Editing You Can't Do That on Television (section)

== History ==
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=== Local television ===
''You Can't Do That on Television'' premiered on February 3, 1979, on CJOH-TV in [[Ottawa]]. It was a locally produced, one-hour, low-budget variety program with some segments performed live. The show consisted of [[Sketch comedy|comedy sketches]], [[music video]]s, and live phone-in contests in which the viewer could win prizes such as [[transistor radio]]s, [[record album]]s, [[model kit]]s, etc. The format also included performances by local [[disco]] dancers and special guests such as Ottawa-based cartoonist [[Jim Unger]]. Each week, the show took its "roving camera" to hangouts around town, recording kids' jokes or complaints about life, which were played on the following week's broadcast. The show also benefited from links with popular [[Top 40]] Ottawa radio station [[CFGO]]. For example, station personality Jim Johnson emceed the disco-dance segments and shared tidbits about the artists featured in music videos.

Veteran comedy actor [[Les Lye]] played numerous recurring characters and was initially the only adult to perform in the show's sketches. He was the only actor to appear for the entire series' run. Actress [[Abby Hagyard]], who played the maternal character "Valerie" opposite Lye's paternal role "Lance," joined the series in 1982. Occasionally, the older children in the cast (including [[Christine McGlade]], Sarah West or Cyndi Kennedy) played adult characters.

The show offered programming for children on Saturday mornings that made no attempt to be an [[educational television|educational program]]. The idea was successful, as (according to one episode) the show scored a 32 share of the ratings for CJOH in its 10:30&nbsp;a.m. Saturday time slot. The studio masters for the first-season episodes no longer exist, and all but three of the episodes from the first season were believed lost until early 2013, when copies of the missing episodes from off-air recordings were contributed by Roger Price and posted on [[YouTube]].

The format was similar to ''You Must Be Joking!'' and ''You Can't Be Serious'', children's sketch variety shows that Price created and produced for [[Thames Television]] in Britain from 1974 to 1978.

=== National television in Canada ===
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After a successful first season, a national [[Television network|network]] version of ''You Can't Do That on Television'' entitled '''''Whatever Turns You On''''' was produced for [[CTV Television Network|CTV]] and debuted in September 1979 (its hour-long [[pilot episode]] had aired in May). The show's creators shortened it to 30 minutes, removed local content, and added a [[laugh track]]. They replaced music videos with live performances from popular Canadian artists including [[Trooper (band)|Trooper]], [[Max Webster]], [[Ian Thomas (Canadian musician)|Ian Thomas]], Ottawa's own [[The Cooper Brothers|Cooper Brothers]] (one of whose members, [[Dick Cooper]], later became a writer for ''YCDTOTV'') and disco singer [[Alma Faye Brooks]]. [[Ruth Buzzi]] joined the cast playing many of the adult female characters, including a strict schoolteacher named Miss Fidt and the studio secretary Miss Take. In addition, the 22 children from the first season were trimmed down to seven: [[Christine McGlade]], [[Lisa Ruddy]], Jonothan Gebert, Kevin Somers, Kevin Schenk, Rodney Helal and Marc Baillon. Another first-season cast member, Elizabeth Mitchell, only appeared in the pilot episode. The show was placed in the 7:00&nbsp;p.m. timeslot on Tuesday nights, and some CTV affiliates opted not to carry the show, possibly because of concerns about its content. As a result, CTV cancelled the show in December 1979 following poor ratings after only 13 episodes.

In January 1981, production on ''YCDTOTV'' resumed, and a new set of episodes aired locally on CJOH through May 1981. The format of the 1981 episodes was similar to that of the inaugural 1979 season, but each episode featured sketches that revolved around a certain topic (something that carried over from ''Whatever Turns You On''). As disco's popularity had waned, the dancers were replaced by [[video game|video-game]] competitions.

At that time, Price and Darby tried to syndicate ''YCDTOTV.'' They edited each 1981 episode into a half-hour format similar to that of ''Whatever Turns You On''. Some scenes were reshot to remove any specifically Canadian content, and the half-hour syndicated edits became entirely sketch comedy. The 1981 season was rerun on CJOH in early 1982 in the half-hour syndicated format. To compensate for the removal of local content, Price and Darby created a new local show for CJOH titled ''Something Else'', which featured many of the ''YCDTOTV'' cast in a game show/variety format similar to that of ''[[The Price Is Right (franchise)|The Price Is Right]]''. The ''YCDTOTV'' team also made a pilot television film for [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] in 1981 titled ''Bear Rapids'' that was never picked up.

