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{{trope}}
With all the [[Moral Guardian
----
* Most networks have a lot of rules imposed by their "Standards and Practices" codes on their kid-aimed action shows. No fights in school, because school '''has''' to be a safe place. Characters '''must''' wear helmets and safety gear when engaged in any imitable dangerous act -- they even tried to force the producers to put a helmet on [[American Dragon: Jake Long|Jake Long]] whenever he ''flew''. '''In dragon form!''' (On what other planet was this executive born, where turning into a dragon and flying around is an imitable act?)
** ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]'' had the episode "Homecoming" becoming a major victim. It was originally scheduled as the season finale, until it was made clear that season two would be the last. First off, it was meant to be "Career Day", taking place then and not on Homecoming. It was also originally a two part episode where Sun Kim was to be [[Killed Off for Real]] and it would reveal Chang as [[I Am Your Father|Jake's maternal grandmother.]] However, it was declared "too dark," and the idea that Jake's grandfather had a child out of wedlock was considered unacceptable, so it was shortened to a single episode. Also, originally the Huntsman's plans involving the skulls would have actually started before being stopped, but this had to be written out, making the Oracle Twins' prophecy inaccurate. Finally, Rose was supposed to stay in New York
* Disney meddled heavily in the third season of ''[[
** Said third season, "The Goliath Chronicles," is considered so bad by ''Gargoyles'' fans that they regularly [[Fanon Discontinuity|disregard its existence]]... save for the first episode of the season, which is legitimately canon thanks to the Weisman-helmed ''Gargoyles'' comic.
** An example of [[Executive Meddling]] that had a positive effect- the studio apparently told [[Greg Weisman]] that he needed to introduce a human supervillain who was capable of going hand to hand with Goliath and be a genuine threat (Xanatos, the most prominent and dangerous human villain, could only accomplish this feat with a special suit of [[Powered Armor]]). The resulting character was popular ''[[
* [[Disney Channel]]'s practice of ending production on any show that has reached 65 episodes. ''[[
** In the 4th season of ''[[
*** This led to a fairly subtle [[Take That]] in the stinger. Ron stood facing the camera, delivering the aesop. All the while Kim and Monique stood in the background trying to figure out who he was talking to and wondering why he was doing it.
** Here's another one. At the end of ''So the Drama'', Kim, without provocation, kicks Shego into an electrical tower, which then collapses. This scene was actually ''written'' with ''no'' intention of Shego dying, but it ended up ''animated'' too seriously, making it look like Kim murdered her in cold blood. When test audiences [[What the Hell, Hero?|thought Kim did kill Shego]], the scene was ordered to be changed to show immediately afterward that she was [[Made of Iron|not only alive but relatively unhurt]], which given Shego's track record in the show, actually isn't all that surprising.
** In an interesting twist, the network's interference was a good thing as [[Word of God]] says that the writers didn't originally come up with the concept of Rufus the [[Non
* Many good cartoons on the Disney/Playhouse Disney channels kicked the can early because of said 65 episode limit, regardless of popularity. Even worse is when the cartoons are sent to a leper colony to die and sees virtually no DVD releases.
* In the case of ''[[Lilo
* Parodied in ''[[Darkwing Duck (
* A positive example from ''[[
** Also notable is a [[Take That]] in one episode aimed at Disney's Standards and Practices department. Phineas and Buford seem to be gearing up for a fight -- only to have it revealed that they have to thumb wrestle when the referee finishes reading off ''the exact policy required by Standards and Practices.''
** Also parodied in the episode "Nerds of a Feather
* Surprisingly, an episode of ''[[Pepper Ann]]'', called "Girl Power
* Also the same reason why ''[[
* Animated shows based on [[The DCU|DC superheroes]] have had a few odd cases after around the mid-2000s. A peculiar case of executive meddling existed in the ''[[Justice League (
** "Bat-Embargo" type decisions are nothing new. Back in the days of the ''[[
* Note that in turn, ''[[
** In this case, the embargo actually had a habit of working in the show's favor. Anyone familiar with Batman knows exactly where Harvey Dent's character arc is going and exactly what the plot twist is going to be in a Scarecrow-themed episode. Replacing those two characters with stand-ins led to a few major revelations working far better than they would have otherwise.
