History Main / BannedEpisode

** The episode "E. Pluribus Wiggum" caused controversy in Argentina due to Carl & Lenny's exchange about military dictator Juán Perón, which referenced the Dirty War that took place there. As a result, FOX Latin America has never aired the episode, skipping from "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" to "That 90's Show" when rerunning the series in order. Note the episode was dubbed to Spanish, and it has aired on local networks in Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, and Mexico.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'''s MilestoneCelebration episodes "200" and "201" only aired once, and cannot be accessed on the South Park Studios site either, especially in the wake of a death threat by a small Islamist group towards Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone after the former aired. For 201, Creator/ComedyCentral censored even mentions of Muhammad, as well as Kyle's entire monologue relating to giving in to fear, while Parker and Stone were not allowed to disclose the details of said monologue. The censors still remain for DVD versions of the episode, and the two episodes never aired on syndication since them. Relatedly, although it never stirred controversy when it aired, "Super Best Friends" can no longer be syndicated for similar reasons.

* ''Postcards From Buster'': One episode from the series was never aired across the nation, but was aired only once on the PBS affiliate associated with the production of the series (WGBH in Boston); this episode involved Buster meeting a girl with "two mommies". Needless to say, since homosexuality (whether depicted stereotypically or not) is a point of contention for a lot of people (religious types and U.S. Republicans, mostly) -- especially in anything that's not an adult-oriented cartoon (like ''TheSimpsons'', ''SouthPark'', anything by SethMacFarlane, and any and all [[{{Expy}} expies]], rip-offs, and failed, short-lived attempts at being like one or all of those shows [like ''Brickleberry'', ''Sit Down, Shut Up'', and ''Allan Gregory'']), this episode was protested by various different parental groups, and never saw the light of day in other PBS affiliates across the country.
* The ''Simpsons'' episode "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson," much of which takes place in and around the World Trade Center, was withdrawn from syndication after the attacks on September 11th, 2001. However, in a reversal of the "TooSoon" situation, fans protested the removal of the episode (since it's one of the most popular episodes of the series) and it was quickly reinstated, albeit with the jokes and scenes centered around the Twin Towers either heavily edited or cut entirely on some local affiliates. Other affiliates have shown the episode uncut and uncensored, save for some time cuts and a man's line about how, "They stick all the jerks in Tower One." The original uncut episode is on the season nine DVD (with commentary from the writers on how the episode is now in bad taste thanks to 9/11, but it still has its moments that have stood the test of time).

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'''s "When You Wish Upon A Weinstein" was originally a DVD-only release, and was shown on TV for the first time (three years after it was produced) on Creator/CartoonNetwork's Creator/AdultSwim. The episode was pulled by FOX due to fears that the episode would be offensive to Jews [[note]](despite that SethMacFarlane brought in an actual rabbi to make sure the episode was kosher. It was, despite what the FOX Broadcast Standards and Practices people say)[[/note]] ''and'' Catholics. In the end, only a single line had to be altered for the episode to air on Adult Swim [[note]](Peter's line near the end of "I Need A Jew" was changed from "Even though they [the Jews] killed my Lord," to "I don't think they killed my Lord")[[/note]]. After it was announced that ''FamilyGuy'' was going to be brought back with new episodes, FOX themselves showed the once-banned episode [[note]](with the same line edited as in the Creator/CartoonNetwork version, and another cut: Quagmire "looking for his keys" in front of Lois was drastically shortened so it wouldn't look like he was masturbating)[[/note]].

* Back when ''Anime/ExcelSaga'' first aired in Japan, the censors deemed episode 26 far too raunchy to be shown on Japanese TV. [[InvokedTrope This is what they were aiming for.]] The episode is titled "Going Too Far". Implied pedophilia, excessive blood, frontal female nudity. Those last two pass without ''too much'' of a hitch in modern animes, but things were different back then.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'''s "When You Wish Upon A Weinstein" was originally a DVD-only release, and was shown on TV for the first time (three years after it was produced) on Creator/CartoonNetwork's Creator/AdultSwim Block. The episode was pulled by FOX due to fears that the episode was offensive to Jews (despite that SethMacFarlane brought in an actual rabbi to make sure the episode was kosher. It was, despite what the FOX Broadcast Standards and Practices people say) ''and'' Catholics. In the end, only a single line had to be altered for the episode to air on Adult Swim (Peter's line near the end of "I Need A Jew" was changed from "Even though they [the Jews] killed my Lord," to "I don't think they killed my Lord"). After ''Family Guy'' was UnCancelled, FOX themselves showed the episode (with the same line edited as in the Creator/CartoonNetwork version, and another cut: Quagmire "looking for his keys" in front of Lois was drastically shortened so it wouldn't look like he was masturbating).

