http://tv.yahoo.com/saved-by-the-bell/show/leaping-to-conclusions/episode/26020
“Leaping to Conclusions” Saved by the Bell Originally aired in 12/88 ; )
Sorry no youtube clip..but it’s the first one I thought of.

I know for a fact you prefer the ‘old’ SBTB cast…

Sweet Valley High Episode 88.

This is the 90s.

… I hate myself for mentioning this first.. why wouldn’t of I remembered a transformers episode on animal rights.

Darlene in Roseanne had an ongoing storyline about being a vegetarian – this is creaping into the 90s, I think, but she protested about meat at the sandwich shop…

“Roseanne” had an episode where Darlene protests her mom’s diner, making chalk lines of cows in the parking lot. It was called “Lanford Daze,” according to google, and bonus points if the actress that plays Darlene is also vegan?

In Full House (Season 4, 1991), there was an episode in which Michelle learned a hard lesson when she gave her goldfish, Martin, a bubble bath! Things didn’t go so well, and the goldfish died. They replaced the goldfish, but they ended up having to teach her about death and how to care for animals (that a person cannot give a goldfish a bath!).

“Endangered species” (episode 10 in season 2 of Dinosaurs – love that show):
Gapdelites are a rare delicacy that are close to extinction. Robbie, the son, befriends 2 of them, and fights to save them.

OK, I don’t think this episode was in the 80s, but if not it was definitely early 90s and hopefully close enough.

I’m thinking of that episode of Roseanne when Darlene draws all the dead cows outside Roseanne’s diner in protest of the meat sandwiches she sells.

Ah ha–here’s a link to the episode description: http://www.tv.com/roseanne/lanford-daze/episode/28178/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;14
It’s called “Landford Daze”. Just had to search for “Roseanne dead cows chalk” to find it!

Not in the 80s or 90s, but one of my favorites!

Coupling (BBC) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOUR__Ximp8

Crumbs, looks like two people beat me to it while I was writing. Oh well, I’ll pick up a copy of the book at the Boston Veg Fest next weekend.

The episode(s) from the Simpsons, of course! Lisa goes vegetarian early on (and learns that you don’t make friends with salad, she should have made the BBQ pomegranite tofu from VwaV), and it’s referenced in many episodes afterwards. So good! Bonus points for having Paul and Linda McCartney, as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WVMGOWmgjU

oops, that was me.

Recently on BONES on Fox, main character talks about vegetarianism!!!

http://www.fox.com/bones/

Season 3, Episode 6 of Boy Meets World titled ‘This Little Piggy’.

Shawn gets a pig and names it Little Cory, and Topanga tries to talk him out of keeping it because Shawn can’t provide for it with his lifestyle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY9iTtUkVOU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41cyXKSVuWU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4WvLWc6SYM

I can also go back to 1956 … Well, I can’t. But my memory of Honeymooner’s re-runs can! The episode “A Dog’s Life” involved Alice rescuing a puppy. She made the dog homemade dog food, and Ralph ended up feeding his boss the dog food, calling it a delicious mystery appetizer! Ralph was very angry, and brought the dog to the pound, and then found out that they were going to kill the dog. He said, (to paraphrase!) “My dog!? They’re going to KILL MY DOG? No one is going to kill MY DOG!” And he retrieved his dog from the pound. A lot of people probably learned what goes on in kill shelters from this episode. I know it’s cheating to include a show from the year my father was born, but it’s one of my favorite episodes of any show, ever!

http://www.tv.com/the-honeymooners/a-dogs-life/episode/104371/summary.html

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/243659/The-Honeymooners-A-Dog-s-Life/overview

Family Ties Episode 163: Nick’s Best Friend

I had to find something from Family Ties – my parents decided to name me Mallory because they got the idea from the show. Yeah, makes be feel a little young that my name is my only tie to 80′s sitcoms. In the episode, Nick’s childhood dog is hit by a car, and even though the dog is suffering and everyone says it should be put to sleep, he insists on an operation to save him. Afterwards, the vet says that the dog is suffering too much, so Mallory and Alex (who is being unusually emotional – he has feelings!) accompany him to say goodbye. I watched a lot of Family Ties when it reran at 2AM on Nick at Nite – I wanted to see where my name came from. Too bad Mallory is an airhead.

The Simpsons episode, Lisa the Tree Hugger, where Level 5 vegan was born.

Oh, and in the first season of Star Trek: TNG, Riker is horrified when aliens ask for live animals to kill for meat since “no longer enslaves animals” for food. It’s a terrible episode otherwise, but at least it’s a shout-out!

I would imagine everyone will say this, but… The Simpsons, Season 7, Episode 5, Lisa the Vegetarian. Lisa stops eating meat, AND Apu says he’s a vegan. This episode first aired about a year before I became a vegetarian, and I’d like to think that it pushed me in the right direction.

1980s! Rudy’s fish, Lamont, dies. Second Cosby Show ever! http://youtube.com/watch?v=Jo_bn2blWSY

There was also a Family Ties episode in which (I want to say it’s) Courtney Cox proclaims that she “doesn’t eat anything with a face.”

I thought that was pretty much the coolest thing ever when I was a kid.

Golden Girls episode aired Oct 89

Rose is sad when she sees that dolphins get caught in fishing nets when fishing for tuna. She decides to hold a protest against tuna fishing. Blanche joins in, too, after being moved by a rerun of Flipper. They become part of the “friends with blow holes.” Not the exact name of the group, but it’s what Blanche calls it. Hmmm…..maybe I watch too much Golden Girls…..

