TV shows that were a no-no for some children to watch...

[mleach]

Not talking about the obvious such as Soap, current programs like The Family Guy/Simpsons and cable channels like MTV or Showtime but certain shows some parents for one reason or another wouldn't allow their kids to watch which may come as a surprise to others.

Back in the 70's I knew many parents who would NOT allow their kids to watch Sesame Street and/or The Electric Company for a variety of reasons ranging from Sesame Street teaching young children spanish to rumors they had heard about both shows such as "secret hidden messages" that they had heard from other parents.

A few months back I saw a review on the Trip Advisor website mentioning the Idlewild Park in Pennsylvania where someone had made a comment that as a child growing up in Indianapolis her parents would NOT allow to watch Mister Rogers as a child.

For many years I had a neighbor who refused to allow her children to watch any of those Peanuts specials including A Charlie Brown Christmas as well as musical shows such as American Bandstand, Soul Train and Hee Haw because "..they do the devil's music".

oh..

As a young boy growing up in North Carolina in the early 80's, my co-worker swears to this day that his parents had refused to allow him to watch Diff'rent Strokes because they had heard ( and I bet chances are it was from a 3rd or 4th party ) that the show was about....masturbation.

 

[MattParker]

As a young boy growing up in North Carolina in the early 80's, my co-worker swears to this day that his parents had refused to allow him to watch Diff'rent Strokes because they had heard ( and I bet chances are it was from a 3rd or 4th party ) that the show was about....masturbation.

No, if that had been the case, they'd have called it "Same Ol' Strokes."

The only banned TV shows (or movies) I recall (or remember friends mentioning) were scary type shows that did or might induce nightmares.

 

[therealjm12]

I know parents that won't let their children/grandchildren watch Sponge Bob. I have no idea why. I guess they have no sense of humor.

 

[RicoGregg]

I remember not so far back hearing about a family where the children were allowed to watch only "Christian Television", as in KTBN, Channel 40, in Orange County, Ca. and that was it. They couldn't watch anything else.

The parents' excuse was that all the others had evil "agendas" that they didn't want their children exposed to. Does that mean that the Crouches didn't have an agenda of some kind?

We've all heard by now about Bert & Ernie of Sesame Street and the supposedly "gay angle". I just love how nothing can be innocent anymore.

And who can forget Jerry Falwell & Tinky Winky? You know, he (Falwell) needlessly started a lot of this crap with his inflammatory nonsense. I guess he thought that society came off of an assembly line.

 

[anotherguyTN]

I know parents that won't let their children/grandchildren watch Sponge Bob. I have no idea why. I guess they have no sense of humor.

There were goofy rumors that tried to claim Spongebob was gay, along with Bert and Ernie and Batman and Robin at other times.

My parents wouldn't allow me to watch scary shows when I was a kid, but then when I got older I loved shows like The Twilight Zone and 50's horror movies. On the other hand I never liked the more modern horror movies from the 80's and on because of being too gory.

Even now My wife and I don't allow our daughter to watch movies that are too scary or have any overt sexual themes. My wife has been getting the Twilight movies from Netflix and we won't allow our 7 year old daughter to watch them. I noticed earlier this year there were Eclipse related toys in the kid's meals at Burger King. To me that's going too far since that isn't a movie series that pre-teens should be seeing.

 

[Stanislav]

We've all heard by now about Bert & Ernie of Sesame Street and the supposedly "gay angle". I just love how nothing can be innocent anymore.

I like the CTW staffer who dismissed the "gay" claims by pointing out that "these people are debating the sexual orientation of foam." ;D

 

[mleach]

There were goofy rumors that tried to claim Spongebob was gay, along with Bert and Ernie and Batman and Robin at other times.

..and don't forget Lucy Ricardo & Ethel Mertz and Fred Flintstone & Barney Rubble since both had "spent a lot more time with each other than with their own spouses so they got to be gay". My dad was telling me about those rumors..I was like... ??? But then again there will always be those poor souls who just can't accept two members of the same sex who just happen to enjoy spending time with each other ( example: girls night out ) without thinking..well they must be gay. A good recent example is Orpah Winfrey and Gayle King with the tabolids making comments on their front pages such as "..just like lovers".

 

[LKellerIII]

I know parents that won't let their children/grandchildren watch Sponge Bob. I have no idea why. I guess they have no sense of humor.

There were goofy rumors that tried to claim Spongebob was gay, along with Bert and Ernie and Batman and Robin at other times.

