Shows that were verboten in your household

[GoddessOfGuinness]

My dad was a heavy-duty Nixon supporter. He didn't give a damn about Watergate either.

Laugh-In
M*A*S*H*
All in the Family

A year or so after the Tricky Guy resigned, Dad lightened up a bit and watched M*A*S*H* and All in the Family; but Laugh-In was longggg gone by that time.

[Elidor]

1. Night Stalker

I was about 7 when it came out. I had to wait for the parents to go to bed, then sneak back downstairs and keep the sound waaaay down and be ready to turn it off and hide if I heard footfalls on the stairs–which just made it all that much more terrifying an experience.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

25. I can't recall that one...

So you were a sneaky li'l tyke... :)

[Elidor]

40. You don't know about Night Stalker???

OMG, you missed a great series. It would just terrorize the hell out of me. The first episode alone, the staircase scene…whoa.

"Before Kolchak: The Night Stalker started its brief but cult-spawning single-season run, it debuted as a pair of made-for-television movies starring veteran Hollywood actor-producer Darren McGavin.

"The first movie, The Night Stalker, was the brainchild of legendary Twilight Zone scribe and author Richard Matheson, who co-wrote the teleplay with Kolchak series creator Jeff Rice. This first TV movie, directed by John Llewellyn Moxey, premiered on January 11, 1972, and was the most highly-rated TV movie up to its time.

"Not surprisingly, a sequel telefilm followed just one year later. The Night Strangler was also penned by Matheson; McGavin and his Night Stalker co-star Simon Oakland reprised their starring roles. The Night Strangler, directed by Dan Curtis, premiered with strong numbers on January 16, 1973, and paved the way for the creation of the weekly series.

"Kolchak really isn't a pure horror show, although it deals with man-killing monsters and creatures every week," McGavin said when asked to describe the show's concept. "The simple fact is, you can't do a legitimate 'horror show' on network time, as the sponsors don't want to scare people out of their pants. So we decided to titillate, not terrify, to have fun with it."

"How times have changed. Though network and cable television have grown bolder and gorier in the three-plus decades since The Night Stalker's heyday, the series continues to be hailed as a seminal influence by such modern entertainment masters as Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files. Carter has often acknowledged the influence of Kolchak on The X-Files, and paid homage to that legacy by casting Darren McGavin in a two-time guest role as retired FBI Special Agent Arthur Dales — the first agent assigned to what later became the bureau's X-Files office.

"It's also worth noting that Kolchak: The Night Stalker was one of the first series that Sopranos series creator and executive producer David Chase worked on as a staff writer (after a stint on The Rockford Files)."

http://www.scifi.com/kolchak/overview/

[donheld]

2. They were all "verboten"

we were not allowed to watch TV. It was said to be sinful by the church <Bible Missionary Church> i was brought up in.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. Too bad...

There's plenty of garbage out there, to be sure; but there's also a lot of good stuff.

I used to love the National Geographic shows and BBC series.

[donheld]

20. I grew up in the 60's and 70's

you know how wicked things were then. :eyes:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. Imagine! Women getting jobs...young boys letting their hair grow!

Ditto :eyes:

[tishaLA]

3. I Dream of Jeannie reruns

my mother wouldn't let us watch a TV show where a woman referred to a man as "master." Apparently she understood the rest of TV to be a challenge to patriarchal power.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

23. That's interesting...

My mom wasn't wild about the show, but she let us watch it anyway.

[intheflow]

4. My parents watched Love American Style

but deemed it inappropriate for my young eyes. Naturally this idea of keeping me shielded from anything remotely sexual led to my getting pregnant at 17. :eyes:

Of course, the family could watch S.W.A.T. and Baretta together, no problem. Much better to have a child reared on violence. But then, perhaps this was wise because (following my logic above) I have never killed anyone, not even when I was 17. ;)

Obviously, I come from Republican stock, too. Thank God we escaped! :hi:





On edit, looking at this post I want to apologize for excessive smilie usage. But I've been taken to the mat recently by people misunderstanding my deep and abiding sarcasm. So now I feel obligated to oversaturate posts with smilies. What can I say? :shrug:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

22. No apologies necessary...

:)

My mom had her "awakening" when it became obvious that Tricky Dicky was a crook. She slowly began to realize that she was in an abusive relationship with my dad. He actually did go into counseling with her, and they managed to change the dynamic of their marriage significantly.

He died a republican, though.

[Elidor]

44. A lot of parents thought that show was too racy for kids

My own very liberal parents cringed whenever it came on and tried to change it. I realize now, it wasn't the prurient sex, it was the sheer bad taste of it all. They wanted to save me from bad tv.

[RadicalMom]

59. Sarcasm? Not sarcasm! you've being using sarcasm with wild

reckless abandon? You have a lot of nerve.

