Search form

Censorship, what's allowed in kids animated shows?

5 posts / 0 new
Last post
Censorship, what's allowed in kids animated shows?

Is there anywhere where I can see what goes and what doesn't these days?

Ie are guns allowed but only if they shoot lazers and don't kill?
Are swords allowed?
This kind of thing...

Watch the cartoons themselves, what you DON'T see is what's not allowed.

The harder answer is that it depends on the network carrying the show.
Some allow certain things, some don't.

For example a action-adventure show I'm currently boarding on has characters being crushed "to death" by falling debris, but its a simalcrum situation so it probably acceptable.
I've got characters with swords and gun-like weapons and they have a variety of effects.
There's a greay area where too much realism is a bad thing. Its meant to be fantasy, and should have a level of violence that's safe.
Example: if I have two characters grappling, they are on their feet, maybe pushing on each others arms or torso......one might try to push up on the chin. There will be no quick or low blows, nothing painful--absolutely NO "dirty" fighting. The struggle is tense, but not agonizing. No bloodshed or graphic torture. After a brief struggle the characters will typically seperate, usually to posture and attack again in some manner. Etc, etc, etc.

The rule of thumb is, if in doubt, don't. Find another way.
If you are thinking of trying to push the violence in other ways, might want to think again--most clients don't want that.

"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)

Great, thanks for the words of wisdom much appreciated.
I'm not thinking of having any death scenes, I would have thought they'd be fully out.
It's just that we're developing a bible and pilot episode without any exterior finance, and want to make sure that the ideas we're coming up with will actually be saleable.

By low blows and dirty fighting, you mean like kicks to the crotch and sand throwing in eyes type things? So a couple of punches to the face here and there are fine as long as they don't draw blood or send teeth flying in all directions?

I remember that kind of thing happened in He-Man I was just wandering if rules have relaxed or increased?

How do you typically go about checking this kind of stuff? Or do you play it safe and hope they don't want to rewrite any of your major characters or anything once you sell the series?

Thanks for the help so far, much appreciated!

"The harder answer is that it depends on the network carrying the show.
Some allow certain things, some don't."

Sorry :) another question, have you got specific examples of this? Ie which networks allow something and what that is and which don't. Are there any guides on their sites you could point me to?

Thanks again!

I have a character named Rosa de la Rosa. She's a history teacher. She's a short, wide, Hispanic lady in a traditional white lacy dress. She teaches at a high school but she's a little "off" and thinks she's at the Alamo. I was going to load her up with pistols and rifles and bandoliers... yeah, right. So, she gets TNT and a cannon. Hey, it worked for "The Dukes of Hazzard."