The Bicycle Man
What a classic episode.
shareIt's an episode that every parent should show their children and have a talk about it. Gordon Jump was great in it.
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MovieChat Forums > Diff'rent Strokes (1978) Discussion > The Bicycle Man
Gordon Jump was once approached by a woman in a crowd who thanked him for having the courage to bring attention to this problem.
shareIt's been ages since I've seen it, but I remember it being weird and uncomfortable, which is of course expected since it's about a pedophile, but I remember the laugh track. Yikes!
shareWhat gets me about it is Dudley is abused and it is never spoken of again. Which is realistic in itself I guess but a lot of the "Very Special Episodes" of the day were like that. The issues never seem to have a long term affect on the characters.
shareIt's not shocking. Different Strokes wasn't the deepest show. Sitcoms back then always had a lesson, but something as in-depth as trauma that would have long-lasting affects on a character? That would have been way out of character for this show (and other similar sitcoms of that era).
shareI also found it interesting that Dudley was abused instead of Arnold. They knew they were toeing a line and didn't want to push it that far! I know it would be depressing if the series than went on a story arc of counselling sessions and court cases etc but the Very Special Eps always seemed odd to me even back then. Kind of like they take place in their own alternate reality of the show and then next ep it is back to the regular format again.
shareI think you are probably right. They didn't want to do that to Arnold for fear of it being poorly received.
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