Remember "My Dad Lives in a Downtown Hotel"

from our last RWMN 70s trash loop?

Well, here's more about it!

ahse's specials, which debuted in 1974, were clearly a product of an era committed to exploring taboos. This is a time when the feminist DIY health guide Our Bodies, Ourselves was in its first edition; when Free To Be … You and Me taught us that it's OK for boys to cry; and when Judy Blume's teen heroines in books like Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret were animatedly discussing tampons and sex.

(...)

Tahse had a special fondness for stories about teens whose passion in some creative pursuit—ballet, two episodes about ice skating, violin—goes against the traditional working-class values of their parents. Many of these episodes, like 1979's "A Special Gift," are set on farms, as if your dad's disapproval over your role in The Nutcracker is that much more trenchant if he raises sheep for a living.

After School Specials do have a silver lining: The more tragic your story is, the hotter the guy will be who has a secret crush on you...