Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs is an American sitcom about a family of anthropomorphic dinosaurs, the Sinclairs- father Earl, wife Fran, teenage daughter Charlene, son Bobby, and the baby, interestingly named Baby. Baby was a popular character who’s favorite pastime was to hit Earl on the head with a frying pan, accompanied by his catchphrase “Not the mama!” Whenever Baby is thrown through the air or similarly hurt, he yells “Again!” and also frequently says “I’m the Baby, Gotta Love Me!” The dinosaurs all appear to come from different species, with Baby looking the most human. Jim Henson, who died the year before the show premiered, created the show when he envisioned a standard sitcom where the only difference was that the family members are dinosaurs and they live in a toxic society. Earl works at the Wesayso Corporation pushing over trees, and a lot of his work setting alludes to petroleum companies, such as his boss’ name, B.P. Richfield. This was one of the many ways that the stories about the Sinclair family addressed topical issues. Aside from environmentalism, many episodes were allusions to women’s rights, sexual harassment, civil rights, censorship, drug abuse, racism, peer pressure, homosexuality, and war. In this way, the family sitcom, by replacing humans with dinosaurs, was able to comment more intensely on various issues than it otherwise would have. MORE