# You can say that on broadcast TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746 "2009-08-17T17:08:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/1 "2009-08-17T17:08:43Z")
Watching a repeat of the gay Peter Family Guy bought this up. My daughter, in between gasps of laughter, said “I can’t believe they got away with that on TV!” The joke was: _One trick I used to use is turning things into a word problem. For example, if there are three glory holes in the bathroom at the club and 28 guys at the circuit party, how many rotations of guys will it take before everybody’s had a turn? Nine, with a remainder of Brent…Brent can’t fit in the glory hole, and that’s why we all like Brent._ The first time I had that reaction was watching the mini-series Lace when Phoebe Cates busted out, “Which one of you bitches is my mother?” I was also shocked when Sophia accused Blanche of playing “hide the salami” with some guy. Both of those were a long time ago, my how times change. Did you ever have your jaw dropped by something said on network TV? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/2 "2009-08-17T17:19:24Z")
On _Designing Women_, somebody got a breast enhancement, or was going to, or something, and one of the other designing women referred to her as “the tit monster.” I only saw about two episodes of that show, so I don’t know characters’ names. ---
**Author:** ![Simmerdown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simmerdown/32/14859_2.png) [@Simmerdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simmerdown)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/3 "2009-08-17T17:39:56Z")
Not anything that was said, but there was an episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus where a clueless Terry Jones (I think) walks into a shop. The shopkeeper was a naked woman. I was probably 12 or 13 at the time so I was shocked and pleased at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/4 "2009-08-17T18:49:44Z")
**St. Elsewhere** - Ed Flanders’ last episode as a regular when his character Dr. Westphall tells the new chief of staff to kiss his ass…and then moons him! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/5 "2009-08-17T23:23:30Z")
**Picket Fences** : The youngest kid, maybe 7 or 8, called his brother “penis breath.” ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/6 "2009-08-18T00:13:01Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > **St. Elsewhere** - Ed Flanders’ last episode as a regular when his character Dr. Westphall tells the new chief of staff to kiss his ass…and then moons him! I guess it would be around the same time…I distinctly remember an episode of the A-team where Mr. T’s character (BA or something?) called someone an “Asshole” and as a pre-teen I turned to my mom completely shocked and said “You can say ‘Asshole’ on TV?!” She looked just as baffled and said “I guess you can now!” (Didn’t it used to be you could say “ass” or “dumb-ass” or “ass-hat” [the current fave] but not “asshole?” or some inane rule like that? The specifc HOLE of the ass was offlimits, lol.) ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/7 "2009-08-18T00:18:29Z")
I remember when Hawkeye called some guy a “sonofabitch” on _M_A_S_H\*. Something only _M_A_S_H\* could have gotten away with. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/8 "2009-08-18T00:23:17Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > **Picket Fences** : The youngest kid, maybe 7 or 8, called his brother “penis breath.” I thought that was in _E.T._ 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/9 "2009-08-18T08:15:57Z")
Obviously a mistake, but once during a broadcast showing of _An American Werewolf In London_, when undead Jack appears in the hospital room, David says “Get the fuck out of here Jack”. Whoops! ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/10 "2009-08-18T08:44:57Z")
[You bet your sweet Aspercreme!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQrv6-viEUk) My jaw dropped first time I saw it, and then I was delighted as all hell. They changed it pretty quick, though. Now it’s, “You bet, if it’s Aspercreme!” which is nowhere near as fun. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/11 "2009-08-18T10:48:42Z")
In an episode of **Chicago Hope** , Mark Harmon [said shit](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108724/trivia). I didn’t actually see the epsiode, but I remember reading about it everywhere. CBS was trying to push the FCC boundaries at the time for their later-night shows. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/12 "2009-08-18T11:00:44Z")
