27 Ridiculously Offensive TV Shows That Would Never Air In The Year 2023
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TV shows are a product of their time period — and it's normal to have some nostalgic affection for TV shows from the past! But...have you ever been rewatching your fave '90s sitcom, only to see a scene that makes you go, "Whoa, that would NOT fly today"?
CBC
If you have, you're not alone. When Reddit user u/lilac_cup asked which TV shows aged like milk, over 20,0000 people had THOUGHTS. Here are some of the most upvoted — along with a few comments from the BuzzFeed Community.
1.That '70s Show
"Heres a whole character who's there just to be the butt of every racist joke in the book. I feel like every episode I've ever seen has at least one anti-fat joke and five slut-shaming jokes. It's kinda sad that the part that holds up the most from that show is the hardass conservative dad."
"Wilmer Valderrama’s character's name was Fez ("Foreign Exchange Student"). They never even gave him a proper name."
2.The Big Bang Theory
"I know it's an extremely recent show, but I was young when I finished it, and now have a completely different perspective about it. I thought it was funny and innovative. But in reality, it just hard-stereotyped geek and nerd culture, misrepresented Asperger's, and normalized things that shouldn't be normalized (Howard's behavior)."
"Leonard's behavior shouldn't be normalized. Howard's behavior is factually criminal."
3.Ugly Betty
"Yes, having a Latine main character was amazing representation for the time, but damn, there is SO MUCH anti-fat and anti-trans attitude toward Betty and Alexis. I rewatched it recently, and it made for very uncomfortable viewing in a lot of episodes."
4.24
"It was basically a raging hard-on for torturing Muslims."
"Holy shit, Jack Bauer and everyone who even gives him the time of day should get life in prison."
"And don't forget that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia cited 24 in a decision justifying torture."
"It's the perfect encapsulation of everything that went wrong with us as a country after 9/11."
"I like it, but holy shit, does it promote violating due process, privacy, torture, etc. Jack never faces any repercussions for his actions that violate so many laws. Hell, the show went out of its way to vindicate Jack's actions, and say that the ends justify the means. The show treats Jack like he's perfect. Any moral and legal trouble he gets into in the first episode is brushed away by the third, never to be mentioned again. Anyone who tries to hold him to a legal and moral standard is portrayed as a bad guy (hell, I think one of them was a bad guy in a season).
"Torture is always justified and always yields the correct response. In reality, people will say whatever you want to hear to make the pain stop. Given what we know went down in Gitmo, it's hard watching a show where the 'good guy's' first instinct is to beat the living crap out of a minor bad guy.
"The first season or two does hold up decently, but I think by Season 6, I was tired of it. Quality issues of those later seasons aside, I think I started becoming more aware of the problems of Jack being a violent asshole."
5.Family Guy
"I really enjoyed it when I was younger, but whenever I watch it now, even the earlier stuff, it's just like that one friend who tries way too hard to be funny while not being funny at all, then proceeds to ride out the same joke that didn't make anyone laugh for one or two more minutes, and just makes everyone present internally facepalm."
"Edgy, teenage-boy, 'I'm going to hell for this...' humor. It's full of 'saying the unsayable' jokes that we could actually all make if we really wanted to, but we aged out of by about 22.
"Most — if not all — shock comedy is like that and dates really badly because the jokes themselves aren't particularly funny or clever; they're just about a subject that is perceived as taboo at that time. Bonus points if you say it ironically in a kind of meta way (à la Ricky Gervais or Jimmy Carr) so you can have your cake and eat it.
"Used to be lots of material about Jewish people, then it was gay people. Currently it's 'Oh, here's a joke about pronouns.' When they realize that's hackneyed, it will move on to something else."
6.Home Improvement
"They went with a 50-50 mix of sexism and misogyny jokes that just doesn’t seem to hold up well when viewed through a modern lens."
