TV Dads 📺👴🏽

MASKulinity Podcast

Going off an earlier episode where Samantha tested Remoy’s musical knowledge, this week Samantha checks in on what Remoy knows about TV. Through round after round, our two co hosts explore how TV dads and masculinity have evolved over the decades.

• Samantha kicks things off with a clip of Al Bundy and his daughter Kelly. Does Remoy remember anything about this dysfunctional yet iconic duo? And what does our laughter about their relationship on Married With Children tell us about fatherhood three decades ago?
  • Bonus Episode: Remoy has to know. Was Samantha’s own relationship with her father’s anything like Al and Kelly’s?
• You can’t not talk 90’s TV Dads and not think TGIF: Samantha highlights a heartfelt moment between Carl and Eddie Winslow, one of the few Black father-son relationships on 90s TV.
  • They break down how Family Matters portrayed manhood and why this mattered for representation at the time.
• Samantha skips forward a decade or two to show Remoy the ultimate suburban survivalist: Modern Family’s Phil Dunphy has a near-death epiphany on a camping trip. Remoy reflects on how Phil represents a new era of goofy yet emotionally vulnerable TV dads.
• You can’t not talk TV and not talk animation. But it isn’t Bart and Homer for Samantha. It’s Bob Belcher from Bob’s Burgers who in a tender and hilariously awkward clip bonds with his daughter Tina during a “hairy” situation.
  • Samantha wants to know. Are there any African daughters out there who their father shared in the pain of getting their legs waxed in solidarity? If so, email us at [e-mail]
• Another Black father and duo + Schmitt. No it’s not New Girl. It’s The Neighborhood on CBS.
  • TV laugh tracks aside, Samantha and Remoy take a moment to appreciate a really tender and evolved, but not perfect, moment in modern TV.
• Samantha shows Remoy a lesser seen moment on TV: An immigrant father-son moment from the crowd favorite Fresh off the Boat.
  • A sweet moment portrayed on the screen for an Asian dad. But would huckster chef Eddie Huang, whose life story the show was modeled off of, approve? Would Remoy?
  • What do you think after hearing the clip? Hit us at our inboxes and let us know [e-mail].
• Remoy is sold and wants to play. He shares with Samantha a moment from a new comedy he’s been loving. Any guesses to what that series is?
  • Let’s just say Harrison Ford playing a therapist and being vulnerable on screen with Jason Segel and many more is a win for both Samantha and Remoy as they appreciate where TV has come over 30 years.

Referenced on this episode:

• The paper that informed Samantha’s gamifying of TV dads? That’s–Laughing at Men: Masculinities in Contemporary Sitcoms
• Our guide to navigate being Home ALONE for the Holidays
• Our new classic episode: The Fresh Prince and 📺 Episode
• The original Samantha gaming gem 💎: UnMASKing Masculinity: Music Trivia Edition 🎶
• Even though Fresh of the Boat isn’t directly referenced in this previous episode, our conversation with Dr. William Liu covers a lot of relevant subject matter. Listen to The Racial Hierarchy of MASKulinity, with Dr. Liu - Part 1 ENCORE
• Were you ever rocked by the entrance of Stefan Urquelle on Family Matters. Remoy was. And he chronicled it in a classic episode for the Spotify original podcast–Not past It
• Yes, Remoy once wrote TV criticism on Tumblr–basically his televised version of letterboxd had an apt title: Because TV Raised Us

COMPANION PIECES:

• The guide to Samantha’s game? Yep it boils down once again to that now seminal report from Pew Research center: How Americans See Men and Masculinity