The answer Isa’s looking for, of course, is the very special episode of Silver Spoons in which Ricky becomes familiar with the realities of hunting. ALL TOO FAMILIAR.

But 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.

There is a great episode of Saved by the Bell where someone wants to drill for oil on the campus. Everyone is excited about it because they think they’ll be rich, but then an accident causes an oil spill which kills several animals they have been taking care of in Biology class, including a duck who I think was named Becky. So, of course, Zack makes an impassioned speech at a PTA meeting where they are talking about oil development and sprays an oil exec with oil. He says “At least you can wash it off and live” or something like that. I don’t know that anyone goes veg as a result, but it is still a great episode.

(imagine my disappointment when I went to high school and the principle didn’t even care to know my name . . .)

The Drew Carey show, probably again not in the 80s or 90s but I think like 2000 or 2001, Drew dates an activist and she accidentally eats meat. Drew gets a cow in his back yard so she can see that she still loves animals because she was sort of disillusioned after accidentally eating meat.

Braceface!

http://www.tv.com/braceface/the-meat-of-the-matter/episode/52982/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;4

Alicia is in it!!!

Brenda Walsh became veg on 90210!!!

Did someone already mention the Beverly Hills 90210 episode where Brenda gets involved with an Animal Rights group and breaks into the lab where Andrea is working to free the animals they’re testing on? And then it turns out that someone ratted them out to the cops, so they target Brenda as the mole, but lo and behold it was the ringleader who was working undercover the whole time. It was definitely in the 90s, and sometimes it qualified as a sitcom. This episode was actually reminiscent of a Law and Order SVU episode from the season before, and sometimes that’s kind of sitcommy too.

Argh! We were typing at the same time!!!

I reeeeeeeeally want this cookbook!!!

Ooo! It’s not a sitcom, but the Doctor Who episode “The Two Doctors” from the mid-eighties, where the second Doctor is infected with Androgum genetic material, turning them both into ravening meat-eaters, who must resist the urge to eat the Companions (and anything else walking by!) It is one of the few ethically motivated explorations of vegetarianism I remember from that era, as opposed to health issues.

As a runner-up from the wrong decade, can I have an honourable mention for Michael “Meathead” Stivic from All in the Family? That was the first time I had ever heard the word in my life, watching TV on the floor of my grandfather’s (a “meat processing plant”‘s foreman) living room circa 1976 .. Discussion ensued. Loudly. ;-)

No- I need it more- and I need it before it’s released :-)

In the ER episode “Whose Appy Now?” someone practices a suture on an eggplant instead of a pig because she’s a Vegetarian.

All in the Family!

There was an “All In The Family” episode that ran where Mike’s vegetarian friends come to stay over and invite themselves to sleep in the house overnight with no notice to Edith and Archie. Archie doesn’t want an unmaried couple sleeping together, so they will have to stay in separate rooms…and they refuse! Edith serves them raw vegetables (broccoli, spinach, and asparagus with soy sauce!) and asks them if it’s going to mix up okay in their stomachs! (ha!) Archie tells them that their food looks like the bottom of a hamster cage! (How Archie-esque.)

I love that even the Bunkers touched upon vegetarianism!

I’m really glad this got extended to the 90′s, so I could include my favorite cartoon that no one believes exists. Widget World Watcher! He came from outer space to save Earth from ecological danger! There are so many episodes about saving the animals, I won’t name one. Here’s the intro about the one about saving the elephants from poachers though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ58raeSjLw.

Learn more about Widget than you ever wanted to know at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widget_(TV_series)

I should say, that was the first time I heard the word “vegetarian”, not “meathead.” :-)

Blossom! The show called Meat (Jan 24, 1994). The dad decides to make them all go vegetarian (although they go back to eating meat).

Also, The Count Duckula theme song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VthsQVsXwEg

He won’t bite beast or man,
‘Cos he’s a vegetari-an. (Aagh!)
And things never run to plan for…
DUCKULA!

MR. BELVEDERE! (bonus points for finding one to go with your picture)
Season 1 Episode 5
Kevin goes to jail for spraying paint on a mink to impress a crush on who is an environmental activist.
there’s no clip unfortunately so here’s the opening theme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjnZ4WJk-B4

You tubery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTDE1XTf7R4

(It’s the last 90 seconds of the Two Doctors, and it’s got Jamie and Peri, so there’s companiony goodness for everyone.)

Mr. Belvedere, season 1, episode 5:

Kevin tries to win the affections of a girl by suddenly becoming interested in some of the causes that she believes in like animal rights. This leads to Kevin landing in jail after he spray paints a mink coat.

First Aired: Friday April 12, 1985

Picket Fences! The episode is called: “Mr. Dreeb Comes To Town”. “A midget on a runaway elephant is discovered by the side of the highway. Michael J. Anderson (Twin Peaks) plays Peter Dreeb, and he’s fantastic is this episode about animal rights and unconventional love.” How’s that?

WHAT?! I just posted that!

oh nevermind. I didn’t see mine and thought it never showed up. Pardon me.

CSI – episodes MANY
Jorja Fox’s character Sara Sidle often has lines in episodes that speak out about Jorja’s real life vegetarian and animal rights concerns.

