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* 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 {{spoiler|after losing her memory,}} but the Executives decided that this would confuse viewers who missed the episode, so she was relocated, requiring a very long-distance vacation for Jake to bump into her again in the actual finale.
* 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-Human Sidekick]] and he only appeared because the executives suggested the idea.
* 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 and Stitch: The Series
* 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," when Doofenshmirtz tries to start a Buddy Cop show about him and Perry. He gets [[Seth
* Surprisingly, an episode of ''[[Pepper Ann]]'', called "Girl Power," shows this example perfectly. When Pepper Ann's sister Moose sees her favorite comic-turned-TV show, Tundra Woman is, at first turned into [[The Ditz]], then when Moose rallies people to make feminist complaints about this, the executives go ''way'' too far in the orther direction and turn Tundra Woman into [[The Amazon]], which draws further complaints due to her losing all character in favor of being an overly-violent neanderthal. In the end, it was cancelled and replaced by a show with robots.
* 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 ''[[Aquaman (Comic Book)|Aquaman]]'' series, ''Mercy Reef'', the character was not seen in JLU's final season, and his arch-enemy Black Manta was turned into [[Captain Ersatz]] Devil Ray. The episode "To Another Shore" was to feature Aquaman vs. Manta, but his role was given to Wonder Woman instead. Knowing this helps to explain some of the episode's serious WTF moments: Why is ''Wonder Woman'' at a meeting about global warming (yes, Themyscira is an island, but...)? Why did she give a very Aquaman-ish threat to the leaders of the free world? Most of all, why is ''Devil Ray'' so pissed at her?
** 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," they were not allowed to show Dick Grayson's parents plummeting to their deaths from a trapeze, so they instead framed the shot so that you simply see their shadows swinging out of view, then the snapped rope swinging back followed by the audience's shocked reaction. The creators conceded on a DVD commentary that this made the scene much more effective, and even thanked the studio for making them do it that way. Track down the book about ''B:TAS'' if you want to see many of the decisions Fox censors made for them. ("It must be clear that Batman is kicking thugs in the ''stomach''." "Try to have Catwoman land on something other than her face or breasts." "For some reason, they didn't like the hyenas chowing down in the baby carriage." etc.)
** The ''BTAS'' episode "Over the Edge" was subject to one of the most ironically positive bits of Executive Meddling known to man. {{spoiler|Originally, when Batgirl/Barbara was to fall to her death while hitting her father's police car on the way down, the camera angle stayed outside of the car, looking head-on at Gordon and Bullock as Barbara hits the hood. The network censors objected to the blatant on-screen violence and flagged the shot. The sinister bastards at WB Animation then set the shot of Barbara landing on the hood from ''inside'' the police car, using the conventional "back seat" shot seen in so many movies. This, of course, is a much more startling and frightening shot, as the camera angle is so common and generic that the violence is ten times more unexpected. However, the censors, in a remarkable show of [[Genre Blindness]], only paid attention to the fact that Barbara's landing was technically further away from the camera and signed off on the more vicious shot.}} [[HSQ|Those suckers.]]
*** 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," noting that they could get away with a lot of [[Nightmare Fuel]] if they followed the words to the letter.
**** This is horrifyingly obvious when you see [[Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker|Return of the Joker]]. Rather than just being shot, {{spoiler|Joker}} is electrocuted and gives a nightmare-inducing death scream, and we [[Nothing Is Scarier|don't see it happen or how the body looks like afterward.]]
** 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 TAS and Superman TAS, along with pretty much everything else that was good about the network.]
* Bruce Timm has confirmed that the members of the production staff were barred from using Sinestro or the Sinestro Corps in ''[[Green Lantern the Animated Series|Green Lantern: The Animated Series]]'' due to plans for the character in the [[Green Lantern (
* On the Marvel side of things, Human Torch was '''[[Mis Blamed|not]]''' left out of the 1978 ''[[The Fantastic Four (
* ''[[
* ''[[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
** 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]].
* ''[[Re Boot]]'' was the near-constant target of [[Executive Meddling]] from [[ABC]]. It got so bad that in one episode the network demanded that a shot of Dot [[No Hugging, No Kissing|kissing her younger brother on the cheek]] and saying she loved him be cut out for broadcast because it "promoted [[Brother-Sister Incest|incest]]." One side-effect of this was the inclusion of numerous jabs at the [[Media Watchdog|Broadcasting Standards and Practices office]] at ABC in the show.
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** 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." ABC would not allow Dot to show any cleavage, even when she wore costumes where it would be anatomically impossible not to show it. When ABC dropped ''[[Re Boot]]'', the studio celebrated by stuffing Dot into an Elvira costume, and dedicating an entire episode to her new breasts ''(oh, and Evil Dead and horror movies in general also got a couple of nods)''.
*** 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 ''The Dragon's Graveyard'', which is considered [[Darker and Edgier|one of the best episodes]].
{{quote| Eric: This is all Venger's fault! We ought to do something about that guy!<br />
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** 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 season one, Christy Marx was also told that she had to re-use music from previous episodes, forcing her to find ways to justify re-using old music in new scripts. As a result, only about half of the music from season two is original, and even then, some of the new music is repeated only a few episodes later.
* ''[[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 season 3 due to [[Kids WB]] complaining about too much romance on the show. [[Official Couple|Scott and Jean]]'s relationship was spared though.
* During his tenure as head writer on ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'', [[J. Michael Straczynski]] constantly battled with [[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. (The [[
** Especially contentious was the ongoing debate over the Ghostbusters' secretary, Janine Melnitz. A child psychologist hired as a consultant by ABC felt the character was too cynical and abrasive. Her personality should be more supportive and [[Girls Need Role Models|"feminine"]], instead. The consultant also expressed concerns that her sharp, angular glasses might [[Viewers are Morons|scare children]] -- and yet, all the [[Grotesque Gallery|grotesque ghosts and monsters]] running around were a-ok. JMS acquiesced to one of ABC's demands, making Janine a Ghostbuster for an episode. The execs had felt young girls needed a positive female role model and saw this as an opportunity to do so.
