In the debut of TV Land Confidential, stars and producers recall interference and censorship by network executives. In this episode, the foul language of "Soap", a couple sharing a bed in "My Three Sons" and the sexual tension of "Three's Company". Also, Barbara Eden's bare midriff on "I Dream of Jeannie" and much more.moreless
Jaleel White makes a very rare appearance in this episode. He is known for hardly ever appearing on talk shows or any kind of show where he talks about his experiences on Family Matters.
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In the 1950s, TV networks were so conservative that they wouldn't allow couples to share a bed because they felt it would imply that they were going to have sex.
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Don Grady talks about wanting to use a double bed and not a twin bed. He called someone from ABC to watch Bewitched so they could use a double bed on My Three Sons.
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Debbie Allen: The writers invented a story about a young girl with an athlete who is HIV positive. The network went ballistic.
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Jay Johnson: What they were doing was arguing about the hell's and damn's when the word "horny" had been introduced. So "horny" get's through as they make a deal for how many hell's and damn's.
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Tom Bosley: The very first show that we did when they went on the air, there was a scene where Anson Williams is in the washroom of Arnold's showing Ron Howard how to disconnect a girl's bra using a radiator. They took us off the air in Dallas in the middle of the show.
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Soap:
Highlighted is the infamous Newsweek article about the episode about a romantic scene in a Church. It caused the show to almost never even be aired.
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Family Matters:
Yes, there was a network censoring issue with Family Matters and it had to do with Steve Urkel. Apparently, as he grew older and puberty started to take its course, the tight pants he would wear began to be too revealing, so Urkel's wadrobe eventually became more casual.
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I Dream Of Jeannie:
What else? Jeannie's famous navel is the focal point of this segment of the episode. Barbara talks about how her navel did occasionally "pop out" during an episode or two, despite the network's over-sensitive desire for it to be covered up. Also interesting is that, because of the big buzz it made, the producers of Laugh-In wanted to have Barbara on the show and show off her navel, but ABC was mortified of that idea and disapproved.
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