If you're a regular reader of this blog, you already know that I pretty much worship this show for its quiet progressiveness. It is certainly sometimes a product of its time, and I give it lots of shit for the part of it that is typical 80s sitcom easy jokes and bullshit. It is indeed important to point out the places where even this gem missed, and I do plenty of that around here.
But sometimes it's great to just talk about how the show hits the ball out of the goddamned park, and that's what I want to do today.
There's a reason this blog is called Cousin Geri, and if you don't know off the top of your head who she is, she's Blair's cousin, introduced in Season 2. If you don't know who Blair is, then you should start here. In short: Cousin Geri is a groundbreaking character whose presence on the show just made Facts that much more awesome.
Now, in the middle of Season Three, Geri makes her second appearance on the show, and it's such a heralded event that the her name is in not one title for the episode, but two. One is more spoilery than the other.
Showing posts with label Cousin Geri. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cousin Geri. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Recap episode 2-5: "Cousin Geri"
This episode needs no subtitle. This IS the episode that introduces us to groundbreaking character - and namesake of this blog - Cousin Geri.
For those of you that don't remember Cousin Geri off the top of your heads, she is Blair's cousin, she's a comedian, and she has cerebral palsy. She was introduced in season 2, in 1980, at a time when people with disabilities were not particularly visible on television (they still aren't, but it has gotten somewhat better and at least awareness has improved). I can verify that the Facts of Life impacted at least one person with respect to at one disability, though, because the entire reason that I know what cerebral palsy is is this show.
This past Sunday, a friend of mine in the New York area was ambushed by police officers who yelled "Give me your keys or you're going to jail" as she was getting into her car. Apparently they had received an anonymous call about a woman who looked drunk heading toward a vehicle. She wasn't drunk. She does have cerebral palsy (and a Ph.D. and an extremely prestigious NIH research grant). She has been meeting with higher-ups in the department who acknowledge the need to be a little less shitheaded about such things, even as they take every such call seriously. She's fine, and working with some good supervisors about better training for officers.
Anyway, because absolutely everything relates back to the Facts of Life for me, when I saw her Facebook post about the incident, my head immediately went to this episode. And so I'll do my part by recapping it.
For those of you that don't remember Cousin Geri off the top of your heads, she is Blair's cousin, she's a comedian, and she has cerebral palsy. She was introduced in season 2, in 1980, at a time when people with disabilities were not particularly visible on television (they still aren't, but it has gotten somewhat better and at least awareness has improved). I can verify that the Facts of Life impacted at least one person with respect to at one disability, though, because the entire reason that I know what cerebral palsy is is this show.
This past Sunday, a friend of mine in the New York area was ambushed by police officers who yelled "Give me your keys or you're going to jail" as she was getting into her car. Apparently they had received an anonymous call about a woman who looked drunk heading toward a vehicle. She wasn't drunk. She does have cerebral palsy (and a Ph.D. and an extremely prestigious NIH research grant). She has been meeting with higher-ups in the department who acknowledge the need to be a little less shitheaded about such things, even as they take every such call seriously. She's fine, and working with some good supervisors about better training for officers.
Anyway, because absolutely everything relates back to the Facts of Life for me, when I saw her Facebook post about the incident, my head immediately went to this episode. And so I'll do my part by recapping it.
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