** Other additions the executives wanted were more Slimer-centric episodes, and junior Ghostbusters, a [[Five-Token Band|group of children]] that [[The Load|followed the Ghostbusters on missions]], including a handicapped member. Both were attempts to pander to different age groups. Eventually, JMS simply quit out of frustration. After his departure, '''all''' of these changes came to pass, including altering Janine's look, personality, and voice. JMS would come back in Season 6 (though other jobs meant he could only do a few episodes). He [[Lampshaded]] the changes made to Janine in the episode "Janine You've Changed."
*** 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 End Credits you might as well write it off. Try watching ''[[The Breakfast Club]]'' on TV, really, try to. Three freakin' networks and they squeeze the end credits into a tiny box in the side (or bottom) of the screen.
* ''[[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.
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** Another positive effect occurred when a mixup over villain names forced the writers to introduce the Hobgoblin in season one rather than the Green Goblin, to match the toys that had been ordered. This allowed Hobgoblin to become an engaging character in his own right and a precursor to the more dangerous Green Goblin.
** The censorship standards led to The Punisher being pretty much castrated. He was purely non-lethal and pretty ineffective as a result. However, the telling of his origin (for those unaware, the brutal shooting of his wife and young children which obviously couldn't be shown) was incredibly effective. The only visual was a kite flying in the sky and at the sound of gunshots fell to the ground, landing in a puddle and forming the classic skull as it became soaked in water.
* 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| '''James Tucker:''' They wanted a super-up Superman. They didn't care how we did it, but they wanted him to be more of a badass. For me, I didn't want to alter our existing Superman that much. So along with Michael Jelenic, we came up with [[Send in
** More depressingly, Saturn Girl's season-long [[Convenient Coma]] and the near-disappearance of Phantom Girl seem to be the results of maximizing the [[Ratings]] for the target 8-to-11-year-old male [[Demographic]]:
{{quote| '''Stan Berkowitz:''' ... the network focus-grouped ''[[
* 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| '''Ted Turner:''' We have more cartoons than anybody: ''[[The Flintstones]], [[The Jetsons]], [[The Smurfs]], [[Scooby-Doo]]''. They're nonviolent. We don't have to worry that we're encouraging kids to kill each other -- like ''some'' of the other cartoon programs do.}}
** [[Fridge Logic|Which still doesn't make any sense]] because every single example he listed ''is'' violent, albeit in a more slapstick way. What's more the violence in those shows is ''imitatable'' as kids can't really shoot missles at each other.
* 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(I.E. in Big House Blues, they removed a scene of the dog-catching shaking his butt at Ren, because the execs thought it was "too feminine" and Stimpy's Invetion almost didn't get made because of nervous execs)
* ''[[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| '''[[Hates the Job, Loves
'''Male Executive:''' Uh, for "pee," could you substitute "whiz"?<br />
'''Lindsey Naegle:''' I don't know, that could upset the Cheez Whiz people.<br />
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*** This conversation also acted as both an inside joke and a [[Take That]] to the FOX executives, since they often don't pay the Voice Actors enough money, with several of them threatening to quit because of the low pay, and some actually managed to succeed temporarily. To sell the joke even more, [[The Other Darrin|Ned Flanders was voiced by Karl Wiedergott in this scene instead of his usual voice actor, Harry Shearer]]
** In "Natural Born Kissers," treasure-hunting Bart and Lisa dig up an alternate (and implausibly happy) ending for ''[[Casablanca]]''. The Old Jewish Man reveals he was one of the executives who insisted the happy ending be filmed, but he literally buried it after watching it.
*** He also apparently insisted on a "killing spree" ending to ''[[
** 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).
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*** That lasted all of 2 episodes! HA HA!
** They ''are'' however banned from ever parodying the Fox News crawl again.
* ''[[
** 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 {{spoiler|Jet's death}} is also due to this trope, as execs were against showing a teenager being violently murdered.
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* 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. (The episode remains censored to this day, even on DVD and the Internet.)
** "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]].
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* 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 are Morons|has supposedly made it so that little girls affiliate queens with evil and princesses with good.]]
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** 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-Out Dress|Pimped Out Dresses]] for all her friends is compromised by their [[Complaining About Things You Haven't Paid For|nitpicking]], despite the fact that [[Chekhov's Skill|most of them]] don't have any clue what they're talking about, and with Rainbow Dash offering absolutely no advice other than "[[Memetic Mutation|Make it 20% cooler]]." The [[Dark Reprise|second take]] on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSbXGsysAAk&feature=related the song in the episode] (to begin with based on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uwV1Wf8tUo another song about executive meddling]) even contains lines that make some sense in the context of the story but really work in such a satire: "Make sure that it stays within our budget." is an example of one of those lines. It makes sense in the story, because the ponies naturally don't have unlimited money to spend on the dress, and even moreso an irony, as they impose many lavish changes to their respective dresses, but still demand that "even if [Rarity] simply has to fudge it, make sure it stays within [the ponies'] budget". It also works in respect to the satire as well.<br /><br />As previously stated, executives have been mostly hands-off for the show, but one thing [http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/12/24/my-little-non-homophobic-non-racist-non-smart-shaming-pony-a-rebuttal/ mentioned] by [[Lauren Faust]] as a "requirement" was "to incorporate fashion play," which was handled by making it a matter of Rarity being an artist. The episode [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
** 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.
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