Stuff on Old TV That Would Not Be Allowed Today

[roadman]

On Green Acres Mr Haney mentioned a taco parlor that gets busy during the season we import our then he used a word that starts with a w that refers to an illegal immigrant. I know that would never be allowed on TV today.

Not the only time during the series he used that term.  In another episode, he was trying to get Mr. Douglas to invest in building an automated tomato planter that he described as "The answer to every farmer's prayers.  A mechanized w."

[roadman65]

Would Sanford and Son's scene with Fred raising his fists at his nemesis sister in law Esther be allowed today?  Being they were not married it can't be considered spousal abuse.

[allniter89]

I'm surprised they allowed it then.

[In_Correct]

It is produced by Norman Lear. He got away with any thing.

[SectorZ]

It is produced by Norman Lear. He got away with any thing.

I guess that was his idea of the "American Way"...

[TheGrassGuy]

-All smoking and tobacco
-All negative portrayals of African-Americans

[texaskdog]

-All smoking and tobacco
-All negative portrayals of African-Americans

JJ Evans. Esther Rolle even left the show over his character.

[TheGrassGuy]

This doesn't really count as "old TV", but Borat.

[wanderer2575]

-All smoking and tobacco
-All negative portrayals of African-Americans

JJ Evans. Esther Rolle even left the show over his character.

John Amos left the show before she did, for the same reason.  Whether he quit or was let go depends on who you ask.  Interestingly, Rolle was more outspoken over her dissatisfaction of the show moving away from serious issues and concentrating on Jimmie Walker's one-dimensional comedy antics, but it was Amos who drew the producers' wrath.

-All smoking and tobacco

You still see some smoking.  What's amusing on really old black-and-white TV is seeing people smoking in hospitals.

[kphoger]

a word that starts with a w that refers to an illegal immigrant

"The answer to every farmer's prayers.  A mechanized w."

Wisconsinite

Just type the word instead of pussy-footing around it.

(I've waded across the Rio Grande before, approximately here.  Does that make me a Wisconsinite?)

[texaskdog]

Good times:

Throughout seasons two and three, Rolle and Amos grew increasingly disillusioned with the direction of the show and especially with J.J.'s antics and stereotypically buffoonish behavior.[7] Rolle was vocal about her hate of his character. In a 1975 interview with Ebony magazine she stated:


He's 18 and he doesn't work. He can't read or write. He doesn't think. The show didn't start out to be that...Little by little–with the help of the artist, I suppose, because they couldn't do that to me–they have made J.J. more stupid and enlarged the role. Negative images have been slipped in on us through the character of the oldest child.[8]

Although doing so less publicly, Amos also was outspoken about his dissatisfaction with the J.J. character. Amos stated:


The writers would prefer to put a chicken hat on J.J. and have him prance around saying "DY-NO-MITE", and that way they could waste a few minutes and not have to write meaningful dialogue.[9]

[In_Correct]

It seems that even Jimmie Walker himself got tired of his character over the decades. When he tried to announce his new book, the news anchor kept insisting that he perform his Famous (or perhaps Infamous) hyperactive "DynaMITE!". He kept telling her that he did not want to. Ironically, the book is named "Dyn-o-mite!"

The J.J. character has been parodied at least once. The English dub of the first 105 episodes of Gatchaman they changed the character Jinpei (similar sounding names also) to mimic J.J. half the time.

[texaskdog]

JJ stood for Jar Jar

[cwf1701]

How about words that have a different meaning today than when the show first aired. If they did a new "Leave It to Beaver", Could they have June day "Ward, was you a little hard on the Beaver"?

[PHLBOS]

How about words that have a different meaning today than when the show first aired. If they did a new "Leave It to Beaver", Could they have June day "Ward, was you a little hard on the Beaver"?

