Top 10 Times Sitcoms Were Censored

The second episode of “The Office” features Michael Scott bringing everyone together for a seminar on diversity. A seminar, during which he does his best Chris Rock impression and articulates a plethora of cultural stereotypes. It isn’t an easy episode to watch because of how cringey things get, but that’s the point! It should make you laugh, cringe and think. But if you were watching an “Office” marathon on Comedy Central in 2021, you wouldn’t have laughed, cringed or thought during the episode - because you never saw it. As Newsweek reported at the time, the network removed it from rotation.

It was a national scandal when Janet Jackson’s nipple was accidentally exposed for a second during the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2004. But, back in 1965, NBC didn’t seem worried about nipples showing so much as they were concerned about belly buttons. Well, one belly button in particular, at least: that of the beautiful Barbara Eden who played the titular character on “I Dream of Jeannie”. While her midriff-exposing outfit wasn’t a problem, the network was adamant that her belly button be covered up at all times. We’re not sure why it was such a hot button issue (pun intended) - but the network censors were even willing to dole out fines should the policy not be adhered to.

While the early aughts were certainly a different time, it’s still difficult to forgive something like blackface airing on TV. We expect sitcoms of the 21st century to know better. Their intent was comedic but, as Tina Fey wrote in 2020, “I understand now that ‘intent’ is not a free pass for white people to use these images.” Fey wrote those words when requesting multiple episodes of “30 Rock” that used blackface be removed from streaming. Soon after, “Scrubs” creator Bill Lawrence did the same thing. Three episodes were removed and the offending moments were later edited out for any future airings.

Given how careful Disney is about protecting their brand image, you’re more likely to hear about them censoring a television episode before it makes it to our TV sets. But, sometimes, even the home of Mickey Mouse lets something through before changing their mind. Such was the case with the season one episode of “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody”, titled “Smart & Smarter”. The crux of the episode features Zack pretending to have dyslexia in order to get extra time to finish his tests at school. Well, turns out faking a learning disability isn’t something Disney wanted to be associated with. The episode only ever aired twice on the Disney Channel and has been omitted from Disney+.

Has there ever been a more innocent and non-controversial show than “Leave It to Beaver”? What could they have possibly done that would have warranted a censor, you ask? Well, the answer is they put an alligator in the toilet. Wally, with no aquarium in the vicinity, thought the next best place to house the small gator was the toilet tank. So, was the issue some kind of animal cruelty thing? Nope, it was some kind of toilet thing. Namely the fact that, back then, you literally couldn’t show a toilet or bathroom on television. In the end, an agreement was reached to only show the back of the tank, and with that, “Leave It to Beaver” became the first series to show a toilet on TV.

“Boy Meets World” was a staple of ABC’s “TGIF” Friday night lineup for seven seasons from 1993 to 2000. Due to its popularity, the entire series was also later rerun throughout most of the 2000s on the Disney Channel. Well, almost the entire series. While ABC gave the green light for every episode, there were three that the much-more-careful Disney Channel decided were too much for the network. Two of them were deemed too sexual in nature - including the prom episode in which Corey and Topanga almost have sex. Then there was the episode where Shawn begins to develop a dependency on alcohol - which the Mouse House Network also kept out of the rotation.

In this season four episode, Joey and Chandler are surprised to find free pornography on their television and resolve to never turn it off so as not to chance losing it. Despite the suggestive title and storyline - the episode is pretty tame. Besides the many references to the content on the television, there’s nothing overly explicit shown when the TV screen is visible to the camera. While America was okay with it, the UK was a little more sensitive to the content - or at least two channels in the UK were. Channel 4 refused to air the episode during its daytime schedule and Channel 5 edited out any shots of the television screen.

After more than 15 seasons and over 160 episodes, there are a lot of great “It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia” episodes to stream right now on Hulu. But, there are also five that aren’t available. Never scared of pushing boundaries, “It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia” has towed the comedic line on many occasions. However, in recent years, more efforts have thankfully been made to prohibit racist humor on TV. One particular episode of “It’s Always Sunny” features some of Dee’s skits - a number of which are racially insensitive. Other episodes see actors in blackface. Luckily, these have all been removed from Hulu.

Lucille Ball got pregnant as her show was filming its second season, so they incorporated said pregnancy into the sitcom’s story. This isn’t strange, as it happens quite often on television when an actress is with child. However, what was quite different from today is that on “I Love Lucy” they weren’t allowed to talk about her pregnancy. Actually, that’s not true - what they couldn’t do was say the word “pregnant”. We’re not kidding. The word was inappropriate for television in the 1950s and so the writers had to substitute various euphemisms and words with a similar-meaning without ever using the “P” word on the air.

The final season of “Seinfeld” left most fans laughing and crying - laughing at all the great jokes and crying that it was over. But, for some, it also made them angry. The episode “The Puerto Rican Day”, finds the four friends getting into their typical shenanigans amid the New York Puerto Rican Day parade. In particular, the portrayal of the mob of parade goers and Kramer accidentally burning the Puerto Rican flag upset many. Protests and angry letters led NBC to remove the episode from the summer repeat rotation, and it wasn’t until 2002 when the episode was returned to the syndication package - albeit with the flag-burning edited out.