My parents wouldn't allow me to watch scary shows when I was a kid, but then when I got older I loved shows like The Twilight Zone and 50's horror movies. On the other hand I never liked the more modern horror movies from the 80's and on because of being too gory.

Even now My wife and I don't allow our daughter to watch movies that are too scary or have any overt sexual themes. My wife has been getting the Twilight movies from Netflix and we won't allow our 7 year old daughter to watch them. I noticed earlier this year there were Eclipse related toys in the kid's meals at Burger King. To me that's going too far since that isn't a movie series that pre-teens should be seeing.

If I remember correctly, Bert and Ernie were "outed" by some Christian fundamentalist. Or perhaps I'm confusing that with Jerry Falwell's claim that Tinky Winky (Teletubbies) was gay because he/she/it carried a purse.

My parents (I grew up in the 1960s) called TV the "boob tube," and were convinced that low quality network TV would rot my brain. So they prohibited me from watching mass-entertainment they considered low quality - I couldn't watch westerns, or any of those Warner Bros detective shows (77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, Surfside 6). Spooky stuff was OK, though. They did let me stay up late on Friday night to watch Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. They considered those shows to be above average. I didn't suffer from nightmares. Outer Limits was another favorite of mine, and my parents.

 

[Ultimajock]

...The Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show took place on my third birthday, but my grandmother forbade me to watch; she claimed years later that she expected some Presleyesque hip shaking to be going on and didn't want me to see them. I now own a copy of the DVD of that show (as well as the following two Sullivan broadcasts) ;D ...

 

[dave73]

The only thing my Dad tried to ban was MTV. That didn't work because he was home only on weekends, & would watch it whenever I could. My grandma wouldn't let me watch The Partridge Family or The Brady Bunch, because she didn't like how the families were protrayed in the shows. She also hated All In The Family & Maude.

One neighbor I had wouldn't let her children (especially her 2 sons) to watch In Living Color. My neighbor simply hated watching shows targeting Black people. When she wasn't at home, her kids (especially her sons) would still watch it anyway. I even watched that show at every opportunity. I was sad that it only lasted 4 years. As for the now former neighbor's kids: the oldest son is now 33, second oldest son is now 31, oldrest daughter (third youngest) is 30, & the youngest daughter is now 28. The former neighbor is now 55.

 

[mleach]

The only thing my Dad tried to ban was MTV.

Did your dad try to ban you from listening to then-top 40 stations like WLS-AM or WBBM-FM? Reason I ask from reading the number of posts & replies that you had posted I assume you live in the Chicago area. Usually when parents tried to ban MTV from their households...usually the local top 40 radio outlets were on the hit list as well.

When I had done top 40 radio in the mid 90s I still remember getting snail mail and very early email from those who had told me "..my parents don't allow me to watch MTV nor am I allowed to listen to your radio station either ! ! "

 

[mjlarochelle]

If I remember correctly, Bert and Ernie were "outed" by some Christian fundamentalist. Or perhaps I'm confusing that with Jerry Falwell's claim that Tinky Winky (Teletubbies) was gay because he/she/it carried a purse.

Yeah...Falwell said Tinky Winky was the "color of gay pride" and had a triangle on his head, the "shape of gay pride". Plus the purse comment.

Falwell and Pat Robertson were doing trash TV long before Jerry Springer. (And I consider myself somewhat religious.)

 

[Markieo]

I remember not so far back hearing about a family where the children were allowed to watch only "Christian Television", as in KTBN, Channel 40, in Orange County, Ca. and that was it. They couldn't watch anything else.

The parents' excuse was that all the others had evil "agendas" that they didn't want their children exposed to. Does that mean that the Crouches didn't have an agenda of some kind?

We've all heard by now about Bert & Ernie of Sesame Street and the supposedly "gay angle". I just love how nothing can be innocent anymore.

And who can forget Jerry Falwell & Tinky Winky? You know, he (Falwell) needlessly started a lot of this crap with his inflammatory nonsense. I guess he thought that society came off of an assembly line.

Isn't Jimmy Swaggart on that channel, You know, the same one who was caught with his pants down in a motel, then cried crocodile tears ("I have sinned against you!")?

 

[TexasTom]

Over the years, I've known a few people whose fundamentalist parents wouldn't allow them to watch "Bewitched" because it was about witchcraft. I guess that was the predecesor to some of the fundamentalist upset over the "Harry Potter" book and movies series a few years back.

