Getting Crap Past the Radar/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

While ''[[Mork and Mindy]]'' (or rather, [[Robin Williams|its star]]) may be the [[Trope Namer]], [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]] has been going on ever since the beginning of television and is unlikely to stop as long as the censors are around, writers willing to mock them by letting the crap slip by them, and viewers who notice and put the instances on this website.

 

* [[Arrested Development (TV series)/Radar|Arrested Development]]

* [[Babylon 5/Radar|Babylon 5]]

* [[Hannah Montana/Radar|Hannah Montana]]

* [[Home Improvement (TV series)/Radar|Home Improvement]]

* [[Jessie/Radar|Jessie]]

* [[My Babysitter's a Vampire/Radar|My Babysitters a Vampire]]

* [[Victorious/Radar|Victorious]]

* [[Wizards of Waverly Place/Radar|Wizards of Waverly Place]]

 

* Prior to the late 1960s, there were very few (if any) network TV shows that got away with even the mildest of profanities. Even "hell" and "damn" would be bleeped if included in news reports, while scripts rarely (if ever) had those words. The only times "hell," "damn" and "ass" were allowed on TV were in religious contexts (such as, on a locally-produced TV program where a lay reader is quoting directly from the Bible, or a charismatic preacher referencing Hell in his sermon).

* ''[[Mork and Mindy]]'', as noted above.

*** And for a visual example from that same episode, see the above picture. Hell, the censors must have been on vacation for that episode. It was so blatant, it even made Robin Williams, our beloved Trope Namer, uncomfortable.

** A good example of the "bland script/prurient execution" method was a single line in one early episode: "Wait 'til you see my end table." As always, context is king -- immediately before this line, Mork has just shown her a stool shaped like a giant foot, and had predictably identified it as his "foot stool".

** The scene with Robin Williams in cheerleader uniform - [[Lightmare Fuel]] too.

** Robin Williams is part Scottish, don't forget: he'd seriously know. And share the gag.

* Game Shows: Lots of examples:

** ''[[Family Feud]]'': Many times, becoming particularly prevalent during the Steve Harvey era that began in 2010.

* ''[[The Bozo Show]]'': An urban legend persists that a child used the phrase "Cram it, clown!" on the show, with a similar retelling having the mal-behaving child uttering harsh profanity. Each version of the story has the child uttering the "Bozo no-no" after playing a progressive-skill game for a cache of prizes -- called "The Grand-Prize Game," with increasing value depending on the child's success, with a high-valued grand prize offered for successfully completing all attempts) -- the child missing on one of his attempts (the point at which failure occurred varies, most often on the first try for the big prize, in which case nothing would be won), and the child venting his frustration after being handed an undesirable [[Consolation Prize]], usually a towel with Bozo's likeness or a cheap balsa-wood airplane. Snopes.com doubts whether this happened, stating that the tellings vary widely and that because it aired live in most markets the footage of such an event would be [[Lost Episode|lost]].

* ''[[ER]]'': In the eighth-season episode "On the Beach" (an episode documenting one of the last days of his life after suffering from an inoperable brain tumor), Dr. Mark Greene loses his balance while getting out of bed and falls over, after which he screams out a word that suspiciously sounds like "SHIT!!!" (Edwards was leaving the series, and his character dies in a later episode from the cancer, which has by now spread throughout his entire body.)

* ''[[Schindler's List]]'': When the 1993 Academy Award-winning movie (the biopic on the German businessman who forsakes his Nazi Party leanings to save more than 1,000 Jews from death) first aired on NBC, it was aired unedited, unlike virtually all movies featuring harsh profanity, sex and nudity. Although a sex scene was edited, appearances of completely naked women (Jews who had been stripped of their clothing by Nazi soldiers) and utterances of the word "fuck" were left intact, marking firsts (if not one of the firsts) in American television. Although it gained a TV-MA rating by NBC, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) criticized NBC's decision to air the movie, contending at first that NBC had fallen to a new low by allowing the film to air with its nudity, violence and profanity, adding that airing the film was an insult to "decent-minded individuals everywhere" (he later relented on some of his comments, although he thought the movie should have been aired at a different time). PBS has also shown the movie in its original theatrical form.

* ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' has topless women appear uncensored many, many times. Add to that all the dirty jokes. But in one of Terry Gilliam's animations, the word "cancer" was considered too offensive and was, rather obviously (the narrator's voice changes dramatically) changed to "gangrene".

{{quote|'''Logan:''' ''(to a bathrobe-clad Charisma Carpenter)'' Can Dick and Beaver come out to play?}}

** Another notable example is that several characters in different episodes use a hand gesture known as "the shocker", whose meaning is commonly summed up with the phrase, "two in the pink, one in the stink". Veronica even tries the gesture, but messes it up, and Weevil corrects her. "Shocker." "No, that's scout's honor. You have to--" "Never mind."

* The [[Britcom]] [[Open All Hours]] does this ''all the time''. It happens so often that the show is immensely devalued if not able to understand it. Since the main character, Arkwright, is a somewhat mean, miserly old grocer, "large white loaves" and "Granville's two friends" have in particular become [[Unusual Euphemism|Unusual Euphemisms]] for his fiancée's breasts.