Including the episode -Sex, Lies and Larvae – Where Sara becomes a vegetarian because of events that transpire during the episode.

Damn! Should have read other responses first!

I guess i can’t read (heh) ….

ISA: “Edited: After a little complaining, I changed the rules from sit-com to any TV show and changed it to involve the 90s as well.”

Nevermind me, i don’t know any 80′s or 90′s US TV

1984! Charles in Charge! In the 12th episode of the first season, the title was “The Accidental Puppy” …. Charles has to decide the right thing to do when the boys bring home an injured dog. He had to convince them that they couldn’t keep an injured animal who didn’t belong to them.

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.

On an early episode of “King of the Hill”(1998? 1999?), The Hills’ son fell in love with a vegetarian and became one himself, until they broke up and he had a steak.

There’s also an episode of “Married With Children” where Peg wins a personal trainer for two weeks and the whole family goes vegetarian (after she turns the trainer on to the joy of bon bons). Funnily, Christina Appelgate (Kelly Bundy) is a vegetarian in real life.

I love the scene from the first Mork and Mindy show where Mork tries to free an egg from Mindy?s kitchen by gently tossing it in the air. ?Go on, little friend. Fly! Be free !? Then he looks so confused and disappointed at the smashed mess when the egg crashes. “Shazbot!” My little sister asked ?Why would eggs fly?? when she saw that: until that time she didn?t make the connection between the egg and a life.

On another Dinosaurs episode, (“I Never Ate For My Father”), Robbie toys with the idea of becoming an herbivore after he fails at killing/eating a mastodon at the Young Male Carnivores Association. The entire episode, it’s treated like parents nowadays treat marijuana usage and homosexuality. Hilarity. Even better is the fact that this was one of my favorite shows as a kid and this is the episode that I remembered best.

there was an episode of degrassi jr high (not the one that’s on the air now, mind you, the REAL one…) where the editor of the paper wanted to do a story on animal rights, and found an activist to write about.

hrmmmm…. let’s see:

there was the “lisa the vegetarian” where she refuses to eat meat, despite being given a ton of flack from her family and friends.

there was an episode of bernie mac where vanessa’s teacher invites everyone over for a vegetarian thanksgiving dinner… or was it vegan?

there was an episode o malcom in the middle (yay!) where reese is dating a vegetarian, and she gets mad at him for eating meat, so he sets all of the cows free from a meat plant.

there was the silver spoons episode where ricky is hunting with his grandpa, and he shoots a deer in the hindquarters and then freaks out about it. his gradfather tells him to put it out of his misery but he won’t.

Ooops – hit send too fast….

Here’s the link to the opening credits of the Mork and Mindy Pilot:

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/mork-and-mindy-pilot-open/4194046978

Here’s a pic with the aftermath of the egg-release:
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/mork3.html

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.

p.s. mr. belvedere is apparently a rescued pig at Pigs Peace Sanctuary:
http://pigspeace.org/stories/belvedere.html

p.p.s. did anyone see the SNL sketch about “The guy who plays Mr. Belvedere Fan Club” aka “Broctoon”? It was unvegan, but that’s the first thing i thought of when i saw the picture.

Designing Women! Suzanne wears a fur coat in a fashion show. The other women say why they don’t wear fur, then learns her lesson.

I remember an episode of Fame from the late 80s where there was a student who protested dissecting a frog and there was a computer program that they wanted to use instead.

Oops – hit send too soon….

Mork and Mindy Pilot ? opening credits.
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/mork-and-mindy-pilot-open/4194046978

Picture of Mork in the aftermath of the egg-release.
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/mork3.html

Not quite a sitcom, but Bob Barkers sign off line from the Price is Right. He presented the show for 35 years, so defo covers the 80s/90s.
He was an animal rights activist so used the show as a platform to get his message across :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egScPkeNkp0&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Escouseveg%2Eco%2Euk%2F2007%2F06%2F08%2Fbob%2Dbarker%2Dcome%2Don%2Ddown%2F

Pinky & The Brain

Season 2, Episode 21: Welcome to the Jungle

Pinky and the Brain are mistaken for monkeys by animal activists and are released into the jungle, and while trying to return back to Acme Labs, encounter Snowball, who is leading a tribe of misbegotten tourists. Brain manages to defeat Snowball’s plan, and just as he gets used to the natural setting, both mice are recaptured as laboratory specimens for Acme Labs.

The Simpsons (again) in “Lisa’s Wedding” (March 26, 1995), a fortune-teller at a fair shows Lisa what her life will be like in 2010.
Her date (later fiance) says “I can’t believe how much we have in common. We’re both studying the environment, we’re both utterly humorless about our Vegetarianism, and we both love the Rolling Stones.”
That’s the first time Lisa’s vegetarianism is mentioned. So mad props to Groening for keeping Lisa veg.

Pete and Pete, that quirky mid-nineties comedy about two brothers with the same namesake, offered an animal rights plot in episode two of season two entitled “On Golden Pete” Within the episode, older Pete undertakes a moral crusade against his father’s delusioned pursuit of “Bob” an epic fifteen year old striped bass. Unable to bear the irony f killing a creature just to make it look alive….on the rec room wall….Pete goes as far as burning the fishing license. Add to the series cameo appearences by Debbie Harry, a mother with a metal plate in her head, and a little brother with a dancing salsa girl tattoo named Petunia, and you’ve got quality.

