5 Inexplicably Horrifying Episodes of Classic Comedies
#2. Too Close for Comfort: Monroe Gets Kidnapped and Sexually Tortured
Too Close for Comfort was a show about a cartoonist named Henry Rush and his wife, Muriel. They had two adult daughters who lived with them, along with a moronic tenant named Monroe. This setting, which would seem to encourage at least a small amount of sexual tension, instead insisted on concentrating on a bunch of wacky personalities just trying to get along.
But the dynamic takes a dark turn in the episode "For Every Man, There's Two Women." Monroe does not come home one night from his job as a mall security guard. He finally returns in the morning with his uniform partially torn off, looking shell-shocked.
"I've just come out of the writers' room."
While it takes him awhile to calm down and explain what happened, he reveals that he had been kidnapped from a parking lot and forced into a van by two women. He was then taken to an apartment and raped throughout the night. He tells it all to his quasi-family, clearly shaken by the experience, and the studio audience laughs along.
Henry eventually calls the police department, which dispatches maybe the worst SVU detectives in the history of law enforcement. They take some basic information and then tell Monroe it's not worth pressing charges because it would be too embarrassing.
"You got to have sex with two women, you should be psyched."
To give the proper context, the drama 21 Jump Street came out with an episode called "Hell Week " around the same time as this episode aired, and it dealt delicately with the atrocity of sexual abuse. Too Close for Comfort builds so many jokes around rape as a concept that we almost suspect the audience is filled exclusively with prison inmates.
Henry and Monroe finally find and confront the women who raped him, and both of them are easily over 200 pounds and terrifying. It quickly becomes evident that this was a legitimate crime. Henry barely escapes before almost suffering the same fate as Monroe, and the women are arrested. Then, in one of the most unintentionally sad moments in sitcom history, Monroe thanks Henry, and tells him that it's nice to know that if this ever happens again, he will be there to help guide and protect him. Henry immediately tells him that next time this happens (read: Monroe gets raped), he's completely on his own.
"Don't come crying to me the next time you're kidnapped, tortured and raped, sonny!"
#1. Diff'rent Strokes: Sam Gets Kidnapped and Held Hostage
Yes, Diff'rent Strokes makes the list twice, the second time in a transparent attempt to top the whole bike shop pedophile affair. And this time, the plot is so egregiously dark and narrow in focus that it's not entirely clear what the moral of the episode is, other than that sometimes life is an unthinkable nightmare.
"Sam's Missing" starts when Arnold gets a new stepbrother, Sam, and immediately begins bossing him around by making him run errands for him. On one of these errands, Sam meets a man whose family is in an emotional tailspin due to the fact that their son was recently killed in some kind of accident. He convinces Sam that he needs help finding his lost dog, which is actually just a ruse to take Sam home as a replacement for his dead son.
"I can't wait to murder you all over again."
Worst of all, when Sam objects about the two-hour drive, the kidnapper tells him Sam's family will be harmed if he doesn't cooperate. The man introduces Sam to the rest of the family and, just like in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it turns out they're all crazy. The father makes up a story about finding him in a box, and the rest of the family agrees that sounds like reason enough to keep him.
The mother also calls him by her deceased son's name, but it's whatever at this point.
To prove the show isn't just playing around with the idea of kidnapping to heal emotional scars, Sam isn't rescued right away. He stays with the family for around a week while Mr. Drummond goes on television and offers a $50,000 reward for Sam's return, along with a tearful plea to the kidnappers to do the right thing.
Over the next few days, Sam tries to keep from having a mental breakdown with his new family. When he has trouble showing affection or any emotion other than fear (which is always), he gets more threats of what will happen to his real family if he doesn't cooperate.
Meanwhile, in a staggeringly cruel turn, Sam's real family gets a call after five days from someone claiming to have the boy, but it just turns out to be a crazy ex-con trying to claim the ransom money. Keep in mind that from the perspective of a child watching this episode, it's terrifying enough to introduce a family so sad about the death of their child that they would steal another one. Then they have to introduce a despicable new character that would lie about kidnapping kids just to get some money? Damn, this show liked to pile it on.
Eventually, Mr. Drummond figures out where the boy is and comes to the rescue. The police burst in and rescue Sam while the kidnapper's family mentally unravels, only proving that even people who have never done anything wrong still get mentally tortured for no reason.
Sam is returned home, and the entire family goes back to being happy and normal ... or as normal as it can be for a child who just went through a week-long abduction where he was forced to call another family "mom" and "dad." Also, when the mother and father of that family are sitting in jail cells, we don't get any indication of what will happen to their other, surviving son.
"I'll just hide out in their massive underground apartment."
In the Diff'rent Strokes universe, all we know is that it probably ended in screams.
Nick Nafpliotis is a music teacher who also likes to find the disturbing and odd in mundane settings. Find more here: ramblingbeachcat.blogspot.com.
For more strangeness from the sitcom universe, check out The 7 Most Soul-Crushing Series Finales in TV History and Where Aren't They Now: The 7 Strangest Post-Sitcom Careers.
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It's strange that the studio audience is laughing during the scene where Edith is about to be raped. I was sitting there thinking "This isn't funny, it's kind of terrifying to watch actually".
ReplySo Edith is approached by a younger man who tries to have sex with her on her birthday? They call it rape I would call it a birthday present. Talk about ungrateful.
