255: What’s With All the Orphans in 80s Sitcoms?

If you grew up watching TV in the 80s, you may have noticed that there was a preponderance of… if not shows about orphans specifically then similar shows where the care of children was entrusted to people who weren’t their parents and maybe didn’t know how to raise kids. We’re talking Diff’rent Strokes, Rags to Riches, Punky Brewster, Webster and Gimme a Break, but also The Facts of Life, Charles in Charge, My Two Dads, Full House, My Sister Sam, Silver Spoons, The Hogan Family and more. Sure, a lot of factors could explain these absent parents, but what if we told you there was a single patient zero for this whole trend? Because Drew thinks there is one, and its history stretches back to the 19th century.

Links to previous episodes mentioned in this one:

• Gimme a Break Meets Yet Another 80s Orphan

• Gimme a Break Transformed Into a Lesbian Perfect Strangers

• Backdoor Pilots: Diff’rent Strokes Spins Mrs. Garrett into Facts of Life

• Weirdest Episode Ever: Day by Day Has a Very Brady Nightmare

• Superstore Is Queerer Than You Think

And if you want to watch the video version of the Seinfeld addiction/cashmere examination at the end of this episode, click here.

Episode artwork by Ian O’Phelan.