* And ''[[Teen Titans (
** Additionally, the show wasn't allowed to use Wonder Girl due to a complicated contract issue that forbade [[Wonder Woman]] and her supporting characters from appearing in programs where they were not lead characters.
* Because of [[The CW]]'s failed pilot for an ''[[
** Speaking of Wonder Woman, current policy is that Wonder Woman and related characters are only allowed to appear if she's one of the main characters.
* Plastic Man and the [[Blue Beetle]] were also forbidden from appearing due to media adaptation rights conflicts. Those conflicts have seen been resolved, so both now appear along with Aquaman and Black Manta in ''[[Batman:
** Speaking of which, apparently, there was problems getting Black Lightning into various DC animated series (which explains Black Vulcan in ''[[
** The [[Birds of Prey]]-themed episode "The Mask of Matches Malone!" had to be partially redone due to online attention paid to some sexual innuendo in the episode's musical number. So far, the episode in question has still yet to be aired in the United States.
** The producers have also stated that the toy company that produces the show's tie-in merchandise encourages them to only use characters who they can make toys out of. As female superheroes are very rarely represented in boy-oriented toylines, there are very few episodes featuring a female character as the sole guest-star. The above mentioned "Matches Malone" episode is the only one in the entire series that does not feature an additional male guest-star to balance out the female hero.
** In a [[Tropes Are Not Bad|positive example]], the producers have stated that when using [[The Atom]], [[Firestorm]] and [[Blue Beetle]], they were encouraged to use the [[Affirmative Action Legacy|more recent, non-white versions]] for the sake of diversity. This in turn led to Ryan Choi, Jason Rusch and Jaime Reyes being given more prominent roles in the DCU after the 2011 DC relaunch.
* ''[[Batman:
** Meddling and censorship sometimes led to the producers having to think of inventive ways of showing otherwise unacceptable content. For example, in the episode "Robin's Reckoning
** The ''
*** An interview with Dini shows him saying something to the effect of "If the network wanted us to change a scene because it was too violent or scary, our policy was to follow their words to the letter, but at the same time make it much scarier
**** This is horrifyingly obvious when you see ''[[Batman Beyond:
** FOX Network executives put the kibosh on an adaptation of ''Batman versus Dracula'' when they insisted vampires could not be shown drinking blood. Years later, standards loosened up, as ''[[
** FOX also refused to let Dini use Firefly, a pyromaniac villain. (Blowing off half of Harvey Dent's face in a fiery explosion was apparently okay.) It wasn't until the series transferred to the WB that Firefly made an appearance.
* Similarly, when asked to do a show about [[High School AU|Batman in High School]], creative interpretation of that concept gave us the [[Cyberpunk]] dark future of ''[[Batman Beyond]]''.
* ''[[Superman:
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZfVdqnu9h0#t=4m42s Here's an Opie and Anthony clip of a caller specifically calling out Turner Executive Jamie Kellner for cancelling ''Batman:
* Bruce Timm has confirmed that the members of the production staff were barred from using Sinestro or the Sinestro Corps in ''[[
* On the Marvel side of things, Human Torch was '''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Transformers]]: [[
** One such issue of executive meddling came when the executives ordered them to kill off two Predacons, Scorponok and Waspinator, at the end of the first season to make room for the incoming characters from Season 2. DiTillio and Forward, recognizing how much of a fan favorite Waspinator had become, begged the execs at Hasbro to allow them to kill off the comparatively unpopular Terrorsaur in his stead, particularly as Tarantulas basically carried out the same function that he did only more successfully. DiTillio and Forward thankfully won this battle, and Waspinator was spared while Terrorsaur was killed.
*** All of this is ironic was because it was meddling that got Waspinator into the series in the first place. The writers didn't care for the character at all, but were required to use him. They made him the [[Butt Monkey]] out of frustration, but that made him popular with fans. And he even grew on the writers, too.
** As it turns out, they both eventually ''did'' work on such series again, as DiTillio ended up writing for ''[[He-Man and
** In fairness with the Tigerhawk issue, not including him would have meant the whole Tigatron and Airazor abduction by the Vok plotthread would have been left unresolved.
