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TV Censorships & Banned Simpsons Episodes (Part 2)
80 Plays1 year ago
We’re back at it! Kristina continues with her timeline of TV censorship while Sara shares banned Simpsons episodes around the world - with one bonus TV-MA episode of The Simpsons.
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Transcript
Introduction & Sponsor Highlight
00:00:01
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Speaker
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Laughing with Gingers: Podcast Introduction
00:01:35
Speaker
Thanks, everyone, for tuning in to Laughing with Gingers. The podcast where two feisty redheads with loud laughs share crazy stories, play games, and spread silliness and joy.
00:01:47
Speaker
That little Lucille Ball lover over there is my partner in crime on the Laughing with Jingers podcast, Christina Curry. That is Sarah Allefin, aka Prankster Monk, and my co-host of Laughing with Jingers.
Lucille Ball & Makeup Discussion
00:02:02
Speaker
We're coming back at you with part two of the history of censorship and banned episodes of The Simpsons.
00:02:12
Speaker
I did have somebody hit on me one time by saying I looked like Lucio Ball. It didn't work. I remember you told me that we were friends. This podcast was in existence when that happened. Yeah, because I was dating Angie at the time. We were just dating. Yeah, she was with you, wasn't she?
00:02:36
Speaker
Wait, what'd you say? She was with you, wasn't she? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He did it right in front of her. It was really funny. Oh, man. Oh, it's like, oh, my gosh. Thank you. And then like, oh, come on. Yeah. I'm like, Lucille Ball, really?
00:03:01
Speaker
That's who you're gonna say I look like, which is totally not true and really weird. Did you have on bright blue makeup and eyeshadow and a bright pink lip? And an apron and high heels? Yes.
00:03:20
Speaker
Oh, God. Definitely not any of that. Oh, man. It was the first time I saw her in color after seeing black and white TV of her for so long. And I was like, oh, my God. That's what her makeup looks like. It blew my mind because black and white, you don't think it's this super vibrant blue eyeshadow and neon pink lip. It was fantastic. And I had no idea.
00:03:50
Speaker
Yeah. Her makeup is just as loud as her hair and mouth. Yes. All of those things accurate. Oh, man.
Banned Simpsons Episodes in Japan
00:04:02
Speaker
All right. I want to hear some more Simpsons band episodes. See if I can remember them. All right. Here we go. We're headed to season 10. I should have looked up when we took our break to record the second one. I should have looked up who the writers were during these seasons.
00:04:18
Speaker
Shakespeare. So this one is called 30 minutes over Tokyo. And as the title suggests, 30 minutes over Tokyo took the Simpsons to Japan. But when they were left with no money, they agreed to take part in a dangerous Japanese game show on TV in exchange for plane tickets back to Springfield. This episode was banned in Japan
00:04:43
Speaker
due to it having scenes considered offensive to Japanese culture, such as the scene about the Hello Kitty factory as it implies the products were created by burning cats alive. The battling seizure robots parody, which is a reference to Pokemon episode where hundreds of people were taken to the hospital. I guess it was like a little bit too stroby.
00:05:10
Speaker
And then, which can cause epileptic episodes. And then Homer tossing the Emperor into a sumo thong and also the Japanese game show. The episode isn't available on Disney plus Japan either. And it was initially also banned in South Korea due to its history with Japan, but eventually aired there in 2007.
00:05:37
Speaker
Wow, it is riddled with cultural appropriation. It is a lot. I mean, look, The Simpsons is satire. First and foremost, we have to always remember that the whole purpose of The Simpsons is to laugh at yourself for different reasons.
00:05:59
Speaker
It covers whoever you are in the moment. Wherever the Simpsons might be. I mean, it is pretty brutal. Oh, God, that's hilarious. Yeah, you want to give me another one? Sure. All right. This one we are headed to season 11.
00:06:27
Speaker
Oh, now you see why I was like, I wonder who was writing during these successive seasons. Yeah. This episode is called Little Big Mom. So Marge breaks a leg during a ski trip, and it is one of my favorite ways of like it's one of my favorite Simpsons moments, which is super weird. But the cuckoo clock situation that happens that causes it makes me laugh. So she must stay in the hospital for a couple of days.