Reply"Solid work, Arnold."
ReplyAhh, the good old 80's. Every single one of these shows ,with the exception of All in The Family, was aired in the paranoid Reagan era. With the war on drugs and terrible news like the Adam Walsh murder, this type of "special" episode was commonplace. You would never see something like those Different Strokes episodes now. They seem creepy now, but the intention was to show kids how to avoid these situations.
ReplyThe one that should have been number one is actually the too Close For Comfort episode. I'm not saying a man can't be raped, but in order for that to happen he has to actually be stimulated. That's why it's rare that a women rapes a man. Not only that, Monroe was the gayest character that never actually said he was gay that you'll ever see. I'm doubting he would have been able to perform in that situation,lol
I'm with you, pretty sure the intention during that time period was to scare kids into avoiding the situations were things like that could happen. I don't see them as "inexplicable" as much as just common for that era.
About the rape, that's not true. A man does not have to be stimulated in order to be raped. Not to get into details, but there are other ways to have unwanted sex. An educational turn to Google would tell you how.
I have seen several of these shows growing up, but I don't remember seeing any of these specific episodes. I can only surmise that I carefully swallowed the scream rising in my throat and blocked them out. Seriously, WTF!?!
ReplyDegrassi Junior High did this once a season, which is quite jarring for how camp the show was the rest of the time. You have the one where Stephanie almost gets molested, the one where Lucy almost gets molested, the one where Suzee almost gets molested, the one where Wheels' parents die AND he almost gets molested, Liz's repressed incest memories...
ReplyBeyond those, there was also Claude's suicide, but I don't really consider that dark. Quite frankly, most fans wished Claude committed suicide six minutes into the show changing its name to Degrassi High.
That Punky Brewster episode terrified the absolute s**t out of me when it aired! Glad to see it being discussed in this article. Good find!
ReplyAITF was either before my time, or I just don't remember it. Found out about that one during a "Best Sitcoms Ever" top 100 list sometime around the early 2000's. But it does seem to be one of those sitcoms where they boldly went where no show had gone before...
ReplyGood Christ. What the fuck?
ReplyThis s**t made me laugh, though: "This one is called 'The Freeeee Blankets'."
There was a episode of All in the Family called "the games the Bunkers play" I found disturbing.
Reply.
Another sitcom episode, or rather series of episodes that are horrifying to me is that whole Night Court story arc where Dan Fielding goes crazy and has a breakdown. That's no way to treat the world's wackiest womanizer.
ReplyI have so much hatred for that infamous AITF episode that I actually prefer to act as if it never existed. Edith was so sweet and matronly it was like contemplating what it would be like if your grandmother or elderly mother were attacked. To this day I won't watch it and am sort of angry that the writers "went there."
ReplyThe Different Strokes episodes also left a bad taste in my mouth. It started off as this lighthearted comedy and just became so dark later on as an attempt to be more socially relevant. The very last episode that I think I ever saw before I quit watching DS was the one where Kimberly had bulimia. There was actually a scene where she goes off camera into the bathroom and there are loud sounds of her supposedly vomiting. I believe this was the season premiere the year show moved from NBC to ABC and became more "serious". :-/
The studio audience aren't the kinds of people I'd like to meet in a dark alley...
Reply"My tongue's faster than a hummingbird's wings!"
ReplyI've used the same exact line in a totally different situation! D:
"To give the proper context, the drama 21 Jump Street came out with an episode called "Hell Week " around the same time as this episode aired, and it dealt delicately with the atrocity of sexual abuse."
ReplyI hate to be that guy but I remember those 2 series being pretty far removed from each other time-wise. I did a little research (STFU, I'm killing time at work)and it turns out the 2 episodes were aired about 3.5 years apart. Jussayin.
If you hated to be that guy, you wouldn't be
(Advice from the future)
does anyone remember the episode of the brady bunch where the next door neighbors skinnydip in their pool and the brady kids want to go? Talk about creepy.
ReplyI remember having nightmares after that Punky Brewster episode. I was about 6 or 7 and I had popples (those stuffed animals that can roll into their own pocket and become a ball)They were lined up by the wall on my bunk bed and I woke and and though they were heads. I didn't scream but it was a close thing and I kicked those creepy bastards off my bed after that. That was horrifying - still is actually.
ReplyPopples!! =D
Oh, and childhood trauma.
Hurray Popples!
Actually, the Too Close For Comfort entry is pretty normal as far as portrayals of female rape of males go.
ReplyActually, the Too Close For Comfort entry is pretty normal as far as portrayals of most rape goes regardless of gender.
I loved All In The Family; this episode about Edith makes me cry every time I see it. You weren't supposed to see anything bad happen to Edith! I remember one where Gloria was a victim of either rape or attempted rape; I was even younger for that one and it may have been the first time I was aware that things like that happened, now that I think of it. It was an awesome show on several levels; it was a ground-breaking show on many topics, and it cleverly exposed the bigotries of the viewers. I remember some of the more bigoted members of my family laughing with Archie instead of at him, which was a great lesson for me as I realized how stupid that made them. It's also a great time capsule of the times, like the episode where ultra-liberal Mike was uncomfortable having a woman for a surgeon.
ReplyWow. I had no idea any of these episodes happened.
ReplyYeah. Holy fuckin' f**k man. Wow.