Captain Planet! My favourite show!

It is a whole cartoon series about protecting the planet. ALL the episodes are about helping the plants and animals recover from attacks by polluters or disasters. Come on, it is a WHOLE SERIES dedicated to saving animals and the environment! It cannot get any better than that,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Captain_Planet_episodes

Otherwise, Fern Gully – a movie, but similar principles on protecting the plants and wildlife.

I cannot access YouTube but I would add links if I could!
Yay for Veganomicon!

The episode of Jamie Foxx’s Show called “The Young and the Meatless” aired on February 19, 1997, and gave us this gem regarding someone apologizing for eating meat “don’t apologize to me, apologize to your colon.”

Oh, and they not only save animals from disasters but discuss a lot of issues regarding poaching, habitat destruction, global warming, animal rights, etc. See the episode list for details. There are far too many to list.

The power is yours!

CAPTAIN PLANET OF COURSE!

check out this sweet PSA- how can you not feel sorry for the turtles!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fi2sHI2Jhvk

A 1994 episode of the ?X-Files? deals with a cult, which has turned a cattle ranch into a sanctuary. At first, Mulder and Scully believe that the cult is responsible for turning local kids violent; however, they discover that the cattle the townsfolk have been eating has been injected with experimental hormones, which is causing the erratic behavior.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0751185/

This is the only clip I could find: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB9rKUPEpeU

Regarding ?Lisa the Vegetarian,? [I]Simpsons[/I] producer David Mirkin was a vegetarian at the time, and is now vegan. Additionally, George Meyer, also a producer, writer, and consultant to the show, is a vegetarian as well.

Oh, I almost forgot about [i]Count Duckula[/i], the vegetarian vampire!

I [i]loved[/i] this show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VthsQVsXwEg

“…he won’t bite beast or man, ’cause he’s a vegetarian…”

Different Strokes: The Dog’s Story 2/6/1980

Synopsis: Arnold saves a dog from being hit by a car but the dog bites Arnold. Arnold has to find the dog before he has to have rabies shots. In the end, Arnold finds the dog and gets a $25 reward. Arnold give the reward to the local animal shelter to help stray dogs.

Full YouTube video:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAJCNNDET4U
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzSMydDYph0
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwXSIw9j3lM

It’s been so long that I don’t have an specifics, but…

Any episode of the Babysitters Club that involves Dawn. She was always saving one thing or another, and she’s a vegetarian.

clarissa explains it all! clarissa’s mom is a health food loving vegetarian. nothin’ on youtube though..

macgyver was kinda vegetarian.. a health nut anyway..

3rd Rock from the Sun, episode 38, Season number 2, aired March 16, 1997, entitled ‘I Brake for Dick’:

Dick becomes an animal right’s activist after feeling guilty about accidentally running over a chipmunk. He switches over to a vegetarian diet. He then pushes his views on his family and Albright, ordering them not to use anything that’s made of animals and throw the things that are made of animals away.

See, even aliens have a heart!

Unfortunately, youtube.com does not have a clip of the episode, but I do have a fun quote:

Mary: “Just be glad you’re at the top of the food chain and nothing eats you.”
Dick: “What about the shark in Jaws? He was so scary.”

When is the cut off?

There was an episode of Frasier in which Frasier’s dad’s dog knocks up a neighbor’s dog, so they decide they’re long overdue to have the dog neutered. The dog seemingly knows what’s up and runs away to avoid the knife. They chase all over town to find him. They end up looking for good homes for the puppies, and Daphne still won’t let a puppy go to a family with a ‘bad aura,’ nevermind that their animal-care credentials are impeccable and they live on 10 acres.

I know the rules are 80s and 90s, but I just thought I’d post this because I love it! Being a little kid at heart, I tend to switch to the Disney Channel occassionally. Okay, a lot. Anyway, on ‘That’s So Raven’, Raven’s best friend, Chelsea, is an animal rights activist and vegetarian.

On episode 90, ‘Fur Better or Worse’, Raven creates some clothing sketches for her boss, designer Donna Cabonna. Since it’s a fall clothing line, Donna decides they’ll be made out of fur.

When Raven excitedly shares the news with Chelsea, Chelsea becomes enraged when she learns what that the clothing will be made out of. She begs Raven to reconsider handing over her sketches, but Raven refuses, claiming it’s a big opportunity for her. They end up having an all-out fight. Chelsea and her vegetarian club dress up in animal suits and protest, signs and all, at the clothing factory.

Eventually, a compromise is made with Donna, Chelsea and Raven become friends again and the fur idea is out the door!

It makes me so happy to see that they’re aiming animal rights and cruelty free messages to children. =)

Captain Planet always had PSA’s, one near the beginning and another one sometimes before the end credits. I was totally hooked on that show as a kid. HOOKED!

The Facts of Life! When Edna gets sick, they replace her with Beverly Ann, a vegetarian!

The ladies of Beverly Hills 90210, animal right protesters- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed5_bDIAVgI
(protesting starts at 2:23, bonus for the Norwegian subtitles!)
ANIMAL RIGHTS NOW!!!! STANS DYREFORS?K!

So many awesomes.

Did anyone mention the X Files episode where there was a vegetarian religious cult that had a ranch, but kept the cows as pets?
“bovine growth hormones and inhumane treatment of beef and dairy cows” was mentioned. Bah, I could only find a youtube clip in Spanish:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HKzrgqV-U-4

The episode is “Red Museum”, late 90′s.

