Things you DON'T see on tv today but you could in the past

[bb]

Things you could see on television years ago ( say before 1990 )
but you cant/dont see on tv anymore...except of course in reruns.

I was talking to a guy yesterday who used to work in tv and we both came up with this...

*cigarette ads ( banned in 1971 )

*skoal ads ( banned in 1986 )

*married couples sleeping in seperate beds

*toilets ( not til Leave it to beaver )

*actors actually smoking and enjoying cigars/cigarettes..not just puffing but long drags

*African-Americans being shown as not having all their smarts
( many old movies from the 30s and 40s are guilty of this )

*gay characters with the name "bruce" ( taboo after the 1970s ).

*local kids shows ( used to be on many of channels but few if any exist anymore )

*actors drinking and enjoying a beer on tv

*"..the following program is brought to you in living color on NBC"..

*those network promos that used to come out every fall
example: "you and me and ABC", " NBC...Just watch us now" or
"We got the touch..CBS"

*many old sitcoms/drams from the 50s

*children drinking soda on tv ( now taboo, many soft drink companies still use kids in the ads but rare do you see them drink a Coke or Pepsi )

*stars doing commericals ( dont see as many today )

*game shows featuring the Spegial catalog( I know I mis-spelled that ) 80609 (?) this place still around?

*pay tv over the air ( channel sends a scambled picture and you have a decoder on your set that allows you to watch , only way some folks could see uncensored films and many sporting events
before they could get cable.

*primestar ( now Direct TV ), ok this was in the 90s

anything else?

[shocolah]

Not done anymore:
Husband comes home and says, "HI HONEY, I'M HOME!"

Not done yet:
Someone sitting on the toilet, although I have seen men
standing up at a urinal

New to TV (not done back then):
Buttcracks being shown (SNL, NYPD Blue), cellphones cellphones cellphones.

[cablejockey]

This is an interesting topic. When I'm watching an old show set in a police station or newsroom, I notice the absence of computers. Everyone is using typewriters which looks odd. The phones look so different with dials and ringers. Also missing on old programmes are microwaves, junk food and fast food like pizza. Oddly too, old tv shows hardly ever showed people watching tv or having one in their house!

[dawsongirl]

Originally posted by bb
*game shows featuring the Spegial catalog( I know I mis-spelled that ) 80609 (?) this place still around?

To go along with that, game show announcers reading off a huge list of products that contestants got at the end of the program. Turtle Wax, Lee Press on Nails, etc.

Also live ticket plugs or calls for contestants (if you'd like to be a contestant on Family Feud...) Announcers really don't do much anymore.

OH...Celebrities on game shows smoking.

[Mysty Eyes]

Originally posted by shocolah
Not done yet:
Someone sitting on the toilet, although I have seen men
standing up at a urinal

Actually the scifi show Lexx has had a few episodes where they show people sitting on the toilet. You first see them fiddle with the waistband, then a shot of bare leg, then they sit. Of course you see nothing; they always have on a long shirt or something. It's all very tame and non-offensive, and yes, necessary for the storyline.

As far as things no longer seen:

Trading stamps... you don't see them in ads nor on shows, such as the Brady Bunch. Trading stamps have pretty much, if not completely, disappeared from existence so of course they are not on TV.

[bb]

Though not a tv show it has been seen many times on tv, the movie "Fun with Dick and Jane" from 1976 featured a scene of Jane Fonda actually using the bathroom and TALKING TO HER HUSBAND AT THE SAME TIME WHO WAS IN THE BATHROOM WITH HER !!! No big deal now but it was much talked about then.

I remember reading here someplace that HBO's prison drama "OZ" is the first tv show to feature someone actually using the bathroom (you can see what he is doing ). I remember coming across this scene channel surfing on vacation a few years ago ( HBO was reruning this ), its pretty gross.

Trading stamps: believe it or not they are still around. Some supermarkets still give S&H green stamps though nowhere near as many as in the past.

few more things I'll add...

*soda shops ( my hometown I was told had 10 of these back in the 50s- even country singer Patsy Cline worked at the one that was near my house before she hit it big. None exists anymore )

*drive in movies eg: Brady Bunch ( very few exist anymore )

*downtown department stores ( in some big cities like New York and Philadelphia still around of course like Macys but in most cities ( big and small )thanks to Wal-Mart, Target, shopping malls- many of them have either gone out of business or moved to the suberbs ).

*at the end of the shows you only saw the credits and hear whats coming up next. Not some spilt screen featuring what coming up next while the other half shows the credits.

and last...

*remember when local tv stations announced their call letters?
Now its pretty much just "NBC4" , "Fox31", "ABC7" , "UPN27", you get the picture. Plus back then you didnt have some logo on the bottom of the screen.

