Why "You Can't Do That on Television"?

[ugotslimed]

Does anyone know why the name "You can't do that on television" was chosen for the show? In the early days the material in it wasn't all that offensive but it was named that since the first episode. And who came up with the name anyway? Was there ever any pressure from Nickelodeon to change the name to something like "The Green Slime Show"? -actually I know people who still call it that.

[LastoftheGypsies]

Geoff Darby said that when they were trying to come up with a name for the show, one of the kids mentioned George Carlin's "words you can't say on TV" bit. They liked the idea, eventually modifying it to "You Can't Do That on Television". He said that Roger liked to tell people they came up with it because people would tell him "you can't do that on television!" when discussing his ideas for the show, but that the above story was indeed how the name was really arrived at.

Funny that you should mention the phrase "Green Slime Show", because also according to Darby, that was the actual title of the episode we refer to as "St. Patrick's Day", which introduced the trigger phrase concept.

[ugotslimed]

wasn't the recipient of the green slime in that one lisa over and over again? and wasn't it remade for whatever turns you on?
-incidentally, which version does everyone prefer?

[LastoftheGypsies]

It was, and it was. My personal opinion is that the original was better, but I'm sure someone out there disagrees....

[mcguinnfan]

I prefer the "Whatever Turns You On" version because it's shorter by half!

Neither of those episodes is, to put it politely, a highlight of the canon for me. The YCDTOTV "St. Patrick's" episode's cast doesn't even include Christine (although there is a very funny reference to her in one of the "traffic cop" sketches), and her absence is felt, as it seems to drag on and on...and on and on...with a lot of kids who are trying their best but are saddled with tiresome material ("What's the largest lake in Canada?" and the like, ad infinitum) and a lot of the usual contests and sponsor ads, which I don't think anyone (besides, on occasion, Christine and Marc Baillon, who if memory serves also isn't in this one) really ever could muster up much enthusiasm for. As for Lisa in both...well, as I've said before, Carole Hay and the producers deserve our undying gratitude for seeing her potential even in these early days and sticking with her, working to help develop the talent within her, because it was buried deeply within her at the time of these episodes!

This may seem like sacrilege to some who see the advent of green slime and the "I don't know" trigger as the greatest, most historic moment in the show's history...and I shouldn't end without saying that obviously I think the green slime was a great idea that led to a lot of great comedic moments later on, so there's something to be said for its legacy, because it had to start somewhere. And obviously, this is only one viewer's opinion; it is certainly not shared by Elizabeth Mitchell, a cast member that year, who according to this site called it her favorite episode ever (though she isn't in it). I'll be interested to know what other people think, but these episodes never have done much for me.

[LastoftheGypsies]

I guess the reason I prefer the original is the same reason I generally prefer the 79 episodes to WTYO-the first season had a very unpolished feel to it, and for some reason, that really appeals to me. WTYO was much more polished and, in my humble opinion, bordered on overacting at times, which is pretty much the opposite of my sense of humor. I think the unpolished feel of the 1979 (and to some extent, 1981) episodes was something that the show really missed later in its run. But I do think they made up for it in certain ways in the 89-90 episodes when they seemed to be thinking outside of the box once again-again, IMHO, the show was at its best in its first two and last two seasons, but I can understand why someone else would feel otherwise. Those episodes are not everyone's cup of tea.

[mcguinnfan]

I love the other two extant 1979 episodes, too, for much the same reason that you do, and I wish there were more of them out there. (I still hold out hope that there are, and that somebody living under a rock and/or unaware of the treasure he's sitting on will run across them someday and make them available.) I try not to get too involved with "rankings," but it's human nature, and the 1979 Episode Two would almost certainly be a Top Twenty for me, for that very reason. The unpolished, live, shoestring feel of it almost gives me chills every time I see it, and a lot of its best moments ("Tim, ya can't eat Mayor McCheese!"; "So...what are you gonna do with the records?" "Uh...listen to 'em"; Christine's frozen terror as she realizes she's forgotten her next line-probably not her favorite moment of all time, but still utterly charming and wonderful) are a direct outgrowth of the early show's format and qualities. I also agree that WTYO could be at times too polished, although it was still amazingly funny at its creative best, and the Pilot is another of my all-time favorite "YCDTOTV" episodes (to stretch a point); there is no other episode quite like it, of either show. And I like the 1989-90 episodes too; I'm really happy to see a lot of us here picking up on the edgy, "outside the box" charm of those seasons which you mention.

My problem with the concurrent green slime episodes is primarily that, instead of making the green slime a part of the joke, or even the punchline, it seems to me that the green slime was expected to be the joke. Definitely, to a lot of people, it probably was, but I have never been so enamored of the green slime in and of itself that it can withstand the absence of a funny idea behind it. The "Great Lakes"/"largest lake in Canada" motif is a real eye-roller for me, and the novelty of the green slime itself isn't quite enough to carry those bits, in my opinion. But I think you're absolutely right about the 1979 shows in general, at least what we still have of them.

[ugotslimed]

The best part of the episode for me is Lisa's delight-you'll have to forgive me because I don't remember which boy actors were playing opposite her, but even though she got the shaft for the rest of the episode-there is something devious about the way she says "just think, they might do that to you someday!" -when she is talking to the other kid. She sees the kid in the dungeon get slimed, and knows he's all chained up, and has lost his chance to get out of the dungeon because he answered the question wrong-but not only that-he got green slimed-something they were really presenting as gross and horrible-and she is just grinning at his misfortune. And she can't WAIT for it to happen to the other boy. It was a good early example of the delight the characters took in each others misfortune. Even though she quickly gets hers-and for the rest of the episode!-that moment with the devious look on her face is what sticks with me. If I was the other kid I would've been like "this girl doesn't wanna kiss me! She wants to see me get thrown into a dungeon and slimed! That's kinda scary"-I think it's also good early example of how the show portrayed girls as not being all sugar and ****e.

[LastoftheGypsies]

I actually agree as far as the St. Patrick's Day episode goes-it is my least favorite of the three we have, but I still think it has its moments (though I'll admit that my *favorite* moment of that episode has nothing to do with the comedy-it is the music video of Kenny Loggins). Episode Two is my favorite of the three, again, because of its unpolished, spontaneous feel-like almost ANYTHING can happen on the air (and, indeed, it can-two cast members make mistakes in the live segments in the episode).

[mcguinnfan]

The other thing I like about Episode Two is the sense you get of things still being kind of sorted out. There are a lot of different cast members in that one, and it seems like the producers didn't quite know yet exactly what each of them could do or what their strong points were. Christine is almost absent throughout the first fifteen minutes or so, as Cyndi, David and Tim carry the episode; it's almost like she gets called in from the bullpen at a certain point to take over. That makes for a pretty cool balance. It really is a fantastic ensemble performance that almost has the feel of an extended audition, and we're lucky to have it still available to us.