Just Because: Warning Label

'The views depicted in this program do not reflect the views of the network, nor society's current views on the social issues presented in story. 

I was a little to young to watch Dynasty when it originally aired.  My parents did watch Dallas, and since that came on Friday nights, I got to watch a few minutes before being ushered off to bed.  I later watched Dallas on TNN and on DVD, but only saw bits and pieces of Dynasty on Youtube and DVD. That didn't mean I wasn't aware of the prime-time soaps line-up of hunks, and have featured several of them on FH over the years.

I was surprised recently to see that Dynasty was going to begin airing on one of my local cable channels.  I set the DVR to record the first week to check it out.  I was really surprised when the episodes came with a warning, about the subject matter, and the views on certain 'social' issues.  

Watching the first few episodes, I understood clearly, the social issue in question was the character of Steven and his sexuality.  I'm also guessing, that the word faggot was used many times in the first season.  I'm guessing, as the word was muted, but it's the only word that I can guess would have been where the muted word was placed.

I was a little surprised to see the word included in the show, I guess I may have thought that even by the eighties, it wasn't a word that would be ok to included in a prime-time television show.  I was wrong... I only watched a few episodes and didn't record any more, I wasn't really getting into the show.  Maybe it's a place and time type of thing.

Actor Al Corley sure is certainly purdy to look at, but he wasn't really a gifted thespian, not in the show's first season anyway.  I guess I really shouldn't have been that surprised at how the show depicted it's gay, )then bi, then straight, then I think gay again) character.  Even shows in the 1990's, 2000's and 2010's have cringe worthy lines when it comes to race and LBGTQ related issues.   

It's interesting how shows even in our more recent history, (Friends is one of the best examples) use gay stereotypes as the brunt of so many jokes.  I'm currently watching Cougar Town, a show aired through 2015, and in the first few seasons, the gay jokes are plenty, and mostly used to insult a male character about their level of masculinity.  I couldn't have guessed a show as seemingly inconsequential as Dynasty would have a warning label, but I'm guessing Friends, and so many other shows from the last twenty years, could one day also surprise new viewers with warnings before their opening credits.