History Series / YouCantDoThatOnTelevision

** One sketch in 1989's "Fantasies" doubles as a Take That to ''Mister Rogers'' and a ShoutOut to ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet''. Ted, wearing a Freddie Krueger costume, tearfully tells Mom about a nightmare he had about Mister Rogers without mentioning him by name. "Don't worry," Mom comforts him, "nice men like that don't exist except in dreams." [[note]]In real life, Fred Rogers hit back, calling ''YCDTOTV'' a bad show for kids. Roger Price insisted his show was meant to make kids feel good about themselves just as Rogers' was, but that their approaches and target audiences were different.[[/note]]

*** Creator/JimHenson apparently had a sense of humor about this, as he had Kermit the Frog interview Alasdair Gillis for a 1985 edition of ''Muppet Magazine''. Kermit and Alasdair even managed to trick Miss Piggy into getting slimed (to which she reacted with one of her typical karate chops).

** From 1982 onwards, the adult female roles (Valerie Prevert [wife of Lance Prevert], the English-accented librarian, the doctor's assistant, etc.) were all played by Abby Hagyard.

* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: Seymour the Dragon in a few 1981 episodes. In a classroom skit in the "Drugs" episode, Angie brings Seymour to class for show and tell.
-->'''Mr. Schidtler:''' Angie! Does he eat people?!
-->'''Angie:''' No, sir. Just teachers.

** The show's occasional references to ''Series/SesameStreet'' and ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' often fell somewhere between this and ShoutOut. Some of the episode pre-empts included "Hit and Run on Sesame Street" ("Safety", 1981), "Miss Piggy Eats Ham Sandwiches" ("Good, Healthy Food", 1981), and "The Muppets Get Stuffed" ("Work, Work, Work", 1981). After Ross has her stuffed into a garbage can in "Transportation" (1981), Christine remarks that she wonders how Oscar the Grouch can stand the smell. And in "Popularity" (1982), Barth announces that his Burgery will host the "Big Bird Celebrity Roast." Cue a dead Big Bird being carted into the dining room on a roaster.

* NotSoDifferent: Often went hand in hand with HypocriticalHumor. One example is in 1986's "Illness", when Vanessa is ranting about how stupid boys are, using Doug, Jody and Alasdair, who are in the infirmary with the Green Slime Flu after failing to heed Ross's warnings not to get slimed, as Exhibit A.
--> '''Vanessa:''' I mean, look what they grow up to be like. They are ''so stupid''. Despite being told repeatedly not to get themselves green slimed, they went ahead and, stupid as anything, said "I don't know" without thinking. ''[Vanessa is then slimed, having just uttered the magic words herself without thinking]''

* YouDontWantToCatchThis: Mr. and Mrs. Prevert use this to keep paperboy Doug, who's collecting the newspaper subscription fee, away in the "Illness" episode, claiming they have "[[SomethingItis Spotted Faceatosis]]", which presents similar to the chicken pox but is ultimately fatal. Valerie congratulates Lance for thinking up such a great scheme, and Lance tells her he really ''does'' have Spotted Faceatosis - and so does she.

* OfCourseISmoke: Touched on in the (first) "Smoking" episode. At the end of the show, Moose gives special thanks to Les Lye, a nonsmoker, but being the only adult on the show, had had to do all the smoking required for the sketches. Les steps out of character as Ross the floor manager to directly address the camera. Looking slightly ill, he bluntly states "I can't believe that people actually ''pay'' to smoke cigarettes, and I will ''never'' do it again".

** The 1984 episode "Weather and Seasons" featured a heat wave where Christine and Lisa tried to invoke the water drop, only to learn that the producers had decided to conserve water because of the heat wave.

** The 1989 episode "First Times" and the 1990 episode "Privileges" both featured cameo appearances by 1981-84 cast member Kevin Kubusheskie (by then an associate producer for the series) and 1984-87 cast member Adam Reid (by then a writer for the series); in both episodes, they played upperclassmen being hazed by the regular cast members in opposite sketches set in the school corridor.

First introduced at CJOH Ottawa (a Creator/{{CTV}} affiliate) as a kids' variety show, the show's [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff wild success in America]] made it one of the defining shows of Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}'s history. It would run far longer on that network than it did in Canada (a try at a CTV network version of the series in 1979, titled ''Whatever Turns You On'' and guest-starring Creator/RuthBuzzi, lasted only one season), and the network's trademark green slime started with this show. The show's influence went beyond Nickelodeon, as homages have popped up everywhere from the sitcom ''Series/{{NewsRadio}}'' (in one episode, the cast was doused with buckets of green slime and water) to ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' (an episode in the 2011-12 season is titled "You Can't Do That On Television, Peter", and in another episode, Peter Griffin is himself slimed for saying "I don't know"). By contrast, the show's profile in its country of origin remained low (aside from spotty airings on CTV and early pay-TV outlets) until it was picked up by the fledgling Creator/{{YTV}} in 1988 and was finally afforded daily airings in Canada as it enjoyed in the U.S.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: As Chris learns during the locker jokes in 1990's "Blame", Amy may look like a sweet little girl, but call her "little" at your own risk...

* TakeANumber: Mom and Dad force Lisa to do this at the dinner table, so she'll know when it's her turn to talk. Lisa's number: '''3,796'''. Dad's: '''2'''.

** In one early 1979 episode (with one of the older girls playing Mom, and remade for the ''Whatever Turns You On'' pilot with Ruth Buzzi as Mom), even the ''entire Canadian television industry'', and in particular the nation's public broadcasting network, was not above reproach. (Of course, once the show went into international syndication, PBS replaced CBC on the show's "hit list.")

** Lisa and especially Christine in "Cooking" (1983).

* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: Seymour the Dragon in a few 1981 episodes.

'''Ross:''' But it did on the subtitles. ''(chuckles)''

* TheGlomp: Often used by the victim of a sliming as revenge on the one who tricked them into being slimed. In "Bullies" (1982) and "Fears, Worries and Anxieties" (1985), Alasdair is tricked by Christine into getting slimed and counters by glomping Christine, much to her horror. Vanessa also does this to Doug after he tricks her into getting slimed in "Crimes and Mysteries" (1986).

--->You Can't Do That On Television ''is an End-Of-Your-Trope production.''\\

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* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: Seymour the dragon in the 1981 season.

-->'''Jennifer Brackenbury:''' ''[dreamily, in the 1989 version of "The Worst of YCDTOTV, after watching this scene]'' That was fun...

Canadian SaturdayMorningKidsShow SketchComedy, running from 1979 to 1990, and rerun on and later produced by Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}. Heavily birthed and influenced by ''Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn'', borrowing modified and age-appropriate versions of several of ''Laugh-In'' sketches (most obviously, the joke wall, redesigned as a set of locker doors; the habit of dumping buckets of water on cast members (though green slime was original) and the announcer) and catch phrases.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: From 1990's "Blame":