"I remember loving that show when I was a kid/teen, and thinking that Tim was a good dad and husband, and I’d love to marry someone like that. Over the pandemic, I caught a rerun somewhere, and it was the one where he talks about Jill snoring on his show. Rubbed me the wrong way, but I was like, 'Maybe I’m overly sensitive now.' Tried a few other episodes, and the humor just looks awful 20 years later, Tim really isn’t a good husband to Jill, and it trades on a TON of toxic shit.
"When I was young, I thought Al was the straight man to Tim, but now I realize he was the butt of the joke — Al was too 'sensitive' to be a ‘man’s man.'"
7.Growing Pains
"I'm an '80s kid. Growing Pains stands out to me. I had SUCH a crush on Kirk Cameron, and it was one of my favorite shows. I caught some reruns a few years ago on a streaming channel, and yikes! Aside from the fact that Kirk turned into a religious zealot, the female characters were constantly trying to change themselves to impress boys, and there were constant fat jokes about Carol. Tracey Gold ended up with an eating disorder in part because of that. She said she used to dread picking up the script every time because she knew there would be fat jokes."
8.Dawson's Creek
"1. Their incredibly outdated moral implications of having sex. I know these are high school–age characters, but…I was in high school once, and I can tell you that people had sex, and it wasn’t this life-altering thing as long as they were safe about it.
2. The idea that a heterosexual boy and girl couldn’t be best friends without there being sexual tension. Stupid.
3. This kind of relates to number one, but holy shit, why did everyone care so much that Jen had sex with her ex-boyfriend? It was like, 'Ooo, the new girl has had sex! That defines her whole character!' C’maaahhhn!
4. The blatant anti-gayness. They eventually had a gay character, but they spent the entire first season making a joke about Pacey’s brother being gay, which is never actually confirmed till the series finale, and it’s almost treated as a joke.
5. The 'nice guy' trope. Dawson is supposedly the 'nice nerdy boy next door,' yet he constantly gaslights and stalks his love interests. Then he lashes out and sulks like a petulant child anytime his affections are denied.
6. Bisexual erasure. Jack starts out dating Joey — in fact, he pretty persistently pursued her. It’s pretty clear he was into her. But then he discovers he likes men. So, what then? His feelings for Joey weren’t real? Not to mention, he makes out with Abbey soon after. But he can’t possibly be bisexual, right? Nah. Just gay and confused."
9.Secret Life of the American Teenager
Suggested by u/carlirodriguez8
"My god, this show was terrible. My wife’s sister was into it, and we ended up watching a lot of it when we were dating. I think they tried to make the banter like Gilmore Girls, but it ended up being the characters repeating their current plots and arcs over and over. I don’t remember the characters at all, but the main character was such a horrible person, and the audience is supposed to root for her. The main things I remember about it were the religious girl claiming she killed her dad by having sex with her boyfriend, and apparently, you go to Bologna to get BJs."
10.Glee
Suggested by u/statlight_
"I just rewatched the whole series, and man, what the fuck kind of drugs were the writers/producers/network people on?! There is so much that happens on that show that would NEVER be on network TV these days."
11.The Cosby Show
Suggested by u/woahwoahwoah28
"Until this show, Black representation in media was mostly prostitutes, gang members, and slaves. But this family was a normal family with kids who looked like me, and it was LIFE-CHANGING to see onscreen. I also grew up listening to Bill Cosby's stand-up with my entire family. We’d sit in the living room and laugh so hard, we were crying. Cosby did so much for the Black community. And when the news broke, it didn’t feel real. It was like accusing our dad of being a predator.
"For me, it’s the most difficult example of separating the artist from the art. I can’t do it. So I can’t listen to his stand-up, and I can’t watch The Cosby Show.
"Fuck you, Bill Cosby. You did wonderful things for my community, but your actions polluted them. You did terrible things to innocent women. You deserve to rot in hell."
12.Pretty Little Liars
"I think even at the time, the 'teacher dating his 16-year-old student' storyline was considered creepy, but in 2022, it’s honestly unbelievable that was ever portrayed in any kind of positive light. Also, that her parents didn’t immediately just report him to the police."
