You Can't Do That on Television

Children's series that began airing on Ottawa, Canada, television station CJOH in 1979 and, aside from a 1987-88 hiatus, was produced until 1990; it was briefly replaced by a prime-time version, "Whatever Turns You On," that aired nationally on CTV for 12 episodes. A then-fledgling U.S. cable channel named Nickelodeon picked up "You Can't Do That on Television" in 1981, and it quickly became the network's flagship show. The series featured a revolving cast of young Ottawa-area actors (including Alanis Morissette) in sketches interspersed with sequences depicting the fictional production of the show on a linkset. The show is probably most famous for unleashing green slime on the world - cast members who dared to utter the phrase "I don't know" were drenched in the substance. Though Nickelodeon very seldom airs episodes of "You Can't Do That on Television," green slime remains one of the network's trademarks.