(Gordon Jump as the Bicycle Man in a very special episode of Diff’rent Strokes)

One of my favorite TV shows as a child was Diff’rent Strokes. The hit series ran from 1978 to 1986 with the type of premise that one can only find on a TV sitcom: two orphaned African American kids from the ‘hood (Gary Coleman’s Arnold and Todd Bridges’ Willis) are adopted by a rich Caucasian man (Conrad Bain) and hilarious hijinks ensue.

Diff’rent Strokes was popular during a time when “very special episodes” of sitcoms were the big thing. These were the episodes of comedies where the producers decided they should address an important social issue along with the laughter. Even though sitcoms have been tackling serious subjects from the start, probably the TV show that really kicked off this modern trend was All In The Family. Norman Lear’s groundbreaking series was usually seamless in its integration of issues like racism and drug abuse into its storylines, but even that show sometimes stumbled as in the 1977 episode entitled “Edith’s Birthday” where Edith, Archie’s “dingbat” wife, almost gets raped by a man posing as a policeman.

That was the problem with most of these “very special episodes”—they may have had the best of intentions, but they were usually a very awkward mix of stilted seriousness and canned laughter with the issues being neatly resolved in 22 minutes. If you remember the episode of Family Ties where Alex’s “best” friend commits suicide (a friend played by a guest star we had never seen before—they could have at least had Skippy kill himself) or Growing Pains where Carol Seaver’s teenaged boyfriend (a young Matthew Perry) dies from underage drinking, you’re more likely to look back on them thinking “what the hell was that?” as opposed to “wasn’t that a great half-hour of television?”

  (Matthew Perry about to lose his “friend” on Growing Pains)

Which brings us back to Diff’rent Strokes. Now, this show had its fair share of “very special episodes”—remember when Nancy Reagan visited Arnold to help spread the message to “just say no”–but Diff’rent Strokes might lay claim to the title of single most jaw-droppingly awkward “very special episode” to ever air on a prime-time network comedy. It was February 1983. The episode was entitled “The Bicycle Man.” And it’s become infamous as the episode where Arnold’s friend Dudley (Shavar Ross) gets molested by a bicycle shop owner played by Gordon Jump a.k.a. the Maytag Repairman. Yup, Diff’rent Strokes became the first network sitcom to tackle child molestation.

I haven’t been able to re-watch the entire episode (see an extended clip of it at the end of this entry) so with network censorship being what it was back then, it’s possible that Dudley wasn’t actually molested; that he was rescued at the last minute (or maybe the molestation itself might have been subtly implied). But regardless, it was a seriously disturbing viewing experience. I was just a kid when I saw it and I remember feeling really confused and embarrassed afterwards and grateful my parents weren’t around.

The plot involved Arnold and Dudley’s relationship with a seemingly benevolent bicycle man that starts innocently enough, but then grows more and more uncomfortable. It’s hard to wring laughs out of scenes where the bicycle man is serving the boys wine and putting pornographic cartoons in the VCR for them to watch together. Can you imagine what it must have been like in the writers’ room for that brainstorming session?

“So does anyone have any ideas for next week’s episode?”

“How about if Arnold found a lost puppy and hides it in his room from his dad because he thinks he’ll make him give it away?”

“No, we did something similar to that in season two with a cat.”

“How about if Willis accidentally asks two girls to the prom and he doesn’t know what to do?”

“No, we’re already doing a two-part prom episode for the season finale.”

“Hey, what if Arnold and Dudley get sexually molested by the balding old guy from WKRP In Cincinnati?”

“Hmmm…I like it. Yeah, let’s go with that. OK everyone, let’s meet again after lunch and we’ll spitball jokes about child molestation.”

For those of you not familiar with this episode, you may be thinking, “Come on, Phil, it was a sitcom marketed to kids. It can’t be as awkward as you’re making it out to be.”

Well, judge for yourself: