Mr. Belvedere Meets a Kid With AIDS
Added 2025-03-12 02:44:52 +0000 UTC“Wesley’s Friend” (January 31, 1986)
Yes, it’s this episode. If you’ve seen any bit of it, it’s probably the one line delivered by the focus character, and while we will admit it’s a major groaner, it’s not representative of this whole episode. No, this is a Mr. Belvedere “very special episode” that has its heart in the right place and which mostly lands well all these years later.
This is our second Mr. Belvedere outing, and yes, the first one really is about Mr. Belvedere discouraging a teenager from being gay.
Comments
Brocktoon!
Erin Hardy
2025-03-14 06:11:30 +0000 UTCWell now I can add "crying in the bathtub while listening to a podcast about Mr. Belvedere" to my list of accomplishments, thanks Drew and Glen! I'm probably going to say this in an awkward way, but I think it's interesting that I remember being bombarded with media telling me that not only gay men get AIDS, and that HIV was not a "gay issue". And I guess that's good, because it's not just a "gay issue" but looking back at it now, I can also see how such messages can come across as homophobic as well. This was a really good episode by the way, great work balancing the humor and the seriousness of it.
James Eldred
2025-03-14 01:34:16 +0000 UTCGood episode, both of Mr. Belvedere and of the pod. For those interested in a more purely comic take on this story, the YouTube series "A Very Special Episode" covered it a few years back. And while you're on YouTube you may as well look up "Mr. Belvedere Fan Club" which may be Tom Hanks's finest work. I think the "playing doctor" line was 100% intended to establish Wesley's straight bona fides here. He's old enough that playing doctor with a classmate reads as uncomfortably sexual, not as innocent curiosity. Haley Joel Osment's "Walker says I have AIDS" from Walker Texas Ranger beats Danny's line for cringe factor by a country mile.
Jay Bloodworth
2025-03-13 09:18:17 +0000 UTC
