Do you think it's because the writers feel that the majority of Americans celebrate Christmas and would not be able to relate to characters celebrating Hanakkah? I mean, I'm obviously only one person, but I celebrate Christmas and it certainly wouldn't have mattered to me if Rhoda celebrated Hanakkah instead, but maybe they felt that it would cause a disconnect between a lot of people and their characters, plus, it would have forced the writers to address Rhoda and Brenda's religion, and from what I have seen over the decades, most sitcoms completely avoid the topic of religion, unless it is central to the premise of the show, such as in "Amen" with Sherman Hemsley.
Also, Joe wasn't Jewish, was he?
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amyghost
11 years ago
No, Joe was a gentile. There's a minor amount of to-do made about this when Rhoda first tells her folks about the impending marriage.
In all probability, it was about the ubiquity of Christmas in the American conciousness at the time Rhoda aired. Although a greater awareness of ethnic and racial diversity had become part of the cultural landscape by the early Seventies, the norm in tv land was still WASP pretty much all the way. So, even though the celebration of Christmas wouldn't have been part of a lot of Jewish households in real life, on television Hannukah had to become a sort of yuletime hybrid in order for the majority viewing demographic to relate, yes.
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pvd295
11 years ago
They could have also ignored the holiday all together, other shows did. I'm surprised they didn't. In the case of Joe's Christmas gift of $2K, they could have aired it at any time in the season and called it his Birthday gift.
"I prefer fantasy over reality TV - like Fox News" - B.Streisand
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