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' episode ''Deadly Force'' was removed from rotation for a while, then re-aired with the murder scene censored.
* Another Creator/{{Disney}} example: An episode of ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'' that involved a PottyEmergency was never aired in America, because Disney found the content "inappropriate".

SubTrope of MissingEpisode.

** The first-season episode "Tentacool and Tentacruel" features an enraged Tentacruel wrecking havoc on a large city in an act of revenge against construction crews destroying the Tentacools' reef, including destroying skyscrapers. This episode, however, had been pulled from most television markets due to the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks.

Examples:

* The eighth episode of the first season of Canadian cartoon ''KevinSpencer'' was only broadcast once, after a viewer wrote an angry letter to the CRTC (the Canadian equivalent of the FCC) over the episode's content. This content, including having Kevin's father getting his finger bitten off by an alligator, accidentally drinking the beer containing his finger and then vomiting it up, and finally getting into an extremely violent fight with the gator and ending up gashed and bruised, was apparently so offensive that it was never broadcast again.
* The ''WesternAnimation/PepperAnn'' episode "In Support Of" (where Pepper Ann thinks she needs a bra for an upcoming trampoline lesson in phys ed and ends up flashing her gym class) was shown once back when ABC had the "One Saturday Morning" line-up in the late 1990s and when ''Pepper Ann'' aired on the syndicated line-up ''Disney's One Too'' (which aired on UPN back when that was a channel and included reruns of this show, two episodes of ''Recess'', and ''Sabrina the Animated Series''). When the show was brought to The Disney Channel and Toon Disney (at least in America; overseas versions do air this -- some with edits), it disappeared.

* The animated adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/TheMask'' had its entire second season missing when it aired on Creator/{{CBS}} (on CBS, only the first and third season aired). The second season was only shown on cable channels such as Creator/CartoonNetwork and the syndicated animation block, BKN (Big Kids Network), which showed a lot of cast-off cartoons that never made it to network TV, like ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'', ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'', ''WesternAnimation/CaptainSimianAndTheSpaceMonkeys'', ''StreetSharks'', and ''ExtremeDinosaurs''. The only explanation that can be given for this is that season two's episodes of ''The Mask'' are a lot racier than those of seasons one and three, particularly the episode "Flight as a Feather" which features [[spoiler: a strip- er, "exotic dancer" named Cookie [=BaBoom=] threatening to kill herself with a suicide bomb because the Mayor broke up with her, and a scene where Cookie ends up naked (though no nudity was shown, Kellaway and Doyle's reactions to seeing Cookie naked tell the viewers more than if any actual flashes of breasts or genitalia was shown) after The Mask uses her suicide belt bikini as the main ingredient in an explosive cocktail drink]].
** And speaking of "Flight as a Feather," when FOX Family (ABC Family back when FOX owned it) aired old reruns of ''The Mask'' in the late 1990s-early 2000s, "Flight as a Feather" was ''always'' skipped over because of that part with Cookie [=BaBoom=] (it would be easier to just edit out the entire sequence, but then that would ruin the continuity, because later in the episode, [[spoiler: Cookie [=BaBoom=] [clad in her trenchcoat] is seen in the angry mob that has The Mask cornered at the Bavariaville golf course]]).
* ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'': The infamous second-season episode "Buffalo Gals" was quickly pulled after its original broadcast, after a mother wrote in to Creator/CartoonNetwork complaining about the obvious lesbian stereotypes (involving really butch-looking female bikers who break into people's houses and literally munch on the carpets) and sexual innuendos (mostly focused on lesbian sex, like the carpet-munching pun). As a result, rerun versions of this particular episode replace the segment with a repeat of the first-season episode "Orthodontic Police".

** The episode "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson," much of which takes place in and around the World Trade Center, was withdrawn from syndication after the attacks on September 11th, 2001. However, in a reversal of the "TooSoon" situation, fans protested the removal of the episode (since it's one of the most popular episodes of the series) and it was quickly reinstated, albeit with the jokes and scenes centered around the Twin Towers either heavily edited or cut entirely on some local affiliates. Other affiliates have shown the episode uncut and uncensored, save for some time cuts and a man's line about how, "They stick all the jerks in Tower One." The original uncut episode is on the season nine DVD (with commentary from the writers on how the episode is now in bad taste thanks to 9/11, but it still has its moments that have stood the test of time).

** The episodes "Inside Job" and "Conspiracy" were omitted from the DisneyChannel run of the series after September 11th, 2001. Both episodes dealt with assassination plots against ambassadors by a group of Anti-Galactic Alliance terrorists.
* ''WesternAnimation/Kablam!'' episode "I Just Don't Get It!" was banned from airing in North America, after the 9/11 attack. In the Action League Now! episode: "Caged Thunder," The Mayor wanted to blow up the Capital Building in Washington DC.

* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': Despite the myriad of [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar adult jokes that slipped through the cracks]] [[SubvertedTrope some of which did end up getting edited in reruns]], ''Rocko's Modern Life'' only banned two episodes for content:

* On ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'', the "Dial M for Monkey" segment "Barbequor" was pulled by CartoonNetwork and replaced with "Dexter's Lab: A Story" after the creators of the ''Silver Surfer'' complained that their character was used without their permission (and worse: it was a CampGay stereotype called "The Silver Spooner").
** "Rude Removal", an episode that was produced in 1997-98 that featured Dexter accidentally creating foul-mouthed clones of himself and Dee-Dee. It was banned from airing despite all the naughty words being bleeped and was only screened at select conventions until Creator/AdultSwim released it onto the Internet in January 2013.

Every once in a while, a series will have an episode that eventually draws in some kind of controversy, for whatever reason - be it offensive to certain viewers, too risqué for standards of the time, a result of ExecutiveMeddling - and as a result, those episodes are pulled from the air, and very rarely, if ever, are seen in reruns, or syndication, ever again.

Depending on the popularity or cult following of the series, often these episodes still get some milage, through tape tradings, or various posting on Internet video sharing sites such as Website/YouTube.

* ''Postcards From Buster'': One episode from the series was never aired across the nation, but was aired only once on the PBS affiliate associated with the production of the series (WGBH in Boston); this episode involved Buster meeting a girl with "two mommies". Needless to say, since homosexuality (whether depicted stereotypically or not) is a point of contention for a lot of people (religious types and U.S. Republicans, mostly) -- especially in anything that's not adult-oriented (like ''TheSimpsons'', ''SouthPark'', or anything by SethMacFarlane), this episode was protested by various different parental groups, and never saw the light of day in other PBS affiliates across the country.

* ''PostcardsFromBuster'': One episode from the series was never aired across the nation, but was aired only once on the PBS affiliate associated with the production of the series (WGBH in Boston); this episode involved Buster meeting a girl with "two mommies". Needless to say, since homosexuality (whether depicted stereotypically or not) is a point of contention for a lot of people (religious types and American Republicans, mostly), this episode was protested by various different parental groups, and never saw the light of day on other PBS affiliates across the country.
* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': The final season segment "Heff in a Handbasket" involved a plot in which Heffer unknowingly sells his soul to Peaches (in-universe spawn of Satan) in order to appear on a TV game show; this segment contained a lot of references to Hell and Satan's number (666), among other references that were otherwise a little upsetting to some parental viewers. As such, it was pulled from reruns, and later replaced with the first season segment "Bedfellows".

* ''PostcardsFromBuster'': One episode from the series was never aired across the nation, but was aired only once on the PBS affiliate associated with the production of the series (WGBH in Boston); this episode involved Buster meeting a girl with "two mommies". Needless to say, since homosexuality is a big no-no in family entertainment, this episode was protested by various different parental groups, and never saw the light of day on other PBS affiliates across the country.

* ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'': The infamous second-season segment "Buffalo Gals" was quickly pulled after its original broadcast, after a mother wrote in to Creator/CartoonNetwork complaining about the obvious lesbian stereotypes (involving really butch-looking female bikers who break into people's houses and literally munch on the carpets) and sexual inneudoes. As a result, rerun versions of this particular episode replace the segment with a repeat of the first-season segment "Orthodontic Police".
* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'': From the first season, a ''Dial 'M' for Monkey'' segment was deemed offensive, with its inclusion of a villain named Silver Spooner (parody of Silver Surfer), who was depicted not-so-subtly with a stereotypically gay personality. Since the subject matter of homosexuality is deemed family unfriendly by many parents, the segment was pulled, and later replaced with a second-season Dexter segment, "Dexter's Lab: A Story"

* ''{{Seinfeld}}'': One of the last episodes of the series, "The Puerto Rico Day", was initially pulled after it original broadcast, mainly because NBC felt the episode was too offensive with its depictions of Puerto Ricans, as well as a scene involving Kramer (accidentally) burning a Puerto Rico flag, causing an angry mob of Puerto Ricans trashing the streets, and vandalizing Jerry's car (to which, Kramer remarks, "It's like this every day in Puerto Rico."). As of 2010, certain local markets across the country had placed the episode back into their packages; but as of 2012, the episode is now back permanently in the syndicated package (Kramer's line, "It's like this every day in Puerto Rico" is absent, though it could be a case of being EditedForSyndication).

* ''{{Seinfeld}}'': One of the last episodes of the series, "The Puerto Rico Day", was initially pulled after it original broadcast, mainly because NBC felt the episode was too offensive with its depictions of Puerto Ricans, as well as a scene involving Kramer (accidentally) burning a Puerto Rico flag, causing an angry mob of Puerto Ricans trashing the streets, and vandalizing Jerry's car (to which, Kramer remarks, "It's like this every day in Puerto Rico."). In recent years, certain local markets have placed the episode back into their syndication packages.

