8 TV Episodes That Were Banned For Insane Reasons
2. Mister Rogers' Neighbourhood – Conflict
The Episode: Mister Rogers' Neighbourhood is an American children's TV show which first aired in 1963, its aim to entertain and educate children. The show consisted of Mr Rogers speaking to the viewer and explaining various issues and concepts, everything from music to science experiments. The show became popular due to Rogers' immense charm and likability.
In 1983, then, there aired an episode which dealt with an incredibly serious subject for young children to try and comprehend: nuclear war. In the episode, Rogers explains – using bright, colourful puppets – what it's like for a country to think another country is stockpiling weapons, and the resulting tension because of this.
Why It Was Banned: The episode ran at the height of the cold war, and its purpose was likely to try and explain to children what exactly was going on. Nevertheless the episode was deemed far too disturbing for young viewers and subsequently banned from rebroadcast. The whole thing was made all the more unsettling due to the juxtaposition between Rogers' gentleness and the brutality of nuclear war.