Topanga from Boy Meets World was a vegetarian. I don’t think they picked a specific episode to concentrate it in, but she was throughout high school.

Oh, also Doctor Who went vegetarian during the series because he went somewhere where they ate people, and then he turns into one of them and tries to eat a cat I think? Then he decides that eating meat is disgusting as a consequence.

OK, technically it is from the late 1970′s—but Laverne & Shirley, Season 4 titled “It’s a Dog’s Life”…Shirley handcuffs herself to the pound because she doesn’t want a dog put to sleep. How can you not like Laverne & Shirley?

The Simpsons because Lisa spreads the word worldwide
(Homer in Italian http://youtube.com/watch?v=7cz4mp1hl5A ) and one of my favorite episodes is when Homer and Bart rescue Santas Little Helper.
Also, one of the creators has his own animal charity that he sponsors with his residuals.

i know someone already brought up The Golden Girls, but…

they didn’t mention the PETA spot they did for tv supporting animal rights. check it:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8lWJL8i8OME

that’s right, you can learn about animal rights and watch bea arthur ‘tear it up’ at the same time.

Shit, that Golden Girls PETA ad is AMAZING!

Ooh ooh ooh! Choose me! Does anyone remember that Jim Henson TV show The Dinosaurs with the big dinosaur puppet family, the Sinclairs? That was a super topical show; they had one episode that I remember in which the father dinosaur (Earl Sinclair, I can’t believe I remember this) purchases a pair of grapedelites, a rare species, to dine on for their anniversary. Morality ensues when the creatures reveal they are the last two of their kind. The episode was called ENDANGERED SPECIES.

This isn’t the episode, but it is the super-memorable theme song!

I mean, here’s the theme song

http://youtube.com/watch?v=iNnKsFf0C6I

Do heavy metal loving animal superheros count?
Biker Mice From Mars, all the way.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NfHp_2ZYSpI

I would love, love, love a copy of your new book – it looks fabulous! Here is my entry. It’s from Beverly Hills 90210 – A Pig Is a Boy Is a Dog (1994)
Brenda and Donna attend an animal rights rally, and are crestfallen when the university refuses to suspend animal testing. After Rocky dies of cancer, Brenda becomes involved with a small group of radicals. She serves as lookout when the group breaks into the university research building and tries in vain to save Andrea’s lab (which does not harm animals in its testing). Brenda is arrested. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0522723/plotsummary)

Okay, so it’s not a sitcom, but BOB BARKER has been rocking the animal rights on TV forever, not to mention he kicked Adam Sandler’s ass.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PIa41C7SU4A

There’s the Episode of Third Rock from the Sun where Dick forces everyone to go vegan because he hits a squirrel or something with his car and feels really guilty about it. He also makes everyone get rid of their leather and fur items.

That show was hysterical. Now I miss it… and that episode is not on Youtube.

Designing Women….episode 82, The Fur Flies.

Since 20th Century FOX has uncool-ly restricted youtube clips of its shows, I have to offer a soundbite page for my show from the series Futurama: http://www.gotfuturama.com/Multimedia/EpisodeSounds/2ACV15/.

The crew discovers what they think is a delicious, plant delicacy, which they name Popplers When Leela discovers popplers are, in fact, real, living creatures, she tries to get people to stop eating them. It turns out, though, that popplers are the babies of the Omicrons, a race of living, feeling, angry creatures, who promptly demand that they be allowed to eat enough humans to make up for the loss of their young.

The Omicrons nearly succeed in eating their first human, but a young poppler convinces them that eating any sentient creature is a terrible thing to do. Awwww.

Futurama was a 90s show, right??? Cuz this is a great episode!

Also there is an episode of Seinfeld where George accidentally hits a squirrel while trying to avoid running over the pigeons. The girl he was dating insist they take the squirrel to the vet and as result George ends up paying extra for a life saving surgery for the squirrel and the import of tiny operating instruments.

Not the 90′s but Season 3 episode 10 Veronica Mars great AR Episode.
Where a lab monkey goes missing and VM investigates, infiltrates the AR group and eventually finds that the lab tech stole the monkey because he couldn’t stand for him to be killed, because he’d gotten to know him so well.
Had an awesome speech i wish I could find.
Here’s a short clip
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3lXdA5BqnDM

There’s a growing pains episode, i can’t remeber which where Mike’s girlfriend is a vegetarian and can’t eat the dinner but then Mike’s mom offers her veggies but she refuses it because it was cooked with the meat then that pisses the mom off more, then she tells the little girl where meat comes from. I think this episode was either late 80s or early 90s.

This is so fun! Couple people mentioned Darlene in Roseanne being a vegetarian. Do you remember she wanted to wear a t-shirt that said “Meat Stinks” and there was this huge controversy? I think she actually did get to wear it, not sure.

I believe there was an episode of “Kate and Allie” where a mouse was loose in the house. One of the girls complained that regular traps were cruel so they decided on traps that catches mice alive.

Different Strokes – A Dog’s Story 2/16/80

Arnold gets bit by a dog while saving the dog from being hit by a car. THere are a lot of references to animal rights made by Arnold when Phil (Arnold’s dad) says they should catch the dog and send him to the pound. Arnold eventually finds the dog and is given a $25 reward. He reluctantly gives it to the animal shelter to help stray animals.

