# If TV censorship had been less restrictive back in the day... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2015, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613 "2015-10-24T13:33:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/41 "2015-10-25T05:10:59Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Surely Rob and Laura Petrie would have slept in the same bed. But would the Ricardos and the Mertzes have swapped partners?? :eek: Or at the very least, Lucy and Ricky wouldn’t have had twin beds. Andy Taylor and Barney Fife would have finally had some _interesting_ dates, although not with each other. (Wouldn’t have fit the overall story lines.) Even Aint Bea might have had an occasional date. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/42 "2015-10-25T05:12:14Z")
Seriously: Star Trek: TOS could have showed crew members getting actual hypodermic needle shots, instead of those futuristic air-hiss hypos. (This was mentioned in _The Making of Star Trek_.) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/43 "2015-10-25T05:44:36Z")
PFC Gomer Pyle would have come home from the 'Nam in a box. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/44 "2015-10-25T05:45:53Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The costumes on _ **Star Trek: TOS** _ would have been far more revealing than they already were. Even with the very finest tachyon emitters, some things are still impossible. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/45 "2015-10-25T09:57:59Z")
I dont think it would have been that much different because tv audiences and advertisers really were not into the sex and controversial issues yet at least until 1972 when “All in the Family” broke down all the walls. Hollywood gives people what they want. If they want shows about Hillbillies, thats what they give them. Now I would have LIKED their to be more black characters on the early shows or they mentioned sex once in a while. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/46 "2015-10-25T11:41:21Z")
There woulda been a **Lucy** episode where Ricky got a job at a gas station so he could buy Lucy a nice xmas present. Then Lucy would overhear two women talking about “Ricky Ricardo pumping Ethyl”. Then, “Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” (Stolen from someone/somewhere) ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/47 "2015-10-25T11:45:56Z")
I have to wonder if we’d be a different society if TV had been a bit more realistic in the 50s and 60s. Granted, most shows are about entertainment rather than being documentaries, but might it have mattered if violence was shown to be as bloody as it can be, or if the very existence of sex was acknowledged? And I do agree about more black characters - especially living normal lives rather than being just criminals. Were divorced people ever even mentioned in those days? Or children born out of wedlock? Apart from the soaps, I mean… ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/48 "2015-10-25T13:10:59Z")
The Very Special Episodes would’ve been must see TV. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/49 "2015-10-25T13:20:56Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Seriously: Star Trek: TOS could have showed crew members getting actual hypodermic needle shots, instead of those futuristic air-hiss hypos. (This was mentioned in _The Making of Star Trek_.) Silence your heinous blasphemy! That hypospray is the Holy Grail of needlephobics everywhere! Without TOS the wonderful people at MIT would not be trying to create a real hypospray to save us all. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/50 "2015-10-25T13:32:22Z")
The backstory to _Lost In Space_ would have been a little more explicit: The US recovered a downed UFO, reverse-engineered it to create the Jupiter 2, and was going to establish interstellar colonies- without sharing any of it with the rest of the world, leading to worldwide condemnation of the project. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/51 "2015-10-25T13:58:07Z")
There would have been no need for well-placed towels and props to hide Hot Lip’s naked bod in the early days of M_A_S\*H. Network TV does a great job of policing itself though. Hill Street Blues was green-lighted to display nudity but not much was shown. In the early days of TV, I’m not sure if the separate beds for parents was required due to legal censorship or chosen to avoid public censure. just noticed Urban REdneck beat me to it in post #45. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/52 "2015-10-25T14:06:55Z")
> [@Mudshark](#): > > [I think Vivian Vance would have been okay with that.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeAWr1xXFdg)I read somewhere that Vivian had a thing for Desi and made no secret about it. > > Happy Days would have resembled a cheesy softcore porn. Laverne and Shirley would have “experimented”. She had a good shot at it. Desi was an inveterate philanderer. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/53 "2015-10-25T14:51:38Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Nah, Zelda Gilroy and Jane Hathaway would have beaten him to the punch. But Zelda had that crush on Dobie. Propinquity, you know? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/54 "2015-10-25T14:59:56Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > PFC Gomer Pyle would have come home from the 'Nam in a box. I never understood the premise of that show. Was he in perpetual basic training? It didn’t seem like they ever had any real duties. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/55 "2015-10-25T15:05:06Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Surely Rob and Laura Petrie would have slept in the same bed. I’m sure a whole bunch of people would have loved to see Laura Petrie naked. Maybe they could have done an episode about a successful Peeping Tom? > [@Scumpup](#): > > We might have gotten to see Sally Struthers naked when that would still have been a desirable event. Have you seen _The Getaway_? She didn’t keep much on. [http://www.realpoliticalfacetalk.com/r/i/getway72bluray03.jpg](http://www.realpoliticalfacetalk.com/r/i/getway72bluray03.jpg) [![](http://pics.imcdb.org/0ge25/253292-COM_BD.jpg) ](http://pics.imcdb.org/0ge25/253292-COM_BD.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/56 "2015-10-25T15:50:48Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I never understood the premise of that show. Was he in perpetual basic training? It didn’t seem like they ever had any real duties. Hey, Beetle Bailey’s done it for decades now. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/57 "2015-10-25T16:14:18Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > But Zelda had that crush on Dobie. Propinquity, you know? They’d just make Thalia bi, and Zelda and Dobie would both be rivals for her love and sexual identity. Which actually is a cool premise for a TV show… More seriously, pretty much every 50s/60s sitcoms would have been ruined by today’s mores. Almost all shows of that time were fantastical: even if they’d didn’t have an out there premise like “Bewitched” or “Mr. Ed”, they were hopelessly unrealistic–and that’s how their audience wanted it. Put four letter words or sex in them, and all that goes out the window. It’s telling light fantasy doesn’t exist on TV anymore outside of cartoons and those Disney tween sitcoms. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/58 "2015-10-25T16:17:32Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Hey, Beetle Bailey’s done it for decades now. Then I have the same question about Camp Swampy. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/59 "2015-10-25T18:15:17Z")
I don’t see the Ricardos and Mertzes swapping partners. That’s not something that would fly today. Even in soap operas, they cheat on each other. I think the most you’d get is temporary split ups. Especially since, to Vivian Vance’s eternal chagrin, the Mertzes just always appeared older than the Ricardos. And Ricardos weren’t young enough to do a midlife crisis fling or cougar plot. I think the Petries would sleep in the same bed, but we’d never see nudity. Though I bet they’d play up Moore’s figure a lot more. Buddy would be meaner to Mel, and there might be a fling between him and Sally. Or Sally might turn out to be a lesbian. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613/60 "2015-10-25T18:27:58Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > PFC Gomer Pyle would have come home from the 'Nam in a box. Gomer would have had something other than a “father” fixation on Sgt Carter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-censorship-had-been-less-restrictive-back-in-the-day/735613.md?page=4)