F Is for Family

[Little Sherri]

I stumbled upon this series on Netflix, and watched a couple of episodes; it's basically The Flintstones crossed with Family Guy, set in the 1970's. The humour is adult and often funny. What was interesting, from the perspective of the topics discussed here, is that there is a character in the show, Kenny, who is always depicted wearing a diaper and a short t-shirt everywhere he goes. He's the younger brother of another character, and always hanging around with the group of kids in the show. He's not a baby or toddler - he's as talkative as the rest of them and does all the same things they do. Given that the main younger character, Bill Murphy, is supposed to be 11, Kenny looks like he's a few years younger than that; it's not definitively stated how old he is, but it doesn't seem like they're going for a "Stewie" type character, IE a baby who talks and thinks like someone older. 

I grew up mainly in the 1980's but was born in the 1970's, and a lot of the things they reference in the show took me right back to my early childhood - the TV as furniture, the station wagons with woodgrain on them, the clothing, the "free-range parenting" where kids were turned loose to roam the neighbourhoods until sunset, and, yes, even the occasional kid walking around in just a diaper; I've detailed this elsewhere here, but when I was young, I had a neighbour the same age as me whose mom used to sometimes send her outside in just a diaper and a shirt. I chose my name here in commemoration of her, because when I was a kid, everyone said I had a crush on her. I was fascinated with her predicament - this was long before I knew what being a "DL" was. If she was around, I was transfixed by her and more or less glued to her side. 

Kenny's strange wardrobe aside, anyone who grew up in or adjacent to that era will find a lot to laugh at in this show. 

[spark]

That is definitely something to search for.  Those 70's Hanna Barbara cartoons were great, but I'm probably looking at them through nostalgia glasses.

[feralfreak]

the 70s had kids just walking around in a diaper? i find that odd. i watched the first episode of this show, i can see why it failed, i just wanted to fast forward through a lot of it.

[Alyeskabird]

Actualy, yes, the 70s had kids running around in just a diaper.

Remember that trope about kids stripping there clothes off at every chance? Yah that really happens, and if the kid is out of the house when they do that, well, mama is not there to force them to put clothes back on.

It was more common in younger kids, like 3/4 to 6/7 rangeish? Do not remember for sure, that was 50 years ago. I remember seeing kids as old as 5/6 years on the beach in just a diaper. Heck, kids would strip off there shoes and socks and pants to play in a stream at one place I lived as a child. Was a little 'forest preserve' There was the ocasional kid in that age group that was wearing a diaper, though it was pretty uncommon. I think it was more a 'I don't want you getting to excited and pissing your pants' sorta thing, or a punishment than that the kid needed diapers. 

Was kinda a weird time, a lot of social upheaval, you had a couple odd groups that where having kids at the time too. The hippys and other groups that where very against anything there perents where for.

[feralfreak]

2 hours ago, Alyeskabird said:

Actualy, yes, the 70s had kids running around in just a diaper.

Remember that trope about kids stripping there clothes off at every chance? Yah that really happens, and if the kid is out of the house when they do that, well, mama is not there to force them to put clothes back on.

It was more common in younger kids, like 3/4 to 6/7 rangeish? Do not remember for sure, that was 50 years ago. I remember seeing kids as old as 5/6 years on the beach in just a diaper. Heck, kids would strip off there shoes and socks and pants to play in a stream at one place I lived as a child. Was a little 'forest preserve' There was the ocasional kid in that age group that was wearing a diaper, though it was pretty uncommon. I think it was more a 'I don't want you getting to excited and pissing your pants' sorta thing, or a punishment than that the kid needed diapers. 

Was kinda a weird time, a lot of social upheaval, you had a couple odd groups that where having kids at the time too. The hippys and other groups that where very against anything there perents where for.

was they disposables or cloth?

[Alyeskabird]

Disposables mostly, though I do remember some with cloth. On the beach it was mostly disposables, cause when they went home they just took the diaper off, left it laying on the beach, and left. In chicago that was one of the big things you had to watch out for when walking on the beach, well, that and dead fish.

[Little Sherri]

16 hours ago, Alyeskabird said:

On the beach it was mostly disposables, cause when they went home they just took the diaper off, left it laying on the beach, and left.

This brought back a memory! I remember a lake we used to go to in a conservation area when I was very young - probably age 5 or 6, these would be among my earliest memories. What I remember wasn't disposables on the beach, although I'm sure that happened, but rather, it was disposables lying around the gravel parking lot, where people had dressed their kids before throwing them in the car after they were done on the beach. This would have been probably the very early 1980's. There was a trash can chained to a post on the path back from the beach, and I recall one of my parents remarking that it was disgusting that people wouldn't take the time to walk their trash over to the can. 

On 3/12/2023 at 6:46 AM, feralfreak said:

the 70s had kids just walking around in a diaper? i find that odd. i watched the first episode of this show, i can see why it failed, i just wanted to fast forward through a lot of it.

They made 5 seasons of it - that's not exactly a "failure" by series television standards. Spectacular successes such as The Simpsons and Family Guy aside, 5 seasons is a notable success, really, particularly for an animated show aimed at adults of a specific era. In the UK, most TV shows only last 2 -3 seasons, although in North America, they do tend to continue to flog a concept as long as it continues to put out more money than you have to put in to make it. But the vast majority of shows don't even last 1 season. 

