Hey Arnold!/Radar



"- "Oh Arnold, you make my girlhood tremble, my senses all go wacky." Helga, talking in her sleeps."

"Phil: Awww, Pookie, no one wants to see THAT!"
 * In "Tutoring Torvald" you can hear someone getting shot while Arnold is walking to Torvald's house.
 * During the episode "Summer Love," Grandma stumbles across a private nude beach, which she then says "When in Rome..." and takes off her bathing suit. All the beach goers run away screaming. On top of that, the nude beach is called, "Mature Wood Private Beach"

"Harold: ...Due to outside circumcisions. Arnold: -stances! Harold: Right, outside circumstances!"
 * In the episode "The Racing Mule" Oskar yells "Go Glueboy, you big crazy ass!" They tried to cover up the word "ass" with a horn, but it is still audible to those who have good ears.
 * Actually, since he is presumably referring to a donkey in the above scene, that wouldn't actually be swearing. A donkey is an ass. However, some American TV shows (particularly kids' shows) will censor a curse word that has (or had) a legitimate meaning (like "dam" if it's used as a pun for "damn" or "hell" if it refers to the actual pit of despair for those who were evil in life).
 * Could also be a Shout-Out to the scene in My Fair Lady where Eliza screams "Move your bloomin' arse!" at a racehorse to the horror of everyone.
 * Similarly, Grandpa once asks, "What the Helen of Troy is that???"
 * In another episode, Helga recited some of her obsessive love poems in the presence of a parrot, who then flew off and almost repeated it to Arnold. The poem was standard fare for Helga; obsessing over Arnold, flowery language, and such. One line, however, was "you make my girlhood tremble, my senses all go wacky." Whether it's innocent or dirty really depends on who's listening.
 * Seeing as she composed it in her sleep, I'm going with a wet dream.
 * Consider that in the same episode she ended up watching Arnold undress and then passed out with a very happy face.
 * There was also a late-run episode in which Arnold found his father's journal. He begins to read his father's account of his wedding night, as Arnold's mother comes out wearing "nothing but a smile" -- Arnold's grandfather quickly snatches up the journal and turns to a new entry after that.
 * The words "It was the hottest night the jungle had" are read, with a picture of Arnold's parents in a hut seductively looking at each other.
 * There was a similar episode where Grandpa was telling a story about staying in a barn during the war, when the farmer's sexy daughter came to visit him during the night. Gerald's father cuts him off and tells him he'll have to tell him that story when the boys are in bed. Not to mention that when Grandpa resumes telling the story after that, he says that he woke up "feeling like a million bucks."
 * In the episode "Helga's Love Potion," Helga quite literally says "What is this crap?" while reading one of her poems after the spell to get rid of her obsession with Arnold gets cast on her. She also says "What a load of crap!" in "Helga's Makeover" when she gets made fun of for not going to Rhonda's party.
 * "Crap" is actually said by several characters throughout the series, so apparently it's not on the show's radar at all.
 * The episode "Chocolate Boy" is about Chocolate Boy breaking his addiction to chocolate, similarly to alcohol or drugs.
 * It's scary that the storyline of the episode would go completely unchanged if they replaced "chocolate" with "crack" throughout the episode.
 * Also gets kinda funny when you know that he kicks the habit by constantly eating radishes.
 * In the episode "Ghost Bride," Arnold reads: "Here﻿ Lies Cynthia Snell: She Lived Her Life and Went Straight To...I cant read the rest"
 * Just listen to this song from the episode "Fishing Trip" around the 1:00 mark.
 * To be fair, that song is a very common schoolyard song that every kid knew anyway. Also, Arnold's grandpa: "Let's fish, for the halibut."
 * According to Word of God, Helga's mother, Miriam, is supposed to be an alcoholic, but since Nickelodeon is a children's/family channel, the censors couldn't just outright say it. They did, however, imply it by giving her an obsession with smoothies (one of which was made like a Bloody Mary ). They also showed signs that she was drunk almost all the time . One can say that Helga's mom is just ditzy and that the "smoothies" really are just smoothies, playing into some sort of parody of a diet or a "new-age" health lifestyle, but given Big Bob's Jerkass ways and the implications that Miriam could have done better with her life without him (as seen on the episode where she runs Big Bob's Beeper store after Big Bob throws out his back) and some of her lines that infer that her marriage to Bob is an unhappy one, the picture becomes clear.
 * On the same note, in many episodes characters are seen drinking alcoholic beverages or alcohol bottles are visible on shelves.
 * Mr. Simmons and his sexuality. It's not hidden, even though he's very obviously gay, yet not stereotypically so. Word of God has confirmed this. Also, the character's voice actor, Dan Butler, is himself openly gay.
 * There was also a special Veterans' Day episode where Grandpa tells the boys about his time as a soldier in World War II. Not everything got past the radar (for example, the swastikas were changed to frowny faces) but Adolf Hitler made a short appearance.
 * In "Road Trip" Helga and her mother take a road trip- we found out that at some point on the trip they went to a restaurant called "Wanky's." Must be run by the same family that operates Wanky Land.
 * One episode also has the "Susie had a Tugboat" song repeatedly, always cutting off before they reach the "hell" part.
 * In the Beach Episode, both Mrs. Kokoshka and Miriam are invited by a typical Romantic False Lead to a stimulating dancing class. After hearing the "stimulating" part, they both giggle. And for the final blow, the class is only shown off screen, with the women saying "Ooh, you are so wonderful dancing!" Seriously, the Media Watchdogs weren't asleep -- they were dead.
 * In the episode, "Oskar Can't Read," watch the signs carefully as Oskar walks the streets. You can clearly see the word "piss."
 * In the episode "Suspended:"

