TV shows that were a no-no for some children to watch...

[JeffM]

I have heard of - and then later saw on YouTube - a short animated film about the danger of nuclear bombs and their fallout. I read this was first shown on the Ed Sullivan Show about 1953 or so and it scared a number of people not just children. Sounds funny that Sullivan would have aired it with all of the many many live acts he presented, but I'm told he did. Perhaps someone will remember the name of this short film.

I suspect the film you're thinking of was "A Short Vision," made by the British husband-and-wife animators Joan and Peter Foldes.

When I was a little kid, there was a spot or promo film for the United Cerebral Palsy charity that gave me the willies; it showed a puppet dancing until a hand holding a knife or scissors entered the picture and, as the narrator described the symptoms of CP, cut the puppet's strings one by one until it fell "dead." Used to run all the time then too.

For several years I worked in an office ruled over by a clique of Pentecostalist women, who were required by their religion to wear long skirts (denim if I recall) and their hair pulled back in a "bun." (Some of us referred to them as "the bunheads"...behind their backs of course.) They had control over the TV in the lunchroom, and at noon it was The 700 Club or nothing; which they called "the only source for TRUE news." You didn't dare mention to your friends over lunch that you thought, say, Benny Hill was funny; if they overheard you, you were in for a scolding over "watching such filth."

Not long ago I read a comment on You Tube from a woman whose parents banned her from ever watching Jimmy Durante, because they were rabid Republicans and ol' Schnozzola (horrors!!) had backed F.D.R. I can't recall Jimmy's politics ever entering into his act; she sure missed some great entertainment.

 

[ixnay]

In 1977, our CBS affiliate, WGCL/ch. 46, was independent WANX and was owned by Pat Robertson's CBN organization. As such, they rejected any programming that dealt with things like the occult, or hypnotism, stuff like that. That fall, WANX acquired the Fred Flintstone And Friends series and The Fun World Of Hanna-Barbera package. As part of their policy, they replaced Jeannie and Goober And The Ghost Chasers from FF & Friends with elements from other syndicated cartoons. On the FW of HB package, The Funky Phantom was omitted. To accommodate the omission, the Monday and Friday spots at that time period were filled with the Jackson Five cartoon, and on Wednesdays, Wacky Races rotated with The Amazing Chan And The Chan Clan.

In that same era in Philadelphia, WTAF-29 (an indie then, now WTXF Fox 29) had an all Hanna-Barbera rotation in the same M-F slot. I forget the order, but I believe those shows were the aforementioned Funky Phantom and Wacky Races, plus Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, Perils of Penelope Pitstop, plus one that I forget now. Was that all part of the Fun World of H-B package?

Staying in that market in that era, WKBS-48 (COL Burlington, NJ) carried FF&F without covering up "offensive" segments (that obviously weren't offensive to Bay Area-based Kaiser Broadcasting, WKBS's owner at the beginning of 1977, or to Field, which bought the Kaiser stations later that year, or to me).

How was WKBS able to carry some H-B shows (they also carried the 1960-66 Flintstones and The Banana Splits) although H-B's then-parent (Taft Broadcasting) owned a station across town (WTAF)?

Thanks to the reviver of this thread.

ixnay

 

[JeffM]

How was WKBS able to carry some H-B shows (they also carried the 1960-66 Flintstones and The Banana Splits) although H-B's then-parent (Taft Broadcasting) owned a station across town (WTAF)?

Thanks to the reviver of this thread.

ixnay

While it was true that Taft/Great American Broadcasting owned Hanna-Barbera from the late 60's until selling it to Turner; some of H-B's shows were covered under other distributors' contracts. Their earliest series (from Ruff 'n' Reddy thru Jonny Quest) were, in the 70's, still under a 20 or 25-year deal with Screen Gems, who put H-B on their feet back in the 50's; the rights did not revert back to H-B until the mid-late 80's. The "Fred Flintstone & Friends" package was leased to Claster Television, who bartered them on behalf of Hasbro Toys. I'm not sure if Claster had the Banana Splits package too; they may have.

Apart from this, H-B shows that used established characters went back to those characters' owners immediately after their network run. (The Popeye cartoons to Hearst-King Features, Godzilla to Henry Saperstein's UPA, The Fonz and Laverne & Shirley to Paramount, etc.)