YouTube video:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAJCNNDET4U
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzSMydDYph0
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwXSIw9j3lM

saved by the bell…episode where they find out the school is on oil! will they choose wealth ? or to save the animals?

very touching indeed.

http://www.ultimatechallengecamp.com/SavedByTheBell.html

Heroes in a half-shell: turtle power!

Okay. To prove you can find anything on YouTube if you try hard enough, my first thought for this contest was the episode where April O’Neil (who I always had to play when we played Turtles, no one ever let me be Leonardo) gets turned into a fish-person mutant by some radical sea-dweller who wants everyone to return to the sea. After about 90 minutes of searching for it online through several episode guides at work, I found it: “Rebel Without A Fin”.

Animal rights aspects: April utters the phrase, “I will never eat seafood again!” Nothing teaches you about the fact that fish feel pain like being turned into one. There is also severe subjugation of the fish dude by the mad scientist who forcibly evolves him. The scientist tells him, “If it wasn’t for me, you’d probably be stuffed with crabmeat on somebody’s plate!” while trying to force him to cooperate in his plans to blow up a luxury condo development built by “Donald J. Lofty”.

Additionally awesome: these YouTube videos are subtitled in Dutch, and the translations are sometimes hilarious. Example: “Man, I am one tired turtle” translates as “Man, deze turtle is doodop.”

Part 1: http://youtube.com/watch?v=fVYts1x8PeU
Part 2: http://youtube.com/watch?v=xXXGgjS2KfI
Part 3: http://youtube.com/watch?v=i_XdVRMmCSI

Just because I realize I never actually specified, my comment is in regard to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. Natch.

I just know lucky #93 will be ME! I remember (how long ago was it?) Reading Rainbow had an animal rights themed episode, where among other masterpieces, the book “Cooking with Herb, the Vegetarian Dragon” was reviewed. I loved Lavar Burton so much when I was a kid… I want to be a vegetarian dragon when I grow up!

i got nothin’. well nothing that isn’t already here. i think you should have kept it to the 80′s though because there was vegetarianism was a less trendy topic, so it would be harder to think of stuff.

The Simpsons episode “Lisa the Vegetarian” and I’m going to give you some TRIVIA about the episode as to stand out from all the rest! :D

In the episode, Linda and Paul McCartney show up in Apu’s secret rooftop garden to teach Lisa abut vegetarianism and tolerance (as Lisa was trying to force her beliefs on her family, and they teach her that you have to set an example and live your life the way you believe is ethical, you cannot judge people, etc.).

ANYWAY, the backstory, which you will find on the commentary to that episode on DVD, is that they asked Paul McCartney to do the episode because they knew he was a vegetarian. What they DIDN’T know were his demands — he refused to do the episode unless a.) his wife Linda could talk about vegetarianism as well (and her splendid vegetarian frozen meals, which were totally new and rad at the time!) *and* that Lisa could NOT revert back to being an omnivore in the very next episode, the way many sit coms and other tv shows at the time were dealing with their “issues” episodes — one day, someone would be a PETA member, the next episode, they’re wearing a leather jacket.

So, they agreed, and since then, Lisa has remained a vegetarian, animal rights activist, and environmentalist — as well as a Buddhist. Even when there was a Lord of the Flies parody episode (Season Nine, Das Bus) in which all the children are stranded on an island and resort to eating a pig, Lisa shuns the pork roast for licking slime off a rock while she glares at them and calls them savages. In Lisa the Treehugger, she finds out about “levels of veganism” where at level 9, you don’t anything that casts a shadow! (ha ha) and in a later episode in which she is concerned about her weight, she takes a miniscule bite from her vegetarian platter.

Other vegetarians to appear on The Simpsons include Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Alec Baldwin, Dustin Hoffman (under an assumed name in “Lisa’s Substitute”), Elvis Costello, and George Harrison. In fact, all three surviving Beatles have appeared as themselves on the Simpsons with Paul’s appearance in that episode being the final one of the four.

Finally, the episode has won many awards for being the most realistic and authentic and for doing the most to promote vegetarianism on prime time television. Many vegetarians, according to the DVD commentary, find the episode to be accurate and authentic in how Lisa chooses to shun meat-eating; after falling in love with a lamb at a petting zoo she cannot help but make that grim connection between meat and the animal it comes from, actually picturing the animal being sectioned for the meat.

ok, that said, weren’t the gnomes vegetarian on david the gnome?

The “Roseanne” episode where Becky refuses to dissect a frog, even though it’ll bring her “A” average down to a “C”. (No one should have to dissect anything in order to learn – there are plastic anatomical models out there – ATTENTION SCHOOLS: BUY THEM ALREADY!)

On the 80s BBC sitcom [i]The Young Ones[/i] the hippie character Neil is a vegetarian. That’s all I got.

Season 3, episode 4 of Northern Exposure where Maggie’s boyfriend Rick
(who died when he “ate” the satellite) is reincarnated as a dog. Makes the point (to me, at least) that a soul is a soul is a soul–no matter the body.

