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

FreddyE1977 said:
Three's Company and The Love Boat were two of my grandmother's all-time favorites
(which we all thought was quite strange for a lady on the high side of 80)

Part of the appeal of Love Boat may have been seeing the old film actors.
 
rnigma said:
The powers-that-be in Bainbridge, GA kept MTV off local cable for decades. While working at WJAD back in the '80s I would get requests for songs we didn't yet have and I would ask where the caller heard it; they would often reply, "on MTV." If I noticed that they called on the Bainbridge line, I would ask how they could see MTV, and they would say that either they or a friend had a satellite dish (the old 8-foot birdbaths).

they probably stopped playing videos when they finally added it ;D
 
My sister, siblings, and I grew up in the 90s. I remember that my father did not like Family Ties because Alex P. Keaton (and supposedly Michael J. Fox in real life) was a conservative republican. My father has been a pro-union, Chicago-bred democrat (not hard left though) for years. Luckily, Family Ties was on when my father was coming home from work and dinner was being made for the evening. It was also on weekend afternoons when he wasn't working.

Related to that, in the early 90s, when we got WOR on our cable lineup, there was a GOP republican show. I remember one day, my father told me to "turn that off," followed by some negative comments. It was funny because I grew up learning that the republican party sucked (which really is true). I was too young to understand politics.

Certain episodes of Beavis and Butthead (i.e. stove gas episode) weren't allowed either. My father often lectured us about that, as well as when John Wayne Gacy was being executed. I remember South Park being such a big deal when I was in 5th-7th grade. I wish the common plethora of crap was ban in my house, especially American Idol and its clones, as well as CW-type shows.

I find it odd that my mother allows my 5 year old niece to watch nothing but Halloween crap, which is dominate today, like a number of shows on Cartoon Network, as well as movies. If it isn't dark, scary, and isn't related to Halloween, she turns her nose up at it. As a result, she has difficulty concentrating on her homework and listening. I am one of the few that absolutely hates shows like that. I'm not right-wing, but there is more than enough violence and stupidity in today's world. Why remind people of it on TV?
 
DXnCruise said:
... in the early 90s, when WOR was still on cable across America, there was a GOP republican show. I remember my father telling me to "turn that off," followed by some negative comments.

Morton Downey, Jr.?
No wait, Mort was on W(W)OR in the late 80s and then got syndicated.
 
rnigma said:
DXnCruise said:
... in the early 90s, when WOR was still on cable across America, there was a GOP republican show. I remember my father telling me to "turn that off," followed by some negative comments.

Morton Downey, Jr.?
No wait, Mort was on W(W)OR in the late 80s and then got syndicated.

The WWOR EMI Service carried a couple of GOP shows in the 1990s on its national feed -- "Rising Tide", which was replaced with "GOP TV", which, as the latter name implied, was practically a weekly dose of Republican propaganda in the days before Fox News.
 
Re the grandmother, in her 80s, who was a "Three's Company" fan,
so was Lucille Ball, even in her 70s. I think she admired John Ritter's
ability to do physical comedy; she hosted a clipfest marking the show's
100th episode and he returned the favor a few years later by appearing
in an episode of her short-lived "Life With Lucy."

And I agree that "The Love Boat" appealed to over-50 viewers because
of all the old-time movie and TV stars. I remember one of the highest
ratings the show ever got was when Gale Storm appeared (coincidentally
or not she had played a cruise director on her 1950s sitcom "Oh Susanna!",
aka "The Gale Storm Show"). She had been largely absent from the tube
since 1960, battling alcoholism, but had made a few appearances (I think
on talk shows) in the late '70s. When she appeared on "The Love Boat" in
1980, however, it was the first time many viewers had seen her in 20 years,
and I guess curiosity made them want to see a sitcom legend.