I can completely understand why someone would find it boring, if you're not of that era, though. It's interesting to me because the hallmarks of that time were just fading away when I was really young. 

[DailyDi]

It was a pretty good show, but got to be too much drama for a cartoon for my liking.

[Alyeskabird]

@Little Sherri Most of the beaches where I grew up at, most of the folks went via bus, and on foot. With the alwives? problem, the beaches where a stinking nightmare, the folks that could aford a car went elsewhere. Its also why the uptown area became basicly a slum, from an middle class working family type area.

Err Alwives where a small feeder fish, and I might be totaly butchering the name, its been 50 years. After the lake had the salmon population fished out, the fish the bigger fish used to eat, started to have dieoffs 2-6 times a year, and litteraly millions of dead fish would wash up on the beach every year. Was one of the reasons they reintroduced salmon to the lake. People would change there kids into fresh diapers right there on the beach, pick them up, and head home, no car or parking lot involved.

[feralfreak]

15 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

This brought back a memory! I remember a lake we used to go to in a conservation area when I was very young - probably age 5 or 6, these would be among my earliest memories. What I remember wasn't disposables on the beach, although I'm sure that happened, but rather, it was disposables lying around the gravel parking lot, where people had dressed their kids before throwing them in the car after they were done on the beach. This would have been probably the very early 1980's. There was a trash can chained to a post on the path back from the beach, and I recall one of my parents remarking that it was disgusting that people wouldn't take the time to walk their trash over to the can. 

They made 5 seasons of it - that's not exactly a "failure" by series television standards. Spectacular successes such as The Simpsons and Family Guy aside, 5 seasons is a notable success, really, particularly for an animated show aimed at adults of a specific era. In the UK, most TV shows only last 2 -3 seasons, although in North America, they do tend to continue to flog a concept as long as it continues to put out more money than you have to put in to make it. But the vast majority of shows don't even last 1 season. 

I can completely understand why someone would find it boring, if you're not of that era, though. It's interesting to me because the hallmarks of that time were just fading away when I was really young. 

5 seasons? ill have to check the site i watched it from, i might  have missinterpreted things, im new to that site, and i dont have netflix(did have it but the friend who had  the account closed hers, and they did away with allowing account sharing by profiles without some annoying thing)

edit: ok i see, the site has all the seasons of it, i just misread  the interface, where it said season 1 i didnt notice an arrow pointing down to see all seasons available, so i thought it was only a few episodes, father still cusses worse than me and that is saying something, i think a sailor would tell me to watch my mouth, i can only imagine what one would say to this dude, not likely to follow more of it, it just doesnt grab me, and not having netflix kinda makes me not want to try, dont feel right.

[Kawaharu]

That show definitely reminded me of a time when it was normal for kids to be out in just a diaper, t-shirt and around the neighborhood. I remember as a child in the late 70's and early 80's where I was able to go around the neighborhood in just a diaper and t-shirt and it was normal. Heck, back then we didn't have the hang ups that we have today and now it makes me wish to relive the 70's, 80's and 90's all over again.

[dfw4ever]

On 3/12/2023 at 6:46 AM, feralfreak said:

the 70s had kids just walking around in a diaper? i find that odd. i watched the first episode of this show, i can see why it failed, i just wanted to fast forward through a lot of it.

Maybe I missed if you were talking about a different show but F is for Family went on for 5 seasons and had a good conclusion. That's the opposite of a failed show.

[feralfreak]

12 hours ago, dfw4ever said:

Maybe I missed if you were talking about a different show but F is for Family went on for 5 seasons and had a good conclusion. That's the opposite of a failed show.

try reading down further, you will see where i saw where i was mistaken because i went with what i saw on the source i watched the first episode on, didnt understand the sites way of presenting things, i was new to that site.

[parkintochter]

I wonder if that boy is the only one in diapers in this show. I remember the mother of the main characters friend telling something about her 5 year old son like: "Why wasn't my precious baby in his crib with that old door on top of it?" There was also a weird scene were she asked his older son something like if he has to use the bathroom for numer 2. He answered that he went in the morning and she gets upset and says "You're supposed to tell Mommy".

Also there were a few scenes where wet got wet.

[Faustus1]

On 3/14/2023 at 8:55 PM, Kawaharu said:

That show definitely reminded me of a time when it was normal for kids to be out in just a diaper, t-shirt and around the neighborhood. I remember as a child in the late 70's and early 80's where I was able to go around the neighborhood in just a diaper and t-shirt and it was normal. Heck, back then we didn't have the hang ups that we have today and now it makes me wish to relive the 70's, 80's and 90's all over again.

I think the thing here isn't as much about him not wearing pants, as it is about him still being in diapers at that age. Also, the "hang-ups" we have today about children being allowed to go outside in various states of undress seem pretty warranted, as people have become more aware that their kids are going to turn on any passing pedophile. 

 

[IminWetPampers]

I grew up in that era and I was one of those kids that went around in just a tee shirt and a diaper and didn’t really think too much about it or run into too much opposition.