Wowww. Between Fred Berry, Mabel King and Shirley Hemphill, you had 3 of the fattest characters ever assembled on a TV Program, not counting The Biggest Loser reality series. Even Danielle Spencer was a bit chunky. Just an observation.
shareTrue not to many fat people on tv
shareNow WAIT a minute, Danielle Spencer was NOT fat! I have a feeling that of all of them Shirley didn't look as big in person. Then again I'm also remembering her in her final years when she'd lost some weight. Ernest Thomas said that Mabel King was svelte and sexy in her prime, she didn't get heavy until later in life yet still carried herself like she was a thin little thing.
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I could tell that Mabel King was thinner at some point because she had a face of a thinner person (it wasn't real round). Sometimes you can tell when a person is fat almost all their life from a person that got fat later. She was beautiful woman even when she got larger.
sharebesides jackie gleason, no sit coms had any heavy ppl on them until "what's happening" aired. & that was 20 yrs later.
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I like your show,I admire your style, but your pays so cheap, I won't be back for a while.
It was a funny show for a while. Once the mom left for health reasons the show was doomed. Big Earl/ Little Earl and that guy Snake were characters that just did not fit in the theme of the show. I also think the fat jokes got kind of 'stale' for lack of a better word.
shareI read somewhere on this site that this type of sitcom had way too many fat jokes. Most of the main characters were fat. (Rerun, Mrs. Thomas and Shirley).Although funny, it wouldn't fly now in the 2000's for being politically incorrect and an insult to the obesity. As you all may know, all 3 of those actors are dead. Fred Berry (Rerun) and Shirley died from complications and heart problems related to their obesity. Mabel King (Mrs. Thomas) died from complications from Diabetes and even had a leg amputated.
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Dwayne and Roger were the only characters that weren't fat. Funny to hear them laugh over and over again at jokes that had nothing to do with their skinny butts.
shareI think the weird thing was that Rerun and Shirley would joke about each other's weight, as if they had room to talk.
The writers had the fat characters say fat jokes to each other. If the skinny ones told the fat jokes, they would be bullies. Raj and Dwayne weren't bullies. Dee said fat jokes to Rerun and she was chubby herself and a brat if not a bully. Only time I have seen fat characters all rip on each other with the fat jokes. It was as if they didn't know they were fat and telling the others they were. Kind of ridiculous. I suppose the writers didn't know any other way to go.
shareActually a few times I remember Dwayne making fat jokes but never Roger. I agree, it was for the most part the fat characters making jokes to the other fat characters.
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