Something I do find curious: "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island" leaned heavily
on stars from the past (maybe a little less so on "Island," or my memory is playing
tricks on me); however, the show that might be considered the
prototype of both, "The Millionaire," relied heavily on young actors looking for a break
(Charles Bronson and Inger Stevens, for example) even though a few established actors,
such as Agnes Moorehead, appeared. Go to "The Millionaire"'s website on Wikipedia and
you'll see the names of about three dozen actors who were not famous at the time but would be.
 
azumanga said:
rnigma said:
DXnCruise said:
... in the early 90s, when WOR was still on cable across America, there was a GOP republican show. I remember my father telling me to "turn that off," followed by some negative comments.

Morton Downey, Jr.?
No wait, Mort was on W(W)OR in the late 80s and then got syndicated.

The WWOR EMI Service carried a couple of GOP shows in the 1990s on its national feed -- "Rising Tide", which was replaced with "GOP TV", which, as the latter name implied, was practically a weekly dose of Republican propaganda in the days before Fox News.
I remember GOP TV. Our local public access cable channel aired it back in the '90s.
 
bpatrick said:
Something I do find curious: "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island" leaned heavily
on stars from the past (maybe a little less so on "Island," or my memory is playing
tricks on me); however, the show that might be considered the
prototype of both, "The Millionaire," relied heavily on young actors looking for a break
(Charles Bronson and Inger Stevens, for example) even though a few established actors,
such as Agnes Moorehead, appeared. Go to "The Millionaire"'s website on Wikipedia and
you'll see the names of about three dozen actors who were not famous at the time but would be.

Sonny Bono once said that if you're on "Fantasy Island" you're either on the way up or on the way down...and he wasn't on the way up!
 
bpatrick said:
"Fantasy Island" leaned heavily on stars from the past

Probably the only Montalban/Villachaize FI ep I remember watching wire to wire (at least during its original run on ABC, when I was in college) featured Barbi Benton as a mannequin brought to life (but going back to being a dummy by show's end). Who played the mannequin maker who brought her to the island (and had Ms. Benton revert to lifelessness in his embrace)? Bob Denver, about 14 years post-Gilligan. I re-watched this episode on TVLand soon after acquiring DirecTV in 2000.

ixnay
 
Slightly off-topic but I've always liked Castleman and Podrazik's
comment about "Fantasy Island" in their book "Harry and Wally's
Favorite TV Shows"; they asked the question how, for $10,000,
Montalban kept his white suits and Cordoba clean (he was spokesperson
for Chrysler Cordoba, if you'll recall). They cared little for the show,
giving it one-half on a scale of zero to four.

For my part, I liked the original better than the Malcolm McDowell remake;
I know a lot of people liked the darker edge, but it always seemed to me
that McDowell's Mr. Roarke didn't want the fantasies to work out. I also
didn't get the gimmick of the girl who could change into any species.

I said earlier that I felt that the prototype of "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy
Island " was "The Millionaire," so I have to mention what I consider a classic
skewering of that show by SCTV. John
Beresford Tipton has been giving away money for so long he's down to
handing out $50 checks and Michael Anthony is hounding him for his pay--
which he hasn't gotten in years. Finally, Anthony turns Tipton around to
the camera, revealing him to look like Howard Hughes in his last days. Then
an Arabian sheik appears with a million dollars for Tipton, explaining in
response to a question from Anthony that he has no one to deliver the
checks for him. Anthony volunteers his services, they leave for coffee,
and Tipton dances around his desk in glee.
 
ronald54321 said:
Since the whole point of mass media is to destroy the family, who the hell would be in favor of it?

You apparently don't remember the "old days" of radio when the whole family gathered around the big floor model radio listening to Fibber, Jack, The Whistler and countless other entertainment shows.

When TV debuted in my house it was the same way. The whole family gathered around to watch shows like Maverick, The $64,000 Question, The Millionaire and 20th Century etc.

It wasn't until relatively recently when Middle America could afford boxes for every family member that programming followed suit into niche shows.

Don't blame the media if you have a disjoint family. Look in the mirror.
 
