Episodes harped on the moral panic du jour and served as an opportunity to remind the viewers that every single thing a child comes into contact with might send them on the wayward path to hell. Luckily, at the end of each episode, a lesson was learned, and it was usually something along the lines of “other people are poor/traumatized/not Christian/only have one parent/huff paint/are in a gang because they don’t have the type of love our family has.” Oh, also there were some vague incest storylines in a lot of episodes. I don’t know what that was about.

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For some reason, my 10-year-old self absolutely loved this series. I devoured it—which is in part why revisiting via TikTok now has been nothing short of an out-of-body experience for me. What I wouldn’t do to travel back in time and see my nascent mind nodding in complete agreement that the Camden’s alcoholic aunt should be locked away in a room to detox, while the eldest son monitored the situation. Tell her she’s a drunk maniac, Matt, I was probably shouting at the TV in my parent’s bedroom—which I’d snuck into to watch the show as they cleaned up downstairs.

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Comedian Rob Anderson posts a lot of excellent recaps of the show and breaks down the titillating drama in a way that makes me ask, again, “Was younger me OK?!?” Though, I suppose the enticement of sex, drugs, and rock and roll within the safe walls of the Camden house was appealing to two audiences: suburban fearmongers pushing their upright agenda, and me, a child. Rewatching clips and seeing other commenters grapple with the batshit Evangelical propaganda show of my youth has been a balm I did not know I needed.