* Speaking of which, the 2003 ''He-Man'' remake was criticized as having failed due to [[Screwed
* Pretty much the exact same thing happened to ''[[Futurama]]''... except they came back on a different network, since CN's rights ran out.
** The subsequent renewals of ''Futurama'' as a set of movies and then a relaunched series both began with some reference to the idiocy of the executives who shut down their business. The first movie spent about five minutes depicting the executives as complete and utter buffoons before [[Overly Long Gag|describing how their remains were ground up to form a useful powder]].
* ''[[
** In Argentina, [[Media Watchdogs]] tried to ban this show, showing the "''Evil Dead''" episode as evidence that it was not suitable for children. Thankfully, they never succeeded.
** The game portion of the first episode aired on Cartoon Network rather than ABC is more or less a non-stop series of "look what we can do ''now''" moments.
*** In the episode where Enzo loses in a ''[[Mortal Kombat]]''-style fighting game, the demon played by the user is clearly announced as Satan. His fatality is one-handedly grabbing his opponent's heads and crushing them -- although the actual crushing part only happens offscreen, you still see him grab their heads and still hear it quite clearly. This is also the episode where [[Eye Scream|Enzo's eye is slashed out]] onscreen. "Look what we can do ''now''" indeed.
** And let's not forget the line: "It's the ABCs, they've turned on us! Traitorous Dogs!" the ABCs ('''A'''rmored '''B'''inome '''C'''arrier) being Megabyte's fleet.
** At one point, Enzo aims a ridiculously large bazooka at Megabyte's troops, only to discover, to his disgust, that it fired a life raft labeled "BS Approved
** And for much of the episode about Enzo's birthday, an uptight female binome rejected most of the acts Dot was planning for the party. This was probably intended as a Take That, however, since the same episode then features Dot singing in a revealing red dress, with Enzo staring at her in what is, hopefully, surprise. Also, an awesome guitar duel between Bob and Megabyte.
** Probably the most infamous example was Dot's chest, or as the animation studio called it on their own blog, Dot's "Mono-breast
*** Wait, did you say Enzo was dressed as Michael Jackson from the ''Thriller'' music video? [[Distracted
* NBC adopted the Christian video series ''[[
* The [[Moral Guardians|parents' groups]] forced the producers of ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (
** However, the group actually ''agrees'' with Eric in
{{quote|
Hank: Eric's right!
Eric [[The Complainer Is Always Wrong|I am?]]
:* On the ''other'' hand, in the episode where Eric opens a chest that releases the [[Sealed Evil in A Can]] within, Eric is only too willing to take full responsibility for the stupid move - until Dungeon Master points out he had asked permission - from Hank - before opening it.
* According to the scriptwriter Michael Edens, the [[Disney Death]] of {{spoiler|Alec Deleon}} in ''[[Exo Squad]]'' was caused by [[Executive Meddling]]. Originally, he was supposed to be [[Killed Off for Real]] as early as in the destruction of {{spoiler|Mars}}, as foreshadowed in a [[Dream Sequence]] six episodes before that.
* This gained a combined [[Take That]] and [[Lampshade Hanging]] upon the [[Retool]] of ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'' into ''Pinky, [[Tiny Toon Adventures|Elmyra]], and the Brain'', in the form of the retool-explaining [[Expository Theme Tune]]: ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy_-KBvO8Ek So Pinky and the Brain / Share a new domain / It's what the network wants / Why bother to complain? ...]''
** Brain even voices his displeasure, saying he deeply resents this.
** Also, spoofed in ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'' in the episode "You'll Never Eat Food Pellets in This Town Again
** Ironically, a year before the ''Elmyra'' retool, "new character" executive meddling was parodied (with a bit of blatant ''[[Three Stooges]]'' [[Homage]]) in "Pinky and the Brain... <small>(and Larry)</small>." Larry does almost nothing but introduce himself repeatedly, he inserts his name into every conversation, his presence on the show is completely unexplained, Brain [[The Scrappy|hates him]] because he screw things up worse than Pinky ''ever'' could, and by the end of the episode he gets kicked out, only to be replaced by... Zeppo.