Four of the hour-long CJOH episodes from the 1981 season ("Strike Now", "Sexual Equality", "Crime and Vandalism", and "Peer Pressure") are available for public viewing on [[YouTube]]. The rest are only currently available in the half-hour edits.
[[File:TrooperLiveIn75.jpg|thumb|upright|The show featured live music performances, including the band Trooper.]]

=== Nickelodeon ===

==== Peak years ====
In 1981, the new American youth-oriented cable network [[Nickelodeon]] took an interest in ''YCDTOTV''. Nickelodeon originally aired several episodes in the edited half-hour syndicated format as a test run. The response was positive, and in January 1982, Nickelodeon began airing the entire edited season. By 1983, ''YCDTOTV'' was the network's highest-rated show.

Production on new episodes of ''YCDTOTV'' resumed full-time in 1982 in the half-hour all-comedy format, with Nickelodeon and CJOH as production partners. Over the next few years, the series was screened nationally in Canada. [[CTV Television Network|CTV]], the network CJOH-TV was affiliated with, broadcast the show on Saturday mornings between 1982 and 1990, with little publicity. However, ''YCDTOTV'' continued to expand its audience in the United States on Nickelodeon, where it initially aired five times a week and eventually every day. The series gained broader exposure in its native Canada in 1988 when it was added by the newly established youth-oriented [[YTV (Canada)|YTV]] cable channel. It was heavily promoted and aired daily during peak viewing hours.

Viewers in the United States were given the opportunity to enter the Slime-In, a contest hosted by Nickelodeon that flew the winner to the set of ''You Can't Do That on Television'' to be slimed. The contest was later replicated by Canada's YTV as the Slime Light Sweepstakes.

In 1983 at [[WGBH-TV]] in [[Boston|Boston, Massachusetts]], Roger Price created a version of ''YCDTOTV'' for American public television network [[PBS]] titled [[Don't Look Now (1983 TV series)|''Don't Look Now'']] (originally to be titled ''Don't Tell Your Mother!''). The show was similar to episodes from the 1979 season of ''YCDTOTV'', including music videos and several earlier ''YCDTOTV'' sketches and motifs (including a variation on the show's trademark green slime gag called "Yellow Yuck"). Despite high ratings, the series ended after its five-episode trial run in October 1983, possibly because of complaints from parents about its content. Nickelodeon was also concerned that if ''Don't Look Now'' was successful, it could mean the end of ''YCDTOTV''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=You Can't Do that On Television |url=http://members.shaw.ca/wtyo/ycdtotv.html |access-date=2016-04-20 |website=members.shaw.ca}}</ref> The series was believed lost until all five episodes surfaced in early 2013. They have been posted on [[YouTube]], excluding the copyrighted music videos.

Price created another show for Nickelodeon in 1985, the less successful ''[[Turkey Television]]''. It featured several main cast members of ''YCDTOTV'' including Les Lye, Christine McGlade, Kevin Kubusheskie and Adam Reid. By this time, McGlade, now in her twenties and eager to move on with her life, had moved to Toronto and was flying back to Ottawa for ''YCDTOTV'' taping sessions. ''Turkey Television'' also marked McGlade's debut as a producer, a career that she continued after leaving ''YCDTOTV'' in 1986. Another Price production using ''YCDTOTV'' cast members, ''UFO Kidnapped'', was made in 1983. Although the pilot aired on Nickelodeon, the series was not picked up.

==== Changing of the guard and controversies ====
By 1987, many of the veteran cast members such as Matthew Godfrey, Douglas Ptolemy, Vanessa Lindores and [[Adam Reid]] had grown too old for the show. Longtime host Christine McGlade ("Moose") had departed the previous year, as had [[Alasdair Gillis]] (who had been promoted to co-host with McGlade in 1985 before leaving toward the end of the 1986 season). Lisa Ruddy ("Motor Mouth"), McGlade's longtime sidekick on the show, left at the end of the 1985 season. Only five episodes were filmed for the 1987 season, tying with the 1990 season as the shortest during the show's 15-year run.

