# TV Shows Your Parents Wouldn't Let You Watch **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 16, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074 "2004-11-16T17:02:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/1 "2004-11-16T17:02:20Z")
I have a 3-year-old, and I’m pretty sensitive about what I’ll let him see on TV. So I’ve gotten to thinking about what my parents wouldn’t let me watch when I was little. “Eight Is Enough” - Dad thought the kids disrespected their parents. “Welcome Back, Kotter” - Kids were too disrespectful to their teachers and said mean things to each other. On a side note, every other kid in my neighborhood was going around saying “Up your nose with a rubber hose”. I repeated it at school and got in trouble, even though I’d never watched the show. “Hogan’s Heroes” - A comedy set in a POW camp was felt to be inappropriate. Mom’s father had been drafted to six hard months slinging hash at Biloxi during WWII, so she was sensitive to portrayals of the military. “Match Game”, “Newlywed Game”, and “Dating Game” - too ribald. (“Last night, my husband asked me to blank his blank”) Plus, I think my mom hated Gene Rayburn. I’m sure I’ll think of some others. What didn’t your parents let you watch when you were a kid? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/2 "2004-11-16T17:08:36Z")
Three’s Company, Married With Children, and, once they found out my friend Doug wasn’t allowed to watch Mork & Mindy, neither was I. ---
**Author:** ![AmericanMaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@AmericanMaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmericanMaid)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/3 "2004-11-16T17:09:40Z")
“Three’s Company” because it was sexist and stupid. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/4 "2004-11-16T17:11:41Z")
_SledgeHammer!_: I imagine they felt the humor was a bit mature and the violence a bit more credible than my usual _He-man_ and _Transformers_ slugfests. My mom wasn’t a fan of _The Simpsons_ when it came out, but by then we all had our own TVs, so enforcement of her (poorly explained) will was nigh impossible. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/5 "2004-11-16T17:14:36Z")
_Soap_, _Hot L Baltimore_ come to mind. Along with one particular episode of _The Avengers_ where Mrs. Peel ended up joining the Hellfire club. That was in reruns when I was about 13. I finally saw that episode when I was in my 20s and I think my mom made the right call on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/6 "2004-11-16T17:30:18Z")
Starsky and Hutch, and All in the Family. Too violent and too racist, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/7 "2004-11-16T17:34:05Z")
None. I honestly don’t recall ever having a TV show banned to me. Of course, I was born in '54, so most of the shows airing before I hit adolescence were pretty innocuous – I was in high school when _All in the Family_ hit the air, e.g. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/8 "2004-11-16T17:34:16Z")
There was no way in hell we were allowed to watch _Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman_. No _Dukes of Hazzard_. My dad was very concerned we have a good perception of law inforcement. :rolleyes: Officially, no soaps, either. He thought that we’d get a warped view of the world. Like we took them seriously!! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Frankly, my dad spawned very smart kids, and then assumed we were dolts. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/9 "2004-11-16T17:35:38Z")
My parents never cared much about what was on TV, but I wasn’t allowed to see ‘R’ rated movies. I knew a girl in college who hadn’t been allowed to watch Star Trek (TOS), but I don’t remember why that was, or if she even told me why. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/10 "2004-11-16T17:42:22Z")
I was never prohibited from watching anything on TV. When I was a kid, there wasn’t that mindset that certain programs were unsuitable for viewers of a certain age or sensibility- because it seems that programs that would fit those criteria hadn’t been invented yet. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/11 "2004-11-16T17:44:31Z")
The only thing I specifically remember being discouraged from watching was _Laugh-In_. I think they also considered the Smothers brothers’ show to be a bit racy at times, but we watched both of them occasionally anyway. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/12 "2004-11-16T17:47:46Z")
In the 70s and early 80s I wasn’t allowed to watch Three’s Company, Match Game, Love Boat, Shogun. It’s easier to say what I was allowed to watch which was kids’ programming, sports or educational nature shows, Bonanza, Little House. When I was about 11 they stopped keeping an eye on what I watched. I was also limited in how much time I could watch. It seems to me there was a one hour on weekday and 2 hour Saturday morning, but to be honest, I think the limits were made up according to the hockey or baseball schedules. We only had one TV and sports was always the priority. ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/13 "2004-11-16T17:48:44Z")
When I was a kid I couldn’t watch MTV except for certain times. (This was back when MTV actually showed videos.) I vaguely remember not being allowed to watch Roseanne but I can’t remember why, and I don’t remember particularly wanting to watch it to begin with. Mom was pretty permissive. I was more interested in books than TV so that might have been why. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/14 "2004-11-16T17:50:54Z")
_Laverne & Shirley_, because while my mother walked past the TV one evening as I was watching, they used that most vile of curse words, “bimbo”. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![the\_Lady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@the\_Lady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_Lady)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/15 "2004-11-16T17:52:30Z")
When we were quite young very little tv was permitted at all. This became more difficult to enforce the older we got. The one show that was clearly despised in our house was Simpsons. My parents failed utterly at protecting us from that horror, as both my sisters and myself have seen every episode multiple times, and most family conversations are just strung-together Simpsons quotes. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/16 "2004-11-16T17:52:54Z")
No actual restrictions. But we didn’t have cable (and they still don’t). So that alone limited anything objectionable. ---
**Author:** ![ShadiRoxan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@ShadiRoxan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadiRoxan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/17 "2004-11-16T17:55:11Z")
I could watch whatever I wanted. I remember watching Married with Children when I was 9. My favorite show when I was 6 was Night Court. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/18 "2004-11-16T17:56:36Z")
We weren’t prohibited from watching anything, but my father made it pretty clear that he thought Laugh-In was the dumbest thing to come down the pike. In retrospect, he may have been correct. Say “goodnight,” Dick. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/19 "2004-11-16T18:06:31Z")
My siblings and I were prohibited from watching every TV show made or shown in reruns from 1959 (the year of my birth) until 1977 (when I went off to college). No TV in our house. My father hated television. He thought it was the worst thing ever to happen to our society. In retrospect, I’m kind of glad. I grew up with much better sources of entertainment than the television. Books, my friends and family, and the real world around me, rather than hours of television. Even back then, it didn’t seem so bad, really. ---
**Author:** ![Jadis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@Jadis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jadis)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074/20 "2004-11-16T18:42:35Z")
I never got to see _Happy Days_ or _Laverne & Shirley_ until they went into syndication and were on after school. When they were new and on in prime time, my mother thought that they were degrading to women (especially HD, with The Fonz snapping his fingers and women swarming over to him) and we weren’t allowed to watch. Getting to catch an episode when over at a friend’s house was a big, illicit treat. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-your-parents-wouldnt-let-you-watch/275074.md?page=2)