Every once and a while, a series will have an episode that eventually draws in some kind of controversy, for whatever reason - be it offensive to certain viewers, too risque for standards of the time, a result of ExecutiveMeddling - and as a result, those episodes are pulled from the air, and very rarely, if ever, are ever seen in reruns, or syndication, ever again.

Depending on the popularity and/or cult following of the series, often times, these episodes still get some milage, through tape tradings, or various posting on internet video sharing sites such as YouTube.

[[AC: Anime]]
* ''{{Pokemon}}''
** The first season episode "Tentacool and Tentacruel" features an enraged Tentacruel wrecking havoc on a large city in an act of revenge against construction crews destroying the Tentacools' reef, including destroying skyscrapers; this episode, however, had been pulled from most television markets due to the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks.
** That same season, the episode "Electric Soldier Porygon" aired once in Japan, but sequences involving continually strobing blue and red lights gave several Japanese viewers - both kids and adults - to experience terrible seizures. While it was removed from Japanese reruns for a period of time, the episode has never seen the light of day in American markets, nor any where else in the world, and likewise, has never seen any official commercial home video releases.
[[AC: Live Action TV]]

* ''{{Seinfeld}}'': One of the last episodes of the series, "The Puerto Rico Day" was initially pulled after it original broadcast, mainly because NBC felt the episode was too offensive with its depictions of Puerto Ricans, as well as a scene involving Kramer (accidentally) burning a Puerto Rico flag, causing an angry mob of Puerto Ricans trashing the streets, and vandalizing Jerry's car (to which, Kramer remarks, "It's like this every day in Puerto Rico."). In recent years, certain local markets have placed the episode back into their syndication packages.
[[AC: Newspaper Comics]]
* A strip from ''GetFuzzy'' drew in plenty of controversy, because of supposed implications that sportscaster Bob Lobel is an alcoholic. While some newspapers had a "censored" version published by replacing Lobel's name with a simple, "Him", the strip is excluded entirely in subsequent ''Get Fuzzy'' collection and treasurey books.
[[AC: Western Animation]]
* ''CowAndChicken'': The infamous second season segment, "Buffalo Gals", was quickly pulled after its original broadcast, after a mother wrote in to Cartoon Network, complaining about the obvious lesbian stereotypes (involving really butch-looking lady bikers, who break into people's houses, and literally munches on the carpets), and sexual inneudoes; as a result, rerun versions of this particular episode replace the segment with a repeat of the first season segment, "Orthodontic Police".
* ''DextersLaboratory'': From the first season, a ''Dial 'M' for Monkey'' segment was deemed offensive, with its inclusion of a villain named Silver Spooner (parody of Silver Surfer), who was depicted in a not-so-subtle with a stereotypically gay personality; since the subject matter of homosexuality is deemed family unfriendly by many parents, the segment was pulled, and later replaced with a second season Dexter segment "Dexter's Lab: A Story"
* ''PostcardsFromBuster'': One episode from the series was never aired across the nation, but was aired only once on the PBS affiliate associated with the production of the series (WGBH in Boston); this episode involved Buster meeting a girl with "two mommies"; needless to say, since homosexuality is a big no-no in family entertainment, this episode was protested by various different parental groups, and never saw the light of day on other PBS affiliates across the country.
* ''[[RockosModernLife Rocko's Modern Life]]'' The final season segment, "Heff in a Handbasket", involved a plot in which Heffer, unknowingly, sells his soul to Peaches (in-universe spawn of Satan) in order to appear on a TV gameshow; this segment contained a lot of references to Hell, Satan's number (666), among other references that were otherwise a little upsetting to some parental viewers, and as such, was pulled from reruns, and later replaced with the first season segment, "Bedfellows".

* ''[[Pokemon Pokémon]]''

* ''{{Pokemon Pokémon}}''

* ''DextersLaboratory Dexter's Laboratory]]'': From the first season, a ''Dial 'M' for Monkey'' segment was deemed offensive, with its inclusion of a villain named Silver Spooner (parody of Silver Surfer), who was depicted in a not-so-subtle with a stereotypically gay personality; since the subject matter of homosexuality is deemed family unfriendly by many parents, the segment was pulled, and later replaced with a second season Dexter segment "Dexter's Lab: A Story"

* ''[[RockosModernLife Rocko's Modern Life]]'' The final season segment, "Heff in a Handbasket", involved a plot in which Heffer, unknowingly, sells his soul to Peaches (in-universe spawn of Satan) in order to appear on a TV gameshow; this segment contained a lot of references to Hell, Satan's number (666), among other references that were otherwise a little upsetting to some parental viewers, and as su