00:06:57
Speaker
and Lisa takes over her duties at home. And she makes a structured plan for Bart and Homer to help her out, but they ignore her shockingly. Frustrated over their laziness, Lisa tricks them into thinking they are severely sick by painting parts of their bodies green with paint and oatmeal. This episode was also banned in Japan due to its leprosy subplot.
00:07:24
Speaker
which is what Bart and Homer believe they have. There's a segregation element that the latter as it was still a sensitive topic in Japan. Oh my God, I would never guess that to be a thing. That's crazy.
00:07:48
Speaker
Yeah, I don't really know anything about leprosy in Japan, but they send them to Malachi, I think, which is the I'm saying the wrong thing, but it's the island. I think they send them to the island in Hawaii that they used to send like that had a leper colony in the United States. Is it still there? Like, are people still wandering around hanging out with leprosy?
00:08:18
Speaker
Oh, that's so interesting because the last time we were in Hawaii, I think I Googled this. I believe some people elected to stay there, but I don't know that anyone is still alive. That was part of the initial group. That's been a while. That was before the pandemic. So who left? That's so crazy to me. Oh my God.
00:08:46
Speaker
All right, well, now onto a completely different note. In 1964, the censors started shutting down women showing their belly button. So Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island, the genie from I Dream a Genie, Gidget, they're all barred from showing their belly button.
Censorship in the 60s & TV
00:09:14
Speaker
So, actress Mariette Hartley receives the same treatment in 1966 of an episode of Star Trek, but the show's director, Gene Roddenberry, gets his revenge in 1973. So here's what he does. He recasts Miss Hartley in the pilot for his new show, Genesis 2, and gives her two belly buttons. Now she's an alien, and you have to show them.
00:09:41
Speaker
Oh my God. I love that so much. Oh God. I thought you were going to say they put like a belly button on somebody's like arm or forehead or something. I just put a belly button on their cheek. No, just double it. That is fantastic. I didn't realize they did that.
00:10:05
Speaker
I know I didn't either, but I guess if I think about it, you don't really see like I dream of Jeannie's belly button. Or like maybe even I never even noticed like Mary Ann. I guess hers isn't there. I got to go back. I know. Right. I feel like I dream of Jeannie did have her belly button out, at least for part of it.
00:10:35
Speaker
But I bet you they just raised her pant line. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, totally. Interesting. So they just became high-waisted. Yeah. I mean, whatever. She's probably like, thank God. Yeah. Hiding my muffin top. Way better for me. And nachos. Yeah.
00:11:03
Speaker
I'd be happy about it. Yeah, now I can bend down and my butt doesn't show. Yeah, there you go. Oh, boy. All right. You want another Simpsons episode? Yeah, I have two more, by the way, just to lay it on you. OK. I mean, I have way more than that. I think I have five more. That's a lot of banned episodes, dude.
00:11:33
Speaker
I know. I mean, it makes sense. They all make sense. Like every single one of them you listen and you're like, okay, I get it. I get why that country banned it. It's so funny though that it's not like consistent across the different countries. Like even the ones that are banned here aren't banned in other countries. That's so weird. Okay, so this one's coming at you from season 13 and it is called Blame it on Lisa.
00:12:03
Speaker
So this one took all of the Simpsons except Maggie who was left behind with Patty and Selma to Brazil as Lisa was sponsoring an orphan who was reported missing so the family went to search for him. After Rio de Janeiro protested against the episode for its portrayal of Brazil and the city, it was banned from airing for years and was shown uncensored again
00:12:32
Speaker
in 2012 and was put on the DVD in Brazil. Because in that episode, and it's not in my description here, but I, of course, can tell you what happens. But basically, there are some people. What happened? So they have to like conga everywhere, which is really like cute and funny, but the
00:12:58
Speaker
Like the children's TV shows are very sexualized. There's a woman who's like spelling or counting or something, and she has like boob tassels that she's swinging as she counts or spells or whatever she's doing. And then Homer gets kidnapped and then they blackmail the Simpsons family in order to get him returned. And the kidnappers, he ends up having like
00:13:28
Speaker
like they love him and he loves them and Homer makes like a scrapbook for them of the kidnapping and they end up almost dying during the transfer and it was like over gondolas. Oh my God. Okay, I can see that. I can see that.