 

[danderson4411]

not really a no no but a choice of shows in May of 1992 i had to pick between “On Scene: Emergency Response” and "American Gladiators" because they were on at the same time: Sayurdays at 7 guess which show i picked? "On Scene" but i could pick up "AG" at the half hour break anyway so isaw both

 

[danderson4411]

another choice i had to make was on sunday night during the NFL season between the end of a game and "Life Goes On" espicaly if was NBC's doubleheader because they would often switch from one game to the next

 

[danderson4411]

i remember my parents since they were from the church of god saying a lot of things about "China Beach" and "On Scene" that were not nice of course they believed the bible and they didnt care for me watching those shows but of course they were talking about the violence too my parents didn't tell not to watch any show so were not as strict

 

[danderson6500]

I can't say I was afraid of the original, but I preferred the changes
in "ATWT"'s opening in the early '80s: the new theme, the
new graphics, and the new announcer--Dan Region, one of
the nicest people I've ever encountered. "Guiding Light" had some
beautiful pieces of music: the late-'70s with the strings and the
morning sunlight, the uptempo late '80s/early '90s one, just to name
two.

The logo I hated most was Don Fedderson's, which appeared at the
end of such shows as "The Millionaire," "My Three Sons," and "Family
Affair," with the words "A" and "production" in some sort of Victorian
script, and "Don Fedderson" in enlarged block letters that always reminded
me of the opening title on the George Reeves "Superman" episodes. (The
odd thing is that, logo notwithstanding, my whole family loved these shows,
particularly "The Millionaire" and "My Three Sons," and I was as fond of them
as my parents.)

Going back to soaps for a minute, I wonder how many kids were scared
by "One Life To Live"'s original opening of a flame under the title. That
came from the proposed title that, for obvious reasons, ABC wanted
changed: "Between Heaven And Hell."

And did it ever seem to any of you that most shows in the '50s opened with
a big fanfare? I can remember "Ozzie And Harriet" opening with one before the
announcer would say, "The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet. Here's Ozzie...
here's Harriet...here's David...here's Ricky (and later. "here's June" and "here's
Kris") (more fanfare) "Here they are, America's favorite family...the Nelsons."

Or the big fanfare for "The Lawrence Welk Show" before Bob Warren would
say, "(In color) from Hollywood, it's 'The Lawrence Welk Show.'"

I have to agree with your assessment about Dan Region; i always liked his work on "ATWT"; he, Jay Stewart on "Sale of The Century," and Ed Chandler on "General Hospital" ere my favorite family friendly announcers; not to discount Jack Clark of "Wheel of Fortune" or Rod Roddy on "The Price is Right." Macdonald Carey on "Days of Our Lives" would be another one too, not to mention John Harlan on "Name That Tune" or "American Gladiators."

 

[hamster]

The other day I was talking to a co-worker who is 30 years old BTW. She says that she will not let her kids to watch old TV shows like I Love Lucy because of two reasons. One is that everybody smokes and she does not want her kids to see that. I should have asked what does she do when she is with her kids and they go to a store and OMG...outside are people smoking !! Does she make her kids were a mask to cover their eyes ??? Two...such shows do not show diversity like a Muslim or a Black family or a gay couple and she wants her kids to see those people on TV. I guess that is why so many old movies and TV shows are remade to today's standards. Me I just rolled my eyes.

 

[gr8oldies]

It's been quite awhile since I've watched an episode, but I thought that in syndication they had pretty much cut the smoking scenes, at least where they could. It's no secret that Phillip Morris was a major sponsor of the show and was even woven into plot lines.

The other day I was talking to a co-worker who is 30 years old BTW. She says that she will not let her kids to watch old TV shows like I Love Lucy because of two reasons. One is that everybody smokes and she does not want her kids to see that. I should have asked what does she do when she is with her kids and they go to a store and OMG...outside are people smoking !! Does she make her kids were a mask to cover their eyes ??? Two...such shows do not show diversity like a Muslim or a Black family or a gay couple and she wants her kids to see those people on TV. I guess that is why so many old movies and TV shows are remade to today's standards. Me I just rolled my eyes.