* Not even ''[[Jem]]'' was safe from [[Executive Meddling]]. The bosses asked Christy Marx, the creator and writer of most episodes of that series, to create a new Misfit for them. Christy attempted to make a black member for the Misfits, but the bosses rejected that, but offered her another idea: the new Misfit could be British
** Their odd reasoning was since the Misfits were the antagonists of the show, the executives were worried that African American groups would take offence if one of the ''villains'' was black. Jetta was the best compromise that they could come up with ("ethnic," but still white).
** Well, given that Jetta was a pathological liar and a pickpocket from a poor family, [[Unfortunate Implications|it's probably better that she didn't end up as a black woman like Marx intended]].
** After
* ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]'' had an example when the producers were forced to cut a scene where the character Lance Alvers saves Kitty Pryde from being crushed by a statue. Apparently, the WB execs felt this would frighten young children, not because the character was imperiled -- but because ''it wasn't that long after September 11th''. Even though this was a show where mutants with superpowers attacked each other and stuff blew up all the time. As a result of the cut, Lance is seen just holding Kitty with no explanation why, leaving viewers confused.
** [[The WB]] was '''horrible''' about jumping to ridiculous conclusions like this (see the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' example). Anyway, Lance and Kitty didn't fare well with [[Executive Meddling]] at all. They were broken up in
* During his tenure as head writer on ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'', [[J. Michael Straczynski]] constantly battled with [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] execs. Some production members have noted having a happier time with the syndication episodes, which were subjected to far less scrutiny and it shows
** Especially contentious was the ongoing debate over the Ghostbusters' secretary
** Other additions the executives wanted were more Slimer-centric episodes, and junior Ghostbusters, a [[Five
*** In ''[[
* The [[Art Shift|"puppet mode"]] [[The Stinger|Stinger]] segments that play during the credit sequence of ''[[Chowder]]'' were completely removed from their first run due to the current practice of [[Cartoon Network]] appropriating a show's credit sequence for additional show promotion and advertising with their blatant [[Credits Pushback]] (a practice becoming increasingly more common on television in the United States). Fortunately, the [[Stinger]] segments are now finally being shown, but only when the show is aired during "off-peak syndication."
* Similarly, [[The Stinger]] sequences for ''[[Camp Lazlo]]'' were sacrificed via [[Credits Pushback]] as well. It's a wonder ''anybody'' on Cartoon Network even bothers with Stingers anymore.
* It isn't just Cartoon Network, or even TV shows that suffer from [[Credits Pushback]]. Anytime anything happens during the
* ''[[Spider-Man:
** A case of executive meddling having an outright odd effect was in the character of Morbius, a vampire. The writers weren't allowed to show him sucking blood through his fangs, so he apparently has fangs for ''no reason'', as he instead drains plasma (they can't use the word "blood" apparently) through suckers in his ''hands''. The suckers were so [[Squick|squicktastic]] that they made the character even [[Nightmare Fuel|creepier]], whereas his declarations of "I hunger for PLASMA!" were often [[Narm]].
** Another example is Carnage. In the comics, he was a mass-murdering psychopath, but in the series he wasn't allowed to kill anyone -- instead he sucked out their "essence" through his hands, which was restored to his victims after he was sucked into a portal. In the scene where he acquires the symbiote he attacks some prison guards; he picks one up and makes some knives with his fingers but instead it shows him busting through a wall.
Line 97 ⟶ 99:
** They also weren't allowed to break windows, which ''also'' got snuck in, one wonders how they missed ''that''.
** If that's not absurd, listen to these:
{{quote|
"Spider-Man can imprison a villain, but they can ''not'' be ''given a ticket to California to leave''."
* Vlad Masters, [[
** One could argue its third season was a result of [[Executive Meddling]]; the main writer for the first two seasons was fired and Season Three resulted in heavy alterations that caused severe [[Fanon Discontinuity]] for some fans.
*** The third season was actually a cess pool of [[Executive Meddling]]. First off, the schedule kept changing, moving the show's time slot to odd times in the middle of the day. Also, some of the episodes were played out of order, and given how plots built during this season (with several major events like Plasmius becoming mayor and Danny gaining ice powers) this made the season hard to follow. Also, Nickelodeon decided that they wanted this to be the last season, despite series creator Butch Hartman wanting to make new seasons and that there was no drop in the ratings. This meant that all of the plot lines had to be wrapped up quickly.