* An episode of ''[[Eastenders]]'' had Dirty Den addressing a pair of police officers as "cuntstables" with just enough emphasis on the first syllable to get it on the air while still being obvious. However, although it got past the Censors, it didn't get past the British viewing public, who complained vociferously.

** Then there was the "Sofa King" commercial from the season 32 episode hosted by Shia [[La Beouf]] with musical guest Avril Lavigne <ref> This was the episode that had the "Dear Sister" digital short that not only became a [[Funny Aneurysm Moment]] two days later with the Virginia Tech shooting, but became [[Memetic Mutation]] following the video's deletion from [[YouTube]] for copyright reasons</ref>. Say it fast.

** And the conclusion of one of its Celebrity Jeopardy skits which had Sean Connery's final answer being "Buck Futter". In fact, Connery would often invert this trope with his insistence on reading the genuinely mundane categories as something obscene.

{{quote| Once a lady's been introduced to Colonel Angus, she'll settle for nothing less!}}

*** It gets better. When Colonel Angus gets drummed out of the service, he's forced to go by his real name: Enal.

* ''[[Bones|"Cluck you! Cluck you!"]]''

*** They did that one on Married... With Children years ago.

** How about Blair's fantasy in a season two episode? She is shown sitting in Chuck's limo while he kisses his way down her body. Eventually he disappears below her waistline and we get a close-up of Blair's face in complete exstacy. All while the song "''Going Down''" plays. And then Dorota walks in and comments "Remember, God always watching."

** One early episode has Gossip Girl referring to the situation as a "fustercluck."

{{quote| '''Georgina:''' Blair locked me out. And judging by the size of the sock on the doorknob I didn't want to knock.}}

* In the season 2 finale for ''[[Chuck]]'', Casey says "Chuck me."

{{quote| '''Gomez''' ''(about the new neighbors)'': It's our turn now. They won't see US for three days.}}

* Simon Groom on [[Blue Peter]] : 'What a beautiful pair of knockers'.

{{quote| '''Mr. Monroe:''' You can be the alternative family!}}

** There is also a rather interesting moment during the first episode of season 3:

'''Gordy:''' Ummm, I can't answer that, due to the fact that I'm 40. }}

** There is Suzie's habit of wanting to share lockers with whoever her current boyfriend is, which is treated akin to moving in together as adults.

* From [[Leave It to Beaver]], how the hell did "Beaver Cleaver" make it past the censors?

** Except the slang goes back to at least the twenties.

* The BBC talent show ''The Slammer'' (which, as with many CBBC programmes, is written more for [[Parental Bonus|adults than children]]) gets a few adult jokes past censors. One of the acts was a young Michael Jackson impersonator, and one of the viewers was approached by the presenter for his views on the act's dance moves. The child replied, 'exotic', leading the presenter to ad-lib as a reference to one of the fake prison's guards, 'Exotic dancing? Mr. Burgess likes ''exotic dancing''.'

** That and the fact that shows produced for the Canadian market are far ''less'' censored than those produced for the US market.

* An episode of ''[[The Real Hustle]]'' did this unintentionally. Offensive language is usually bleeped or cut from the programme so it can be broadcast before 9pm. The first series had a con in which two of the presenters played a couple [[We Need a Distraction|arguing so a third presenter could steal from a jewellers']]. One of the arguing presenters slapped the other, swore and walked out. The scene was then shown another twice as the voiceover explained how they'd stolen a watch, on each occasion the censors failed to realise what she said. The 'best of' episode which showed the scene again did bleep it.

* A ''[[60 Minutes]]'' piece about [[Lady Gaga]] included film from her concert, and it appears that no one noticed a "WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?" sign in the background (or at least hoped it'd be too blurry to read).

* Bethenny from ''[[Real Housewives Of New York City]]'' mentioned not being into social networks, like "Twatter".

** Second is when Sam mentions Ashley should be getting ready to have a shower and Becky starts running up to his room.

* Done blatantly in the X-Files' second season episode "Excelsius Dei". The episode itself started out in an convalescence home, with two old men hitting on a stern young female nurse. She enters a room, when she is pressed down and strapped to a stretcher by an invisible force. We later learn that she was actually RAPED by this invisible force.

* In one episode of ''[[Modern Family]]'', somebody calls Phils and, thinking that he's running an escort service selling his wife and daughter, asks if "the carpet matches the drapes". Phil, [[One Dialogue, Two Conversations|thinking he's talking about buying a house]], responds accordingly.

* A re-run episode of rock music show ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' from 1978 opens with BBC music presenter Annie Nightingale sitting at a desk. Pinned to the wall behind her are a multiplicity of rock posters and gig flyers. She is smiling happily. All we can see above and to the right of her head is the one word, in masive font, "COCKS". She maked the show introduction as if nothing had happened, and straight to a live set by Siouxie and the Bandshees. The camera returns to the presentation desk and pulls out a little, revealing the full word is a band name "THE BUZZCOCKS".

 

[[Category:index]]

[[Category:Radar]]