Back in the 1950s the _Goon Show_ snuck a lot of stuff past the BBC censors by having stuff that looks OK on the page, but can be pronounced to make it rude. Mild by our standards, but the one that springs to mind was an Indian character called something like Singh Isthingz, which they pronounced “singe [h]is things” And in 1980-ish, _Not the Nine O’Clock News_ did the same trick with a song called “Kinda Lingers” (say it out loud). ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/13 "2009-08-18T11:41:48Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > And in 1980-ish, _Not the Nine O’Clock News_ did the same trick with a song called “Kinda Lingers” (say it out loud). I believe that they were originally going to sing “cunnilingus” but were bowdlerised by either the network or the censors and forced to make it “kinda lingers”, thus completely ruining the joke. So, in fact, they _couldn’t_ say that on television at the time. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/14 "2009-08-18T12:01:09Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > In an episode of **Chicago Hope** , Mark Harmon [said shit](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108724/trivia). I didn’t actually see the epsiode, but I remember reading about it everywhere. CBS was trying to push the FCC boundaries at the time for their later-night shows. There was also an episode of _ER_ where Anthony Edwards (Mark Green) said ‘shit.’ It’s removed in syndicated versions. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/15 "2009-08-18T12:45:39Z")
You’re allowed to say “Fuck” on Broadcast TV here after something like 8.30pm- some of the stuff you hear on late-night TV here would give most of the US an attack of the vapours, from the sound of it. I think the biggest shock I got was when the character in adult oriented soap-drama some years ago described their boss as a “Fuckwit” and I remember thinking “Wow, you can say that on TV here?” Oh, that and Channel Ten screening _Pulp Fiction_ more or less uncut. That surprised me too. Also, SBS. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/16 "2009-08-18T12:51:58Z")
Lots of related fun here: > **[Getting Crap Past the Radar - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GettingCrapPastTheRadar)** > > Instances in which a writer, artist or other creator puts inappropriate content — stuff that directly violates the censorship standards they are working under — into their material with the deliberate intent to get past this … ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/17 "2009-08-18T12:59:35Z")
> [@voguevixen](#): > > (Didn’t it used to be you could say “ass” or “dumb-ass” or “ass-hat” [the current fave] but not “asshole?” or some inane rule like that? The specifc HOLE of the ass was offlimits, lol.) I remember when Richard Pryor had a live variety show on TV, and a big deal was made of the possibility that he would slip some sort of vulgarity across the censors. With this in mind, there was a hilarious sketch on his first show where a cowboy was threatening “I’m gonna shoot yore ass,” with Pryor pleading, “Please don’t shoot my ass!” The joke, of course, was that we found out that they were literally referring to Pryor’s ass – you know, the donkey-type animal – and that the censors would have no basis to bleep “ass.” I see from IMDB that the show was, obviously enough, “The Richard Pryor Show” in 1977, which only lasted for 4 episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/18 "2009-08-18T13:25:19Z")
This must have been sometime in the early 80s. A radio station had a TV ad that said they wouldn’t play the same song twice in a day. The ad said, “If we screw up, you can call in and the first caller will win [some prize].” I remember my mom stopping in her tracks, being totally shocked that they used the phrase “screw up” on TV. Shows how different things are these days! I also remember seeing _The Four Seasons_ on TBS or something - and they showed naked butts when people went skinny dipping. I could hardly believe I was seeing it. This was like 15 years before the famous NYPD Blue shower scene. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/19 "2009-08-18T13:46:09Z")
Given what goes on each episode of “Two and a Half Men,” I can only assume that CBS has laid off their entire Standards & Practices department. They get away with sexual references on that show that are unbelieveably blatant. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746/20 "2009-08-18T14:11:07Z")
> [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](#): > > I also remember seeing _The Four Seasons_ on TBS or something - and they showed naked butts when people went skinny dipping. I could hardly believe I was seeing it. This was like 15 years before the famous NYPD Blue shower scene. That’s still the only damn scene of that movie I can remember. I think I snuck it in one time when I was 13 or something and my parents were out. It was on HBO or something like that. And I watched it because it was supposed to be something that adults liked. And all I got for it was Alan Alda’s butt… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-say-that-on-broadcast-tv/506746.md?page=2)