I think it's important to consider the other sitcoms of the time. Growing Pain for example touched on drug use in teenagers (cocaine none the less), Tom Hanks was the alcoholic uncle on Family Ties and Full House tackled child abuse with the kid from the first Mighty Duck movie.
The question is then were other show flatly ignoring them, as you state, or did Doogie just touch upon them with more consistency?
Being a child in such times, I don't recall these tv shows opening a dialog that would have otherwise been lacking, and certainly never Doogie (my obsession with actor Neil Patrick Harris non withstanding) but I also never can recall a moment in my life where these issues were not something that could be discussed.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-08-10 07:31 pm (UTC)The question is then were other show flatly ignoring them, as you state, or did Doogie just touch upon them with more consistency?
Being a child in such times, I don't recall these tv shows opening a dialog that would have otherwise been lacking, and certainly never Doogie (my obsession with actor Neil Patrick Harris non withstanding) but I also never can recall a moment in my life where these issues were not something that could be discussed.