The Most Controversial TV Episodes Of '90s Sitcoms
The 1990s was something of a golden age for the sitcom genre. Some of the most beloved series of the decade – both live-action and animated – fall into this genre, and they remain a key source of nostalgia for both younger Gen-Xers and millennials.
While many sitcoms of the period tended to be light-hearted and avoided controversy, there were some notable exceptions to this rule. Indeed, just as there were many controversial movies (and movie stars) from this era, there were also a number of sitcom episodes that ignited commentary from across the political spectrum. Many continue to do so to this day.
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Family Matters – 'Good Cop Bad Cop'
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Family Matters was another beloved sitcom from the ABC programming block of TGIF. Focusing at first on the Winslow family, it was soon reoriented to bring next-door neighbor Steve Urkel into the spotlight, and the antagonistic relationship between Steve and father Carl became a mainstay in the series’ comedy. Though it was often light-hearted, Family Matters did engage with weightier issues at times.
In the episode “Good Cop Bad Cop,” for example, shows Eddie, Carl’s son, being racially profiled by a police officer. Though Carl at first defends his fellow officers, he goes on to challenge them in a diner, creating a moment that resonated with audiences at the time and still today. Furthermore, the episode was based in part on the real-life experiences of Darius McCrary, who played Eddie.
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During its run, Full House was primarily known for its squeaky-clean comedy and for its unique take on the sitcom scenario of a dysfunctional family. For the most part, the series avoided the heavy topics which were such a prominent part of other sitcoms of the era. Occasionally, however, it explored some grimmer territory, such as in the episode “Shape Up,” in which eldest daughter DJ becomes obsessed with losing weight and stops eating for several days.
It’s a wrenching episode, particularly since the series was known for being more escapist than confrontational in its storylines. Since this was a character audiences had gotten to know for several seasons – the episode occurred in the fourth season – her struggle was very relatable, and it also tapped into the diet and weight loss craze which was so much a part of 1990s pop culture.
Interesting controversy?The animated series Tiny Toon Adventures was in many ways an update of the classic Looney Tunes characters of classic Warner Bros. animation. Filled with ludic energy and slapstick, it managed to be both nostalgic and yet very true to its moment. Despite its generally light-hearted attitude, it had a couple of episodes which roused the ire of parents.
Of particular note is “Elephant Issues,” which has three of the characters – Buster, Plucky, and Hamton – drink a bottle of beer and then careen off a cliff in a car, leading to their deaths. While this is revealed to be only a studio recording to warn about the dangers of underage drinking, this segment has only rarely been aired, due to the controversy it ignited.
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Murphy Brown – 'You Say Potatoe, I Say Potato'
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Candace Bergen’s Murphy Brown is one of the most formidable women in sitcom history. A no-nonsense and hard-edged news anchor, Brown was noted for being a woman who found success in the traditionally male-dominatd world of television journalism. She also became the flashpoint for a cultural debate in the real world about motherhood when Vice President Dan Quayle decried her decision to become a single mother, igniting a firestorm of debate.
In a rare and brave move, the series actually had Murphy Brown respond herself in-universe to Quayle’s comments. In her typical style, Brown pulled no punches, pointing out the hypocrisy and sanctimony of the Vice President’s remarks when there were many different types of family trying to make ends meet in the first Bush administration. It remains a powerful moment of network television and a testament to the character’s outspoken feminist attitude.
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Roseanne – 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
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During its original run Roseanne was a series seemingly designed to provoke cultural commentary. This partially stemmed from the personality of its star, who made being loud and confrontational her trademark. The series’ stories were also often very provocative, and the series didn’t shy away from the hot-button issues of the 1990s. In the episode “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Roseanne kisses a woman in a gay bar, and the response was, to put it mildly, explosive.
In fact, the network at first threatened to not show the episode at all, fearing the backlash they would receive from members of the religious right (a very powerful force in the 1990s). They were also afraid of losing potential ad revenue. However, Roseanne was a very influential force in her own right, and she strong armed ABC into airing it. Courting controversy ended up being a good move, however, for the episode managed to pull in 20 million viewers.
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Daria - 'Fat Like Me'
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Perhaps no ‘90s sitcom managed to capture the ennui and malaise of Gen X quite like Daria. Its title character viewed the world through a rather jaundiced lens, and the series as a whole contains a remarkable amount of cultural commentary. Some episodes cut a little close to the bone, including “Fat Like Me.”
As the title implies, the episode focuses on weight gain, in this case the character Sandi’s. As the leader of the cool girls in school, Sandi feels the urge to stay skinny particularly keenly, and for the most part the episode doesn’t really ask the viewer to think critically about how dangerous it is for a young woman to fixate so unhealthily on “weight gain.” To some extent, this is due to the period in which it aired – an era known for its unhealthy relation to food and body image – but even so, it is a glaring part of the show from the viewpoint of 2023.
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Ellen – 'The Puppy Episode'
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These days, Ellen DeGeneres is best known for her long-running talk show, but she was also a staple of the 1990s primetime world with her self-titled sitcom. In the episode, her character (also named Ellen) finally comes out as gay. It was an incredibly brave thing for the actress to do, and it earned her a place in the television history books.