"Also, there were multiple other 16-year-olds kissing and dating adult men. The show really should have been set in college, not high school."
13.Desperate Housewives
"On the same note — Desperate Housewives. Eva Longoria's character has an affair with a high schooler at the beginning of the show. And it's not showed as wrong because he's underage — it's only wrong because she's cheating on her husband and he might find out. I recently started watching this show from the beginning for the first time, and this storyline makes me feel yucky."
14.House M.D.
"House M.D. had some episodes that are…pretty egregious today. The one that sticks out the most to me was 'Skin Deep,' Season 2, Episode 13.
"The patient is an underage teenage girl who works as a runway model. While she’s in the hospital, the doctors find out that she’s had sex with her manager and father. She reveals that she seduced her father while he was drunk to manipulate him into letting her do whatever she wants. The show paints the underage girl as the sexual aggressor screwing over those poor, unsuspecting adult men. The team debates whether the father is abuser or victim and whether or not to call child protective services. Finally the big medical reveal is that the girl is intersex (genetically male, XY) and has cancer in her undescended testicles. House mocks her and her father because 'LOL, gay, she’s a dude and you fucked her.' And the entire team forgets about the incest/statutory rape thing because 'he probably won’t have sex with her again now that he knows she’s male.' I know House tried to be edgy, but this one is just really nauseating to me."
15.Ally McBeal
Suggested by u/thrussie
"I saw this streaming somewhere recently and figured, Why not? It’s a show that was so much a part of pop culture (dancing baby, anyone?) but is all but forgotten today. I couldn’t make it through the first episode."
16.Gossip Girl
"When I was younger, I think I watched the whole series of Gossip Girl four times. I loved it. I watched it this year, and my god, did it make me cringe. I don’t know if it’s just a teenager show or what, but I honestly don’t recall the acting and the writing being that painfully hard to listen to or watch."
"Yes — the victim-blaming when Chuck literally tries to r*pe Jenny…and then everyone just forgets it for a while and acts as if he’s just a bad boy. Then blaming Serena for 'ruining a family,' or whatever, when a married dude pursues her."
17.Saved by the Bell
"I didn’t think much of it until I saw Zack Morris Is Trash, and it got me to thinking: Damn, that kid was an asshole."
"My wife and I rewatched this whole series on Netflix recently. One thing that bothered us was how often Kelly was dating older guys. At 15, she dated a college guy. In the Hawaiian movie (age 17), she dated a lawyer. At age 19 (in college), she dated her professor. Only the last one had the age difference brought up, and even then, they kept doing a bit. It was really a little creepy."
18.Scrubs
"I rewatched Scrubs recently, and I still love it, but man, some of the humor just doesn't fly now. Some pretty anti-trans and anti-gay stuff scattered here and there, particularly in the middle seasons."
"Ninety percent of Scrubs holds up. Okay, maybe 80%. That other 20% is the constant early-'00s 'Ha, gay' jokes. It's a good time capsule of the era. I don't know if a modern sitcom would have a main character say, 'OK, so I'm a little homophobic. I'm sure you're a little racist.'"
19.How I Met Your Mother
"I still love HIMYM, but man, a lot of the jokes have not aged well. I have it on right now, and last episode, Barney said, 'The only reason to wait a month for sex is if she’s 17 years, 11 months old.' Like, Jesus Christ, dude. Also, a lot of t-slurs and blaccents. And a shocking number of jokes about Robin being attracted to minors. Also, I’m gonna say it, Ted is a worse person than Ross. But the difference is that Ted gets rewarded almost every single time. The entire series revolves around the main characters being consistently terrible and then doing one good thing so everyone forgives them. Or like, 'Oh no, Ted is so sad because he couldn’t cheat on his girlfriend — like, fuck you, Ted. And fuck Robin, too. They deserved each other, and Ted's wife was too good for him. Marshall and Lily are cool, though."