00:13:53
Speaker
Yeah. Also, the orphanage wasn't a great situation. I'm trying to think of all the reasons that it didn't portray it well. All the orphans were barefoot with tattered clothing outside, and I think it was a religious-based orphanage. Yeah. Oh, man. Oh, man. Those are the only reasons. I mean, that's enough. They're not good enough for some people.
00:14:23
Speaker
Um, okay. The next one is also coming at you from season
Banned Episodes in UK & Brazil
00:14:27
Speaker
13. And this one is called Weekend at Burnsy's. The Simpsons, the Simpsons had already dealt with the topic of drugs, dependency and addiction. And in Weekend with Burn, dang it, I cannot read or speak now. Bad combo for needing to read the stuff I'm speaking on my podcast. Sorry, Christina, I'm letting you down as a co host on Laughing with Juniors.
00:14:54
Speaker
So in Weekend at Burnsey's, Homer was prescribed medical marijuana to deal with pain after he was attacked by the crows that used to see him as a leader. So he had like established a relationship with these crows and they thought he was their leader and then they attack him. The substance alters Homer's personality and earns him a promotion at work.
00:15:19
Speaker
becoming executive vice president at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Due to the references to marijuana and the scenes of Homer being attacked by crows, that to me is the best part, the crow attack is part of this. The episode was banned in the UK, but aired sometime later.
00:15:41
Speaker
Well, that's actually pretty fitting if we want to take a quick break because I have a pot related ban on my end. Let's do it. All right. All right. Break first or should I go into it? We'll take a quick break. We will be right back on Laughing with Ginger's. Hey, Christina. Hey, Sarah. Question.
00:16:10
Speaker
What's the first thing people notice when we meet them? Our loud laughs. Wait, did you mean our ginger hair? Our hair, our hair. It's so it's really important that our hair actually looks good. That's where Love Song Beauty comes in. Their vegan cruelty free hair and body products keeps us looking like fiery redheads.
00:16:38
Speaker
That means there's not a ginger animal heart in the process. So if you want your hair to stand out, even if you're not a redhead, you can use the code ginger for a 10% discount. That's ginger to save 10% at love song beauty.com. All right. We are back on laughing with gingers and Christina take it away. Tell me about met, uh, not medical marijuana in general.
00:17:05
Speaker
Yeah, definitely not medical. All right, so it's 1967 and the 60s are all about peace, love, and weed. So it really has been tough for the network to continue to censor shows.
00:17:22
Speaker
that are embedding this like hippie culture of drug slaying because it's kind of starting to escalate and spiral. So on the Ed Sullivan show, they request that the doors change the lyric of girl, we couldn't get much higher. So since it sounds suspiciously, you know, like the drug reference, they're like, No, you can't say that line. Meanwhile, the Smothers Brothers comedy hour, which was happening at the same time,
00:17:50
Speaker
has a reoccurring skit about Goldie, who's a housewife with her own talk show called Share a Little Tea with Goldie. The skit constantly plays on the tea slash marijuana connection, which goes straight over the sensor's head. And Goldie's opening lines always include, hi, and glad of it.
00:18:13
Speaker
I love that so much, it's hilarious. Oh my God, it's fantastic. Oh my God, I love it so much. I love pranksters. I know, that is a good effing prank. Hi, I'm glad of it. I think we should start the podcast like that. Yeah, yeah.
00:18:43
Speaker
I know, but what's funny is like we won't be high, but it's still great. Yeah, yeah, true. OK, so this episode of The Simpsons takes us to season 16, and it is called Goo Goo Guy Pan. Oh, God.
Simpsons Bans in Asia & Latin America
00:19:06
Speaker
This took the Simpsons to China thanks to Selma who began experiencing menopause symptoms. And that led her to the decision she wanted a baby so she wouldn't grow old alone. But the Springfield orphanage is empty. And Lisa suggests she adopt a baby from China.
00:19:29
Speaker
However, the Chinese government only allows married couples to adopt. So Selma lies and writes down Homer's name as her husband with Marge acting as Bart and Lisa's nanny. Maggie gets left out of a lot of these travel ones. She's dead weight. It's true. Of course, their lies eventually come to light and the baby is taken away from Selma.
00:19:58
Speaker
though she promises to return someday. The episode was banned in China for the unflattering references to the country quotations, for those of you not watching the video, and isn't even available to stream on Disney Plus in Hong Kong either. Interesting. Yeah, I could see that. They would ban it for much less.
