You Can't Do That on Television: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''Hi, and welcome to sort of a... musty episode of You Can't Do That on Television. The show that makes modern history every week by continually appalling its viewers.''|'''Christine "Moose" McGlade''', the show's host from 1979 to 1986}}

Canadian [[Saturday Morning Kids Show]] [[Sketch Comedy]], running from 1979 to 1990, and rerun on and later produced by [[Nickelodeon]]. Heavily influenced by ''[[Rowan and ~~Martins~~ Laugh In]]'', borrowing modified and age-appropriate versions of several of ''Laugh-In'' sketches (most obviously, the joke wall, redesigned as a set of locker doors; the habit of dumping buckets of water on cast members, and the announcer) and catch phrases.

Canadian [[Saturday Morning Kids Show]] [[Sketch Comedy]], running from 1979 to 1990, and rerun on and later produced by [[Nickelodeon]]. Heavily influenced by ''[[Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In]]'', borrowing modified and age-appropriate versions of several of ''Laugh-In'' sketches (most obviously, the joke wall, redesigned as a set of locker doors; the habit of dumping buckets of water on cast members, and the announcer) and catch phrases.

First introduced at CJOH Ottawa (a [[CTV]] affiliate) as a kids' variety show, the show's [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|wild success in America]] made it one of the defining shows of [[Nickelodeon]]'s history. It would run far longer on that network than it did in Canada, and the network's trademark green slime started with this show. The show's influence went beyond Nickelodeon, as homages have popped up everywhere from the sitcom ''[[News Radio]]'' (in one episode, the cast was doused with buckets of green slime and water) to ''[[Family Guy]]'' (an episode in the 2011-12 season is titled "You Can't Do That On Television, Peter").

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Brought [[Covered in Gunge]] to North America. And [[Alanis Morissette]]. No, really. The proof is [http://www.ycdtotv.com/cast/index.php?p=morissette here].

Now with its own [[You Can't Do That On Television ~~(TV)~~/Radar|Getting Crap Past the Radar]] page.

Now with its own [[You Can't Do That on Television/Radar|Getting Crap Past the Radar]] page.

* [[Actor Allusion]]: Of a sort. Host Christine McGlade made the mistake of mentioning her real-life nickname Moose to the producers; it was swiftly worked into the show.

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"Ten bucks. Each."<br />

"Roll the closing credits!"<br />

"That means... this is [[Just the Introduction To The Opposites]]!" }}

"That means... this is [[Just the Introduction to The Opposites]]!" }}

* [[Couch Gag]]: Before the opening, there was a graphic announcing that a regularly-scheduled show parody (i.e., ''Mr. Rogers: Neighborhood Pusher'', ''George Bush Shoots The Wrong Quayle'', ''The Cosby Kids Get Put Up For Adoption'', etc) will not be seen tonight and will be replaced by an episode of ''You Can't Do That On Television''.

** At the end, an announcer (played by Les Lye) would do a theme-relevant [[Brought to You By The Letter "S"]]. The show would then cut to him as he made a final gag about the show.

** At the end, an announcer (played by Les Lye) would do a theme-relevant [[Brought to You by The Letter "S"]]. The show would then cut to him as he made a final gag about the show.

* [[Covered in Gunge]]: Green slime, usually.

* [[Edited for Syndication]]: Two episodes on the American Nickelodeon version had parts cut:

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** "Fitness" (1989) - Amyas Godfrey as the "Fitness Genie" grants Rekha her wish of being "lighter" by making her glow. He also gives Rekha the chance to lose more weight by making her fatter, so she ''can'' lose "more weight."

* [[The Jimmy Hart Version]]: The [[Theme Tune]] is a sendup of "The William Tell Overture".

* [[Just the Introduction To The Opposites]]: The [[Trope Namer]]

* [[Just the Introduction to The Opposites]]: The [[Trope Namer]]

* [[Keep Circulating the Tapes]]: A DVD release has been imminent since at least 2003, but hasn't come to fruition and, following the CJOH fire, is most likely cancelled (see [[Missing Episode]] as to why).

* [[Lethal Chef]]: Barth, unabashedly. Yet for some reason the kids keep eating at his diner.

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* [[Panty Shot]]: Christine in a host segment where she's in a tennis outfit and suffers a broken leg. Of course, the dress has a pretty short skirt to begin with.

** In an earlier episode, Christine also had her skirt "blown up" Marilyn Monroe-style, though it didn't expose anything more than the pantyhose she was wearing.

* [[Pie in ~~The~~ Face]]: Not as ubiquitous as the green slime, but it popped up on a number of occasions. One episode (1981's "Drugs") was even built around the gag, equating the stupidity of hitting yourself with a pie to the stupidity of harming yourself by taking drugs.

* [[Pie in the Face]]: Not as ubiquitous as the green slime, but it popped up on a number of occasions. One episode (1981's "Drugs") was even built around the gag, equating the stupidity of hitting yourself with a pie to the stupidity of harming yourself by taking drugs.

* [[Sadist Teacher]]: A recurring character was a school principal that looked and acted like ''Hitler''.

* [[The Scottish Trope]]: "I don't know!"

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** In the "Enemies and Paranoia" episode, the word "Free".

* [[Self-Deprecation]]: Many of the jokes were about how awful/boring the show was.

* [[Shot At Dawn]]: A regular sketch involved one of the kids about to be shot by one. They often (but not always) escaped execution by tricking the commandant. The commandant also appeared in a recurring sketch with the kid [[Locked in ~~The~~ Dungeon]] (the source of the "fresh air" catchphrase above).

* [[Shot At Dawn]]: A regular sketch involved one of the kids about to be shot by one. They often (but not always) escaped execution by tricking the commandant. The commandant also appeared in a recurring sketch with the kid [[Locked in the Dungeon]] (the source of the "fresh air" catchphrase above).

* [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]]: The entire cast over time, and especially when they replaced ''everyone'' for the 1989 and 1990 seasons.)

* [[Vomit Discretion Shot]]: Whoever figures out what (or who) is in the burger in Barth's diner always chucks. Sometimes into buckets typically provided by said Barth. How else do you think he gets his "Special Sauce"?