"It’s still a bit of a comfort watch, but Barney’s character has aged like milk. You couldn’t get away with so much of the shit he said now. I think he bragged about selling a woman once? Robin and Lily are kind of pick-mes, and Ted is a creep. He literally wore Robin down for years and essentially forced her to date him. Marshall remains amazing, though."
20.Friends
"Everybody loved it at the time, but when I watch it, all I see is weird drama, laugh tracks after unfunny jokes, many jokes at the expense of lesbians, and Ross being a complete asshole."
"Chandler's dad is LGBTQ. At the time, it wasn't clear if they were trans or cross-dressing (and that distinction wasn't really clear in popular culture at the time), but it is played for laughs a lot. Early on, it's only played for laughs (the actual character didn't show up for a few seasons; they just kept referencing Chandler's embarrassment at his gay/cross-dressing dad).
"Monica used to be fat. They put her in a fat suit and played it for laughs that this gorgeous, thin woman used to be really fat. EVERY flashback has 'Monica was fat' as a major joke punchline."
21.House of Cards
"Not only Kevin Spacey, but the vast majority of the storylines seem ridiculous now, as politicians get away with far worse things openly than what took people down in HOC. Marriage counseling?!"
22.Married... With Children
"Love the show myself, but I think you all know it would never even be considered being made today."
"All the sexist and anti-gay comments. Then, to rub it in, a shoe salesperson is able to support a family of four on that income."
"Don't forget the anti-fat comments, complete with a cannibalism joke."
23.Sex and the City
"A lot of views on men and sex are outdated."
"TFW when the main character, a sex columnist, has a whole episode about being uncomfortable that her date is bisexual and in the end can’t accept it. She was supposed to be very open-minded, too."
"I watched Sex and the City when I was a young, stupid teenager and didn't really notice how terrible it was. I've tried to watch some reruns now in my 30s, and oh no! I recently came out as bisexual, and that episode where she made fun of her date for being bi was awful. Then they had the episodes where Samantha was dating a woman — almost seemed like she was just bored and decided to try it. Carrie being a sex columnist, but possibly the most closed-minded person on the planet, really disappointed me."
24.The Man Show
Suggested by u/CoolIceCreamCone
"I'm still surprised that Jimmy Kimmel was just given a pass for wearing blackface on The Man Show multiple times."
"Kimmel will absolutely trash misogynists on his talk show and hold himself up as a feminist icon. Are there any clips of people on his show bringing up the fact that every episode of The Man Show ended with several minutes of 'GIRLS JUMPING ON TRAMPOLINES!'"
"Let's not forget that the women jumping on trampolines on The Man Show were called 'juggies.'"
25.Everybody Loves Raymond
"The treatment of Debra is just horrible, especially by Raymond. Frank is the only good character in that show."
26.Drake & Josh
"I’d say Drake & Josh, and not because of Drake’s massive fuck-ups as of late. I tried watching it earlier today, and I was seeing red throughout. Josh gets shit on so unfairly hard for simply trying to be a good person. He’s always the first to help, always willing to learn, and everyone treats him like dog shit on their shoe. Helen straight-up commits wage theft on him, Megan is the FUCKING devil, and if he ever tries to stand up for himself, he’s made to be the bad guy. That’s just BULLSHIT."
"Wasn't the first episode about Drake making fun of Josh for dressing up as a girl to give advice, then uses that advice to trick a girl he likes, leading to Josh almost getting beaten up by her boyfriend, only to end with the lesson, 'You are who you are, not what you wear' (I think that was the lesson, at least — that Josh didn't need to wear a dress to give advice), while ignoring what Drake did?"
27.And finally, relatedly: "Any live-action Nickelodeon show from the 2000s (Drake & Josh, iCarly, Victorious, Zoey 101) produced by Dan Schneider, after reading I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy."
Nickelodeon
"Ah, yes, the Underage Feet Collection."
What other TV shows have aged poorly? Let us know in the comments!
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
