Taboo TV That's Become Tolerable

It seems that almost anything goes on television these days. Words that warrant having your mouth washed out with soap, revealing outfits, subject matters that make you blush..it is all out there. Whether it is 11:00 in the morning or 11:00 at night, it doesn't seem to matter. Kids are being exposed to more inappropriate content than ever before and parents are at a loss. On January 1, 1997, the parental ratings went into effect. This was supposed to help monitor what your family could watch without the fear of being exposed to "bad" grown-up stuff. However, if you want your children to remain naive and innocent, the best thing to do is probably pop in a Sesame Street DVD or switch to their favorite DVRed kids show and hope for the best.

It wasn't always like this. Decades ago, there was a time when everyone could watch television and no one would feel offended or morally molested. Television was a happy, upbeat escape. Families all got along, no one was divorced or involved in a steamy affair and the vernacular was filled with "Golly gee" and "I love you." Ok, maybe it wasn't all that cheerful and black and white (though, come to think of it, television started in actual black and white), but it certainly wasn't as dark and realistic as what is shown today.

You can try to shield yourself from reality by watching television, but sometimes, what is shown on television is even scarier than real life. Unfortunately, this is just a sign of our changing times. Everything is accessible; the good, the bad and the totally morally incomprehensible.

Here is a brief history of when our eyes were opened to what was once considered "taboo" and what is now considered just fine and dandy.

Would you ever think that there would be something wrong with showing a toilet on television? A plain, simple toilet. Nothing floating in the toilet, no insinuation about what goes into a toilet, just a toilet. This is fact, not fiction. The video above, from TV Tidbits, takes us through the history of the toilet on TV. The first episode of Leave it to Beaver was almost cut because there was a toilet in the background of one of the scenes. This was in 1957 and the network compromised by allowing them to show just the toilet tank. Jack Parr left his job as the host of The Tonight Show for a month because a joke he had made, with a toilet in it, was deemed inappropriate; and that was no laughing matter. For those of you who remember and watched The Brady Bunch, did you ever notice that the six kids shared a bathroom, but that there was no toilet in that bathroom? How did all of those people live in that house without a toilet? That would have made an interesting episode. And the first time you could hear a toilet flush on television, it was 1971 and the show was All in the Family.

Hard to believe that something so innocent caused such controversy. These days, no one blinks an eye if there is a scene with someone sitting on a toilet... go figure.

Sex and Same Sex

Was there really a time when the subject of sex wasn't allowed to be discussed on TV? Let's be real—sex is everywhere, all of the time. And let's just say, for arguments sake, that sex after you are married is the only acceptable form of sex. Did you know that even married couples couldn't share a bed on television? I Love Lucy was famous for having Lucy and Ricky sleep in separate beds. It is quite the miracle that they produced Little Ricky! Though, in 1947, before I Love Lucy, there was a 15 minute show called Mary Kay and Johnny. Like Lucy and Desi, they were also married in real life. For some reason, their single, marital bed was allowed on primetime television.

The first gay couple made their appearance on network television in 1975. The Norman Lear production was titled Hot/Baltimore and it was based on an off-broadway show. In 1991, L.A. Law caused quite the controversy when they aired the first girl on girl kiss; it was between Amanda Donohue and C.J., the bisexual lawyer. They were talking about that scene around the water cooler for days and months to come.

NYPD Blue, the police drama which began airing in 1992 was notorious for its provocative scenes involving sex and nudity. The FCC has a blast fining them, but people loved the show.

Pregnancy and Abortions

The word pregnant seems innocent enough. But, in the 1950s, it was as forbidden to say as a four letter word. You could say that you were in a "family way," but never pregnant. You were "expecting," you were "with child"...Lucy and Ricky told the world they were having a baby in a song. Seems kind of silly now, considering that revealing you are pregnant to the world has become an Instagram sensation. Additionally, there are whole television series about pregnancy, including MTV's 16 and Pregnant and Teen Moms, reality series about young women who become pregnant and their journey as mothers through birth, child rearing, relationships and life.

As for the flip side of pregnancy, having an abortion wasn't even legal until the Roe v Wade decision in 1973. Some still wonder why a woman's right to choose ended up in the courts, but that is for another discussion. The soap opera Another World was ahead of its time in 1964; Worked into a storyline was the first illegal abortion on television. In 1972, only months before the historical decision came to pass, Bea Arthur's forty-seven-year-old character on Maude, found herself pregnant. She and her husband felt she was too old to have a healthy baby, so they decided not to keep it. Many television stations decided not to air that episode and some dropped the series altogether.

Bad Words

The words you can and cannot say on television have changed with the times. In the "golden age" of television, you couldn't even get a way with a "Hot damn" or "Go to hell!" You would have been taken off the air. There have always been those occasional late night live show slip ups. An f-bomb that got through the cracks, a S#!% that wasn't bleeped, but they weren't intentional and made a lot of little kids who were up late watching TV giggle. Way back in 1972, the comedian George Carlin came out with the routine, "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television," and it got him arrested. Though, to this day, you can still not say those words on television without incurring the wrath of the FCC.