[intheflow]

61. I see you are my Sister in Sarcasm.

Right on! :headbang:

[RadicalMom]

66. We shall unite! Snide remarks rule!

[Worst Username Ever]

5. Popeye.

Fighting was not allowed. We couldn't even own toy guns.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

19. My mom tried that

but my brother and I took the lids off our metal trashcans and hurled green apples at each other in the back yard.

Eventually, Mom figured out that it was better if we didn't actually hurt each other.

She hated Popeye and The Three Stooges.

[elperromagico]

6. Surely the Smothers Brothers were forbidden too.

[stinkeefresh]

7. oh but they were so stealthy.

you might have thought they were just good wholesome folks. If you didn't listen carefully.

[elperromagico]

9. True, and that's often the best way to get the message across.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

31. excellent point!

food for thought.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. Oh god yes...

Couldn't watch any of the damned hippies.

"Hippies," my parents told me, "are people who take drugs and sleep in their own vomit."

Ain't enlightenment grand?

[Misunderestimator]

10. Strangely, nothing was verboten... though too much time watching TV was...

and I'm too old to have had my own personal TV. We watched all those shows.... plus "Love, American Style" (and I was really young for that, six or seven)... I never understood why some of the kids I knew didn't get to watch it too.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

29. Good for your parents!

Did they watch with you?

I really didn't watch that much as a kid. I preferred playing with toys or practicing the violin.

[Misunderestimator]

38. Well...

We also had to sit down every night and read the bible together for an hour. :) I too spent most of my time reading or playing the piano or singing. My mom was disabled and pretty much bedridden, so TV was often her only comfort... I watched sometimes with her in her bedroom, while my dad worked in the study. It was less an act of progressiveness from my very conservative dad than it was his European upbringing... as well as keeping everyone out of his hair. (He did vote Dem for the first time in his 75 years this year though... time has a way of mellowing people.)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

39. I guess some parents feel it's important

to pass their faith along to their kids. We had some bible reading as a kid, but my parents weren't big on church, and stopped reading it after awhile. I think our questions about where Caine's kids came from might have deterred them somewhat. :D I was pretty into religious notions as a child, and read the bible on my own.

Nowadays I'd describe myself as more spiritual than religious, and I don't think I'm worse for reading the bible; but I'm not terribly impressed with fundamental Christianity.

[TheMightyFavog]

12. When I was a toddler, The Dukes of Hazzard was absolutley forbidden.

Dad, being a fire and Game warden for the State of Wisconsin did not appreciate the anti-law enforcment sentiment

The Simpsons was also verboten in my mom's prescence, and continues to be to this day.

[stinkeefresh]

21. That is disturbing.

The anti-law aspect was the only part of Dukes my mom DID approve of.

But the Simpsons? Cruel.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

32. I never watched Dukes, but

Mr. GoG let his oldest boy (my stepson) watch it as a kid. I suspect it was all a ploy to get to watch Barbara Bach, though. :)

[Pithlet]

43. Dukes of Hazzard for me, too!

I was a little older. It wasn't because of the anti-law enforcement sentiment though. My parents just hated that show, and refused to be subjected to it. It was one of the few televisions shows we weren't allowed to watch.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. TV was tamer in my younger days

My parents thought the dozens of Westerns that were on in the late 1950s night be a bad influence on my brothers and encourage them to fight each other even more, but that was the only indication I ever got of their displeasure with any shows.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

33. Did it encourage them to fight more?

I vaguely remember Sky King and Roy Rogers when I was very little...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

41. Don't know

They fought all the time no matter what. The morning was not complete unless they had had their "wake-up fight" (they shared a room), which usually began with something like, "Stop looking at me!" :-)

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

14. The Three Stooges..

It was absolutely forbidden by Mom, Dad and Grandma.

Since I was the youngest girl and had two older brothers, they felt the eye poking, hair pulling, etc were not appropriate viewing in our home.

I never even saw the Stooges until I was in my twenties and I just never understood the humor...

[stinkeefresh]

17. That's because they're not funny.

[maveric]

53. "Not funny"? The Stooges?

You've got to be kidding?

[stinkeefresh]

15. Three's Company, Dukes of Hazzard, Sid & Marty Kroft

Nothing "stupid"- that was the rule. Mom barely tolerated Night Rider, but only because we ADORED it.

MASH, however, was a staple in my house.

[kiraboo]

16. Any game show. My parents called the t.v. the "idiot box". n/t

[nicolemrw]

18. the third season of the original star trek

cause it was on at 10:00 and i wasn't allowed to stay up that late. :cry:

[CatBoreal]

24. Believe it or not...

...Cheers was off limits when I was a teen.

[SmileyBoy]

27. Beavis and Butt-Head

Back in the early 90's, when it was still a really controversial show, and I was only like 11 or 12 years old (and my parents could still control what I watched).

