Well, our family TV broke in 1976 or '77, when I was 10 or 11, and it was never repaired or replaced. So, my childhood television history is pretty slim. I can only remember two shows being specifically forbidden: Charlie’s Angels (too sexual? beats me) and, of all things, Speed Racer (too violent).
The Simpsons, Married With Children and Roseanne. I think my mom just thought they were obnoxious.
She also didn’t like Beavis and Butthead, but since we only got cable at my dad’s house, she couldn’t really do much about banning it. I did get the Beavis and Butthead Experience CD with a bunch of stuff from BMG once, and she said that she was going to take it and toss it, after reading the song titles. (Then again, the first couple of songs have titles like “I Hate Myself and Want to Die” “99 Ways to Die” and “Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun.” Not real positive stuff, I guess.)
I don’t let my daughter watch Barney, but that’s because I’m afraid I’d die of sappy sweet dopey overload.
Three’s Company was banned for me too.
Also banned: The Facts of Life. Because of the title, I guess.
MAS*H, because my father didn’t want us watching a show that “made fun of war.”
There were probably others, but these are the ones that stick out. Later, of course, you watch these shows in reruns (or eat those sugary cereals or do whatever else was forbidden) and wonder what the fuss was about. Do parents ever watch the shows they ban? Mine didn’t. In hindsight, I’m not even sure how they knew the shows existed. (Promo clips? TV Guide?)
Oddly, I was allowed to watch All in the Family and One Day at a Time; in fact we usually watched them as a family (go figure!).
When I was about 11, I had a friend who wasn’t allowed to watch The Odd Couple because it was about two divorced men, or Laverne and Shirley “because it was about two divorced women,” or so thought his mom, who was, of course, divorced.
I wasn’t allowed to watch The Benny Hill Show. Scarred me for life.
I got banned from watching the 3 Stooges after my mother caught me trying the eye poke thing on my brother… (Hey! I was a kid!).
Everything else was kosher though. I loved Laugh-in (well maybe it was Judy Carne and Goldie Hawn…) 
That one was a near miss, for me.
I was watching Diff’rent Strokes (though I could never explain why!) and they said, “Up next, The Facts of Life,” and I thought my father was going to pop.
He said, “What’s that? What sort of show is that? I don’t like the sound of that!” and I told him it was Diff’rent Strokes with girls instead of boys and he calmed down and watched the first five minutes before deciding that his brain was actually trying to crawl out his ear hole to escape the stupidity.
So, that one made it.
The only thing I remember my parents not letting us watch was not a TV show, but the first TV airing of the film The Graduate. This would have been in the early '70’s, when I was about 8-10 years old. One of those Parental Guidance warnings came up on the screen, and Mom sent us to bed.
About 4 or 5 years later, when The Graduate was on some late-night movie show while our parents were out, my sister and I stayed up late to watch it.
I got to watch pretty much whatever I wanted as a child, but there wasn’t much that was outre on TV in those days. I liked to read a lot anyway, having a book-a-day habit over summer vacations, so I don’t think my parents were worried about TV-inspired brain atrophy in my case. I liked TV all right, but it was never any competition for a really good read.
Interestingly, my 13-year-old son has little or no interest in TV as well. Video games, the Internet and books trump it easily for him.
This is pretty sad, but I wasn’t allowed to watch You Can’t Do That On Television or the show after it Turkey Television, from Nickelodeon. I think there were some others I might not have been allowed to see, but I doubt it. My parents were weird.
i grew up in the 80’s without cable. all i remember ever watching was saturday morning cartoons. later on in adolescence i remember my parents hating the simpsons, roseanne, and married with children. but i never watched any of those shows, anyway. plus, we only had one tv, so if my dad was home he ruled the lviving room with an iron fist. i do remember being the prototype for the remote control, though.
they were downright puritanical when it came to music, though. both parents were really not into music at all, so whatever i listened to was considered the work of the devil. it was all the 80’s hair-rock crap, like motley crue, aerosmith, kiss, stuff like that. it was sexually suggestive, but my parents thought it was all downright satanic. they searched my room constantly and confiscated my tapes. i had to hide it all in my locker at school so they couldn’t get to my precious aerosmith collection.
i mean, really, aerosmith? i guess they thought “dude looks like a lady” was going to mentally scar me for life. actually, they didn’t even listen to the tapes, they just threw them out indiscriminately.
