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First time a network TV series dealt with stalking?

posted 15 years ago by ActualSighs
2 replies | jump to latest

Just watched the episode "Someone's Watching." Surely this had to be one of the very first occasions that a network TV series dealt with stalking. The tone of hopelessness at the end was interesting, since stalking was not yet a crime.

Nancy confronts her attacker, screaming about how he ruined her life and he runs away.

A male bystander comes up to her and asks "What did he do to you?"

Nancy's forlorn reply: "He gave me a gift." Then the scene cuts to a wide shot and the camera pulls back.

This episode aired a few years before the Rebecca Schaefer incident prompted a change in the law.

[–] hnow 15 years ago

Perhaps. Certainly for a main character in a drama to have a stalker like that.

Later in '77, there was also an episode in Starsky & Hutch (Fatal Charm) where Hutch had a deadly stalker after him. But the Family episode was 7 months earlier.

[–] taylorje 14 years ago

The term "stalking" wasn't in use then, but you're right, it was probably the first tv episode that dealt with it. It made me furious, the way the cops tried to pin the blame on Nancy. They even told her that since the guy obviously had her on a pedestal, she'd better not do anything to make him mad.