00:20:26
Speaker
That's, I could see that. But the song at the end is so good where it's like, American jerks are going home with the dragons like flying around the airplane. Well, we can still watch it here.
00:20:52
Speaker
Yes, the singing is much better than my version, though probably not by a lot. Not by a lot, I bet. Oh, good. All right, give me another one. All right, so this one is going to season 19, and then we're going to take a big teleportation time-wise after this one.
00:21:20
Speaker
and I might mess up this pronunciation. So just forgive me, I didn't vet it well enough. So this one is called E Pluribus Whigham. And in this episode, Springfield became the site of the first presidential primary as they needed funds to rebuild fast food Boulevard, which Homer unintentionally destroyed. However,
00:21:49
Speaker
The townspeople got sick of all the presidential candidates sucking up to them. I get it. I live in D.C. So they decided to support their own write-in candidate, none other than Ralph Wiggum, much to Lisa's surprise. The episode was banned in most of Latin America due to it mentioning the former Argentine president Juan Perón as a dictator.
00:22:18
Speaker
when he was the only president in the country's history to be elected democratically by three periods. Wow, that's like a small thing to ban the whole episode. Yeah, that feels like something you could have edited out. Yeah, yeah, easily. All right, Argentina, you do you.
00:22:47
Speaker
Do you have any more you want me to give you my last one? And then I have a bonus one. Okay, you do that one. I'll do mine and then the bonus. All right, sounds good. Okay, so this one, we are time traveling. So put on your time traveling boots.
00:23:04
Speaker
Buckle in and we are headed to season 33. Whoa. I know. We took a big jump. Now I need to know who wrote in those years between 19 and 33. Yeah. I have so many questions about the writer's room on The Simpsons that I should have thought about before. This one is called A Made Maggie. And in this one,
00:23:34
Speaker
Marge decides to baptize Maggie, so she sends Homer to find a suitable godfather. And after Fat Tony saves Homer and Maggie's lives, Homer and Marge reluctantly agree to let him be Maggie's sponsor, aka the godfather. However, Fat Tony begins to bond and draw Maggie into his dangerous world, worrying Homer and Marge, and the episode
00:24:03
Speaker
has been banned in the Czech Republic, those specific reasons haven't been revealed. What? That's weird. How odd is that? That's so random. There must be a conspiracy there somewhere. Yeah, something that we are not privy to. All right. Well, in 1979,
Cultural Sensitivities & Censorship Worldwide
00:24:33
Speaker
We're going to the Muppet Show.
00:24:36
Speaker
And the Muppet show is banned from TV in Saudi Arabia due to Miss Piggy's pigness. Because the prophet Muhammad declared the flesh of a swine to be an abomination. So merchandise bearing her likeness is confiscated from shops and immediately destroyed. And the show is banned from ever airing in the TV in Saudi Arabia. Poor Miss Piggy.
00:25:06
Speaker
Oh, man, I never would have thought about that. But that's such a that's so interesting. I know, right? I would never have thought of that either. But it makes sense. Who is Jim Henson, right? It was the Muppet guy, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, he, he went to my alma mater University of Maryland. Oh,
00:25:31
Speaker
I love the Muppet Show. I know, I know. So at Maryland, they actually did this thing where you can create your own major. And so he created his own major. And basically, it was in Muppeteering. Oh my. Isn't it called puppeteering?
00:25:54
Speaker
I think he called it Muppeteering. I think that's what was on his diploma. That's adorable. Oh my God. I love that. I think he was high.
00:26:10
Speaker
I think you could totally turn all of the Muppets into the most terrifying thing and it would just be a slight shift. Yeah, just one little knob turn and all hell breaks loose. Yeah, it's not even a quarter turn. Don't have to crank that one up to 11.
00:26:35
Speaker
All right. So this is the only TV MA, which is mature audience episode and is censored on Disney plus. So yeah, across the board. So buckle up.
00:26:58
Speaker
Disney Plus airs the censored version of The Simpsons' only TV MA episode, The Wreck of the Relationship. Normally a family show, The Simpsons has historically been rated TV PG, which is kind of funny after going through this past whole episode, two parts of this episode, indicating caretakers should exercise their discretion in showing the program to younger children.
