before my political awakening I just took them at face value. But now they're like time capsules of the fairly shallow and hardly biting political commentary of the era.
Specifically im talking about sitcoms that premiered in the late 90s (or early 2000s) and continued thru the 00s. Take Scrubs for example. There's a few episodes where the hospital workers break into camps discussing the Iraq war. Elliott, played by Sarah Chalke, is revealed as a republican. I suppose this mirrors how actual conversations at the time played out but its somewhat endearing how it all seems so quaint looking back. I know watching at the time I was like wow it's refreshing how they're being so political lmao.
I think the cringiest when it comes to this is will and grace. There's a few episodes with bush-targeted jokes delivered primarily by debra messing (yuck). And they all have to do with his intelligence.
I think the only exceptions are either the shows that did it smartly (for libs anyways) like the first three seasons of Arrested Development or ones that just focused on the domestic/life problems of the characters, like Malcolm in the middle (which is probably the last great working class sitcom) or everybody loves raymond.
Peak political discourse. I could never figure out if we were supposed to think that Al was an idiot, or if he was just a victim of his own life. I haven't watched the show at all since it was doing reruns on local cable TV. Al clearly had it going pretty good.
Al was absolutely a victim of Al's choices in life. he was stubborn and dumb and insensitive, so he usually created whatever conflict he found himself embroiled in, and nearly always lost whatever he had staked. usually from his own actions, but sometimes from the shit luck that plagued him his whole life after high school. one of my favorite lines was when something totally random would screw up his plans, as if on cue, and he would just look up and say, "Good one, God." cracked me up as a little kid.
one of my favorite tropes about that show was how stuck in the past Al was. he scored 4 touchdowns in the homecoming game of his senior year, and everything after was downhill. he brought up that game constantly and nobody ever gave a shit. characters like that, who can't let go of some b.s. that happened 20 years ago, are so tragic and hilarious to me.
even the "No Ma'am" club they tried to organize was a completely joke. a bunch of dumbass guys in the neighborhood pretending to struggle against the supposed tyranny of their wives, but it's just guys drinking after work in a garage until they are hungry or sleepy. like little kids running away from home.
You weren't supposed to "think" of Al, you were supposed to relate to his frustrations and musings. I'd go insane if I played St. Peter with entertainment media characters. They're meant to be enjoyed not judged.
Right, I hear you. I guess what I was saying, albeit poorly, is were you supposed to be "laughing at" Al, or sympathizing with Al. In the same way that, every character in Seinfeld is more or less "bad" people to be laughed at. Seinfeld makes it pretty clear that the gang should be laughed at.
I'm 90% sure that Married With Children is supposed to be tongue in cheek and that we are supposed to be laughing at Al -- the stereotype of a peaked-in-highschool chud.
I feel that it's like the sitcom equivalent of a Kelly cartoon.