* One episode of the ''[[Beetlejuice (
** There's also the ratings-obsessed Mr. Monitor, who's practically the personification of [[Executive Meddling]].
* Given the three different companies responsible for the production of the ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003
* When a little boy burned down his trailer home and causing the death of his baby sister, the program ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]'' was blamed because Beavis was a bit of a pyromaniac. As a result, he was no longer allowed to shout "Fire!, Fire!", he was no longer able to carry around a lighter and set things ablaze, and many past episodes' fire references were edited out. As it turns out, the kid's family ''didn't have cable'' and there was no way the kid could have seen the show.
** It did lead to one memorable music video scene -- the video was Wax's "Southern California," which famously features the [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]] of a man on fire jogging down a street. Instead of Beavis saying anything about fire, he just goes into a catatonic daze of pure bliss.
** Beavis continued to hilariously lampshade this bit of [[Executive Meddling]] as the show went on. Upon seeing a monk in a video, he begins excitedly shouting "friar, friar!" while Butthead nervously prods him to stop. Beavis eventually mutters "oh yeah" and settles down again. Another time, he slowly and deliberately chants "liar, liar, pants on..." and then concludes with a distracted [[Curse Cut Short|"whoa!"]]. Yet another time, while watching Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy," Beavis sees Robin Williams and exclaims, "Look, it's Mrs. Doubt-FIRE!!!"
** 15 years later, this was apparently lifted as the first new episode of the series have Beavis proudly exclaiming "FIRE! FIRE!".
* Several aspects of the [[Darker and Edgier]] second season of ''[[Legion of Super
{{quote|
{{quote|
* After ''Devil May Hare'', the first [[Looney Tunes]] short staring the Tasmanian Devil was made, executive Eddie Selzer made it extremely clear that no more cartoons about him would be made, since Taz was, in his opinion, stupid and unfunny. However, Jack Warner himself liked the cartoon, so this was overturned.
** Not that the WB animators were likely to listen to Eddie Selzer anyway. According to Chuck Jones, once while he and his frequent collaborator Michael Maltese were brainstorming ideas for a new [[Bugs Bunny]] cartoon, Selzer stuck his head in Chuck's office and said that he didn't think bullfights were funny so he didn't want them to make any bullfight cartoons. They hadn't even mentioned bullfighting during their brainstorming session, but after Selzer left, Maltese waited a few seconds, then said, "Well, he hasn't been right yet..." They immediately produced ''Bully for Bugs'', in spite of Selzer's orders, which turned out to be one of Bugs' better vehicles.
* What about ''[[
** It was less about greed and more about ego; Turner believes his are really the only good ideas, and because he had the history of ''[[Captain Planet]]'' behind him, he was able to lobby against ''SWAT Kats'' after Turner Entertainment acquired it. It's possible he gained the rights simply to kill it.
*** The interview he gave for [[Entertainment Weekly]] not four months after the show had been canceled blatantly implies this is the case:
{{quote|
* A positive example: originally, the ''[[Kids Next Door]]'' were to use high tech equipment to fight adult tyranny. The folks at [[Cartoon Network]], however, asked this to be changed since ''[[
* ''[[Ren and Stimpy]]'' was another animated show that was subject to [[Executive Meddling]]. The Nickelodeon suits made creator John Kricfalusi do some cartoons that were traditional and heartwarming, to help offset the extreme grossness of the show.
** The Executive Meddling forced John K to replace some of show's gags and premises, instead of going for coarse and down-straight obscene. The toilet and sex jokes took over the absurdity and nonsense. Nick's executives also asked him to give a softer side to Ren, which made him an adorable [[Jerk
** In John K's words "for every idea Nick accepted, they threw out five others" and some of the censoring they did was downright ridiculous (
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'' is practically immune to this trope in real-life. Producer James L. Brooks has the clout to make it a rule that the network can't give notes. Little things have been tinkered with (largely relating to legal/censorship issues), but the series has been spared the problems others have faced. That doesn't mean the series doesn't parody this trope, though. This trope was parodied in when too much meddling caused Krusty to retire for the umpteenth time.