Is the new "Family Feud" with Steve Harvey considered "family friendly"? I mean, with all the sexually-charged survey questions, and most notably --- INNUENDO? I just keep watching to find out what else will they say...next?
 
pkffrom724 said:
Is the new "Family Feud" with Steve Harvey considered "family friendly"? I mean, with all the sexually-charged survey questions, and most notably --- INNUENDO? I just keep watching to find out what else will they say...next?

Personally, I think "Family Feud" is one of the worst game shows on TV. I didn't like the original, the intermediate or the current version so I don't watch it. AFAIK, none of my family members watch it either. But a single show isn't the issue.

The previous poster said "Since the whole point of mass media is to destroy the family, who the hell would be in favor of it?".

That is what my response was directed at.

But think back some 20 years to "Hollywood Squares". That show was known for sexual innuendo yet I don't remember any significant ranting against it. Probably because well-known comic headliners were making the jokes and they were done "tastefully" (as Lily Tomlin would say). "Laugh-In was a bit more crude and got lots of criticism in its day but it was also hilarious. And what about the old Dean Martin show and "The Dating Game"? Lots of innuendo in there too but I notice America hasn't crashed and burned just yet.

I'll never understand why certain people declare their hatred for a show yet continue to watch.
 
landtuna said:
"Laugh-In was a bit more crude and got lots of criticism in its day but it was also hilarious.

And of course, there was also "Turn On", which was canned after one episode because of complaints over sexual innuendo and offensive jokes. But compared to today's comedy shows, it's quite tame by comparison...
 
landtuna said:
pkffrom724 said:
Is the new "Family Feud" with Steve Harvey considered "family friendly"? I mean, with all the sexually-charged survey questions, and most notably --- INNUENDO? I just keep watching to find out what else will they say...next?

Personally, I think "Family Feud" is one of the worst game shows on TV.  I didn't like the original, the intermediate or the current version so I don't watch it.  AFAIK, none of my family members watch it either.  But a single show isn't the issue.

Why did you not like the previous versions of "Family Feud"? Even though I don't want to watch the current version any more due to its many changes in hosts (I believe Richard Karn should have been kept as host) and the comments about vulgar survey questions I read about on message boards such as this, I have always liked the original version hosted by Richard Dawson and the second version hosted by Ray Combs.
 
Mario-500 said:
Why did you not like the previous versions of "Family Feud"? Even though I don't want to watch the current version any more due to its many changes in hosts (I believe Richard Karn should have been kept as host) and the comments about vulgar survey questions I read about on message boards such as this, I have always liked the original version hosted by Richard Dawson and the second version hosted by Ray Combs.

My main dislike was the general style of the program but I also disliked Dawson and his yelling false emotion. I don't remember the Combs version and as much as I liked Richard Karn he didn't change the show for me either. I was hoping he could bring his own personality into the show but it stayed with the earlier formula which irritated me. I've seen only seconds of the current show as I tune past it and it seems even sillier than ever now.
 
Never cared for Family Feud, either - a stupid show, IMO. Kind of like The Match Game - though that show was just an excuse for the celebrities to tell jokes and make puns, so it was enjoyable - like Hollywood Squares.

Back to the topic - the "no-no's" in my house growing up (1960s) were not shows with violence or sexual innuendo - it was the shows my parents considered low-brow. They were actually convinced these shows would "rot my brain," so I was prohibited - Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, etc. The Munsters was a no-no, but the Addams Family was OK. And my father had a particular hate for Red Skelton, so that was off limits, too.
 
Lkeller said:
And my father had a particular hate for Red Skelton, so that was off limits, too.

How could anyone hate Red Skelton? I can imagine people thinking he was silly but the clown was part of his persona (much like Lewis but much better performed).

Red was at his best when he had guests on that were good punsters. They'd purposely crack each other up and try to get the other guy off his character. I used to split a gut watching his show.
 
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