[Lisa]

28. Bugs Bunny/Road Runner

Ironically, I now teach a cultural history class where I mention that very cartoon (e.g. the Warner studios being more subversive than Disney, in terms of plotlines and characters)!

p.s. I actually had to view copies of some of the classics to get up to speed for teaching the course, because I hadn't seen them before.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

35. You poor thing!

WB cartoons were staple TV for us as kids. I love the old WWII cartoons!

[DS1]

30. Dukes of Hazzard

[Ravenseye]

34. Mr. Rogers - I'm serious

My mom didn't like his 'look'. She thought there was something creepy about him. yet she trusted Captain Kangaroo. So for a while I'd watch Captain Kangaroo, then my mom would keep me away from the TV for a half hour then I'd be back to watch Seasame Street and the Electric Company.

It took a few years but finally she warmed up to him for some reason and we were allowed to watch.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

36. How bizarre!

Do you remember Morgan Freeman when he was on the Electric Company?

[Ravenseye]

46. Totally!

Man that was a great lineup.

Captain Kangaroo
Mr. Rogers
Sesame Street
Electric Company
(and eventually)
321 Contact

No 4 hours of childrens television today compares to that. It's such crap nowdays and almost entirely uneducational.

[TheMightyFavog]

45. Mom thought Henrietta Pussycat was extremely annoying

Mr. Rogers was frowned upon in my house.

[Ravenseye]

47. Yeah my mom didn't like any of the puppets

I'm not really sure what it was but she REALLY didn't like the puppets either.

Funny thing. I dated a girl who's mother worked on the set early on. She worked right alongside Michael Keaton (real name Michael Douglas...wonder why he changed his name :) ). She said that Mr. Rogers was the biggest perfectionist she'd ever met. He'd do the same scene over and over and over, even though it seemed perfect becuase he didn't like this or that little aspect about it.

Mr. Rogers was serious about making a good show.

[Arkana]

37. I was never allowed to watch "The Simpsons"

but that changed when I got my own TV. Now that I'm at school, I can watch whatever the hell I want.

[RPM]

42. Dukes of Hazzard & A-team

but we could watch war shows like GI Diary to no end.... go figger...

[NoPasaran]

48. The Untouchables and Peyton Place

[huellewig]

58. Funny, my sister and I got our names from Peyton Place.

I got my name from the actor Ryan O'Neal who played Rodney Harrington. And my sister was named after Allison MacKenzie who was played by Mia Farrow.

And we could watch anything on TV we wanted.

[joeybee12]

49. Peyton Place! And that tells you....

...how old I am!:(

[amazona]

50. mash, f troop, i dream of jeannie

"War is not funny."

"That woman screaming, "Master" all the time is not funny."

Hey, I guess my parents were liberals all along, who knew. :-)

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[GoddessOfGuinness]

51. Your sig line quote is pretty amazing...

Makes me feel like it was only yesterday.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

52. Nothing was verbotten. My dad doesn't believe in censorship.

I really am very appreciative of that to this day.

(Of course the shows that were on tv back in the 50s and 60s weren't really that controversial)

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

54. We got to watch everything

so long as there wasn't a hockey, football or Cubs game, or WWII movie on opposite whatever else was on.

My dad loved Laugh-In, Smothers Brothers and That Was The Week That Was. He hated John Wayne - "big phony," he called him. Watching TV together - Mission Impossible, Star Trek, The Avengers - and making fun of the shows were some of the happiest family times I remember. We were not a relaxed bunch. But everyone relaxed when we watched TV.

[American Tragedy]

55. Nothing, actually.

There was never much reason to prohibit anything anyway, since most programming with adult themes would go right over a small child's head. I remember when I was little and my parents would hold Twin Peaks parties every week (and that tells you about how old I am!). I'd try to watch but I didn't get it.

[driver8]

56. Not forbidden, but my Dad hated Pro Wrestling and Roller Derby!

Go Los Angeles T-Birds, Go!!!

[miss_kitty]

57. I Love Lucy, Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction

Silence Please
Green Acres
Gomer Pyle
Flintstones

[RadicalMom]

60. The Three Stooges. Mom would declare it off limits for long periods of

time after the 3 kiddies would start poking each other in the eye. Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk!

[Aiptasia]

62. Nothing, except maybe scrambled porn channels

[Mizmoon]

63. Soap was too dirty for our house

when i finally got to see a few episodes I couldn't figure out what the big deal was.

[fit4life]

64. Billy Crystal's character probably.

Imagine that! A GAY character in a tv show! The shame!

I loved that show!

[CO Liberal]

65. "Farmer Gray" Cartoons

The old silent ones. My mom decided they were too violent.



He was also referred to as "Farmer Al Falfa".

[MindPilot]

67. Three Stooges

My mom was afraid I would imitate them.