind of time slot, so this makes more sense of it. Yes. Other sitcoms of the era were rife with casual racism and stereotypical views and portrayals, but often lacked the balance that's present here by quietly showing us how misguided Eddie's views are. Half the point of this series seems to be that Eddie's regular put-downs of non-white people (uncouth, uneducated, backwards, etc.) actually fit Eddie himself better than the Reynoldses, who don't even need to rebut most of his views since they're living proof that he's misinformed. Sadly, Eddie's outlook wasn't hugely uncommon at the time (and it still has currency today). I'm sure there were probably people who felt Eddie was speaking up for them, just as some couldn't see beyond the satire of Alf Garnett and admired him for his views. I think series like this are time capsules as much as anything. Terminology and views like this weren't as unacceptable then as they are today, and it's important we don't forget that. [/QUOTE]

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