One line in a Season 3 episode of Lost In Space (original version, The Promised Planet episode) had both Will & Penny bargaining w/Dr. Smith, who's wearing a long-haired wig & hippie medallions, uttering the phrase (to Smith); You're a hard man.  While the script writers meant such in reference to bargaining; the above-phrase in and of itself can be interpreted a completely different way.

[mgk920]

How about words that have a different meaning today than when the show first aired. If they did a new "Leave It to Beaver", Could they have June day "Ward, was you a little hard on the Beaver"?

Or when 'gay' was just way of saying 'happy and festive'?

Mike

[kphoger]

How about words that have a different meaning today than when the show first aired. If they did a new "Leave It to Beaver", Could they have June day "Ward, was you a little hard on the Beaver"?

Or when 'gay' was just way of saying 'happy and festive'?

Mike

Leave it to Beaver aired not very many years before the word 'gay' started to be favored by homosexuals, in fact.

[cwf1701]

How about words that have a different meaning today than when the show first aired. If they did a new "Leave It to Beaver", Could they have June day "Ward, was you a little hard on the Beaver"?

Or when 'gay' was just way of saying 'happy and festive'?

Mike

Leave it to Beaver aired not very many years before the word 'gay' started to be favored by homosexuals, in fact.

And the word "biscuit" in British slang has a different meaning than in American slang. In Britain, a biscuit is a slang term for a cigarette. I don't they would allow any British show to use the word "biscuit" for cigarette anymore.

[SectorZ]

How about words that have a different meaning today than when the show first aired. If they did a new "Leave It to Beaver", Could they have June day "Ward, was you a little hard on the Beaver"?

Or when 'gay' was just way of saying 'happy and festive'?

Mike

Leave it to Beaver aired not very many years before the word 'gay' started to be favored by homosexuals, in fact.

And the word "bundle of sticks" in British slang has a different meaning than in American slang. In Britain, a bundle of sticks is a slang term for a cigarette. I don't they would allow any British show to use the word "bundle of sticks" for cigarette anymore.

I don't know, it's still pretty common to Brits. In Ozzy Osbourne's recent autobiography he uses the word well over a dozen times (in its cigarette related context).

[texaskdog]

How about words that have a different meaning today than when the show first aired. If they did a new "Leave It to Beaver", Could they have June day "Ward, was you a little hard on the Beaver"?

Or when 'gay' was just way of saying 'happy and festive'?

Mike

Leave it to Beaver aired not very many years before the word 'gay' started to be favored by homosexuals, in fact.

And the word "bundle of sticks" in British slang has a different meaning than in American slang. In Britain, a bundle of sticks is a slang term for a cigarette. I don't they would allow any British show to use the word "bundle of sticks" for cigarette anymore.

I thought bundle of sticks was a cigarette

Thanks to whoever edited this and completely changed the meaning

[Bluenoser]

How about words that have a different meaning today than when the show first aired. If they did a new "Leave It to Beaver", Could they have June day "Ward, was you a little hard on the Beaver"?

Or when 'gay' was just way of saying 'happy and festive'?

Mike

And speaking of "Gay"...
I'm one of those strange creatures known as a TV Guide collector...I have a copy of the Nebraska edition from the mid-50s, where a station aired a local music show where the house band was named...the Gay Heinies!

[US71]

How about words that have a different meaning today than when the show first aired. If they did a new "Leave It to Beaver", Could they have June day "Ward, was you a little hard on the Beaver"?

Or when 'gay' was just way of saying 'happy and festive'?

Mike

My dad had a major problem with (as he believed)  homosexuals perverting the word "gay".

[kphoger]

I thought bundle of sticks was a cigarette

Correct.  Sort of.

[US71]

I wonder if Mushmouse and Punkin' Puss would be allowed today?

[Stephane Dumas]

I wonder if Mushmouse and Punkin' Puss would be allowed today?

I wondered the same question about that Popeye short titled "Pop-Pie a la mode".
https://popeye.fandom.com/wiki/Pop-Pie_a_la_Mode
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5utss0