There’s this really shitty show that comes on around 2:30 here in Austin called “City Guys.” I guess it’s supposed to be a modern day replacement of Saved By the Bell, only it sucks even worse (but hey, I only get five channels, and at that time, it’s either this or Ricky Lake for background noise).
Anyway, it’s about three years old as far as I can tell, and in one episode, the gang is helping out at a big toy store in New York selling toys for Christmas. In trying to get a guy to buy a karaoke machine, he uses a pitch something like:
“Sure, you could find a cheaper piece of equipment, but that wouldn’t be karaoke…it’d be CRAPIOKE!”
And the soundtrack ran…
Now, this show is designed and targeted toward grade school/jr. high students (or at least I hope to GOD it is). So, when did it become alright to say “Crap” in a kids’ show? And does anyone else have any other little examples?
We took MilliCal to see Spy Kids this weekend. Generally good film (lots of Harryhausen homages – and MilliCal grew up watching her dad’s Harryhausen movies), but
1.) the kids say “shit” at one point (this probably earned them their PG-13 rating)
2.) the “bad” spy kids end up in camel dung at one point, even getting it in their mouths, a trend that seems to have started with the Back to the Future movies. Gives a new meaning to “potty mouth”.
I’ve been hearing “crap” on the TV for a while, too. I couldn’t tell you where it started, but it has been used as a euphemism for some time. Pretty weird, considering that it used to need its own euphemism not that long ago.
“Ass” has been creeping into prime time, too. As, surprisingly, has “fart”.
On the other hand, “fart” is usually used for its literal meaning, rather than as an interjection, and let’s face it, there’s no other good way to refer to that bodily function.
Unless what you’re referring to is the fact that people are talking about farting at all, now.
I never thought “fart” was a bad thing. Heck, they used it as a focal point of many skits in “You Can’t Do That on Television,” and that was early-mid eighties.
I remember one skit had Dougie with his head sticking out of a tent while two others kept feeding him beans and he kept farting. Eventually, the tent took off due to all the hot air.
The “shi…take mushrooms” gag was used in the original film, too.
And the film got a PG, not a PG-13. Although the advertisements show the following rating logo:
PG|PARENTS STRONGLY CAUTIONED (:º:)
[sup]ome Material May Not Be Suitable For Children Under 13[/sup]
This is the PG logo with the PG-13 information. The first line should read “PARENTAL GUIDANCE SUGGESTED (:º:)” and the second line should not have “Under 13” in it. Perhaps this is the cause for the confusion. Probably not, but I found it interesting and wanted to point it out.
sub is meant to represent the logo of the MPAA.[/sub]
Let’s not forget the time Alistair (sp?) was showing off his new-and-improved toilet that he had invented. As he was pointing out the “grunts & groans noise suppressor,” the camera pans to Christine, who has this horrified/embarassed look on her face. And let me tell ya, that look was too real to be scripted!
Blame Ned Flanders (episode “Hurricane Neddy,” telecast 29 December, 1996).
Ned: (after his house, rebuilt after a hurricane by eager but incompetent neighbors, collapses) Calm down, Neddly diddily diddily diddily, doodily. They did their best shoddily iddily iddily diddily diddily. Gotta be nice, hostidididildilidilly ah HELL diddily ding dong crap! Can’t you morons do anything RIGHT!?
We just saw the film this past weekend, and I’ll swear there was no “…take mushrooms” in that line. I certainly don’t recall it. (The “Shiitake mushrooms” line was used in an episode of “Hey Arnold” on Nickelodeon, whioch I still find surprising. But I think I’d’ve caught it in Spy Kids II).
I’m still traumatized by the dumbing down of the Disney Afternoon back when I was a kid. Duck Tales and Talespin used to be such thought provoking shows. Suddenly, it was all about comedy and we get crap like Goof Troop, what’s his name…Bonkers…sigh depressing. Only Darkwing Duck was mildly tolerable.
Okaaaaay, I’ll play along. Darkwing’s enemies were brilliant commentaries on modern adult life, especially Megavolt (a proto-Enron symbol), Bushroot (genetically-modified plant life runs amuck) and Liquidator (the casual brainwashing of modern advertising).
Personally, I thought Gargoyles was the best series Disney ever produced, except the season when they did the whole Avalon crap-fest. How can you not like a cartoon set in NYC, as long as it mostly stays in NYC?
Besides, the number of Trek actors involved made it more interesting.
I raise you Homer (episode “Treehouse of Horror VI,” telecast 30 October 1995).
Homer: [panicky] Oh my God, I’m going to be sucked into a black hole, I’m going to be sucked into oblivion, I’m going to be nothing, and what’s going to be coming out the other side, I don’t know!
Bart: I’ll save you, Dad! [climbs onto XYZ street sign] I can’t get any closer…you’ll have to jump!
Homer: Piece of cake, son. [runs into hole, breaks into pieces] Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap – [the world explodes in a flash as Bart gets pulled back]
Marge: Bart! What happened?
Bart: Well…we hit a little snag when the universe sort of collapsed on itself. But Dad seemed cautiously optimistic!
Homer: [disembodied] Craaaap!
With corroboration, I gotta bow to the inevitable and say I musta missed it. MilliCal will undoubtedly ask for this movie on DVD, and I’ll get to hear this line over and over…