{{quote|
'''Male Executive:''' Uh, for "pee," could you substitute "whiz"?<br />
'''Lindsey Naegle:''' I don't know, that could upset the Cheez Whiz people.<br />
'''Male Executive:''' I was just thinking that.<br />
'''Krusty:''' I can't take it anymore!
** It was also parodied when executives came up with [[Shoo Out the New Guy|Poochie]].
{{quote|
'''Silverman:''' Um... wh-what do you mean, exactly?
'''Myers:''' Oh, you know, attitude, attitude! Uh... sunglasses!
'''Lady:''' Could we put him in more of a "hip-hop" context?
'''Krusty:''' Forget context, he's gotta be a surfer. Give me a nice shmear of surfer.
'''Lady:''' I feel we should Rasta-fy him by... 10 percent or so.
{{quote|
'''Lisa:''' Isn't mid-season just a dumping ground for second-rate shows that weren't good enough for the fall schedule?
'''Homer:''' You're thinking of all the other years. This year's shows are classic. There's "The Laughter Family" -- that's animated. Networks like animation 'cause they don't have to pay the actors squat!
'''Ned Flanders:''' [voice slightly off] Plus, they can replace them, and no one can tell the diddley-ifference!
▲** One of the few times Matt Groening exercised his executive meddling privileges was during the production of "Homer vs. Dignity", aka the Panda Rape Episode. The original ending had Homer, dressed as Santa Claus, on the Christmas parade float, throwing ''pigs blood'' on the audience while sobbing uncontrollably. Groening insisted on a rewrite, and the blood was changed to fish entrails (which allowed for a hilariously bad pun, "Merry Fish-mas to all!")
▲** The now-abandoned premise of having a character "warn" the audience about the scariness of the Treehouse of Horror episodes was a clear reference to network squeamishness. The final warning, in fact, in Treehouse VIII, was delivered by a FOX censor himself, who described his role as "protecting you from reality" (before being brutally murdered on-screen).
▲** In "Once Upon a Time in Springfield", Krusty is approached by two unnamed network executives who forced to add a female character named Princess Penelope to his show to increase the ratings and attract more female viewers. Krusty refuses, but they are ready to make a reality show to find his replacement. Desperate to stay in this sweet gig, Krusty grovels and agrees, while the network executives congratulate themselves on a job well done by giving each other a high five. As the ratings improve and Penelope immediately overshadows Krusty as the star of the show, Bart and Milhouse (who are loyal fans) try to get the show back to the way it was. However, the situation gets more complicated when Penelope reveals to Krusty that she's his biggest fan and joined the show mainly because of him, leading to the two falling in love and nearly getting married.
::*
▲** Seems [[Executive Meddling]] has finally happened. [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/11/fox-no-homer-butt_n_782206.html All nudity on The Simpsons is banned by fox, or at least butt shots].
* ''[[
▲** They ''are'' however banned from ever parodying the Fox News crawl again.
▲* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' creators Mike and Brian have implied this as the reason for their inability to resolve the Ursa subplot. Apparently, they had plans to give many things much more closure, but this trope, along with time constraints, forced them to the end the series the way it did. By their own choice, they ended up turning down a proposal to have the Ursa subplot resolved in a brief throwaway scene of her and Zuko reuniting at the end, as that would be a textbook example of a [[Writer Cop Out]], wrapping something up in a quick, unsatisfying way.
** In the DVD commentary for one of the episodes, one of the creators makes a vague reference to "certain people" who objected to the show having such strong female characters. May have been an attempt at Executive Meddling that didn't take.
** The ambiguity of
** DVD commentary also mentions that Nickelodeon would have liked Aang to be thirty, use bladed weapons, and ride a motorcycle. These suggestions were the subject of a [[Take That]] in the episode ''Sokka's Master''.