"Lulu: (seductively): I'd be a lot better if you'd agree to meet me later for an ever so private swim."
 * It's also worth noting that Harold is Jewish. Make of that what you will.
 * The same episode has Harold saying "cold crappy food."
 * In the episode "New Teacher" when Mr. Simmons is trying to teach the class about poetry, Harold stands up and recites, "There once was a man from Nantucket..." Mr. Simmons tells him to sit down before he can get to the next line.
 * Arnie's hat in "Weird Cousin," anyone? Twirling clearly equals unfortunate erection.
 * The episode "Arnold Visits Arnie" has a surprising bit of this. The episode, which basically shows mirror versions of the rest of the cast included one doppleganger of Lila named Lulu, who seemed a bit...forward for a nine year old.

"Oskar: And I am Armando! Mr Hyunn's rich half-brother from a tiny hidden palace in Lithuania! (Laughs) Boss: What've you got to drink?"
 * Perhaps a reference to this Alban Berg opera?
 * Arnold's grandpa's nickname is one of these in a roundabout way. His nickname is Steely Phil which to some may be a Parental Bonus play on the band Steely Dan, but Steely Dan got their name from a sex toy...
 * In "Dino Checks Out," a Dino-simulation starts recreating his songs after Dino  died. A commercial carries the tag line,"Not Dino, but an incredible simulation!" The simulation takes this to extremes by dating Dino's most recent ex-wife, who seems to be saying "Not Dino, but an incredible stimulation!" If you listen carefully, it's still a little difficult to tell.
 * In "Timberly Loves Arnold," Lila very innocently asks Arnold for permission to join Gerald's five-year-old sister and watch Arnold play baseball, as long as Arnold doesn't mind "making it a threesome." (Please note that while Arnold's blush indicated that he did seem to mind, he didn't object, as he was trying to impress Lila.)
 * At the end of "Synchronized Swimming," Jack proposes that he and Tish "implore the mysteries of the deep" and they both dive underwater (and conveniently out of the camera's view). The implications are obvious.
 * Also, the boys' swimwear.
 * And let us not forget Coach Wittenburg's "circumcised swimming" at 4:04.
 * After Helga's confession in The Movie, and an awkward kiss, Arnold states he's dizzy, and needs to go lie down. Helga's response: "Wonderful...I'll go with you!"
 * Okay, I'm just gonna say it: Sid's face looks like a penis. The younger viewers don't notice when they're watching this, but it just does.
 * Sharing said trait is Grandpa's head. No pun intended.
 * In the episode "On The Lam," after the kids leave Arnold's House to become hobos, you can clearly see a prostitute standing on the side of the street.
 * In that same episode, Stinky uses a bottle of  Jackass Kickin' Louisiana Hot Sauce. The censors must have been either asleep or straight-out blind.
 * In the episode where Grandpa thinks he's dying, he wakes up and believes that he's in heaven. When he sees Oskar however, he panics and says "This must be that other place!"
 * When Mr. Hyunn's boss stops by to visit the family in one episode:

"Arnold: *seeing that The Stork brought them babies* But...how could this happen? Helga: Stork brought 'em. Arnold: But we've only been married for two days! Helga: Yeah, well I guess that's all it takes, Football Head."
 * This exchange in the episode "Married" between Arnold and Helga during Arnold's Nightmare Dream of being married to Helga:

"Arnold: You're not too old, Grandpa, and you've still got plenty of brain cells. Grandpa: No, not since Woodstock."
 * Just look at this sign in the episode "The Eating Contest" around 6.50. -We can clearly see a sign inviting us to "Try my sausage" directing us into a back alley...make of that what you will.
 * We get this little gem from "Back to School":

"Helga: How the mighty have fallen, huh Phoebes? Poor Rhonda, next thing you know she'll wake up with big buck teeth and start reading computer magazines."
 * In the 'Door Number 16' episode, when a mysterious package arrives for Mr. Smith, Arnold and Gerald go look for him at a store in which he buys his hats. When the store clerk comes to greet them something resembling a pink fluffy scarf can be seen behind the counter, which the clerk promptly hides away.
 * Prune Bran brand cereal features an old man on the cover who looks like he's taking a dump.
 * In the episode "It Girl" a fashion designer loudly proclaims 'Bollocks!'
 * In the episode "Rhonda's Glasses", Helga makes this comment about Rhonda's sudden nerd association to Phoebe.


 * Back then it just seemed like a general comment about nerds appearance, but looking back on it now... did Helga just make a subtle racial slur towards Phoebe?
 * There were some things that didn't make it past the radar, one of them being a minor character from the early episodes named Lana Vail. There was supposed to be a subplot in the series that Lana had a crush on Arnold - keep in mind that Lana is an adult character - and would make him uncomfortable. Due to the implications that plot never got the green light by Nickelodeon.
 * In the movie, when discussing names for the block party, 9-year-old Gerald raises his fist and says "block power, baby."