History YMMV / YouCantDoThatOnTelevision

* OnceOriginalNowOverdone: Modern day viewers who are accustomed to more recent kid-focused sketch shows like successor series ''Series/AllThat'' may have a hard time appreciating how revolutionary [=YCDTOTV=] was in the 80's.

--> '''Alasdair:''' The doctor said I'm suffering from malnutrition.
--> '''Christine:''' Sounds like a pretty fair verdict to me. To look at you, you'd think there was a famine in this country.
--> '''Alasdair:''' Well, to look at *you*, you'd think you'd *caused* it!
--> ''[Christine slugs Alasdair with the cast on her leg and he falls behind the risers]''

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Modern day viewers who are accustomed to more recent kid-focused sketch shows like successor series ''Series/AllThat'' may have a hard time appreciating how revolutionary [=YCDTOTV=] was in the 80's.

** The Firing Squad sketches. No way they'd show a trigger-happy dictator hell-bent on executing a kid these days. In addition, these sketches played on 1980s stereotypes of what LatinAmerica was, and they would be perceived as racist today.

** The Firing Squad sketches. No way they'd show a trigger-happy dictator hell-bent on executing a kid these days. In addition, these sketches played on 1980s stereotypes of what Latin America was, and such sketches might very well be perceived as racist today.

** A pair of sketches featuring "Motormouth Lisa" in school during an early episode. The first part featured teacher Mr. Schidtler sending Lisa to the principal's office because she wouldn't stop talking. Not bad on its own, but the follow-up pushed the concept of DarkHumor to its limits. Lisa comes back to class, having been sent back by the principal (because she was annoying him too much). As she goes on rambling, Mr. Schidtler and all the kids each ''pull out a gun'' [[DrivenToSuicide and start pointing at their own heads]]. Mr. Schidtler then quickly holds up a finger, and he and students slowly change their aim to ''Lisa''. Really, it's only the shock of the BaitAndSwitch on the usual DrivenToSuicide joke, the timing of the scene, and the fact the camera cuts before Lisa begs for her life or anyone can fire their gun that saves it at all.

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: The slobbish father, Lance Prevert, is a Senator. Specifically, a ''Canadian'' Senator [[note]]Just a rubber stamp on nearly all government actions due to being notoriously prone to chronic absenteeism -- Canadians frequently have serious debates about either eliminating the senate, or reforming it radically. Unlike American senators who are elected to six-year terms, Canadian senators are unelected and appointed for life.[[/note]] (an even ''more'' acceptable target). Originally, the writers wanted Lance Prevert to be a prime minister, but they thought American audiences wouldn't get it, so they made him a Senator since U.S. and Canadian Senators have more in common than people may think.
** UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's presidency was still 32 years away at the time, but he was parodied as "Ronald Rump" in the 1984 episode "Wealth," with Adam Reid playing Ronald.

* PrettyBoy: Kevin Kubusheskie was something of this [[https://i.ibb.co/tPw0MhB/c2-250.jpg during his original tenure]], he was a tall, slim, handsome teenaged kid with long floofy feathered hair and even had some shirtless moments. He looked almost like a girl in his earlier episodes and even was in a skit where [[https://i.ibb.co/0nG8Dk9/zv-11.jpg he was wearing make-up]]... and he looked ''good'' in it (even if it was applied comically heavy) [[note]]This makes his appearance in recent years a lot more jarring, since after leaving the show, he [[https://i.ibb.co/YB7vRhB/th.jpg became a big, burly, line-backer sized man]] who wouldn't look out of place on a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_football C.F.L.]] roster. One might just chock up his earlier "androgyny" to being a kid and his early-1980s long feathered hairstyle[[/note]].

* UncannyValley: What may have contributed to the AccidentalNightmareFuel, the nigh-iconic image (particularly, the one the show ran with beginning circa the 1982 season) of Les Lye's ''bug-eyed'' face getting the show's title stamped upon it--And then beginning to slowly ''crack'' to the drumstick-clacking near the closing of the show's theme before ''breaking in half'' to reveal the show. This is even used for in-show bumpers, meaning the unwary viewer never knows when they'll get kicked through the face by it. Sometimes these bumpers like to end with a longer-sustained chord as well.

** A pair of sketches featuring "Motormouth Lisa" in school during an early episode. The first part featured teacher Mr. Schidtler sending Lisa to the principal's office because she wouldn't stop talking. Not bad on its own, but the follow-up pushed the concept of DarkHumor to its limits. Lisa comes back to class, having been sent back by the principal (because she was annoying him too much). As she goes on rambling, Mr. Schidtler and all the kids each ''pull out a gun'' [[DrivenToSuicide and start pointing at their own heads]]. Mr. Schidtler then quickly holds up a finger, and he and students slowly change their aim to ''Lisa''. Really, it's only the shock of the BaitAndSwitch on the usual DrivenToSuicide joke, the timing of the scene, and the fact the camera cuts before anyone fires their gun that saves it at all.

* HarsherInHindsight: ''George Bush Shoots The Wrong Quail'', from "Mistakes," comes off a bit more harshly in retrospect after George W. Bush's Vice President, Dick Cheney, ''did'' aim at the wrong target during a quail hunt and consequently shot a friend in the face.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** The fact that the first episode to feature Music/AlanisMorissette was called "Pop Music." Even more hilarious in hindsight: the episode features a sketch in which Alanis is dressed like Music/CyndiLauper and trying to convince Mom to let her go to Lauper's concert, and Mom refuses, because rock musicians aren't acceptable role models and she won't have any daughter of hers behaving that way. Fast forward a decade and Alanis is the biggest rock star on the planet.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: While the show was a big hit as a local show in Ottawa and remained popular locally through its entire run, it was a cultural phenomenon when it hit the United States of America and the green slime on the show became associated with Nickelodeon. By contrast, the show's airing history in Canada between the cancellation of ''Whatever Turns You On'' and the 1988 debut of Creator/{{YTV}} was more spotty, with the show airing on and off in Saturday mornings on CTV or on pay cable channels like Superchannel[[note]]One of the ancestors of today's Creator/{{Crave}}[[/note]] or Atlantic Satellite Network[[note]]Now the cable-only CTV2 affiliate serving the Maritime Provinces[[/note]]. By the time the show was finally a ratings hit in Canada thanks to YTV (while still remaining popular Saturday mornings on CJOH), its ratings in the States were down and the show's fate was sealed.