# First Utterance of "Curse Words" on Prime-Time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654 "2005-08-18T20:52:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/41 "2005-08-19T17:57:48Z")
IIRC, Carter’s comment was directed at Ted Kennedy, who was challenging Carter for the nomination, and Carter declared he would _whip_ his ass. The comment was not on TV, but was reported. It got lots of play from Carson and others, though. Another, similar incident in the 1984 campaign involved a quote of VP George H. W. Bush, who expressed the opinion that he had “kicked ass” in a debate against Democratic VP candidate Geraldine Ferraro. Critics claimed it was sexist. > [@Saltire](#): > > I kind of doubt it was truly the first time ‘ass’ was used on TV, but I remember early-on during the run-up to the 1980 election, someone asked President Carter what he thought would happen if Ronald Reagan ran against him. Carter’s reply was, “I’ll kick his ass.” I don’t know if that exchange was on television. > > However, Johnny Carson quoted Carter at least 15 times on his show that night. It really tickled him that he was allowed to say that word because the president said it first. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/42 "2005-08-19T18:06:41Z")
Didn’t the Jessica Biel character on _7th Heaven_ call her Dad a goat-felching cuntwaffle when her character was kicked out of the house? Or did I just imagine that? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/43 "2005-08-19T22:13:15Z")
^^^Cuntwaffle? Is there a hot iron involved in that? Never knew my thread would introduce new words to me! Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/44 "2005-08-20T00:54:44Z")
> [@Earl Snake-Hips Tucker](#): > > “Damn” was used in the Jack Webb frequent flyer Olan Soule in the infamous “Blue Boy” ep of the 1960s “Dragnet,” airing in January 1967. In the same year, damn was also uttered in “Judd for the Defence”, in primetime. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/45 "2005-08-20T02:47:04Z")
Couple of questions: **1.** When does “prime time” officially end in the US? 8:30pm? You don’t hear much swearing here in Australia before 8:30 at night, but after that, it’s pretty much a free-for-all. Shows with foul words have a warning at the beginning, but aside from that anything goes, except “cunt” which I have only heard once or twice on free-to-air. **2.** How about your newspapers? Words like “shit”, “bullshit”, and “arse” appear uncensored in the _Sydney Morning Herald_ (a respectable top-shelf broadsheet), providing they are in context (qoutes etc). One famous local example of accidental swearing was in the early 80s on daytime television. There was some awful movie or other for the housewives, blue rinse set, and old dears to watch in the afternoon, and it was being plugged by the hostess of a morning TV show (Barbie Rogers, I think). As they cut to a commercial break, she recommended the viewers should watch the movie, and then mistakenly thinking she was already off air, added “if you don’t, I’ll rip your bloody tits off!” ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/46 "2005-08-20T03:04:57Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > Couple of questions: > **1.** When does “prime time” officially end in the US? 8:30pm? You don’t hear much swearing here in Australia before 8:30 at night, but after that, it’s pretty much a free-for-all. Shows with foul words have a warning at the beginning, but aside from that anything goes, except “cunt” which I have only heard once or twice on free-to-air. > **2.** How about your newspapers? Words like “shit”, “bullshit”, and “arse” appear uncensored in the _Sydney Morning Herald_ (a respectable top-shelf broadsheet), providing they are in context (qoutes etc). > > One famous local example of accidental swearing was in the early 80s on daytime television. There was some awful movie or other for the housewives, blue rinse set, and old dears to watch in the afternoon, and it was being plugged by the hostess of a morning TV show (Barbie Rogers, I think). As they cut to a commercial break, she recommended the viewers should watch the movie, and then mistakenly thinking she was already off air, added “if you don’t, I’ll rip your bloody tits off!” In the U.S., “prime time” for the networks usually starts at 8 p.m. and ends at 11 p.m. from Monday to Saturday. On Sunday, prime time goes from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. These, by the way, are the times for the Eastern and Pacific time zones. In the Central and Mountain time zones, everything starts and ends an hour earlier. Also, that latter story you mention reminds me a lot of the legendary “Uncle Don” incident from radio. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/47 "2005-08-20T03:07:26Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > Couple of questions: > **1.** When does “prime time” officially end in the US? 8:30pm? Prime time in the U.s. runs from 7:30-11:00 p.m. on the East and West Coasts, and 6:30-10:00 p.m. in the Midwest. > [@](#): > > **2.