From the I Guess They Can Say That on TV Dept.: a time line of TV's most memorable off-color mutterings.
MARCH 18, 1979 The PBS documentary Scared Straight! brings prison-speak (i.e., the seven dirty words) to prime time.
FEB. 21, 1981 Charles Rocket is fired from Saturday Night Liveafter he says ''f---'' on the air (Norm Macdonald is spared his job when he uses the same word 16 years later).
FEB. 26, 1984 A confused Phoebe Cates asks ''Which one of you bitches is my mother?'' on the miniseries Lace.
JAN. 22, 1990 Guns N' Roses' Slash and Duff McKagan rifle off four-letter words, including f---, on the American Music Awards.
SEPT. 10, 1990 The premiere of CBS' Uncle Buck opens with a 6-year-old yelling ''You suck!'' Though execs scramble to justify the language, the show's suck-cess is short-lived.
SEPT. 21, 1993 Dennis Franz yells ''You pissy little bitch!'' in the series premiere of NYPD Blue. Before the episode ends, audiences will also be introduced to d---head and a--hole.
FEB. 19, 1994 Martin Lawrence's scatological Saturday Night Live monologue — referencing John Wayne Bobbitt and feminine hygiene — irks NBC enough to ban him from the network.
MARCH 21, 1999 Whoopi Goldberg says the S-word twice — and throws in a few double entendres — while hosting the Academy Awards.
Add your comment
The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail us. An asterisk * indicates a required field.