I don't recall being prohibited from watching anything myself, although I know my mom (who is from Germany) was less than thrilled with my fondness for "Hogan's Heroes" reruns.

 

[landtuna]

The only thing my Dad tried to ban was MTV. That didn't work because he was home only on weekends, & would watch it whenever I could.

I was a dad in the early 80's when we first got cable and the very first thing I did was password-protect MTV. As the songs got rougher language over the ensuing years it validated my decision. I'm no prude but the crap that was on MTV at the time (and is OTA now) is not fit for young children (or anyone really).

I notice my kids grew up rather normally without MTV (not that they didn't get the same education from their friends but at least I didn't help it along).

 

[mleach]

The only thing my Dad tried to ban was MTV. That didn't work because he was home only on weekends, & would watch it whenever I could.

I was a dad in the early 80's when we first got cable and the very first thing I did was password-protect MTV. As the songs got rougher language over the ensuing years it validated my decision. I'm no prude but the crap that was on MTV at the time (and is OTA now) is not fit for young children (or anyone really).

I notice my kids grew up rather normally without MTV (not that they didn't get the same education from their friends but at least I didn't help it along).

But ( to those who didn't allow their kids to watch MTV )..not only did you not allow your kids to watch MTV but also expanded the ban to radio too?

Some years back I had met a woman from Buffalo, New York who not only did not allow her kids to watch MTV but also did not allow her kids to listen to Buffalo's WKBW 1520-AM radio ( including local longtime Buffalo morning guy Danny Neverath ) or local Buffalo top 40 98.3 WKSE-FM.

Usually parents who did not allow their kids to watch MTV say in 1984 did NOT allow their kids to listen to radio who had played the exact same kind of music as MTV did or, OK shown.

 

[johnnya2k6]

I remember spending a few times at one church family's house a few times in the mid-'80s for bible study (we attended the same church until I moved to Mississippi in 1989), and there...NOT ONE SINGLE TV!!!!!! Yeah, things were very strict in that household!

And believe it or not, this was around the time when "The Cosby Show" was #1!

 

[FreddyE1977]

In particular I remember my parents did not want us watching "All in the Family"
(because of the disclaimer and all of the buzz about the show being controversial),
The Odd Couple (because they were unfamiliar with the Broadway show or the movie
and from the promos assumed the show was about a couple of gay men), Maude (because
of the controversial episode where she had an abortion), and the CBS Movie of the Week
when they showed The Graduate.

As kids were never much into Maude anyhow. They eventually relented on The Odd
Couple once they realized that they were wrong about the premise. And they ended
up watching All in the Family so often themselves it became hard to keep us kids away
from it.

I did sneak a 12" black-and-white portable into my bedroom and watched The Graduate
because I was just too danged curious about why they did not want me to watch it.
Unfortunately it would be several years before I was old enough to even understand why.
(hmmm.... I wonder why Mrs. Robinson is taking her clothes off??)

And while my parents were somewhat agnostic on this one, I know a lot of my friends mothers
were very much against local reruns of The Three Stooges out of fear that their kids would be
hitting each other with hammers and poking each others eyes out. I believe they once even
picketed WTAE-TV 4 over that one.

 

[oldschooler1]

Monthy Python's Flying Circus in the mid seventies. Don't remember exactly why I wasn't supposed to watch it....Though I was allowed to see The Holy Grail when it came out in American theatres. These are the same folks who were concerned about me seeing American Grafitti in the theatre. ???

But one time, in 1977, they decided to give MPFC a look. Wouldn't you know it, the one sketch they happen to catch was a Terry Gilliam animation using the three crucifixes of Calvary as telephone poles.

"That's it! Turn it off!"

Although, I had a 12" b & w Panasonic in my room - the best way to watch UHF PBS in our area...And would watch MPFC every chance I got, back when PBS ran it on sundays at 1030PM. So seeing it in color in someone else's home was always a treat.

Someone mentioned sneaking a 12" into their bedroom -- yup. When The CBS Late Movie ran The Holy Grail one friday night in 1977, I had that TV on my belly, in bed, sound turned down so low...Because my folks knew it was on that night, and forbade me to watch it! This was after the Calvary animation incident....

 

[OldNumber7]

My parents were completely permissive about the TV, but they had a knack for shaming me into turning off some stuff myself. For example when I was about 10 (1970) and went through my pro wrestling and Sunday afternoon monster movie phases, my folks would say "Why are you watching that c--p?"