** How about your newspapers? Words like “shit”, “bullshit”, and “arse” appear uncensored in the _Sydney Morning Herald_ (a respectable top-shelf broadsheet), providing they are in context (qoutes etc). Only under exceedingly rare circumstances. > [@](#): > > One famous local example of accidental swearing was in the early 80s on daytime television. There was some awful movie or other for the housewives, blue rinse set, and old dears to watch in the afternoon, and it was being plugged by the hostess of a morning TV show (Barbie Rogers, I think). As they cut to a commercial break, she recommended the viewers should watch the movie, and then mistakenly thinking she was already off air, added “if you don’t, I’ll rip your bloody tits off!” Daytime TV has traditionally been more adventurous than nighttime TV, at least in terms of subject matter. U.S. daytime dramas (“soap operas”) dealt with topics like illegitimate pregnancy, abortion, rape and homosexuality several years before they were even mentioned on prime time. However, language is usually kept somewhat clean. Simply count the number of bleeps you hear on an episode of “The Jerry Springer Show.” ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/48 "2005-08-20T06:39:05Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I remember Bill Murray saying “fuck” on SNL in the early 80s. It must have been the very early '80s: Murray left the cast at the end of the 1979-80 season. BTW, while I’ve heard of the Paul Shaffer and Charles Rocket usages, I’ve never heard of Murray saying it on SNL. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/49 "2005-08-20T08:36:11Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Prime time in the U.s. runs from 7:30-11:00 p.m. on the East and West Coasts, and 6:30-10:00 p.m. in the Midwest. Aaaaah okay. I think the Australian version (and I’m not too sure of this) is regarded to be 6:00pm (traditional evening news slot) until 8:30pm. After 8:30, the number of viewers tuned in remains high, but the censorship laws change, and that’s when you can let fly with a ‘fuck’ or two, but it’s regarded technically as a different category to prime time. The laws regarding such things as the advertising of alcohol also loosen up at 8:30pm, when the kiddies are supposed to be in bed (but usually aren’t). > [@](#): > > Daytime TV has traditionally been more adventurous than nighttime TV, at least in terms of subject matter. U.S. daytime dramas (“soap operas”) dealt with topics like illegitimate pregnancy, abortion, rape and homosexuality several years before they were even mentioned on prime time. However, language is usually kept somewhat clean. > > Simply count the number of bleeps you hear on an episode of “The Jerry Springer Show.” That’s a good point. Quite obvious now that I think about it, though you tend to imagine daytime TV as being for little old ladies, but it does have some dodgy stuff - last time I saw _Springer_ there was a near-naked obese man “going back to the womb” in a baby’s wading pool full of some sort of goo. That sort of thing would have been talked about _a lot_ the next day had it been on one of the high-rating evening shows. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/50 "2005-08-20T10:44:48Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Didn’t the Jessica Biel character on _7th Heaven_ call her Dad a goat-felching cuntwaffle when her character was kicked out of the house? Or did I just imagine that? Well, if she did, it got edited out of the ABC Family re-broadcasts. I can’t recall the year, but in the early 1980s, when NBC aired NETWORK, it did so with “bullshit” intact. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/51 "2005-08-20T11:15:12Z")
Was there really an old childrens’ TV host who, at the end of the show and thinking his mike was off, said “That’ll keep the little bastards happy for a while.”? ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/52 "2005-08-20T11:31:12Z")
Brits seem to be rather more tolerant of rude words on their TVs than Americans. Nevertheless, there is a “watershed” for terrestrial TV over here: before 21.00 it is assumed that kiddies may be watching so broadcasters are supposed to keep away from rude words and nudity until 21.01 when they may bombard us with as much filth as we can stomach. For subscription channels the watershed is 20.00. The first utterance of “fuck” on British TV happened as long ago as 1965, by critic Kenneth Tynan on a late-night discussion programme ironically on the subject of censorship. Of course, you could always hear a great many unscripted swear words on televised football matches - it’s difficult to drown out 20,000 voices chanting “The referee’s a Bastard”. It’s still quite rare to hear the word “cunt” on British TV (although many viewers tend to use it out loud whenever Gyles Brandreth appears on their screens …). The earliest scripted one that I can remember was in the 1989 mini-series “Mosley” but I am sure I’d heard one before that. Recently, there was a bit of a hoo-ha about the screening by the BBC of “Jerry Springer, The Opera” which included a large number of rude words - 8,000 of them, apparently - and potentially blasphemous stuff too, I understand. Some 55,000 idiots complained even before it was shown, with 8,000 more complaints after. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/53 "2005-08-20T12:42:12Z")
