A Very Special Episode of the PPK Blog

by IsaChandra

The 80s weren’t afraid of anything. Even the wholesome family sitcoms covered the issues. Drug addiction, child molestation, racism, homosexuality. And that was just one episode of the Golden Girls. I know that liberal-minded people think that the world has become more conservative and conservative-minded people think the opposite, but I think that today’s political climate makes the Tipper Gore VS Twisted Sister controversy seem downright innocent.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this Give Away for bringing back so many memories. I always wonder how I knew what a vegetarian was as a child, and it must be because of some TV show in the 80s. I definitely never knew any real life vegetarians.

But there can only be two winners. After weeding out my friends from the entries, I’ve decided on Mary’s ALF submission.

“Someone already mentioned ALF?s love for eating cats, but in episode 46 of season 2 ALF attempts to get rid of a a stray dog the family has taken in that is garnering attention away from ALF. ALF gives the dog to a mean woman in the neighborhood.

ALF also saves a cockroach that has invaded the house from the family – Willie keeps trying to spray it with insecticide.

There are many important AR references in ALF.”

Yeah, mumbles had already brought up Alf, but I know him and he doesn’t cook anyway.

“I?m going to make the case for ALF. Every time he tried to eat the Tanner?s cat, he challenged our speciesist hypocrisy by highlighting the absurdity of treating some animals as food sources and others as cherished companions. And he does that in just about every episode. Probably overplaying the message a little, honestly.”

Plus Alf is like A.L.F. and that joke never gets old.

The next winner is Sangu for Punky Brewster.

“There was an episode of Punky Brewster where her dog, Brandon bites a neighbor. The neighbor wants him put down, but it turned out that the neighbor was beating her daughter so Brandon bit her to protect the girl. It ended up being an animal/child abuse/dog saves the day/dog gets to live episode.”

I like this one because it makes connections between human and non-human abuses. And, fine, because I loved Punky Brewster.

As for the Mr. Belvedere thing, that episode where Kevin gets arrested for spray painting fur coats completely inspired me! I know that he gets arrested and the lesson is not to spray paint fur coats, but all that I took from it was that it is awesome to spray paint furcoats. Not that I advocate spray painting fur coats!

Thanks to everyone who participated. It was a really tough decision and some stiff competition. I’d like to leave you with a video from an also-ran, because in the 80s you were allowed to call poachers evil without fear of being branded judgmental even if you were a four foot tall purple alien. And even if it was the 90s. (But really the early 90s were just what I call the post-80s.)

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