"You Can't Do That on Television" (1979) TV series 1979-1990

Writers:

Derek Diorio (writer) (1982-1984)
Rick Jones (writer) (1982-1984)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

Release Date:

3 February 1979 (Canada)

Genre:

Family | Comedy

Plot:

Sketch TV by young amateur actors in true classic Nick-style. But whatever you do, never admit that you don't know or ask for water.

Plot Keywords:

Teenage Girl | Sketch Comedy | Cult Favorite | Green Slime | Cult Comedy

Cast

Les Lye	...	Various Characters / ... (143 episodes, 1979-1990)
Abby Hagyard	...	All adult female characters / ... (113 episodes, 1982-1990)
Christine McGlade	...	Moose / ... (86 episodes, 1979-1986)
Lisa Ruddy	...	Lisa (65 episodes, 1979-1985)
Alasdair Gillis	...	Alasdair / ... (58 episodes, 1982-1987)

Also Known As:

You Can't Do That on TV (Canada: English title) (3-D video title)

Runtime:

Canada:30 min (144 episodes)

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-Y

Filming Locations:

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Carleton Productions

Trivia:

Les Lye taught at the community college in Ottawa. Geoffrey Darby was one of his students.

Quotes:

Christine: [Ross comes onto the main set, playing a ukelele and singing. He gets on one knee near the cast all sitting there watching. Christine interrupts him] Ross, what are you doing?
Ross: What do you mean 'what am I doing'? This is a ukelele. I'm telling you, everybody played a uke when I was a kid.
Christine: Come on, Ross. Get with it man. Today's sounds are electronic. You know, guitar power?
[the rest of the cast agrees]
Ross: Oh, you mean like this?
[Using the ukelele, he mimes playing an electric guitar for about 10 seconds, while the guitar solo break from Heart's 'Magic Man' is used. When he stops, he shakes his head]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Strongbad_email.exe (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

You Can't Do That On Television Theme

Best Show of All Time

I used to love this show, especially as a kid growing up in the early to mid 80's. I can still remember the characters names. My favorite scene on the show was where there would be a kid in detention and the principal would make the kid copy a dictionary that was like 3 feet thick, while another kid would be chained to the wall. That skit always made me laugh. I even remember the little catch phrases they used like "Sometimes it's so easy, I'm ashamed of myself" and other ones like "Blue skies, Barthy burgers, girls!" I also used to love the bus driver they had "Snake Eyes" who used to always crash into phony brick walls, and the chef they had named "Barth" who used to always make the kids throw up with rancid food. I never understood why they always ate there though. Every skit on the show had it's own unique sense of humor. Another interesting note is that every male character on the show was played by that guy "Ross" The all time best episodes were the ones that featured both "Moose" and "Lisa". Moose used to always make fun of Lisa because she was overweight. My favorite episode was the "Video Game" episode because at the end they showed Pac-Man eating the cast members. I even have episodes on tape somewhere in my house. I ought to look for them some time