On the subject of charity and tolerance: one of my favorite episodes of the family comedy American Housewife is Season 4, Episode 14, A Very English Scandal, for its subplot with Oliver. Bear with me as I explain why because this is a moderately long post and the context matters.
In this show, you've got main protagonist Katie, the mom, who in many ways is a terrible human being in order to generate most of the comedy, who is basically Jerry Seinfeld/George Costanza/Elaine Bennett/Roseanne Barr, and Greg, the dad, who is the easygoing history professor and loving-but-not-one-dimensional husband and father, and their three kids, of whom Oliver is the only boy and the Alex P. Keaton of the family: Oliver is arrogant and self-centered and mostly-one-dimensionally obsessed with making good impressions and making money and getting into Harvard to be better off than the family he comes from.
Prior to this episode and due to a ballet injury, Oliver has had to drop out of ballet (which he has been practicing for three years because Harvard has a ballet team which always needs more men) and took up volunteer work with Teen Help Line, because of the available volunteer opportunities it gives the most prestige with Harvard for the least amount of work. As expected, it mostly involves comforting teens from his rich hometown with ridiculous grievances, but in a previous episode, he got one call from a mysterious distressed caller who emoted briefly about how everyone thinks he's Superman, but he's not, and he's not sure he can take it any more, and then hung up.
And this strikes a chord with Oliver, to realize that there's someone in his hometown who is actually suffering, and he and his extremely wealthy best friend Cooper spend time trying to figure out who it is, and go out of their way to befriend the school's nerdy comic pariah who always wears Superman shirts, on the theory that it's probably him. He rebuffs their initial attempts to reach out, so they try even harder and dress up with their own nerdy superhero shirts to join him in the school cafe at lunch, whereupon he rebuffs them hard enough to persuade them that he genuinely doesn't want friends and has never heard of Teen Help Line.
And then they realize from an overheard conversation that it was actually the popular school athlete (and maybe quarterback? I'm not sure) who had called in, and he calls in to Teen Help Line again and Oliver is able to talk him into saying what's on his mind, and it turns out he's stressed because he's gay (and has never said it out loud before). Oliver tries to reassure him that it's not a big deal, but in the process Oliver gives away that not only is Teen Help Line staffed by people from their hometown, but that he actually knows who the guy is (Will something?), and the guy hangs up in a panic, and then later threatens Oliver in person that he better keep his mouth shut or else. Then he posts a fake Instragram account under Oliver's name confessing to the entire school that Oliver is gay.
In this show, you've got main protagonist Katie, the mom, who in many ways is a terrible human being in order to generate most of the comedy, who is basically Jerry Seinfeld/George Costanza/Elaine Bennett/Roseanne Barr, and Greg, the dad, who is the easygoing history professor and loving-but-not-one-dimensional husband and father, and their three kids, of whom Oliver is the only boy and the Alex P. Keaton of the family: Oliver is arrogant and self-centered and mostly-one-dimensionally obsessed with making good impressions and making money and getting into Harvard to be better off than the family he comes from.
Prior to this episode and due to a ballet injury, Oliver has had to drop out of ballet (which he has been practicing for three years because Harvard has a ballet team which always needs more men) and took up volunteer work with Teen Help Line, because of the available volunteer opportunities it gives the most prestige with Harvard for the least amount of work. As expected, it mostly involves comforting teens from his rich hometown with ridiculous grievances, but in a previous episode, he got one call from a mysterious distressed caller who emoted briefly about how everyone thinks he's Superman, but he's not, and he's not sure he can take it any more, and then hung up.
And this strikes a chord with Oliver, to realize that there's someone in his hometown who is actually suffering, and he and his extremely wealthy best friend Cooper spend time trying to figure out who it is, and go out of their way to befriend the school's nerdy comic pariah who always wears Superman shirts, on the theory that it's probably him. He rebuffs their initial attempts to reach out, so they try even harder and dress up with their own nerdy superhero shirts to join him in the school cafe at lunch, whereupon he rebuffs them hard enough to persuade them that he genuinely doesn't want friends and has never heard of Teen Help Line.
And then they realize from an overheard conversation that it was actually the popular school athlete (and maybe quarterback? I'm not sure) who had called in, and he calls in to Teen Help Line again and Oliver is able to talk him into saying what's on his mind, and it turns out he's stressed because he's gay (and has never said it out loud before). Oliver tries to reassure him that it's not a big deal, but in the process Oliver gives away that not only is Teen Help Line staffed by people from their hometown, but that he actually knows who the guy is (Will something?), and the guy hangs up in a panic, and then later threatens Oliver in person that he better keep his mouth shut or else. Then he posts a fake Instragram account under Oliver's name confessing to the entire school that Oliver is gay.
And that's where this A Very English Scandal begins. In one of the B-plots of this episode, Oliver, selfish Oliver, is a little nervous about going back to school today to see everyone's reaction to "his" post, but has decided that denying it and denouncing the false post would just confirm Will's fears about becoming a social pariah. So he and Cooper just kind of ignore all the people whispering about them, and the comments from Oliver's ex-girlfriend about how that "explains a lot". Will comes by with his friends and makes some rude comments about Oliver's gayness, and one of Will's friends calls him on it, says that what Oliver did took a lot of guts, and that it's none of Will's business and to leave him alone, and then they walk off--and Oliver and Will make eye contact, and Will seems to understand. And at the end of the episode Will posts a confession about faking Oliver's "confession", and that it's actually Will and not Oliver who is gay, and thanking Oliver for showing him that it's okay.
And I think that is a great bit of character development and a great message! See, you don't need to be into superheroes and Superman to want people who are pariahs for being geeks to have the chance to be accepted (if they want to be), and you don't need to think homosexuality is a good thing to want people who have it to be treated well as human beings. (I doubt that Oliver's character thinks it's a problem either--but even people who do think it's a practical problem which often creates moral problems, such as me, can and do believe in kindness towards those who suffer from it.) I just love the way the whole Teen Help Line subplot was handled in this show: it's all about kindness and charity. And it's especially surprising because, well, it's Oliver, a.k.a. Alex P. Keaton, who is actually being kind to someone, without getting anything in return.
Also, the show is hilarious and the characters are just great. (I recommend starting at Season 4, the most recent, for a few episodes and then restarting at Season 1 if you like what you see.)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B07YGG7KNQ/ref=atv_dp_season_select_s4
--
I could not love thee dear, so much,
Loved I not honor more.
And I think that is a great bit of character development and a great message! See, you don't need to be into superheroes and Superman to want people who are pariahs for being geeks to have the chance to be accepted (if they want to be), and you don't need to think homosexuality is a good thing to want people who have it to be treated well as human beings. (I doubt that Oliver's character thinks it's a problem either--but even people who do think it's a practical problem which often creates moral problems, such as me, can and do believe in kindness towards those who suffer from it.) I just love the way the whole Teen Help Line subplot was handled in this show: it's all about kindness and charity. And it's especially surprising because, well, it's Oliver, a.k.a. Alex P. Keaton, who is actually being kind to someone, without getting anything in return.
Also, the show is hilarious and the characters are just great. (I recommend starting at Season 4, the most recent, for a few episodes and then restarting at Season 1 if you like what you see.)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B07YGG7KNQ/ref=atv_dp_season_select_s4
--
I could not love thee dear, so much,
Loved I not honor more.
