"Banned" things that actually werent

[wildojinx]

The recent Nick Knacks video on the "banned" Tiny Toons ep "Elephant Issues" (it was aired at least once on every network which aired TTA) makes me wonder, what are some other pieces of "banned" media that actually never was banned in the first place?

[tafkaga]

Controversial Doctor Seuss books. People who didn't read Seuss rushed to Amazon to buy his banned books before they got uhhh banned.

[Burst]

I feel like 98% of "banned" things that show up in a YouTube thumbnail with a gurning reaction face were probably at best mildly controversial when first out.

[WoodStoner1]

The Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour reruns were NOT banned by Gene Rayburn/Rayburn's estate. It was an issue of dealing with two companies for the rights. And of course the show can be seen on and off on Buzzr since 2019.

Likewise, it also turned out that Chuck Henry didn't ban his version of Now You See It. Apparently there was no interest to run it. Since it is not being rerun now, not sure if it counts.

It's true that TV stations pulled the Joe Jitsu episodes of the UPA Dick Tracy cartoon. But they are all readily available on DVD releases.

Up for debate: the original end credits to St. Elsewhere's series finale. On one hand, it's true that every airing post-NBC redid the credits to have the usual ending, and over on Hulu, they use that version. On the other hand, production companies have "normalized" their end credits for syndication before. Still, with various formats using network versions of shows, it seems suspicious that the Elsewhere finale has not been restored...which would make one think that maybe people did complain about the flatlining MTM logo.

Cosby Show? Not banned. Roseanne? Not banned.

Cops? Gone for awhile but back.

Human Torch was not banned from the Fantastic Four cartoon, at least not because of fears of kids setting themselves on fire.

Firestorm was not banned from JLU, they just had no story for him.

[MiLB Fan]

The Clear Channel list of songs that radio stations shouldn’t play after 9/11. While a list did exist as a suggestion, the company never outright said that stations couldn’t play them.

[Zombie Mod]

the game manhunt. it caused an outrage due to it being snuff film the game according to the media and was close to being banned in the uk until the press moved on to another outrage.

[agent817]

I recall reading that the episode "Barbequor" of "Dial M for Monkey" (that "Dexter's Laboratory" spin-off) was banned because the character Silver Spooner was a gay stereotype. However, I later read that it was allegedly copyright infringement from Marvel because Silver Spooner was a parody of Silver Surfer. But really, Barbequor was a parody of Galactus. I thought parodies are legal.

Anyway, I read that this episode was featured in a Season One DVD set of "Dexter's Laboratory" but it's in Region 4. It's not even on HBO Max. Thankfully, some people uploaded this episode on YouTube.

[WoodStoner1]

Apr 15, 2023 9:36:05 GMT -5 MiLB Fan said:

The Clear Channel list of songs that radio stations shouldn’t play after 9/11. While a list did exist as a suggestion, the company never outright said that stations couldn’t play them.

Similarly, everyone who insists Baby It's Cold Outside is banned.

[poodoojenkins]

Apr 15, 2023 9:47:53 GMT -5 WoodStoner1 said:

Apr 15, 2023 9:36:05 GMT -5 MiLB Fan said:

The Clear Channel list of songs that radio stations shouldn’t play after 9/11. While a list did exist as a suggestion, the company never outright said that stations couldn’t play them.

Similarly, everyone who insists Baby It's Cold Outside is banned.

Lord, I wish it was.

I mean, the SA implications aside, it's just a TERRIBLE song.

[wildojinx]

The Beavis and Butthead episode "Comedians" was not banned, they just edited Beavis juggling the flaming newspapers and replaced the burning comedy club at the end with a riff of Belly's Feed the Tree, but it DID air after the fire controversy. MTV DID briefly ban Stewart's House and Way Down Mexico Way, but they reaired them as part of a special in 1999 (I'm not sure if they're on Paramount + as I dont have that service. I also wonder if they have the original versions of Balloon and Scared Straight with the Michael Jackson and Plasmatics videos respectively).

The SNL "Conspiracy Theory Rock" segment was released on the SNL "Best of Saturday TV Funhouse" DVD, which was an official release approved by NBC, so it still was released commercially.

Dukes of Hazzard may not be on tv anymore, but it's still available to buy and watch on Amazon Prime Video.

[MolotovMocktail]

Apr 15, 2023 9:42:08 GMT -5 Zombie Mod said:

the game manhunt. it caused an outrage due to it being snuff film the game according to the media and was close to being banned in the uk until the press moved on to another outrage.

Manhunt 2, though, seemed to be even more controversial.

