The crew behind the low-budget Canadian youngsters’ sketch present You Can’t Do That on Tv didn’t know it might assist outline the Nickelodeon model when it premiered 45 years in the past.
British TV producer Roger Value had created a number of youngsters’s applications within the U.Okay. earlier than shifting to Canada, the place he aimed to launch a present that revered youngsters’ views and didn’t condescend to them. Value wasn’t one to glamorize childhood, having endured a tricky upbringing that included boarding faculty in Switzerland.
Impressed by adult-focused applications like Rowan & Martin’s Snigger-In, YCDTOT featured principally newbie baby actors taking part in youngsters who had been placing on their very own TV present whereas coping with incompetent adults. Premiering on CJOH-TV in Ottawa on Feb. 3, 1979, it earned the stateside consideration of fledgling community Nickelodeon, which started airing episodes in early 1982 to large rankings.
“With 30-second sketches, there’s no room for filler,” remembers Abby Hagyard, an grownup castmember who performed the present’s “Mother.”
Now a Nickelodeon signature, getting slimed originated on YCDTOT. Inexperienced goop would fall on anybody who stated “I don’t know” — Value selected that set off as a result of his personal youngsters used the phrase to keep away from taking duty. Value initially assumed the forged would hate getting slimed, however he was shortly confirmed incorrect.
“It was an honor to be slimed,” says Adam Greydon Reid, who joined YCDTOT as a castmember at age 11 after sending a letter to Value, and would later write episodes with him as a teen. (Plus, every castmember incomes a $50 inconvenience charge per sliming was a pleasant perk.)
Among the many present’s discoveries had been author Invoice Prady, who would later co-create The Large Bang Principle, and a younger Alanis Morissette, who appeared in 5 episodes and impressed castmates by taking part in her demo tape. The present’s 10-season run continues to dwell on in popular culture; SNL spoofed it in a 2022 episode, and Ryan Reynolds (who was as soon as engaged to Morissette) instantly cited YCDTOT when requested in a latest interview to call an necessary Canadian present.
An tried reboot fell aside a number of years in the past, however Reid has been listening to of renewed curiosity in bringing it again. Value is open to its return, however provided that the tone doesn’t change: “It has to essentially make youngsters really feel prefer it’s their present.”
This story first appeared within the August 14 problem of The Hollywood Reporter journal. Click on right here to subscribe.