* The first episode of ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' was originally going to have Jimmy dying and ending up in [[A Hell of a Time|Miseryville]] as the result of [[Celestial Bureaucracy|an administrative error]], making the fact that the show took place in [[Hell]] even more clearer. Some broadcasters were [[What Do You Mean
* An in-universe example: An episode of ''[[Daria]]'' revolved around the school holding a contest where entrants would create health and safety posters. Jane and Daria collaborate on an entry, featuring a skinny blonde girl, and a poem explaining that she has achieved this supposedly angelic physique through the magic of bulimia. Mr. O'Niel and Ms. Li love the painting, but aren't too keen on the less-than-sugary poem, so they ask the girls to change it to one with a more sanitized and curriculum-approved message about good nutrition. The girls refuse, citing artistic reasons, which sets off a series of events which culminates in a very entertaining scene where Mrs. Morgendorffer threatens Ms. Li with legal action.
* After the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Jared Has Aides" premiered, the episode was banned from Comedy Central's airwaves until 2009 because it depicted Butters getting beat by his parents. The creators were forbidden from treating Butters like this ever again.
** In the two-parter "Cartoon Wars," remember the message stating that Comedy Central refused to broadcast an image of Muhammad handing [[Family Guy|Peter Griffin]] a football helmet? That was real; Trey and Matt tried to get the network to sign off on it, but they refused
** "200," the first episode of a 14th season two-parter, featured the Super Best Friends, a superhero team consisting of religious figures -- including Muhammad (who was previously uncensored with no problems in the group's first appearance in Season 5, though that was made and aired before September 11th, 2001 and [[The War
* After the ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' pilot, ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgiNbuFwORw Garage Kids]'', was made, the changes made to the show's plot and setting angered co-creator Thomas Romain so much that he left the production staff.
* [[Word of God]] says this is why ''[[Least I Could Do]]'' hasn't been made into an animated series yet. Ryan Sohmer had signed a deal with [[Teletoon]] for 13 episodes of ''Least I Could Do'', when suddenly notes from the higher-ups started coming in. Notes that said the show needed to "feel more Canadian," that the setting should be specifically in Toronto, that Issa should be an Inuit, that Mick should wear a Toronto Maple Leafs shirt and that Rayne and Noel should go out fishing instead of on walks. Needless to say, Sohmer [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|kindly told them where to stick it and backed out of the deal]].
Line 168:
* Apparently, when the idea of ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' was first pitched to [[Adult Swim]], executives wanted to change the character of Doc Venture (they saw him as too mean) as well as switching the episode format to two 15-minute episodes. Even though the show wasn't changed, Adult Swim still regrets even making such suggestions.
** It is speculated that the reason why the show suddenly went from featuring actual ''[[Jonny Quest]]'' characters to Expys starting in Season 3 (Jonny became "Action Jonny", Race Bannon became "Red") was due to the production of the live action film making Warner nervous as to what the show was doing to the characters (Jonny was a paranoid junkie, Race a former torturer who gets killed and [[Bowel Existence Failure|voids his bowels onscreen]])
* This is the EXACT reason ''[[Sym
** Now it seems that there actually ''were'' several toy manufacturers who wanted to take on the show but Cartoon Network never contacted any of them and the show was basically murdered because of a personal falling out between executives at CN and Genndy Tartakovsky.
* Even ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
** Season One had that [[Edutainment|E/I label]] on the upper-left corner of the screen on TV, like any educational show must have. In Season Two, ''it's mysteriously removed.'' It's not clear why this is, but bronies sure are satisfied that the show appears to be hindered by the standards much less now.
** Princess Celestia was originally to be a queen, but was demoted to princess because apparently, [[Disney]] [[Viewers
*** This is also why all of Princess Celestia's toys are pink, even though she has a white coat in the series.
** In a positive example, Apple Bloom was originally to find her cutie mark on her own without any help. Lauren Faust was asked to add Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to be her friends, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were born. Oddly enough, Faust always thought they should have their own [[Spinoff Babies|spin-off pre-school show]], but Hasbro suggested that the Crusaders should be used in the main series first.
** One of the most common forms of this was the demand for specific, popular characters from previous gens to appear in the show in a prominent enough fashion to sell the toy version of them. Thankfully, no specifics about ''how'' those characters would have to appear, so the writers could deal with this fairly easily (for instance, Cheerilee becoming the teacher of Ponyville).
** The episode "Suited For Success" can be viewed as a [[Satire]] of executive meddling, as Rarity's artistic vision of [[Pimped
** According to [http://comments.deviantart.com/4/1603670/2371989638 this], Big Macintosh was planned to get his own episode, but it was rejected.