The episode "Adoption,"<ref>{{Citation|title=YCDTOTV adoption episode|url=https://www.bitchute.com/video/V5FvuKZ6JFMS/|language=en|access-date=2022-01-26}}</ref> was so controversial that it was banned after being shown twice.<ref>{{Citation |title=You Can't Do That on Television |date=1979-02-03 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078714/alternateversions |access-date=2016-02-29}}</ref> A "DO NOT AIR" sticker was placed on the master tape at CJOH.<ref>{{Citation |title=You Can't Do That on Television |date=1979-02-03 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078714/trivia |access-date=2016-02-29}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=OLD SCHOOL NICK |url=http://oldschoolnick.tumblr.com/page/10 |access-date=2016-03-01 |website=oldschoolnick.tumblr.com}}</ref> "Adoption" is the only episode that was banned in the United States. Co-creator Geoffrey Darby has stated that he felt the episode went too far, and that the writers were unaware of the sensitive nature of the material.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Klickstein |first=Mathew |date=2012-03-26 |title=So You Think You Can't Do That on Television? |url=https://www.vulture.com/2012/03/so-you-think-you-cant-do-that-on-television.html |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=Vulture |language=en}}</ref> In Canada, the "Divorce" episode was banned. However, the "Adoption" episode was shown with edits. In the sketch in which Senator Prevert calls the adoption agency to send his son back after using him to do chores all day, the line in which he calls the adoption agency officer a "damn bureaucrat" was excised.

In addition, Nickelodeon had removed the half-hour edits of the 1981 episodes of ''You Can't Do That on Television'' from its daily rotation, along with the 1982 "Cosmetics" episode.{{Citation needed|date=July 2007}} The 1981 episodes were set to air for the last time during a 1985-week-long promotion called "Oldies but Moldies," with contests in which viewers could win prizes such as "tasty, fresh chocolate syrup". Instead, the episodes continued to air until the end of 1987, but not often. Reportedly, this was because Nickelodeon's six-year contract to air the 1981 season expired in 1987. As Nickelodeon was beginning to aim for a younger demographic, and many of the 1981 episodes dealt with topics more relevant to teenagers (such as smoking, drugs, [[sexual equality]] and [[peer pressure]]), the network opted not to renew the contract. Nickelodeon allegedly removed the "Cosmetics" episode from rotation for the latter reason (although the "Addictions" episode from that same season was not dropped). By contrast, when Canada's YTV began airing the series in 1989, they continued airing the 1981 season as part of the package, as well as ''Whatever Turns You On'', which was never shown in the United States.

==== Final years ====
Roger Price moved to [[France]] following production of the 1987 season after being informed that Nickelodeon was not planning to order more episodes. Production was suspended for 1988. When Price eventually returned to Canada, he wanted to resume production of ''You Can't Do That on Television'' from [[Toronto]], but was convinced by the cast and crew to return to Ottawa and CJOH. Nickelodeon ordered more ''YCDTOTV'' episodes for the 1989 season. Auditions were held at CJOH in the spring of 1988, and taping began that fall. [[Amyas Godfrey]] and Andrea Byrne were the only child cast members to transition from 1987 to 1989. However, a few minor 1986 cast members returned for episodes, including Rekha Shah and James Tung.

Opinions regarding the 1989 and 1990 episodes of ''YCDTOTV'' are mixed among longtime fans of the show, particularly regarding the new episodes' increasing reliance on [[bathroom humor]] and more slime and water gags (which was supposedly at the request of Nickelodeon executives). The show did not completely sever ties to its past, as many former cast members reappeared during the 1989 season in cameo roles, most notably in the "Age" episode, which was hosted by Vanessa Lindores (who was slimed twice during it) and also featured cameos by Doug Ptolemy, Alasdair Gillis, Christine McGlade and Kevin Kubusheskie (who by that time had become a stage producer on the show). Gillis also appeared briefly in the "locker jokes" segment during the "Fantasies" episode, and Adam Reid, who by this time had become an official writer for ''YCDTOTV'', also appeared (and was slimed) at the very end of the episode "Punishment."

The show's ratings declined throughout 1989 and 1990. The network's desire to produce more of its own shows at [[Nickelodeon Studios|its new studios]] at [[Universal Orlando Resort|Universal Studios]] in [[Orlando, Florida]], coupled with low ratings, caused production of ''You Can't Do That on Television'' to officially end in 1990 after only five episodes (tying 1990 with 1987 as the shortest season of the series). Though ratings declined, Nickelodeon continued to air [[rerun]]s until January 1994, at which point it was only aired on weekends.

On October 5, 2015, Nickelodeon's sister network [[TeenNick]] brought the show back in reruns as the first program on [[The Splat (block)|The Splat]], its expanded classic-themed block. The airings began with the first two 1981 episodes, "Work" and "Transportation," marking the first time that those episodes had aired on American television in 30 years. However, only two additional episodes ("Christmas" and "Holidays" from the 1984 season) have been aired since. As of March 23, 2021, the 1981 season has been made available to stream on [[Paramount+]].