Married With Children, for obvious reasons … and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I guess because my parents didn’t think that a show about NINJAS running around with weapons was appropiate for kids (and there also happened to be an incident in my town around that time involving a chinese star and a recess teacher’s eye, very similar to what was spoofed on South Park last year). However, I was allowed to play as much Ninja Gaiden as I wanted!
I wonder this had something to do with Christine’s blouse having nipple impressions during one episode of YCDTOTV. Must’ve been cold in the studio that day.
In my early teens, I spent some time at a Baptist group home for children. There were quite a few shows we weren’t allowed to watch because they were “ungodly”. There was a list of them tacked to the wall near the kitchen. Among the shows on the list:
[ul]
[li]“The Simpsons”[/li][li]Any soap opera[/li][li]“Northern Exposure” (because, we were told, it was just a soap opera that aired at night instead of the day)[/li][li]“The Powers That Be” (I never saw an episode of this, I just remember it was on the list)[/li][li]“Murphy Brown”[/li][li]“Roseanne”[/li][/ul]
There were several others; it was a pretty long list.
Actually, the Brady Bunch is the only show I remember not being allowed to watch. I think my parents just really hated it.
Wait, what? They didn’t want you watching a show because it would be disrespectful towards law enforcement but then relented when they found out the villains were dirty cops? Huh?
And despite the fact that my parents didn’t want me to watch some shows on TV when I was younger, by the time I was an adult, my mom was the one who got me to watch “Seinfeld” and thought “The Contest” episode was one of the funniest things she had ever seen.
As she told me, “I know I shouldn’t like it, but it’s so funny!”
My mom got much more relaxed about things before she passed away.
Well, depending on the age, I don’t think The Simpsons is appropriate for children under 10. And South Park is NOT for kids. Just because something is animated doesn’t make it a kid’s show-a mistake far too many parents make.
Parents watching the shows before a ban-my mom did. I watched MwC and ILC until my mother caught a few episodes and then the bans came down. Same with movies-she always felt she should watch them first, then decide.
I also always wanted to watch Dallas in the worst way when I was really little, but I wasn’t allowed-not because of content, but because it was on way past my bedtime. :mad:
I actually got a special dispensation when I was little to stay up way past my bedtime to watch my favorite show. 10! On a Sunday night!
What’s weird is the show: Trapper John, M.D. I was eight years old. If someone could explain the allure, I’d be grateful.
I didn’t watch a lot of tv as a kid. We only got four channels plus the local station, which was aired from the bank, downtown, and showed a rotating drum with advertising, local temperature, and a clock. So there wasn’t a deluge of entertainment options from which to choose. Still, from the meager pickings, Mom refused to let me watch:
The Facts of Life, because of the title. That’s all.
Happy Days, because the main characters were teenagers interested in girls and sex, and they discussed things that I (at age 11) “didn’t need to hear about yet”.
Many Disney offerings that had “occult” overtones, like “Escape From Witch Mountain”. In the 70’s Disney must have done a number of ghosty/paranormal movies, because Mom would hear the title, see the teaser clips they often showed at the beginning, and snap off the set: “Who wants to play a board game?” The nature shows and cartoons were usually okay.
Hell, we’re talking about a show that was on 26 years ago! I think Mom was afraid that I would develop a disrespect from watching the show, not the show itself. Except for the car stunts, that is. After I was allowed to watch it, she made sure that I knew enough not to imitate the Duke boys once I got my license.