Christian Themes in Classic TV Shows: Part 1

Well this week's topic is something that has always interested me. Now most people will probably go all the way back to the early days of TV to find such programming but I say that the best era of television with Christian themes in them is what I call the "Family Sitcom Era." This encompasses most of the 80s and early 90s. The first of this era was Family Ties and the last was Boy Meets World (or at least the last of the group to end).

Now yes this can be expanded to include other shows that began before Family Ties but in my opinion this was the first of a whole litter of shows geared toward the family. Maybe at some point in the future I'll give my opinion about how to best divide up television history into different eras. But for now I am going to talk about shows that really exhibited Christian themes in its episodes. Please note that some of the shows I include in this era may not actually had any Christian theme in any episodes but compared to the sitcoms that aired today which completely ignore Christian belief all together (and on purpose) they are definitely close to it.

Let's start with Family Ties since they were the first of this era. The show lasted seven or eight years and it starred Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton. He was a self-proclaimed conservative who kept a close eye on the stock market. And his favorite president was Ronald Reagan (who was president at the time and who said this was his favorite show). This character being a conservative was in complete opposite of his parents who were hippies in the 70s. He had two younger sisters and a younger brother who idolized him. The show over all was a good start to this era. I don't remember any religious themed episodes of any kind but it didn't throw any Anti-Christian themes into the face of the viewers.

The next show is The Cosby Show. Bill Cosby is a comedic genius. And if people would just listen to him instead of just ignoring him race relations would be a whole lot better. That being said he has said or done things I don't agree with. The Cosby Show is not one of them. From the very first season, I never considered this show to about an African-American family. I considered it a show about an American family. Not don't get me wrong they were African Americans but was race ever an issue in the Show. No, it wasn't. It didn't have to be. The Huxtables were very liked and respected in their community. Dr. Cliff Huxtable was someone who everyone used when they were going to have a baby. And Claire, his wife, was a so respected attorney that she became a partner in her firm. They were wealthy but they didn't exploit that. They had 5 kids (the same number as Mr. Cosby himself) but they were never spoiled. They wouldn't just give them money whenever they wanted it. Sometimes the kids had to earned it and it leads to them being pillars of society themselves (well some of them anyway). As far as Christian Themes go, the Huxtables went to church; they prayed; and they reverence the Bible on occasions. Now just because they did this doesn't necessary mean this was a Christian program because they didn't do it in every episode but the very fact they did this is in these few episodes proves that Bill Cosby respected the faith enough to include it in his show. I don't know if Bill Cosby is a Christian. But I do know he respects us who are and he has shown that in his actions over the last few decades. And also I am going to extend this to also include its spin-off A Different World.

The next show is Growing Pains. It stars Alan Thicke as Jason Seaver and Kirk Cameron as Mike. Now I also don't recall any Christian themes in this show but I do know that Kirk would not do certain scenes with another actress because the characters weren't married and he and his wife (who played a girlfriend turned wife) have always been advocates for Abstinence). This caused controversy with the writers that eventually led to their exit. I don't know the whole story here that is what I remember was said when E! did a True Hollywood Story on the show years ago.

Well there are a lot of shows to cover in this era and I don't want to make this post very long so next week will be Part 2 of this series. And it won't necessary end there.