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BifEverchad

Marijuana in Sitcoms

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The other day I caught an episode of The Simpsons and it was the one where Homer was prescribed medical marijuana.

Classic, hilarious episode.

 

Anyways, I got to thinking how funny it would be to compile a list of television sitcoms that had marijuana-based/related episodes.

I'm hoping to make a DVD out of this, if possible.

 

What I have so far:

- The Simpsons (Weekend at Burnsies)

- Roseanne (Stash From the Past)

- Saved By the Bell (No Hope With Dope)

- The Cosby Show (Theo and the Joint)

- The Office (Drug Testing)

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I'm not a big fan of weed-based humor. I'm old enough to see through the really exaggerated depictions of "dumb stoner behavior", but I'm also really tired of potheads' self-celebration. I still think crack is funny. But sitcoms don't want none of that.

 

There was a Murphy Brown episode about weed. But she had cancer, it was OK.

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This show called Weeds.

 

Seriously though, the episode of Futurama with Bender getting high on electricity. But bob_baron nailed it with the first post. Pier Pressure's the best pot related thing that isn't pot.

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Remember the Andy Richter sitcom Quintuplets? Andy's character ate some weed brownies at a Springsteen concert in the first episode. I thought that was a bit early to be introducing the plot device of "square dad gettin' high", because we didn't know him well enough to understand why this was funny. If he gets high in the first episode, he has to get high in every episode! I never watched another edition of "Quints" as I like to call it but I bet they all sucked BUTT.

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That Saved by the Bell reference reminded me:

 

Does anyone remember the episode where Striptease girl gets addicted to speed or something so she can study for finals AND do...some...other thing that only seems relevant in high school? Ever since I saw that episode, I've hated the show.

 

Yeah, and Pier Pressure is the best weed related show ever.

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I find it quite facinating watching the progression of attiudes towards drugs in sitcoms.

 

Early stuff uses it as a device but characters accidentally take it - it's rarely their decision. Then friends for example had characters refer to having done it but still in a fairly negative light (that episode where Ross' parents hate Chandler or something cos Ross did it once, they caught him and he blamed Chandler - but the emphasis is that Ross did it *once* [i think]). In that 70s show you can almost watch the change in attitudes through the series, to begin with it had the characters doing it for fun with little evidence of negative repurcussions (don't think there was much like this on normal TV previous) but they'd kinda dance around it (smoke in background, no direct reference) - towards the end they were vary blatant.

 

Nowadays there isn't even much of a joke about it - it's just seen quite normal. How I met your mother for example shows the characters having smoked, and smoking in the future - and it's just treated as perfectly normal (although I don't know if the sandwhich joke was due to network restrictions or due to the narrative style of the show) for characters to dabble.

 

Now you can see further changing attiudes towards other drugs. How I met your mother (again) had a bunch of exstacy jokes in that club episodes - no negative moral like effects but they danced around the issue and if you didn't know about the drug you probably wouldn't realise thats what they were doing..

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That Saved by the Bell reference reminded me:

 

Does anyone remember the episode where Striptease girl gets addicted to speed or something so she can study for finals AND do...some...other thing that only seems relevant in high school? Ever since I saw that episode, I've hated the show.

 

She was singing with Lisa and Kelly at The Max. I don't remember what or why.

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That Saved by the Bell reference reminded me:

 

Does anyone remember the episode where Striptease girl gets addicted to speed or something so she can study for finals AND do...some...other thing that only seems relevant in high school? Ever since I saw that episode, I've hated the show.

 

She was singing with Lisa and Kelly at The Max. I don't remember what or why.

And it wasn't speed. It was caffeine pills.

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That Saved by the Bell reference reminded me:

 

Does anyone remember the episode where Striptease girl gets addicted to speed or something so she can study for finals AND do...some...other thing that only seems relevant in high school? Ever since I saw that episode, I've hated the show.

 

She was singing with Lisa and Kelly at The Max. I don't remember what or why.

And it wasn't speed. It was caffeine pills.

 

 

She was so excited.

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That Saved by the Bell reference reminded me:

 

Does anyone remember the episode where Striptease girl gets addicted to speed or something so she can study for finals AND do...some...other thing that only seems relevant in high school? Ever since I saw that episode, I've hated the show.

 

She was singing with Lisa and Kelly at The Max. I don't remember what or why.

And it wasn't speed. It was caffeine pills.

 

 

She was so excited.

 

So excited...

 

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Wait, the ultimate portrayal of marijuana on a sitcom is the very special episode of Home Improvement where Tim falls through his porch and finds Brad's stash, leading to a very special reveal that Jill bought some pot that "had been laced" at a Zep concert.

 

Protip for dealin' drugs: Lacing pot with more potent drugs is a waste of money, but I guess it fits in with the theme of the show, Tim giving something MORRRRRE POWER GRUNT GRUNT GRUNT COUGH COUGH COUGH

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I recently caught an episode where Norm had a party for his boss at the bar, and the guy got rather fresh with Diane. He was portrayed more as an asshole than a drunk though, so I think your point stands about their portrayal of drinking.

 

Of course, there's the infamous Simpsons scene in "Marge's Fear of Flying" with every cast member of Cheers (minus Kelsey Grammar, ironically) confronts Norm on his drinking problems and he threatens to kill all of them.

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Still Standing's had a few episodes where the parents talk about how they used to smoke weed. One in particular, when they bought their son an old van for his first car, is actually pretty funny, since they try to convince the kids that the weird smell emanating from the new vehicle is "incense."

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Well Frank took a big bong rip in It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia in "Sweet Dee Has A Heart Attack" I believe it was. Then there was the time Dennis brought all that kind bud to the hippies in "The Gang Finds A Dumpster Baby"

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The only show that handles smoking correctly is Entourage. They don't make a big deal out of it. They treat it no different then having a few beers with the boys.

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Guest Czecherbear
How I met your mother (again) had a bunch of exstacy jokes in that club episodes - no negative moral like effects but they danced around the issue

as it were

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