TV shows you weren't allowed to watch as a kid but saw later

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There is a recent thread here about who is allowed to watch The Simpsons which I thought was OK. I'd like to expand upon that theme a little and ask what movies or TV shows you weren't allowed to see as a kid but saw later, and what did you think when you finally saw them?

Some of the things my parents didn't want me seeing were the Planet of the Apes movies when they first hit TV when I was round 7 or 8 or so. I did see them on TV when I was a teenager a few years later and didn't understand what the big deal was.

They were also that way about the short lived Planet of the Apes TV series, which hit TV when I was 6. I did see a few episodes, but still, my mother didn't want us watching it, which I found strange because kids I knew at school watched it and had the action figures that went along with it. As an adult living on my own, I did see a few episodes of the series in the early 1990s when the Sci Fi Channel reran it, and didn't understand what the big deal was. The series has been released on DVD when and we saw it at Best Buy, my wife said she had to have it! We've watched several episodes together and again, now at age 39, don't know what the big deal was. To me, it wasn't any "worse" than Star Trek, something we were allowed to watch at that age without any restrictions at all.

When I was 8, CBS aired a movie called Helter Skelter, which was about Charles Manson, and our mother didn't want us to see it. It was very controversial and some affiliates wouldn't show it during primetime and instead, moved it to a late night timeslot. The affiliate in our city showed it at 11:35PM instead of the 8PM scheduled time, so it didn't matter anyway since it was past our bedtime. I did see part of it on TV when I was a teenager when another channel ran it during an 8PM timeslot and thought it was kind of scary, so I could understand my mother's concerns that time.

Around the same ages I mentioned before, 6-8 or so, my brother tried to get my parents to ban me from watching the cartoon Speed Racer. He didn't like alot of the cartoons I watched, and Speed Racer was the one he despised the most. Fortunately, our parents didn't cave into him and they didn't try to restrict my cartoons like he wanted. Speed Racer was rerun on MTV in the early 1990s when I was in my 20s. and after seeing it again, couldn't figure out what my brother's issues with the series were.

I have no children and to be honest, I'm not sure if I would have restricted them from any of these shows, and I'm not sure what I'd restrict them from now.

South Park, i guess i can see why. I watch it now every day, its a great show!
The Simpsons, this show is a nice show, i don't even think its bad for little kids! :O
I was not allowed to even have cable in my room, so what i did was ran a long ass wire off the antenna of my TV and touch it to the old live cable wire that used to goto the tent outside. I also had an old gamegear w/ the TV expansion thing, and i wired its antenna up the same.
Then when i was 11, i moved in w/ my mum, and she let me watch w/e i want. Life was good

When I wasabout 9 , 10 , my mother asked me not to watch re-runs of (the original) Alfred Hitchcock Presents that wee on then

I wasn't allowed to watch Rugrats until I was nine! Mom didn't want me to act like Angelica or something weird like that. I also wasn't allowed to watch The Simpsons, but it's been years since I've heard that so it's probably okay with her now. However, there are still many movies that she won't allow me to watch, like 40-Year-Old Virgin, even though I really want to see it. Pretty much nearly all things rated PG-13 and R, even though there are always exceptions.

I was 4 when my mom didn't want I watched Thundercats, she said that program was demonic because of Munra, .

Also she prohibited my sister and me watching The Exorcist, first time I saw that movie was five months ago.

I watch South Park, but my mom doesn't like I watch it because my twin siblings (they're 10) can watch it and learn bad things .

For the longest time I was banned from seeing any movie or television show that had suggestive themes, let alone nudity. Looking back on it it seems absurd, since it's not like the sight of the human body is harmful to a kid.

The woman still tells me to close my eyes when watching a movie with either of the above and I'm almost 19 for god's sake. Could probably rant for hours on how my mother is insane but that's a bit off topic.

wow, my grandmother didn't want my sister watching that for the same reason

South Park I can understand, it does go pretty far while at the same time, making comments on real issues, and dropping bombs on everyone. South Park is targeted at adults as opposed to kids.

I was allowed to have cable in my room when I was around 13 or so. Of course back then, we didn't have all these channels coming in, we had 12 total with HBO. My parents would occasionally get on this kick about TV being bad and restrict us from watching anything, but over time it would go away. This, and alot of the things she said and did, never made much sense to me, and still don't. If I had children, I know I wouldn't to them what my parents did to me.

I wasn't allowed to watch 'Bottom' when I was a kid. It was on past my bedtime, but all the other kids in school were talking about it. I watch re-runs of it on UKTV Gold, though.

Beavis and Butthead

Yeah I saw that one recently too. (But it wasn't on when I was a kid so I was never banned from watching it.)

Most of the movies and TV that I wasn't allowed to watch turned out to be rather disappointing later. Mum wouldn't let us watch "Silence of the Lambs" because she thought it was too scary / violent. (But somehow, "Day of the Triffids" was OK) So I always wondered why it was so scary / violent and it turned out not to be nearly as much as my expectations. Good movie, but being banned from watching I suppose led me to expect too much.

Then when I was a bit older, Mum let us watch the "Clan of the Cave Bear" movie (with Darryl Hannah in it.) but she made us leave the room while she fast forwarded through the Broud / Ayla rape scene. But again it was weird because reading the book was somehow OK. She wouldn't let me read "Valley of Horses" so instead I just read "Cave Bear" five times. Then when I finally got to read the sequel, and the sex scene that I wasn't supposed to see, it turned out to be rather boring. (Somehow reading a book with inter-species rape in it was OK but reading a book with consential sex was not. Go figure!)

Never heard of that one. What was so bad about it? What do you think about it now?

I always resented when my parents would get on one of their media is evil kicks and try to ban me from TV, local radio, shortwave radio, tapes, recrods, etc. because they thought these things were useless and did nothing but cause problems. I never understood why they did it and probably never will. They rarely ever did it to my sister and never to my other siblings, most of the time they targeted just me and later on, exclusively me.

These things were my escape from all the garbage I had to deal with from them, siblings, schools, etc. and taking them away just made it more difficult. I also think taking these things away from kids and using them for reward or punishment makes them seem more important and breeds yet more resentment. Now that I'm free and in my own place, I can listen/watch anytime I want with no restrictions. It's nice.

that movie shows porn. my brother watched it w/ my parents lmfao. i was smart enough to watch it on my own
if you really want to see it- just download it and watch it when no1s home well.. how old r u?

I remember not being allowed to watch "Married With Children" growing up, but now I watch that on occasion when it's on.

Bottom was a UK sitcom screened between 1990-1995, starring Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmonson. I probably wasn't allowed to watch it because it was on late at night (past my bedtime), and often featured violent slapstick and toilet humor. Watching it now, it makes me laugh more than most comedy shows made today.

My mom got the idea from the lady who lived across the street that had a son (Collin) whom was two years younger than me. And when you're six and four, that's a pretty big difference, too. The only reason I even got to watch it after a while was because I begged my mom to death.