Someone mentioned newspapers, but newspapers aren’t legally in the same realm as TV when it comes to censorship. TV and radio are censored by the FCC, which can impose fines for ‘indecent’ behavior _if it recieves complaints_. It is theoretically possible to say ‘fuck’ on prime-time programming and get away with it if nobody calls in to bitch, but given that some organizations actually hire people to monitor TV for such things it would be extremely rare. (More than 99% of all FCC complaints come from one group. I’ll provide cites later if nobody else does.) Newspapers, needless to say, are bound by no such restrictions. A paper could print _Naked Lunch_ completely unedited if the licensing issues were hammered out. The only restrictions on newspapers are obscenity laws, which don’t actually restrict very much at all, and their own self-censorship born out of the normal corporate risk-aversion. I could be completely wrong but I don’t think I am. True ‘prior restraint’ censorship is very rare in this country, usually limited to National Security Reasons, and the tricks played by bodies like the FCC are also rare. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/54 "2005-08-20T17:12:48Z")
A correction to what **kunilou** wrote: Prime Time runs from 8:00 (not 7:30) to 11:00 p.m. on the East Coast and West Coast; in the Central and Mountain time zones it runs from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. Prime Time is network programming. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates broadcasting in the U.S., allows any language between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Cable TV does not come under the FCC purvue, and can use whatever language it wants at any hour. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/55 "2005-08-20T17:15:47Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Cable TV does not come under the FCC purvue… Yet. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/56 "2005-08-20T17:21:02Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Was there really an old childrens’ TV host who, at the end of the show and thinking his mike was off, said “That’ll keep the little bastards happy for a while.”? [False.](http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/radio/bastards.htm) ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/57 "2005-08-20T17:31:54Z")
Not a swear, but I remember reading that I Love Lucy was the first show to use the word “pregnant.” There were pregnant characters on TV before, but the word was verboten. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/58 "2005-08-20T17:37:31Z")
On _I Love Lucy_, Lucy was pregnant, but they never used the word “pregnant.” She was having a baby, she was expecting, but she wasn’t pregnant. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/59 "2005-08-20T17:46:40Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > On _I Love Lucy_, Lucy was pregnant, but they never used the word “pregnant.” She was having a baby, she was expecting, but she wasn’t pregnant. Okay. Then what was the first show to use the word pregnant? And for that matter, the first show to use the words gay and lesbian? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654/60 "2005-08-21T02:15:45Z")
[ > [@mediatransparency.org](#): > > According to an early December 2004 report in Mediaweek, the PTC has become a master at generating indecency complaints with the FCC. The story revealed that the organization was responsible for 99.8 percent of all the indecency complaints filed in 2003. In addition, 99.9 percent of complaints filed with the FCC (other than complaints about Jackson’s breast) were brought by the PTC and its members. ]([http://www.mediatransparency.org/pdastory.php?storyID=62](http://www.mediatransparency.org/pdastory.php?storyID=62)) [ > [@The Parents Television Council](#): > > Time and again we hear from people asking, “How do you do it? How can you monitor every prime time network television show between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.?” With an arsenal of VCRs, televisions, a full-time team of entertainment analysts, and a massive online database we are able to build a database full of this unique research. ]([http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/faqs/main.asp#How%20does%20the%20PTC%20conduct%20its%20research](http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/faqs/main.asp#How%20does%20the%20PTC%20conduct%20its%20research)) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-utterance-of-curse-words-on-prime-time/317654.md?page=4)