===International airings===
''YCDTOTV'' was aired in Australia with great success on [[ABC Television (Australian TV network)|ABC Television]] in the mid-1980s, beginning with 1981's "Work, Work, Work." It aired at 5:30 PM on weekdays until August 1987 when the initial run ended. After its first two runs, it was moved to a 7:00 AM weekday morning timeslot in 1989. It continued to run periodically on ABC Television for the next few years, mainly as a filler during the school holidays until the rights expired in the early 1990s. The show was aired in its entirety, including the final two seasons of 1989–90.

The series was also seen in European countries and reportedly in countries in the Middle East (with [[Arabic]] dubbing), although no French-dubbed version for distribution in either France or countries in the [[Geographical distribution of French speakers|Francophone world]] is known to exist. Nor were any local adaptations based on the ''YCDTOTV'' format known to have been made.

''YCDTOTV'' was also broadcast in several other countries, such as the United Kingdom (on the former satellite and cable children's network [[The Children's Channel]]), New Zealand (on [[TV3 (New Zealand)|TV3]]), Germany (on [[Armed Forces Network]] with the original English audio), Saudi Arabia (on the country's former English-language channel [[Saudi 2]]) and the Philippines (on [[RPN-9]]).

=== Parody ===
{{trivia|date=March 2024}}
''YCDTOTV'' has been occasionally referenced during episodes of ''[[Robot Chicken]]'', including some of the show's trademark gags, such as locker jokes, Barth's Burgery and green slime.

In the ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "[[Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High]]", [[Peter Griffin]] is slimed after saying "I don't know'". It was followed immediately by a still shot that is a direct reference to ''YCDTOTV'''s opening sequence, with the words "You Can't Do That on Television" written in red over a man's face. A later episode of the series was titled "[[You Can't Do That on Television, Peter]]", but contained no overt references to ''YCDTOTV''.

In the ''[[NewsRadio]]'' episode "The Song Remains the Same", Mr. James celebrates [[April Fools' Day]] (in February) by having Joe install the "trigger machines" from ''YCDTOTV'', and then tricks the cast into getting slimed and doused with water.

The "1981" episode of [[VH1|VH1's]] ''[[I Love the '80s 3-D]]'' features a segment on ''YCDTOTV'' that features [[Hal Sparks]], [[Alyson Hannigan]] and [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] all getting slimed after being tricked into saying "I don't know." [[Wil Wheaton]] is also slimed during the opening credits.

''YCDTOTV'' is also loosely parodied in the 2010 ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' episode "Glitter", with [[Cobie Smulders]]' character on the Canadian television show "Space Teens" making several references to the show. In reality, Smulders grew up a fan of the show.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Movie References |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078714/movieconnections?ref_=tt_ql_trv_6 |website=IMDB}}{{unreliable source?|date=November 2021}}</ref>

The ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' [[Saturday Night Live (season 47)|season 47]] episode hosted by [[John Mulaney]] features a humorous account of how green slime came to be introduced to ''YCDTOTV'' and ultimately Nickelodeon.<ref>{{Cite web |title='Saturday Night Live' Review: The Best and Worst of John Mulaney's Hosting Return |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2022/02/saturday-night-live-review-john-mulaney-1234702655/ |website=IndieWire|date=February 27, 2022 }}</ref>

=== Reunion ===
In July 2004, to celebrate the program's 25th anniversary, a reunion special called ''Project 131'' with the theme ''Changes'' was produced at CJOH-TV starring five members of the original cast. These included Brodie Osome, Marjorie Silcoff, and Vanessa Lindores (visibly pregnant at the time), Justin Cammy and Alasdair Gillis. It was directed by [[David Dillehunt]].

=== Proposed reboot ===
In August 2017, it was announced that ''You Can't Do That on Television'' would be getting a reboot. Original creator Roger Price would serve as executive producer, while Jimmy Fox of Main Event Media would develop the project.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Exclusive: You Can't Do That On Television is getting a reboot |url=https://www.avclub.com/exclusive-you-cant-do-that-on-television-is-getting-a-1798539646 |website=AV Club|date=August 29, 2017 }}</ref> However, Fox stated on their [[Twitter]] account on September 14, 2019, that the reboot had been called off.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fox |first=Jimmy |date=September 14, 2019 |title=Jimmy Fox on Twitter |url=https://twitter.com/iamjimmyfox/status/1172991613854871552 |access-date=March 11, 2021 |website=Twitter |language=en |quote=Sadly it is not. Nickelodeon was ready to develop a new version with us, but once it came time to make a deal between the rights holder and Nick it fell apart. Apparently, much of the original ownership contracts/files were lost in an Ottawa fire decades ago... no joke.}}</ref>