You Can't Do That On Television

[grundle]

"You Can't Do That On Television" is a sketch-comedy TV series that was made in Canada and aired in the U.S. on Nickelodeon in the 1980s. The show starred character actor Les Lye, who played all of the adult male roles - and there were dozens of them. Abby Hagyard played all of the adult female roles. At least five children appeared in each episode, and they always played themselves. Some of the children were on the show long term and appeared in many episodes over the years (such as Christine McGlade, Lisa Ruddy, Alasdair Gillis, Adam Reid, Vanessa Lindores, and Doug Ptolemy) - others appeared in only a few (such as Alanis Morissette, who appears below in the episodes "Pop Music" and "Enemies and Paranoia"). The show portrays many of its adult authority figures as worthy of being mocked, whether it be because they're incompetent, evil, corrupt, or power hungry. Anyone who said "I don't know" would have green slime fall on them, and anyone who said "water" would have water fall on them. The series was created by Roger Price, who wrote the script for every episode.

The show has lived up to its title, as it has not been regularly shown on TV since the early 1990s. I'm not sure if this is due to copyright issues, or perhaps because the people in charge of running TV today consider the show to be offensive (one of the regular sketches consisted of a south-American military official who took immense pleasure in executing children in front of a firing squad). I will say that I grew up watching this show, and it has not had any negative effects on me. On the contrary, it made me think about important issues (as is shown in the titles of the episodes, such as "Sexual Equality," "Smoking," "Bullying," "War," and "Divorce"), and gave me an appreciation for what the medium of television is capable of when it's done at its very finest. The fact that the show was so incredibly low budget (all of the children wore their own clothes from home) shows that one not need spend huge sums of money in order to create gut-busting humor.

Unfortunately, the show has never been released on DVD. The website tvshowsondvd.com currently lists it at as being the 8th most requested show among all shows that have never been released on DVD, as well as being the 78th most requested show of all time, so we can't blame lack of demand for its non-release. Hopefully this situation will be rectified.

Here's a bunch of episodes:

"Transportation" - 1981

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuv8w5vBQRg

"Dating" - 1981

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvQrX3oaJqQ

"Sexual Equality" - 1981

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62tULt6XvRQ

"Personal Hygeine" - 1981

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a5EMi9TGYk

"Smoking" - 1981

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3CAz5rPn2Q

"Addictions" - 1982

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJsyaDBqsBc

"Bullying" - 1982

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gBo-5ViklA

"Heroes" - 1982

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ehrhSAgRcI

"Fears and Growing Up" - 1982

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIuytXkvbDE

"Pets" - 1983

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSbr9F9MlhE

"Rules and Regulations" - 1983

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MygMCnf-CIU

"Manners or Bad Habits" - 1983

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZddpCcNcO98

"Medicine" - 1983

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0WUWq_lnQg

"Future World" - 1983

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W114VcU76y0

"Nature" - 1983

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfptJDs5HA8

"Body Parts" - 1984

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SpI5rsxvn4

"Literature" - 1984

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tem_uYtOH6A

"Holidays" - 1984

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFJq2XUTqSU

"Politics" - 1984

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyJfwXuo6UY

"War" - 1984

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHOJtajCADk

"Divorce" - 1984

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc6szk5qWLQ

"Wildlife and Animals" - 1985

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srxh4pv_pi8

"Outer Space" - 1985

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7md2mQJiOE

"Fairy Tales, Myths, and Legends" - 1986

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHXkd-GV_oM

"Pop Music" - 1986

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRXAQ1VFdYQ

"Country" - 1986

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdquAVKDRTg

"Enemies and Paranoia" - 1986

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP-DazvugHE

"Censorship" - 1986

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl2jXfwV4j8

"Poverty and Unemployment" - 1986

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVYjCmpWKzo

"Adoption" - 1987

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jb_h0_dvzg

[ImaginaryMary]

I was just talking about that show today

[BWheelz54]

That brings back so many memories. One of the first shows my brother and I watched when cable came into our home. I remember twisting the plastic cable box dial to Nickelodeon to tune into the program. Was this also the one with the green slime?