 

[BD Sullivan]

A few years ago, the Hub Channel refused to show a pair of Batman two-part episodes because of the perception that they were offensive to Native Americans.

 

[danderson6500]

I used to have HBO on my dish, and i'd watch some violent movies sometimes. My folks didn't like me watching those movies, but they didn't care.

 

[hamster]

It's been quite awhile since I've watched an episode, but I thought that in syndication they had pretty much cut the smoking scenes, at least where they could. It's no secret that Phillip Morris was a major sponsor of the show and was even woven into plot lines.

It's the same with the Flintstones. I was watching a print of that show when it aired on ABC and there was a lot of smoking. Even Wilma and Betty fired up their Winstons !! Syndication and even the DVDs a lot of those scenes were cut . Dick Van Dyke was another one with Kents. Even so unfortunately my co-worker still won't let her kids watch old TV shows.

 

[gr8oldies]

I remember seeing an Andy Griffith Show episode with the good sheriff smoking...in bed no less!
Smoking was so commonplace it's not surprising everyone on TV smoked. "The Flintstones" wasn't marketed as a children's cartoon during its prime time run.

 

[ChocoMingo]

I would say, that because of it's number of adult innuendos and crude things, I would say that one Nickelodeon show (ironically), which is one of the three original "Nicktoons" definitely fits into this category, and that Nick show is Ren & Stimpy.

Especially in that one time when Nick gave Spike the opportunity to reboot it, but Spike (soon to be Paramount Network (it's not UPN)) gave the adult humor away like nothing, and I also saw, that like South Park (clearly not for kids), R&S on Spike had a TV-MA rating.

 

[hamster]

I remember seeing an Andy Griffith Show episode with the good sheriff smoking...in bed no less!
Smoking was so commonplace it's not surprising everyone on TV smoked. "The Flintstones" wasn't marketed as a children's cartoon during its prime time run.

I knew that about the Flintstones. Some of the old smoking stuff from that show is on You Tube and of course some of the millennials who made comments about cancer and stuff didn't get THAT. It's like Ozzie & Harriett. There is an old ad for Coca-Cola on You Tube that featured the family all having a drink of Coke. Many of the comments were about how the entire family died from diabetes and how if Red Bull or Starbucks Coffee was around then the whole family would be with us today. Yeah right !! I rolled my eyes again.

 

[BD Sullivan]

It's like Ozzie & Harriett. There is an old ad for Coca-Cola on You Tube that featured the family all having a drink of Coke. Many of the comments were about how the entire family died from diabetes

Not to mention that Rick Nelson later had a cocaine (aka coke) problem, with some still debating whether his fatal plane crash was the result of freebasing that got out of hand.

 

[gr8oldies]

We had my grandson living with us for a year. We banned a lot of stuff he'd been used to have free reign to watch (like WWE wrestling). I thought there couldn't be anything more tame than "America's Funniest Home Videos".....that was until he started acting out the pratfalls of the people in the videos.

 

[BD Sullivan]

We had my grandson living with us for a year. We banned a lot of stuff he'd been used to have free reign to watch (like WWE wrestling). I thought there couldn't be anything more tame than "America's Funniest Home Videos".....that was until he started acting out the pratfalls of the people in the videos.

Some children were presumably banned from watching The Three Stooges because of the frequent physical slapstick.

 

[KeithE4]

Some children were presumably banned from watching The Three Stooges because of the frequent physical slapstick.

My parents tried that when I was very little. I remember being dragged away from the TV repeatedly when the Stooges came on. Didn't work, and I've been a Stooges fan ever since, nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

 

[CTListener]

My parents tried that when I was very little. I remember being dragged away from the TV repeatedly when the Stooges came on. Didn't work, and I've been a Stooges fan ever since, nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

I knew other kids who weren't allowed to watch them, but my parents didn't mind me watching. Although I do remember being lectured about how wrong it was to be going around the house going "Heil Hitler!" after I had heard it on one of the Stooges' shorts made during WW2 that lampooned the Nazis. This was back in the mid/late '60s. Those shorts had been taken out of the syndication packages by the '80s, or maybe even the '70s, which was fine with me. Those wartime shorts weren't nearly as funny as "A-Plumbing We Will Go" or "Hoi Polloi."