Also in that episode, Maurice attaches himself as a business partner to Marilyn when he finds out that she keeps a herd of ostriches as pets. He wants to market their eggs and eventually set up a breeding business, as well as (of course) selling them for meat. But the birds stop laying eggs because, as Marilyn says, they don’t like Maurice and his big plans. And so Marilyn firmly gives Maurice the boot and gets back to sitting with and singing to her pet ostriches–just because she likes them and they like her.
The ostriches have an inherent value just in being an existing as ostriches–and not about the body parts that they could contribute to capitalism.

chip’n dale!! they are animals and all, and there are episodes of them saving other animals in bad situations and the like.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dqX1LDVBjqo&mode=related&search=

Sports Night, second episode ever. Jeremy has a lengthy monologue about how hunting is a load of crap. And I fell in love with him right there.

Herein is a breakdown of the monologue and everything leading up to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NObMOPxllQ8

Season 3, Northern Exposure. Dr. Fleishman goes hunting, wounds a bird, and ends up taking it back and trying to fix it. I tried youtube (yes, it took the ppk to finally get me to go on youtube, damn it!) but couldn’t find anything. Granted, my memory is crappy, I was 11 at the time, and watched the show after my mom taped it (on VHS) when she went to spinning class (as in make your own yarn, not the gym type). I thought Maggie had cool hair, although I wasn’t brave enough to pull it off as a middle schooler…..sigh.

The Price is Right!!!
At the end of every episode, Bob Barker reminds everyone to spay and neuter their pets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egScPkeNkp0

Degrassi Junior High – Caitlin learns about and stages a boycott of makeup that is tested on animals

Who can forget Dharma and Greg?

From moveleft.com:

Dharma and Greg (1997-2002) is a sitcom about a couple who got married on the day they met, Dharma Finkelstein and Greg Montgomery. Dharma’s parents are hippies, while Greg’s parents are conservative and his father is a company president. Dharma’s mother, Abby, is a Vegetarian.

Early in the first season, when Dharma’s parents are first going to have Greg’s parents over for dinner, Dharma’s mother, Abby cooks beef for them. Larry asks, “What is that heavenly smell,” and Dharma’s mother says that since the Montgomerys eat meat she’s making it for them, but that he won’t be able to eat it. At their first dinner together at the Finkelstein house, the Montgomerys eat beef while the Finkelsteins eat a vegetarian dish. (I don’t consider that being a good hostess. The Montgomerys don’t eat meat at every meal, and it would have made more sense for everyone to eat spaghetti, for example).

At a party in an early episode, Dharma’s mother, Abby, tells Larry not to eat the mini-hotdogs, but he does it anyway. In a Thanksgivng episode, Dharma and Greg say they don’t want to visit this year, and Abby feels that she’s being rejected for being a “strict Vegetarian,” and so she gets a live turkey and gets the turkey drunk and slaughters the turkey herself so that Dharma and Greg can come over and eat turkey which was slaughtered with less suffering.

In the fourth season of “Dharma and Greg,” Abby eats meat on the day she gives birth to Dharma’s younger brother, in the episode “Midwife Crisis” (November 21, 2001). There was no explanation for why Dharma’s mother ate meat then, and she was a Vegetarian again in later episodes.

And there there is Phoebe from Friends!

also from moveleft.com

Friends

Friends (1994- 2000 something) is a sitcom on NBC about six friends who live near each other in Manhattan, and like to drink coffee in a restaurant where a sofa is always waiting for them. The character of Phoebe was a Vegetarian from the beginning. Phoebe shows concern for animals, and saves Marcelle the monkey in one episode, and in many episodes performs a song of concern for a cat which goes, “Smelly cat, smelly cat, what are they feeding you? Smelly cat, smelly cat, it’s not your fault.”

In the episode, “The One with the Fake Party” (March 19, 1998), Phoebe is pregnant and gets cravings for meat. However, she doesn’t want any cows to die on account of her. Joey offers not to eat any meat during her pregnancy so that she can and the same number of cows will die. The episode ends with Phoebe eating a pastrami sandwich which Joey looks at longingly. Not an ideal portrayal of a Vegetarian. It’s true in real-life that some previously Vegetarian women decide to eat meat during their pregnancy. But they don’t have to, and this episode promotes the myth that women need to eat meat while they’re pregnant. Pregnant and nursing women need vitamin B12, but it doesn’t have to be from meat.

In another episode, the characters visit Las Vegas. This episode, “The One in Vegas Part 1″ (May 20, 1999) has unfortunate dialogue something like:

Phoebe: A woman just handed me a coupon for steak and lobster for only 99 cents.

Monica: You don’t eat animals.

Phoebe: For 99 cents I’d eat you.

However, they didn’t show Phoebe eating that dinner in the episode, and in the 2001/2002 Season, Phoebe takes her Vegetarianism more seriously. There were scenes in separate episodes of that season in which people tried to pressure her to eat chicken and fish and she refused. In one such episode, Phoebe goes out to dinner with Rachel and her father, Dr. Green, and he wants to order chicken for everyone, and the dialogue is:

Phoebe: I don’t eat meat.

Dr. Green: It’s not meat, it’s chicken.

Phoebe: Yeah, well, I don’t eat that either.

By the way, the flesh of any animal is meat, even though the word is often used to refer to beef.

In another episode, Phoebe’s boyfriend, played by Alec Baldwin, tries to get her to eat an oyster and he won’t listen when she says she doesn’t want it, and so she takes it and drops it on the floor. Ironically, in real-life Alec Baldwin is a Vegetarian animal rights activist who has done promos for the Humane Society.

