Why Every 80's Sitcom Decided To Kill Off The Mom - After Hours

whole-house my two dads different strokes Webster punky brewster empty nest blossom Silver Spoons give me a break who's the boss what are we talking to all the 86 cons where the mom is dead or missing wait what no these utensils I think these are real silver who owns this place now the Queen age considering that these were family-friendly shows this is a freakish amount of mom corpses way too many to be a coincidence we're just trying to figure out why married to that ring by the way I have a silver guy it's way up right now you know well you know some of us are it's not hard this is the same age of television that brought a small wonder and out audiences were probably just sick of seeing the same nuclear sitcom so then a bunch of hack writers came along and tried to disrupt that by just throwing whatever they could at them I mean can eating aliens and robot daughter basement Bao's basement really I always just thought he lived downstairs and it was understood anyways why are you surprised that they're subtracting a family man 13 times though and always the month that's 13 dead or missing moms and 80s it comes that's not an experiment that's a vendetta well what was the first one different strokes 1978 to 1986 I know it's not spelled or pronounced that way but we're in public and I don't think I'm allowed to say it the other way it also has maybe the darkest backstory of any sitcom Arnold and Willis have to go live with the boss of their mother once she dies and it's this starchy white guy who wants nothing to do with these orphans because he's still reeling trying to take care of his own daughter after the death of his wife that's two dead mommsen countdown and that show was a big success right so there you go I mean the golden rule of television he's copy that works and then cover your tracks just enough so we don't get sued that's why we have a billion procedurals with a brilliant yet tactless hero ooh what does it say about us today maybe we should dive into them max kidding me we're hot on the trail of his mom murder and you want to close the book so we could talk about bones you yeah clearly those shows haven't affected any of us you were saying very mom's was the go-to for over 10 years for these shows and sure sometimes studios were probably stealing the idea from each other but I don't know that doesn't explain the other side of the equation what other side why did I want all those dead moms so bad why did anyone why did auntie insist oon in week after week to laugh at grieving families and abandoned children maybe has something to do with what women are supposed to bring to the table be really careful here figuratively the role of the mother in 76 was to be the moral center of the family they were the voice of reason they kept the family cohesive they were the anchor at the glue can we look at all in the family the only thing between Archie Bunker and a Klan rally was Edith everydays Partridge Family good times yeah that checks out so maybe 80 sitcoms just figured out that it's more fun to take the glue out sit back and watch the family unravel you kill off the Ned Stark archetype right away and what do you get dad's burning dinners cosine bras for their daughters will during sex talks and tampon shenanigans unaccompanied minors playing in a dump and one of them gets stuck it up her inch that's not funny that was a very special episode and saved a lot of lives Kate oh my god you're right though where was punky Brewster's foster father ah neglect think about it neglect is the best gift a sitcom family can get with neglect everything is possible the thing Soren said about the mother being the traditional caretaker but also let us not forget the old adage when God closes her casket he doth open a window that's not a thing suddenly the kids are free to have these big lawless adventures because dads are just bumbling idiots who are always looking the other way anyway I want to call her but I just don't know if it's ethical what would you do that me the blonde you were born to be it's bigger then sitcoms not necessarily because the moms are gone but every movie with kids in the 80s would not have been possible without parental neglect the Goonies et Karate Kid Monster Squad Fast Times at Ridgemont ladies was really responding to abandonment yeah I know why I solved it he says the answer is lupus I'm gonna be so mad that we didn't go with my thing it has to do with a cultural phenomenon that you lucky few probably haven't had to deal with but what over 60% of Americans think about all the time the big D be really careful here even if those missing mom's gave 80 sitcoms the opportunity to be good I think we can all agree that none of them actually were very entertaining I mean full house was just a series of catchphrases you got surrounded by people trying to touch uncle Jesse's hair even though he did not want you to touch his hair and they were still massively successful even though they weren't good because they were scratching a different edge altogether I'm sorry I'm having trouble paying attention I keep expecting you to talk about your dick I didn't expect you lucky few to understand I'm talking about divorce my parents are divorced I'm divorced in the 1980s a lot of states started enacting the no-fault divorce rule and suddenly people just start getting divorced just because they wanted to by 1985 divorce rates had nearly doubled and started rising every year after yeah but these shows are about dead moms not divorced ones oh my god he's right it doesn't even matter everyone in America was suddenly worrying or at least aware of what was gonna happen to all these broken families when the next generation grew up they were worried because family is at the center of the American social structure and that is at the center of the American dream and the center of that Center is the matron core of Family Values the glue Big D Oh God oh the sitcom acknowledge is the problem rips the heart out of the family and then faces that cultural fear and says it's okay everything is gonna be fine people don't watch my two dads and who's the boss because they're good they watch them because they're comforting even if you didn't grow up with them if you watch them now they're still strangely comforting because that was the whole point they killed off the mom to show you that American families could still make it what do you think the worst case scenario was I mean what were people worried all these kids are gonna grow up and become serial killers probably drug abuse the 80s were big on very special episodes too but then a bunch of those child stars grew up to be drug addicts it's like the whole thing was just an empty promise to divorcees oh oh that makes me uncomfortable Michael not all children of divorce that have getting messed up I mean I turned out just great no yeah you're fine but I'm talking about oh yeah there's the culprit ones that mine be really careful here yeah I'd like my candelabra back for starters two of those we're fighting over a candelabra come back in three minutes yes I hey everyone thanks for watching please like and subscribe we had a lot of fun in today's episode but we talked about some very special episodes and that's no joke there are a lot of things that you need to think about when you are doing your own show that could be dangerous even deadly mm-hmm cops for instance any oh I am good quit work that's it yeah I was ramping there by going through all the other dangers but yeah that's really the it's the spectrum

Channel: Cracked

Views: 1,783,280

Rating: 4.8908024 out of 5

Keywords: After Hours, Punky Brewster, Tv Shows, Alf, Different Strokes, TV sitcoms, 80s sitcoms, Full House, Fuller House, Olsen Twins, John Stamos, Candace Cameron, Jody Sweetin, Netflix, Bob Saget, Dave Coulier, trailer, teasers, cracked, cracked.com, sketch, comedy, funny, spoof, humor, parody

Id: a9m_Vy9kIf0

Length: 7min 37sec (457 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 21 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/macropower]

I wish they would just get to the point instead of forcing me to watch so much filler.

[u/death12236]

TLDW: To inspire society that families can survive through divorces and losses of parental figures.

[u/Mattock79]

And then 8 Simple Rules came along and changed the game.

[u/PSGWSP]

Why did he think he couldn't say that show title a certain way?

[u/john14335]

have to say it's just so nice to have an After Hours. This is my favorite Cracked show

[u/marco161091]

Loved the topic and the little content that was there. This video would've been 200% better if it were done in a video essay format instead of this sketch thing.