Content Warning: the following article contains discussions/depictions of abuse, child sexual abuse, violence, rape, and racism.
Laughter is what sitcoms bring to the table. From The Freesh Prince to How I Met Your Mother to Seinfeld, it's all about the laughs. Dramas are where the real sensitive subject matters are covered, and comedy is where fans go to take the edge off. However, that doesn't mean that sitcoms can never deal with sensitive subjects, or balance out the laughs with something a little harder-hitting.
Among the jokes about relationships, family dynamics, or struggling to find a job (or deal with a mother-in-law), sitcoms can often cover some of the most serious moments in life. It could be a storyline of infidelity, rape, abuse, or even death. These shows below tackled subjects that fans were not expecting, but that were all topics that needed to be addressed.
Friends (Lack Of Communication)
There are moments in a relationship where things go wrong and a couple may decide to 'take a break'. The problem is, this isn't clarified, and neither knows what the other means. While this was still a moment on the comedic side of things, what happened between Ross and Rachel is something many couples have gone through and will continue to go through without proper communication.
Ross slept with another woman while, according to Rachel, they were still monogamous, just having a fight. Ross, on the other hand, figured they were officially broken up so he was free to sleep with whoever he wanted. It was played for laughs, but it taught a real lesson about communication and clarity.
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (Abandonment)
This moment in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air brought light to a sensitive subject matter, when children grow up without a parent, feeling unwanted and abandoned. Will never really knew his dad, but he pops into Will's life after decades of being absent.
A relationship starts to grow between the two but Lou decides at the last minute that he's going to vanish on Will, again. The moment that Will realizes this and sobs in Uncle Phil's arms over not feeling wanted hits home for so many, as Will gets vulnerable about something that hurt so much.
Golden Girls (Confederate Flag)
The Golden Girls will forever be an iconic sitcom. It was a show that no one saw coming, and it covered a range of serious topics in among all the banter. This is even more impressive, given that many of these were topics most were still afraid to approach in front of a live studio audience.
In one episode, the Confederate Flag became the hot topic. Roland was offended that Blanche still didn't see the issues with the flag, the history and connection to racism, and what it stands for. It was a back-and-forth tussle for understanding, and while the subject matter was sensitive, it was handled with the usual Golden Girls grace.
Family Matters (Driving While Black)
Steve Urkel provided the majority of the laughs on Family Matters but in no way does that mean the popular sitcom didn't go without its serious moments. One that stood out was an episode where Eddie Winslow was stopped by the cops in a white neighborhood. Although his father Carl is a cop, that didn't make Eddie invisible to the law.
When Carl caught wind of what happened to his son, he confronted the officers who continued to make a joke of it. Back then, what transpired wasn't often talked about, making this an even more impressive episode for tackling it. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, too, covered the subject in a careful way.
Seinfeld (Bullying)
Serious moments in comedy are not rare. But often, teachable lessons get lost in translation. The moment where Seinfeld taught a valuable lesson was missed by many viewers. In its final season, the four friends were on trial for all their actions over the course of the show.
What made Seinfeld such a huge success was that no one was off-limits from their jokes. However, in that final episode, the gang was called to for those actions. Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer were bullies. While they may not have physically assaulted people, they bullied with words and actions. And for that, they were sentenced to a year in jail.
Diff'rent Strokes (Child Sexual Abuse)
There are moments on TV that are impossible to laugh about, and this is one of them. Diff'rent Stokes' episode "Bicycle Man" dealt with the sexual abuse of children, as Arnold and Dudley were abused by the owner of a bicycle store. While this was not a graphic scene, for obvious reasons, the children were groomed and abused over several visits, culminating in the adults coming to the man's apartment where they find Dudley, who says that the man 'tried to touch him'. It's assumed, given that the police get involved, that the man is arrested, but this isn't actually shown.
There are certainly issues with how this was presented, although the two-part 'very special episode' tries its best to address the situation, and teach viewers how to recognize an ab and how they may groom a child. It's a complicated and controversial episode, but one that deals with subjects most sitcoms would never consider.
All In The Family (Rape)
Everyone was caught off guard with this episode of All In The Family, which starts as a typical surprise birthday episode and turns into a two-part episode about attempted rape. In this episode, Edith is alone at home when a man arrives at her door posing as a police officer, and attempts to rape her, threatening her with a gun (one of the first depictions of attempted rape on television).
All In The Family has been known to push the envelope before, but this episode was extremely heavy, including not just the attack, but the aftermath, and Gloria's recollections of a similar experience and how she was treated by police at the time. In the end, this is a sitcom, and the bad guy is arrested so things can end on a happier note, but this was still a groundbreaking double episode for the show.
A Different World (Abuse)
A Different World was known for lots of laughs and a great inside look into an HBCU. But one episode that stood out as far more serious was the episode where Gina got into a relationship with a violent man who was abusive to her. This storyline covered multiple important aspects of this serious issue. Gina's boyfriend was affectionate, loving, and wonderful in public, but violent privately. He talked about the abuse he himself saw as a child and used his own emotional issues and fears as an excuse for hitting Gina. She also struggled to it what was happening to friends, although it was eventually revealed and her ab was reported.
For NBC to take this approach on a show that was geared towards teenagers, the storyline was a huge risk, but one that was important, and dealt with extremely well.
How I Met Your Mother (Moving On)
The jokes were plentiful on Marshall's father's death was a hard one and was definitely dealt with well over multiple episodes, but there is one topic that often goes unnoticed. The core of the story itself is that Ted met his soulmate but lost her when they were both still relatively young. And throughout his story to his kids, he was recounting more than just how he met her, but how much he misses her, and his children help him realize that it's time to move on.
He loved Robin, but Ted was still in either denial or still morning the loss of his wife. He was afraid to move on. It may not have been driven home particularly hard, but the topic of the death of a spouse, how much to tell the kids, and when it's ok to move on is a huge one.
Good Times (Death)
The entirety Good Times could make this list. A family stuck in poverty should not have been tabbed as a laughing matter. But the cast and the jokes were downright brilliant. As much as they struggled, this family always had hope. And with the weight of the world on his shoulders, the head of the household (James Evans) did what he could to keep his family fed and clothed.
But James ed away while searching for a new work situation and the show took a turn that fans didn't expect. He was the lead in every way and his death left the family and the show in limbo - a reflection of how death affects families in the real world. And while the show carried on without him, his loss had an impact on everyone.