Guess they want to be sure you know what you are watching.

[Plata]

Originally posted by bb
Though not a tv show it has been seen many times on tv, the movie "Fun with Dick and Jane" from 1976 featured a scene of Jane Fonda actually using the bathroom and TALKING TO HER HUSBAND AT THE SAME TIME WHO WAS IN THE BATHROOM WITH HER !!! No big deal now but it was much talked about then.

Another thing on TV that was controversial or a big deal, but not a big deal anymore was when Babara Eden always had her belly button showing on I Dream Of Jeannie. Now it's not such a big deal when they show that sort of thing in shows. How times have changed, huh?

[winkwilliams]

I was shocked when I ran across an "All in the Family"rerun and heard him use the term spearchucker and call meathead a polak.(sp?) I also recall him and Meathead fighting about Nixon in what I think where episodes made before Watergate was exposed.
Can you imagine Frasier talking about the Florida debacle with him and Niles debating whether it was stolen by Bush or not? Or Rachel calling Phoebe a racially insulting name? TV is much tamer in that respect these days. The only show that has any teeth is the Simpsons and they can get away with it because it's a cartoon. I would love to see more socially relevant topics on TV.
Is it my imagination or are the networks turning into dumping grounds for cheapo 'reality' stuff , The Bachelor, Spy TV and the rest of that nonsense, and leaving cable to clean up with quality original programming?

[joan davis fan]

One thing you dont see on tv at all anymore are AIDS jokes.
Back in the 80s you had Andrew Dice Clay, Eddie Murphy, Sam Kennison telling them.

I believe it was around the same time as the death of Ryan White when many comedy stars stopped telling them though you can still hear some of them on the radio depending on where you are.

[17Mar59]

Back then:"Live from Television City"
"Filmed (or taped)in front of a live audience"
Jack living with Chrissy,Janet and Cindy and Janet
and Terri and Janet being considered risque
Hummable theme songs
Monday Night Football actually FUN to watch with
Dandy Don Meredith,Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford
SNL actually being funny
"HEEEERRRREEEEE'SSSSS JJJJJOOOOHHHNNNYYY!!!!"

[DetectiveGriffin]

They don't turn near enough stuff into a saturday morning cartoon anymore. Man, back in my day if a show was IN, it was a cartoon. I miss the good old days. I could always rely on Mork and Fonzie doing some silly stuff. <G>

[pontoon]

...that COOL NBC peacock! And when the announcer comes on and says..."The following program is being presented in Living Color"! 'Ding Ding Ding'!

pontoon

[Titania]

One thing I havent seen recently is the adds w/ celebrities talking about their library cards.
Also you dont see game shows giving away Turtle Wax and stuff like that.
And copyrights are so much stronger now that brand names are either strongly endorced or entirely eliminated.

[Dude111]

I dont see GOOD STUFF on TV anymore and its very sad.....

[Edward216]

Originally Posted by bb

Things you could see on television years ago ( say before 1990 )
but you cant/dont see on tv anymore...except of course in reruns.

I was talking to a guy yesterday who used to work in tv and we both came up with this...

*cigarette ads ( banned in 1971 )

*skoal ads ( banned in 1986 )

*married couples sleeping in seperate beds

*toilets ( not til Leave it to beaver )

*actors actually smoking and enjoying cigars/cigarettes..not just puffing but long drags

*African-Americans being shown as not having all their smarts
( many old movies from the 30s and 40s are guilty of this )

*gay characters with the name "bruce" ( taboo after the 1970s ).

*local kids shows ( used to be on many of channels but few if any exist anymore )

*actors drinking and enjoying a beer on tv

*"..the following program is brought to you in living color on NBC"..

*those network promos that used to come out every fall
example: "you and me and ABC", " NBC...Just watch us now" or
"We got the touch..CBS"

*many old sitcoms/drams from the 50s

*children drinking soda on tv ( now taboo, many soft drink companies still use kids in the ads but rare do you see them drink a Coke or Pepsi )

*stars doing commericals ( dont see as many today )

*game shows featuring the Spegial catalog( I know I mis-spelled that ) 80609 (?) this place still around?

*pay tv over the air ( channel sends a scambled picture and you have a decoder on your set that allows you to watch , only way some folks could see uncensored films and many sporting events
before they could get cable.

*primestar ( now Direct TV ), ok this was in the 90s

anything else?

Yes the premier episode of Leave It To Beaver showed a toilet (well part of it anyways) but the network would only allow the show producers to show the toilet tank but NOT the toilet bowl. Camera shots were carefully done and you never see the toilet bowl, the network believed it would be offensive to viewers to see it. And I agree, they were probably right about that.

Ed.