You Can't Do That on Television (TV series) · Flickorian

You Can't Do That on Television

TV series
1979–2004
11 seasons
CTV
Comedy

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7.4 TMDB worldwide · 24 ratings

You Can't Do That on Television is a Canadian television program that first aired locally in 1979 before airing internationally in 1981. It featured pre-teen and teenaged actors in a sketch comedy format. Each episode had a theme. The show was notable for launching the careers of many performers, including Alanis Morissette, and writer Bill Prady, who would write and produce shows like The Big Bang Theory, Gilmore Girls and Dharma and Greg. The show was produced by and aired on Ottawa's CTV station CJOH-TV. After production ended in 1990, the show continued in reruns on Nickelodeon through 1994, when it was replaced with the similar All That. The show is synonymous with Nick, and was at that time extremely popular, with the highest ratings overall on the channel. The show is also well known for introducing the network's iconic slime. The program is the subject of the 2004 feature-length documentary, You Can't Do That on Film, directed by David Dillehunt.

About the show

You Can't Do That on Television is a Canadian sketch comedy television series that aired locally in 1979 before airing in the United States in 1981. It featured adolescent and teenage actors performing in a sketch comedy format similar to America's Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and Canada's Second City Television. Each episode had a specific theme, typically relating to the popular culture of the time.

The series was produced by and aired on Ottawa's CTV station CJOH-TV. Initially a local program, it was marketed specifically for a North American-wide audience from its third season on. It was staple on the early years of the American cable network Nickelodeon, becoming most famous for introducing the network's iconic green slime. The channel aired reruns through 1994, when they were replaced with the similarly-themed domestic sketch comedy variety program All That. The show was notable for launching the careers of many performers, including alternative rock musician Alanis Morissette, filmmaker Patrick Mills, and television producer and screenwriter Bill Prady.

The show is the subject of the 2004 documentary You Can't Do That on Film, directed by David Dillehunt. Filmed in August 2004, the documentary was released in North America by Shout! Factory in 2012 and reissued in 2022 by MVD Entertainment. The film's tour of Studio D at CJOH was the final production made in the original studio, as the space had been sealed for tax purposes by station management. The building was demolished in 2011 following a fire in February 2010.

The first 21 half-hour episodes were released on iTunes and Amazon in three volumes, beginning in December 2012, but these volumes are no longer available. In 2021, the first 14 half-hour episodes were made available on Paramount+. Outside of the 1989 Worst of You Can't Do That on Television VHS from Elektra Video, the series has never been formally released on home media.

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