[Feyrhausen]

Apr 15, 2023 9:42:35 GMT -5 agent817 said:

I recall reading that the episode "Barbequor" of "Dial M for Monkey" (that "Dexter's Laboratory" spin-off) was banned because the character Silver Spooner was a gay stereotype. However, I later read that it was allegedly copyright infringement from Marvel because Silver Spooner was a parody of Silver Surfer. But really, Barbequor was a parody of Galactus. I thought parodies are legal.

Anyway, I read that this episode was featured in a Season One DVD set of "Dexter's Laboratory" but it's in Region 4. It's not even on HBO Max. Thankfully, some people uploaded this episode on YouTube.

Parody is legal but there can be some grey area. The DVDs of the Tick cartoon are missing 2 episodes. One of them the Galactus parody.

[Celexa Bliss]

What about episodes the creator chose to pull years after the original airing? Because the "Conflict" episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood are widely believed to have been banned, because Fred Rogers' himself asked PBS to pull them from the rerun cycle in 1996. They also didn't air in either of the Twitch marathons, although a YouTube user did upload the episodes at one point.

[Celexa Bliss]

Apr 15, 2023 9:36:05 GMT -5 MiLB Fan said:

The Clear Channel list of songs that radio stations shouldn’t play after 9/11. While a list did exist as a suggestion, the company never outright said that stations couldn’t play them.

Every time there's a big tragic news story, stations will tend to pull songs with questionable lyrics for a short time, out of sensitivity towards the subject. The reason that list gets special mention is because of the scope of it and the fact that it was made publicly available. But this is standard practice in most cases.

[tirtefaa]

The Looney Tunes Censored 11

Only thing they're banned from is being released for Home Release officially.

The cartoons frequently show up all over the place, far moreso than a ton of other much better Looney Tunes cartoons. Their notoriety likely made them more popular than they ever otherwise would have been. There's a lot of tame LT cartoons that are far more difficult to obtain correctly.

Warner should honestly just update their list anyways. It's more like the Censored 60 nowadays.

[An Dog On An Skateboard]

Apr 15, 2023 16:18:50 GMT -5 Celexa Bliss said:

Apr 15, 2023 9:36:05 GMT -5 MiLB Fan said:

The Clear Channel list of songs that radio stations shouldn’t play after 9/11. While a list did exist as a suggestion, the company never outright said that stations couldn’t play them.

Every time there's a big tragic news story, stations will tend to pull songs with questionable lyrics for a short time, out of sensitivity towards the subject. The reason that list gets special mention is because of the scope of it and the fact that it was made publicly available. But this is standard practice in most cases.

There was a rollercoaster crash over here years ago, and I remember noticing that a certain well-known supermarket radio station that I endured daily pulled “Life Is A Rollercoaster” by Ronan Keating from its playlist, having previously had it on heavy rotation. I found this amusing on several levels.

[ToyfareMark]

Lawn darts. At least more modern versions that are made of plastic.

[legendkiller1985]

For the Simpsons “the City of New York vs Homer Simpson” was pulled from syndication for a few years because of 9/11 and is available on DVDs same with the Michael Jackson episode it’s on dvds but won’t be on Disney plus.

South Park has the Super Best Friends, Cartoon Wars, and 200th two parters pulled from Streaming even though the are on the dvd sets and the 201st episode is heavily censored there is an uncut version of Kyles end speech on YouTube

[darbus alan]

Apr 15, 2023 9:42:08 GMT -5 Zombie Mod said:

the game manhunt. it caused an outrage due to it being snuff film the game according to the media and was close to being banned in the uk until the press moved on to another outrage.

It probably got banned in Australia but then a lot of games in the 00's got banned in Australia because one of the states' regulators had a huge stick up his ass and could unilaterally ban games by refusing classification. After he was no longer in the position, that nonsense stopped.

Manhunt 2 was rated Adults Only for awhile, which is effectively a soft ban in both the US and Canada. The ESRB is purely industry guideline and not enforced by law, but pretty much every game store, big box store, and online retailer refused to carry AO-rated games. Same thing happened to GTA San Andreas when the "Hot Coffee" thing was discovered. Rockstar put out M-rated versions of both removing the offending content and it was business as usual.

[thirteen3]

Apr 15, 2023 18:13:53 GMT -5 legendkiller1985 said:

For the Simpsons “the City of New York vs Homer Simpson” was pulled from syndication for a few years because of 9/11 and is available on DVDs same with the Michael Jackson episode it’s on dvds but won’t be on Disney plus.

South Park has the Super Best Friends, Cartoon Wars, and 200th two parters pulled from Streaming even though the are on the dvd sets and the 201st episode is heavily censored there is an uncut version of Kyles end speech on YouTube

Speaking of The Simpsons, for years after Hurricane Katrina, when "a Streetcar named Marge" would air on Channel 4 they would cut off the New Orleans song.