Sitcommentary by Mark A. Robinson

Author:Mark A. Robinson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2019-06-30T16:00:00+00:00

Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges in Diff’rent Strokes. NBC/Photofest © NBC

In its early seasons, Diff’rent Strokes was not reluctant to address the boys’ adjustment to losing their mother, leaving their home, and trying to settle in with their new family without being disloyal to their mother’s memory or forgetting their former life. Philip was always patient with the boys, never requiring them to take his surname and encouraging them to keep their connections in Harlem. The boys continued to go by “Jackson” for the entirety of the show, which was an important part of keeping a piece of their mother with them. Kimberly was a welcoming sister to her new brothers and rarely appeared to be jealous of sharing her father’s attention. It was an arrangement that worked well for all.

It is of consequence to note that the Drummond household was about as unconventional a family dynamic as one was likely to see on network television in the late 1970s. For many, adoption was something that they were initially being exposed to. Adoption, in society and on television, was typically treated as a secret that should be kept until a child was grown up and could process the information. As progressive as the Drummond/Jackson scenario appeared to be, the idea of a white, single male adopting two African American boys was the perfect recipe to incite the ire of bigots. Indeed, NBC received some negative feedback over this multiracial family from white supremacy groups that felt that the show had stepped over a line. Fortunately, NBC had a hit show on its hands and was unlikely to shut Diff’rent Strokes down as long as the advertising revenue continued to roll in.

In the 1980s, it was typical of popular sitcoms to have what was referred to as “very special episodes,” seriously plotted stories that touched on current issues and/or subjects of a sensitive nature. Diff’rent Strokes produced what is remembered as one of the most iconic of these. In 1983, a two-part episode titled “The Bicycle Man” found Arnold and his best friend Dudley (Shevar Ross) targeted by a bicycle shop owner (Gordon Jump) who attempts to seduce the boys and molest them. The episode ran with a parental advisory warning, suggesting that adults take the time to talk to their kids about the episode after viewing. Many a conversation was had in homes warning against stranger danger and predators who will give you gifts in exchange for your young body. It was a haunting episode of sitcom television, bearing a gravitas that shaped the minds of many children on making safe choices. This “episode” would lead to several others, ranging in topics from bulimia to epilepsy and from alcoholism to the dangers of hitchhiking.

Another place where Diff’rent Strokes had an impact on the youth of America was in the war on drugs. First Lady Nancy Reagan, wife of popular 1980s President Ronald Reagan, had launched an antidrug program called “Just Say No.” In the season 5 episode “The Reporter,” the

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