# Which TV Shows Were You Not Allowed To Watch? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376 "2011-10-12T01:38:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/101 "2011-10-13T17:01:41Z")
Power Rangers and The Simpsons. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/102 "2011-10-13T17:20:17Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > The talk of Mr. Rogers being creepy reminds me that my mother banned Pee Wee’s Playhouse because she thought Pee Wee was creepy. I guess she was right about that one. Yeah, I heard he masturbated once. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/103 "2011-10-13T17:31:14Z")
Hogan’s Heros. German mom. Enough said. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/104 "2011-10-13T17:43:35Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > My mom restricted our TV watching a lot - not by specific shows, but by amount of time. She was always telling us to go play outside or read a book. But there was one show she absolutely refused to let us watch - _Laugh In_. She thought the women dancing in bikinis and body paint were vulgar. She was probably also offended by the jabs it took at the Catholic Church - that was a big no-no in our house. Our parents were out for the evening when my brother and I happened on what was probably the first episode of _Laugh-In_. We thought it was the funniest thing ever, and being too young to have seen the first generation of TV sketch comedy shows, we probably thought nothing else like it had ever been done before. In spite of our parents’ overall conservatism, _Laugh-In_ quickly became a weekly staple of family TV watching. In hindsight, it’s interesting how, back in the days of one-TV households, how it was usually possible to find a few shows that everyone liked. Looking at the offerings of satellite and cable today, I think it’s entirely possible that things were better in the days when you only had about six channels to watch on the VHF dial. At least they _tried._ ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/105 "2011-10-13T18:01:44Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > Hogan’s Heros. German mom. Enough said. I used to have issues with Hogan’s Heroes until I found out that the actors who played most of the high-profile Nazis (including Klink and, I believe, Buchhalter) were not only Jewish, but concentration camp survivors. They were amused by the whole thing and considered it a way to come to terms with what happened to them and ridicule the Nazis. So I figured if Jewish concentration camp survivors were okay with it, who was I to say otherwise? ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/106 "2011-10-13T18:17:10Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > 1. I was 15 > 2. One of the premium channels was The Playboy Channel > 3. I had my own TV in my room > > And I was one happy camper! 😉 Is that what they call it now? Camping? 😃 mmm ---
**Author:** ![Hbns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hbns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hbns)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/107 "2011-10-13T19:02:18Z")
Another lucky one that wasn’t banned. If it was on before bedtime, it was fair game. Of course we had the all we had were the 3 networks, PBS, and CBC which limited selection. My sisters and brother thought I was a spoiled rotten brat, but I think my parents had learned well where and when to pick their battles by the time I came along. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/108 "2011-10-13T19:19:39Z")
If I had any youngish kids still in the house, I wouldn’t want them to watch American Horror Story. (I told MYSELF not to watch it, but did I listen? No, no I didn’t. And now I can’t go down in the basement late at night to shift the wet clothes into the dryer, all because I wouldn’t listen.) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/109 "2011-10-13T20:00:30Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > _The Three Stooges_. Mom was/is a Quaker. _Real_ Quakers wouldn’t let you watch _any_ TV. Like my own mother. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/110 "2011-10-13T20:01:55Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Is that what they call it now? Camping? 😃 > mmm Considering the amount of time I spent in my room since that happy discovery, I think “camping” fits in quite nicely. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/111 "2011-10-13T20:11:53Z")
My father when I was young (back in the '70s) was rather racist. We were not allowed to watch \*Good Times, The Jeffersons, \* or _What’s Happening_ because we were told that they were “too black”. Later, he felt that Bill Cosby wasn’t “too black” and allowed us to watch the _Cosby Show_. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/112 "2011-10-13T20:17:47Z")
No banned television. As a kid in the 1970s, I watched Saturday Night Live, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and “controversial” sitcoms like All in the Family an M_A_S\*H. I wasn’t allowed to read National Lampoon, even into my high school years. I also wasn’t allowed to have “war toys”, except squirt guns. I think that was more common in the Vietnam era and the following years than now. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/113 "2011-10-13T20:23:30Z")
