Trivia / Postcards from Buster

• Banned in China: The episode "Sugartime!" was banned from broadcast due to featuring a family with two moms. While the episode focused mostly on the production of maple syrup in Vermont (aside from a short segment focusing on the fact that the children had a mom and stepmom), PBS was forced to pull the episode after the Secretary of Education threatened to pull the network's federal funding for showing a same-sex couple (keep in mind, this controversy happened in 2005 - at the time, only one state recognized same-sex marriage (Massachusetts), and it wouldn't be legalized across the U.S. for a full decade). WGBH did distribute the episode to individual members who wanted to air it, and some PBS affiliates aired it alongside a Companion Show discussing the controversy.
• Banned Episode: The episode "Sugartime!" did not air on most PBS stations due to it showing a family with lesbian parents. Surprisingly enough, the episode was still featured on one of Paramount's home media releases of the show despite this. On said home media release, it is followed by funding credits that deliberately exclude the episode by saying, "The following Postcards from Buster episode is funded..."
• Creator Backlash: Marc Brown expressed regret that "Sugartime!" was forcibly removed from airing due to its depiction of a gay couple, and recalls it was hard to explain to that family why. He thus appreciated that society’s progression allowed Mr. Ratburn’s gay wedding on the main show to be received far better in 2019.
• Screwed by the Network: After the "Sugartime!" incident, most PBS affiliates dropped the show in favor of another WGBH production, FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman. 5 more episodes were produced around the time this happened, but only a handful of PBS affiliates wound air them.

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