Oh.. I forgot a video link:

The One with the fake Party:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2050182846574225299&q=The+One+with+the+Fake+Party&total=226&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2

Go Isa, you have a Bob Barker avtar. I love it, especially with the addition of your cookbook :)

Futurama, Episode Number: 38, Season Num: 3- The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz

The Professor decides to ship hazardous cargo to the outer reaches of space, but the course leads the ship through a penguin refuge on Pluto. Leela refuses to be part of transporting the cargo, so the Professor fires her from command and places Bender as the new captain.

Leela then joins a group of activists who fight to save the penguins from toxic matter. They make a big line of linked hands to prevent the ship from traveling any further, but they end up flying right over them!

While piloting the ship, Bender becomes distracted when he and Fry have an argument. From not drinking alcohol (which has the opposite effect as it does on humans who DO drink), Bender gets ‘drunk’ and the ship ends up spilling oil all over penguins and their land.

As punishment for the crime, Bender gets 5 hours of community service, helping clean up the mess. In the midst of all this, Bender’s programming gets screwed up and he thinks he’s a penguin. He ends up living among them, as one of them.

Meanwhile, Leela’s activist group realizes that the birds are over-populating, so the leader decides that the only thing to do would be to shoot the penguins off one by one. Everyone in the group becomes trigger happy except for Leela, who knows in her heart that this is wrong. She pleads with the leader to change his mind and argues that he’s going against everything he believes in and that killing is not the solution. He doesn’t listen to her. So, forced to hold a gun, she tries to shoot a penguin but just can’t do it- that’s my favourite moment in the whole show. It was very touching.

Eventually, Bender gets his ‘human’ programming back, but after having lived among the penguins, he fights alonside Leela to save them from the crazy hunters.

Easily my favourite episode!

Quotes:

Bender: I don’t know why but when I look down at their little faces, it makes me wanna puke! In a good way!’

Leela: Look, I don’t know if shooting penguins will help the environment or not. But I do know the decision shouldn’t be in the hands of people who just wanna kill for fun.’

Just an FYI I guess, since it’s out of bounds, but there was an episode of Andy of Mayberry in the 60s that made a big impact on me.

Opie rescues an injured bird, and restores him back to health, feeding him, watching him, caring about him day after day. Eventually it is time to release the bird. They open the cage and the bird flies free. This is from memory, so the words aren’t quite right, but, Opie looks at the empty cage and says, with sadness, because he had grown attached to the bird, “Sure seems quiet in that cage.” But then we hear a cacophony of bird songs all around and Andy looks up an says “But don’t all those birds signing in the trees sound lovely?”

The lessons were many, including:

- Each bird is an individual.

- The “reward” for Opie’s compassion was hearing his friend singing, in his original home, with all the other birds.

Mr Belevedere

in the episode, What I did for Love, Kevin meets a girl that he is all googooley for. She happens to be an animal rights activist. Kevin spray paints a mink coat to impress this girl and ends up in jail. In the sub plot, George hosts a vegan sports show.

Isa, if possible, my love for you has gone through the roof. Mr. Belvedere and the PPK. Imagine.

Mama’s Family–Season 6–Mama Gets Goosed–Mama is sent a gift–it turns out to be a goose that they are to raise, butcher and have for Christmas dinner. The rest of the family is immediately horrified, but Mama is determined to do it up. She winds up getting attached to Leland, and all is well. Found video of it: http://video.aol.com/video/tv-mamas-family-mama-gets-goosed/1851625

Night Court-Season 3–Monkey Business–Bull tries to save a baby orangutan from animal-research experiments.

Today’s Special–Season 1–”Pets”–Jodie brought her dog, Chipper into the store for the pet show the next day, and Jeff learns about what pets are. He is so impressed that he wants to get a pet of his own. But after wanting to pet a goldfish, take a perakee for a walk, and give a mouse a bone, he concludes that he can’t get a pet if he can’t take care of it. Finally, he finds a pet he can take care of – a plant named Rachel.

Perfect Strangers–Season 6–”A Horse is a Horse”–Larry saves a racehorse from death in hopes that Balki’s Myposian elixir will revive it.

and one more Golden Girls epi–from Season 3–”Bringing Up Baby.” Rose’s uncle dies and leaves Rose his prized pig–they will get like a million dollars or something to go with it. It’s obvious Baby is VERY homesick and Rose wants to send Baby back. The other girls WANT THAT DOUGH and keep talking Rose out of it. Finally, the other girls realize that Baby is more than an animal, and has emotions and feelings. They send Baby back to the farm, giving up the chance to be millionaires. (Baby dies the next day)

in s very special episode of degrassi junior high (season two) called “whole truth” liz, and her massive knowledge of animal rights issues, enlists caitlin’s help in order to inform the school (caitlin writes for the school newspaper) about animal rights issues. at first caitlin is all over animal protection then she discovers that her epilepsy medicine is tested on animals in order to “keep her safe” and she changes her mind about the whole issues. ahh, fickle degrassi characters!
i can’t find any clips from the episode (or a clip of the zit remedy singing “everybody wants something”) but if you want to borrow my degrassi dvds let me know.

Clarissa Explains it All.

http://www.tv.com/clarissa-explains-it-all/clarissa-gets-arrested/episode/56935/summary.html

My god, Tanya. That is amazing. You totally would have won. You should write a book about it, though.

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Lost is still my favorite show.

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