However, this was the 1990s, and the blowback for airing this episode was swift and severe. Among other things, numerous advertisers pulled their ads from the show, and its ratings also took a hit. It didn't help the ratings when the show had to include of a parental advisory in front of subsequent episodes. Both Degeneres and her co-star in the episode Laura Dern have said that the conservative response damaged their careers at the time.
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There’s no question Seinfeld is one of the most influential sitcoms of the 1990s, and it maintains a strong fan base today. It’s also no secret that the series often pushed the boundaries of acceptability. Even for a show which sometimes delighted in being offensive, the episode “Puerto Rican Day” was a step too far. In the closing moments of the episode, Kramer sets fire to a Puerto Rican flag, stomps on it in an attempt to put out the flames, and gets chased away while Jerry’s car is destroyed. To add insult to injury, Kramer then remarks: “It’s like this every day in Puerto Rico.”
To the surprise of no one, this episode did not go down particularly well, especially with members of the Puerto Rican community. The scene was actually removed from syndicated episodes, which demonstrates the extent to which it had aroused more ire than the writers had intended when they wrote this particular scene.
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Married With Children – 'Her Cups Runneth Over'
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More than almost any other series of the 1990s, Married…With Children seemed to go out of its way to court offense. In fact, it repeatedly wore its bad taste on its sleeve, both in terms of its characters’ behaviors and in its storylines. The episode “Her Cups Runneth Over” took that tendency to the extremes with a plot in which Al tries to procure a discontinued bra for his wife, Peggy. Even for a series which delighted in pushing the envelope, this episode broke new ground for network TV raunch.
As so often in television, this proved to be something of a double-edged sword. A homemaker named Terry Rakolta was so offended by the episode and the dismissive way in which Fox treated her initial complaint that she attempted to start a nationwide boycott. While advertisers initially started to pull away from the network and the show, Married…With Children’s increased ratings ended up being a boon for the relatively young and small network. However, they did end up moving the show to a later time slot in order to preserve the 8 p.m. family hour.
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Boy Meets World – 'Prom-ises, Promises'
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Boy Meets World was a beloved part of the TGIF programming block on ABC in the 1990s, and it earned a particularly privileged place in the teenaged nostalgia of many millennials. Like typical teen comedies of the time, it showed the various characters navigating the fraught territory of teen life in the decade. In one notable episode, main characters Cory and Topanga consider having sex, before ultimately deciding to wait.
At first blush, this seems fairly uncontroversial. In recent years, some of the show's cast have called out the fact the episode doesn’t call attention to anything related to safe sex or birth control. This is a significant oversight, considering the extent to which such conversations were very much in the atmosphere of the culture at the time.
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That '70's Show – 'Eric's Buddy'
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During its run from 1998 to 2006, That ‘70s Show was enormously popular thanks to good writing and an undeniable chemistry among its cast. It wasn’t immune from controversy, however, particularly in the episode “Eric’s Buddy,” in which Topher Grace’s Eric Forman makes a new friend, Buddy, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
For Eric’s friends, the idea of him making a new friend is bad enough, but it gets more complicated when Buddy kisses him. While this episode isn’t nearly as homophobic as one might expect of something released in the 1990s, it is still a bit frustrating the extent to which Buddy was mostly a one-off character rather than a fully-developed individual. While it is notable the series showed a male-male kiss, it would have been better had they chosen to give the character something else to do other than to be a means for Eric to reinforce his own heterosexuality.
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Friends – 'The One Where Ross And Rachel Take A Break'
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Few TV couples are as culturally ubiquitous as Ross and Rachel. Even today, people debate the extent to which the two were on a “break” when Ross decided to pursue another amorous encounter, a decision which would affect the course of their on-screen romance for years to come. This occurred, of course, in the aptly named episode “The One Where Ross and Rachel Take a Break.”
The episode was not only key to the characters’ development – who could ever forget Ross’s repeated insistence about the fact they were on a break – but it also divided the series’ fandom. Some take Rachel’s side, while others take Ross’s. The argument has become so pervasive even real-life therapists have taken a stance on the subject. While fans new and old will no doubt continue to argue about which of these characters is right, one thing is clear: their argument is a reminder of the importance of clarity in communication in relationships.
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Home Improvement – 'Adios'
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Home Improvement was responsible for making Tim Allen a household name. Like many of the other sitcoms of the era, it focused on a family, the Taylors, and their various foibles and difficulties. While Allen was the star, the series was also notable for elevating the star status of Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who became both a household name and a teenage heartthrob.
As the series went on Thomas began to chafe at the limitations imposed by the sitcom, and he ultimately departed the series. He departed the series in the episode “Adios,” in which he leaves home to study abroad. Given how central Thomas was to the series’ central chemistry, his departure marked a significant moment in its development, and the rest of the final season just wouldn’t be the same without him.
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TaleSpin - 'Lost Horizons'
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Disney’s TaleSpin was a beloved part of the ‘90s animation boom. With its unique take on the characters from The Jungle Book, it contines as a key part of many millennials’ after-school memories. However, it had its fair share of controversial episodes, particularly the one entitled “Lost Horizons” in which main character Baloo encounters a realm called Panda-La.
The episode unfortunately traded in a number of stereotypes about East Asian cultures. Understandably, this particular episode has been rarely seen since its initial release. It is a reminder of just how much things have changed (and how much they haven’t) since the 1990s.
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