*** He can only be called Big Macintosh in-show instead of Big Mac, due to the latter being an obvious usage of a copyright from another large company. This may no longer be in effect, however, as he has been called "Big Mac" several times in season 2.
** Chalk this one for the [[Moral Guardians]]: The character [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Derpy Hooves]], a grey cross-eyed pegasus who's largely looked at as the [[Periphery Demographic|Bronies' avatar]] has been subjected to this. Apparently, there were complaints that the character portrayal was that similar to a mentally challenged person, something too offensive to show on a children's television show and they complained to Hasbro to fix it. Apple removed the [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
*** Neither were the animation crew OR Hasbro. In fact, Hasbro confirmed that only the itunes version would be edited and that all other versions would remain the same AND that they would NOT change Derpy's name. There are POSSIBLY going to change her voice though, but for a different reason than one would think. Tabitha St. Germain (her voice actor) said she didn't know Derpy was FEMALE when voicing her as she'd been basically a last-minute choice and so she based her voice off a neighbor's SON, feeling pretty foolish when she found out otherwise AFTER she had finished her recording.
*** [[It Got Worse]]. They now posted the edit version of The Last Roundup on the Hub, despite the pleas of many fans. The backlash skyrocketed ''again''. And ''NOW'' the edited version of the episode is what was put up on Netflix, instead of the original version.
** To be fair to the [[Moral Guardians]], the term "derpy" can and has been used as an ableist slur. [[Did Not Do the Research|Hasbro likely didn't know this]], and in combination with the original voice, many did see it as making fun of the mentally challenged. A simple changing or at least not mentioning the [[Fan Nickname]] probably would have satisfied most of the complaints, but that would make the [[Shout
* In-universe example/spoof of this in ''[[The Boondocks]]'': Huey is asked to direct the school's Christmas play, but important aspects of his script are vetoed by the school principal; Huey eventually walks off the project, but his teacher puts on Huey's version of the play as written (and gets fired for it).
** Two episodes of the Boondocks second season, "The Hunger Strike" and "The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show" were banned from premiering on Adult Swim. Both episodes were centered around BET and portrayed them as being socially irresponsible, and exploiting black stereotypes for profit. Despite denial by Adult Swim, many believe that BET threatened Sony and AS to pull the episodes with legal actions. Viacom (parent company) was confirmed to threaten legal action against Adult Swim. Thankfully, both episodes were featured on the Season 2 DVD.
* ''[[Family Guy]]'' had an episode, PTV, that dealt with [[Executive Meddling]] (thanks to Lois bringing the FCC into Quahog after having the straw break the camels back in regards to some of his lewd shows, and other more personal reasons depending on the version).
** The same episode in [[Real Life]] also subverted it in a way: The FCC was okay with the creators using Peter's pooping off the side of the highway onto another highway and it landing on Lois's car's windshield (the original reason for Lois' calling in the FCC) for another show of Peter's so long as they at least do minor things such as remove Peter lowering his pants, silence the wet sound of the poop landing, and making the poop look ambiguous. The writers ultimately decided that the changes weren't worth it, so they rewrote it to be Lois being too sensitive to the content after seeing a [[
*** I'm not 100% sure it was rewritten completely, I remember this version of the episode from somewhere - the show in question was named "Douchebags". If it was rewritten it must have been only on the TV broadcast version of the episode at least.
** In the episode "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater," one of the cutaway gags was supposed to show a man and a woman silhouette's making out and the woman slides down and off the screen as the man tilts his head back and smiles from the blowjob he was getting. The FOX network decided this was to risque and demanded the animators to shorten the scene, fighting with the animators frame by frame until they reached an agreement. The edited version shows the woman sliding down only 1 or 2 frames until the next frame showing diamonds cuts in.
** Many jokes and gags in the syndicated runs are either edited or cut out completely.
* ''[[Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars]]'' was, in fact, a far better cartoon than most give it credit for, but it was intended to be a new merchandise-driven cash cow. (They even lampooned the concept, advertisements for the series portrayed as breaking news stories interrupting shows on a Toad-owned network, complete with commercials) The plans for the toyline fell through, however, [[Executive Meddling|the primary reason the folks in charge decided to cancel it.]]
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