00:27:27
Speaker
While there have been a number of TV 14 episodes, particularly in more recent seasons of the show, there's only one episode that is TV MA. It's in season 26 and it actually has a funny little reason why. I was surprised. I expected many of the other things, but it really threw me for a loop on this one.
00:27:56
Speaker
At the start of the wreck of the relationship, Bart and Millhouse finished watching a very, or every testicle fail video on the internet. So they see an ad for an R-rated movie called Project After Party that leads them to the film's red band trailer. After Millhouse remarks they're not old enough to watch the trailer, Bart enters his birth date as Janet
00:28:25
Speaker
January 1st, 1900. So they get access to the trailer. What ensues teases various movie hydrinks such as lowering a giant bong into a pool by helicopter, a drunk chimpanzee shooting an assault rifle, and an aptly named product called bikini acid melting the swimwear
00:28:47
Speaker
of some women. Right as the latter most of these things happen, Homer comes in and stops the boys throwing Bart's laptop out the window and lamenting about the failure of parent control software. The censored moment in question occurs at the start of the trailer when an elderly dominatrix gives the middle finger to the camera.
00:29:12
Speaker
Oh, that is why it's censored. Disney plus blurred the middle finger as it aired on network TV. However, some places like the now defunct Simpsons World have aired the uncensored version of the scene that shows the unblurred middle finger. Those airings have rated the wreck of the relationship as TV MA, thus making it the only episode with a mature rate.
00:29:42
Speaker
Wow isn't particularly awful guidelines surrounding TV ratings can be draconian and complex. The Simpsons has primarily aired on network TV as opposed to cable, meaning it has a lot
00:29:56
Speaker
less it can get away with before receiving a higher rating, which is super interesting too. The 2007 Simpsons movie, for example, featured a scene of Homer giving the middle finger, but that film is only rated PG-13 as the motion picture association of America is generally more lenient.
00:30:19
Speaker
Overall, this isn't a particularly egregious example of censorship. In streaming the censored version of the wreck of the relationship, Disney Plus is really just hosting the version that's most often been aired, which has the added benefit of the middle finger being blurred out from coming up unexpectedly.
00:30:42
Speaker
still the uncensored version of the wreck of a relationship is genuinely hard to find. And so most are unlikely to ever experience the only TV MA episode, even though it's not really that special. Whoa. Well, it's now special. I know. Can you believe out of all the stuff The Simpsons does and gets away with?
00:31:09
Speaker
All the boundaries they push. That's the thing. It's so basic. It's so dumb. I mean, think about like all of the other things that I just listed that were in that trailer and those are fine. The fact that there's even a dominatrix in the trailer was fine. That's crazy.
00:31:37
Speaker
20 years from now, they're going to be like, isn't that so weird? They were such such prudes in 2023. Like how we're like, they're such prudes in 1946. It's so interesting. Like when you think about because tattoos have become so much more mainstream now, like they used to use to have to like keep them covered and all the things. So
00:32:03
Speaker
There are a lot of quasi inappropriate quote unquote tattoos that I'm wondering if that goes down another pike, if that's going to be a problem. Yeah, I don't know. It's interesting. Yeah, maybe there are some examples of that, but I started thinking about all the things that you might be able to slip past people until they notice and then you can't unsee the noticing.
00:32:35
Speaker
I follow a ton of like tattoo artists and like subreddits and communities, and there are some really inappropriately bad tattoos out there. Let me just tell you where it's just like, what were they thinking? Yeah. Yeah, not forever. I know. Oh, my gosh.
00:33:01
Speaker
Oh, man, that was fun. Thank you everyone for joining us on laughing with gingers. We are so happy to have you on this journey of our silly podcast. And if you like the show, give us a follow rate and review on your favorite podcast platform. Follow us on Instagram at laughing with gingers. I kind of want to find a screenshot of the dominatrix flipping off the camera. So if I find that, I'll post it. Okay.
00:33:32
Speaker
And Instagram probably won't take us down, but if you want to see if it works out or not, come along for the journey with us at Laughing with Ginger on Instagram. Get access to premium content, including ad-free episodes, swags, special events, access to us, and more. Start such as $3. Check us out at patreon.com slash Laughing with Ginger. And tune in next week for more good times. Bye.