> [@](#): > > I also wasn’t allowed to have “war toys”, except squirt guns. I think that was more common in the Vietnam era and the following years than now. My mom tried to lay down a rule of “no toy guns at all”, but when that proved to be impossible (even a bent stick can be a toy gun, to a kid with an imagination), she relaxed it to “no toy guns which look like real guns”, which was mutually satisfactory. ---
**Author:** ![limegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@limegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/limegreen)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/114 "2011-10-13T20:58:26Z")
The only show I remember not being allowed to watch was “Dark Shadows” more on the strength that I had watched it once and sleepwalked into my mother’s room and had a doozy of a nightmare about it. She said she didn’t need the stress. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/115 "2011-10-13T21:00:07Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > My father when I was young (back in the '70s) was rather racist. We were not allowed to watch \*Good Times, The Jeffersons, \* or _What’s Happening_ because we were told that they were “too black”. Later, he felt that Bill Cosby wasn’t “too black” and allowed us to watch the _Cosby Show_. My mom wasn’t racist in any discernible way, but she hated The Cosby Show - the Huxtables seemed to annoy her because they weren’t black enough or something. No ban, but that was one of those “change the channel if Mom’s in the room” shows because it fell under the “annoyance” rule. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/116 "2011-10-13T21:34:10Z")
Some of the TV being forbidden by others I watched with my one or both of my parents. I’m sure watching the Twilight Zone, Dark Shadows, The Outer Limits and old horror movies with my Mom is where I got my love of the old black and white horrors. I watched Soap, Night Stalker, Hogan’s Heroes and Barnaby Jones (and all those other TV detective shows) with my Dad. We watched Star Trek in afternoon reruns after school. My brother was the bug Trekkie in the family at the time, but my Mom was always pretty into Sci-Fi. My Dad thought it was stupid, but he didn’t say anything since he wanted to watch Westerns all the time. Clint Eastwood and John Wayne were on whenever they were aired. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/117 "2011-10-13T22:58:50Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I used to have issues with Hogan’s Heroes until I found out that the actors who played most of the high-profile Nazis (including Klink and, I believe, Buchhalter) were not only Jewish, but concentration camp survivors. They were amused by the whole thing and considered it a way to come to terms with what happened to them and ridicule the Nazis. So I figured if Jewish concentration camp survivors were okay with it, who was I to say otherwise? My mom’s issue with it was “it makes Germans look stupid” not that it was making light of the war. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/118 "2011-10-14T00:11:55Z")
As a kid in the mid to late 60s, my mother forbid me watching: Laurel and Hardy (violent) Three Stooges (violent) The Munsters (scary) The Addams Family (scary) Lost In Space (scary) Star Trek (violent, scary, and stupid) By the time I hit 5th grade, I was watching all of them except for Lost In Space behind her back anyway. I thought LIS was too cheesy to bother with. ETA: the only thing I forbid my kid from watching was Barney the Dinosaur, because it made me vomit. He didn’t really object, either. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/119 "2011-10-15T04:34:30Z")
When I was little, it was pretty much anything goes. I used to watch _Guiding Light_ every day with my mom, and could probably have described every single plot line to you. 😃 I WASN’T allowed to watch _Dallas_ at that time (which I really, REALLY wanted to), but that was only because it was on past my bed time. ☹ > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Is that what they call it now? Camping? 😃 > mmm Well, it often involves pitching a tent… ---
**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:** [October 15, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376/120 "2011-10-15T04:34:57Z")
My impressionable years were in the early to mid 1970s and when my parents forbid me from watching a TV show, the reason was usually not so much because it was too adult but because it was too dumb. For example, they told me they weren’t too crazy about my watching reruns of “Gilligan’s Island” (althugh by the time they told me, I was mostly burned out on the program.) Another time, they forbid me from watching nearly the entire 1971 ABC Saturday morning line-up because they thought–with one exception–the shows were too stupid for even a six year old. However, they said I could watch CBS’s cartoon schedule instead which, in retrospect, was rather odd because, on the whole, the shows on CBS weren’t really any less mind-numbing than ABC’s. Anyway, [this thread on the original **Manchurian Candidate**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=627714)reminded of a time when I was specifically not allowed to watch something on TV. When I was 10, it shown on NBC but my father told me he didn’t want see it because it was too disturbing for children. I was disappointed but I figured I would catch it when it aired again. However, I did not expect the movie to be pulled out of circulation and not be seen for another 14 years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tv-shows-were-you-not-allowed-to-watch/599376.md?page=7)