10 Sitcoms That Helped Remove Stigma From HIV And AIDS

When HIV and AIDS started spreading in the United States, there was all types of fear. And where there’s fear there’s usually hatred. People who were diagnosed were often shunned by coworkers, associates, friends and even family members. People didn’t understand the disease and how you could catch it. And so the media, executing one of their more noble functions, helped to dismantle the stereotypes. Check out some of the series who featured some memorable episodes dealing with HIV or AIDS.

Designing Women – Killing All the Right People – Part 1 from Derek Dayton on Vimeo.

“Designing Women”

Remember this show? “Designing Women” was a CBS show about four Southern women who were running an interior design firm in Atlanta. Just a year after the show started running in 1986, they aired an AIDS episode. And surprisingly it featured actor Tony Goldwyn, who many of us now know as President Fitzgerald Grant from “Scandal.” In this 1987 episode, Tony played a character named Kendall Dobbs, a young man dying of AIDS who asked the four women to design his funeral.

“The Ryan White Story”

Most people from Indiana, born around the ’80’s have heard of Ryan White. Ryan White, a hemophiliac, became the poster child for HIV/AIDS after receiving a contaminated blood transfusion. He was diagnosed in 1984 and given six months to live. But in the following  months and years, Ryan was treated terribly. He was expelled from his middle school, once parents learned of his status. Unwilling to have their son be discriminated against, his parents took his case to court. It was eventually ruled that White should be allowed to attend school. 151 of 360 students stayed home the day he came back.

White was also a paperboy and people canceled their subscriptions believing they could contract the disease through the paper. Others shouted at him in the street, saying “we know you’re queer.” In middle school White had to eat with disposable utensils, use a separate bathroom and was not allowed to participate in gym class. When a bullet was fired through the family home, they decided to leave Kokomo, Indiana where he had been born and raised. It wasn’t until he transferred to a school in Cicero that White was finally treated fairly. White became a spokesperson for the disease, educating people with the truth of HIV/AIDS. And his story inspired The Ryan White Story, an ABC special. The TV movie was reportedly seen by 15 million viewers. In 1990, at 18, six years–and not six months– after he’d been diagnosed, Ryan died from AIDS complications.

“Golden Girls”

“Golden Girls” is one of my all-time favorite shows. Not only was it hilarious, the writers were constantly looking for ways to push the envelope or challenge their audience to see issues and people differently. In one season 5 episode, “72 Hours,” Rose learns that a blood transfusion she received several years ago, may have been contaminated with AIDS. Back then, you had to wait days for your results to come back. During those days Rose and her roommates learn a lot about “the type of people” who can contract the disease and what her life might mean if she has to live with it.

“A Different World”

In this groundbreaking episode, a professor gives an assignment for the students to write their own eulogies. During the exercise, one student, Josie Webb, played by Tisha Campbell, reveals that she contracted AIDS having unprotected sex in high school. The news shakes everyone. Gina and Terrence, ignorant about the disease, are afraid to be around Josie, while Kim and Mr. Gaines tell them to educate themselves. Ron is worried that he might have caught the disease, since he’s been out here so much. And as a result he and Dwayne go get tested. Earlier in the episode, Whitley was considering sleeping with Dwayne for the first time on his birthday. But the recent happenings let her know that she’s not exactly ready for sex.

Philadelphia

So this is a movie. But it’s vitally important, so it gets a pass. Plus, it’s on tv all the time now. This powerful film showed the discrimination people, specifically homosexuals, faced not only for their sexuality but also when people learned that they were living or battling the disease. In the movie, we watch as Denzel learns about his own prejudices and the audience learns, again, that HIV/AIDS is not a “bad person’s” disease.

“Roc”

There’s a lot going on in this episode. Not only is a mother confronting the killer of her son, a child. But Eleanor learns that her longtime friend is living with HIV. And unlike some of the characters in the earlier episodes, Eleanor embraces her immediately, with love and support.

You can watch the HIV episode, the season 3 finale, at around the 4:10 mark.

“Sesame Street”

Leave it to “Sesame Street” to teach the kids about the tough stuff. In 2002, the Sesame Workshop announced that an HIV-positive character would be introduced on Takalani Sesame, the South African version of the show. Kami, a furry yellow five year old muppet, contracted the disease from contaminated blood transfusion as an infant. Many falsely assumed that Kami would be coming to the American “Sesame Street” and were outraged. You know, folks like Bill O’Reilly and other Republicans. Naturally, Kami was used to promote tolerance and reduce stigma associated with the disease.

“E.R.”

In season 2 of this now iconic show, Gloria Reuben, joined the hospital as series regular Jeanie Boulet, a physician’s assistant. Jeanie, who had an affair with Dr. Peter Benton (Eriq La Salle), was married, unhappily, to Al, a man who was known for his adulterous ways. Jeanie refused to leave her husband and the relationship with Dr. Benton ended. In season 2, her husband, Al is diagnosed with HIV. Later, we learn that Jeanie tested positive for the virus as well. But Dr. Benton doesn’t have it. Jeanie keeps her diagnosis to herself until gradually her coworkers learn and embrace her.

“The Parkers”

In this episode, “She’s Positive,” T meets this girl Kai at a Murphy Lee concert. He’s never felt this way about a woman before. And just as he feels the relationship is progressing, Kai withdraws from him. T can’t understand why she’s giving him the cold shoulder until he confronts her about it and she explains that she contracted the virus from an ex boyfriend after three years of dating. Afterward, Nikki and Kim realize they should both get tested too.

“Girlfriends”

You know Joan and Toni had a very weird friendship. Both of them could be possessive and controlling of each other. When Toni announces that Reesie, played by Kimberly Elise, will be a bridesmaid in her wedding, Joan is hot. She told Toni that she couldn’t speak to Reesie anymore after she stole Joan’s old boyfriend Brian. Joan thinks Reesie stole her perfect life with the perfect man. It’s then that Reesie reveals that Brian gave her AIDS. Basically, Brian was a down low dude, in denial about the fact that he is gay. Reesie cuts herself, chopping vegetables and freaks everyone out. In one of the more moving scenes, Reesie wonders if she’ll be around long enough to see her daughter get married. This wasn’t the first time HIV came up. In an earlier episode, Toni deals with fears when Todd asks her to take an HIV test.

Which episodes did we miss? Do you remember any sitcoms that dealt with this topic on air?