TV Moments That Took Things Too Far

#1 2 Broke Girls - Graphic Content

The CBS sitcom, 2 Broke Girls, is about two waitresses who are trying to get enough money together to open a cupcake business or any business at all. Many viewers find the pair far from sweet. In fact, the FCC has levied fines against the network several times for the content of the show. One episode, in particular, had viewers outraged when a Barbie Doll was used to show sexual acts. How graphic a Barbie can be without actual genitals is questionable, but one Texas woman wrote, "From constant comments about sexual positions and ejaculation in every orifice to menstrual cycles in much more vulgar terms, 2 Broke Girls is unrelenting."

#2 Married With Children - Booby Trapped

When Married… with Children premiered in 1987, the Bundy family was very different than the picture-perfect clans America was so used to seeing. Al and Peg weren't afraid to call out each other's flaws. Al constantly called Peg a horrible housewife, mother, and cook, while Peg was there to let her husband know just how inadequate he was as the man of the house. One episode that featured Al visiting a lingerie shop was too much for viewers, who demanded that FOX remove the show from its repeats. The 1989 episode had Al and Steve visiting a store to purchase bras for their wives when Al unexpectedly sees a half-dressed woman. Of course, the store's motto was, "If you've got the boulders, we've got the holders."

#3 Seinfeld - Puerto Rican Day Parade

Seinfeld was always a show that wasn't afraid to push the boundaries of good taste in search of a laugh, though one episode "crossed the line between humor and bigotry" according to Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer. He was one of numerous viewers of Puerto Rican heritage to be offended by a plot that saw the main characters caught up in a traffic jam caused by the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer come to a halt on their way back from a Mets game and waste no time in angering those enjoying the parade. Kramer accidentally sets a Puerto Rican flag on fire with a sparkler and then proceeds to stomp it out on the ground, causing angry bystanders to toss their car down a stairwell. "It's like this every day in Puerto Rico," proclaims Kramer.

Both the comment and the flag-burning provoked outrage, with Manuel Minabel, president of National Puerto Rican Coalition, calling it an "unquestionable insult" to the country and demanding an apology from NBC. The network quickly complied.

#4 Ellen - The Coming Out Episode

In April 1997, Ellen DeGeneres and her sitcom, The Ellen Show, changed television history when her character, also named Ellen and based on herself, came out on national television. Even though she'd only publicly come out a few days earlier in Time Magazine, it was still a risky move for the late '90s. Only a handful of scripted shows starred gay characters, and the approval rating for gay marriage was at a low 27 percent. Advertisers reportedly started pulling their ads from the show, although only Chrysler admitted to it, citing a corporate policy to avoid controversial clients. While it wasn't the popular thing to do at the time, Ellen said she didn't do it to make herself a standard-bearer for the gay community—she just had to do it for herself.

#5 The X-Files - Everything's Relative

Classic sci-fi series The X-Files also had an episode banned for inappropriate content, with the taboo topic in this instance being incest. "Home" was the first ever X-Files episode to begin with a viewer discretion warning and remained the only one to carry a TV-MA rating, which it most certainly deserved. The episode starts with a baby being found buried by some school children. From there the plot follows Mulder and Scully as they investigate a secluded farmhouse after an abandoned baby is found nearby, and what they discover are three brothers, the younger two fathered by the eldest via their mother. Fox removed the episode from syndication and only repeated it once as part of a 1999 Halloween special, advertising it as "an episode so controversial, it's been banned from television for three years."

#6 Family Guy - The Abortion Episode

"When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" struck a particular nerve with a number of viewers of the animated series in season 3. The episode, in which Peter kidnaps a stranded Jewish man and sets him to work handling his money, was finally aired on Fox four years after the rest of the season, though the network refused to relent when it came to season 8 finale "Partial Terms of Endearment." The so-called "abortion episode" was made but rejected, with Fox exercising their right not to air it and instead releasing it as a standalone DVD that played on the episode's notoriety. Stores like Walmart and Target even refused to sell the DVD for a few years but it's available on Amazon or eBay.

#7 The Simpsons - Blamed By Rio

The episode "Blame it on Lisa" (a play on the title of 1984 film Blame it on Rio) saw the Simpsons head to Brazil in search of an orphan that Lisa has been sponsoring, though the family gets themselves in all manner of trouble upon arrival. Homer is kidnapped by a rogue cabbie, he and Bart are mugged by children, and the pair are also attacked by monkeys—all of which "brought a distortion of Brazilian reality" to the screen according to the country's president at the time, Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

The Rio tourism board also chipped in on the debate over the episode, claiming that the $18 million it had recently spent on promoting the city in the States was now wasted and that the airing of the episode would have "drastic consequences" for travel to the city. Of course, the Rio Olympics proved that the Simpsons episode was spot on, as TV crews got to see crime and filth first hand.

#8 Dexter - We Did It For Dexter

In January 2014, 21-year-old Englishman Mark Howe was found guilty of the murder of his mother after a jury determined he had slipped into her bedroom late at night and used a 12-inch knife to slash her more than 50 times around the face, throat, and chest. He dumped the weapon and claimed to know nothing of the attack, but it soon became clear that Howe was not only guilty but that he had been inspired to commit the murder by a TV show. An examination of his internet history revealed that he searched for "Dexter's kill knife" as well as "what does a sociopath need to do to blend in seamlessly with society," underlining his fascination with the TV serial killer and creating a debate over whether the show should be taken off the air.

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#9 Dexter - The Copycats

It wasn't the first murder to be blamed on Showtime's hit crime drama. In 2008, aspiring Canadian filmmaker Mark Twitchell (who had been going under the name Dexter Morgan on Facebook) lured two men to his home under the pretense of making a horror film about a sword-wielding mass murderer. Twitchell killed one of the men; the other managed to escape. Dexter has had female mimickers too, the most notorious being S&M practitioner Jessica Lopez, who strangled a woman and attempted to "chop her up" like the show's protagonist.

#10 All In The Family - Archie Bunker

It was the most controversial series ever, at the time. All in the Family was that realistic look into the '70s blue-collar lifestyle that some Americans had never seen before. The show covered many hot-button issues like sex, politics, and race—but there was one controversial character who topped it all: Archie Bunker. Archie was a bigot, prejudiced against anyone who wasn't born in America and disregarded anyone who did not agree with his conservative ideals. With his blatant sexism and frequent use of racial epithets, Bunker always seemed to be pushing the envelope just a little bit more in every episode. Today, the things Archie mocked and talked about are fair play on TV, and critics of the series, which was highly successful for years, say that the show opened the floodgates for all the garbage seen on television today.

#11 South Park - Showing Islamic Prophet Muhammad

South Park is not afraid to "go there." It has actually had several bans, advertising losses, and shelved episodes. Still, for the most part, because it is cable TV, they get away with much more than other series like The Simpsons or Family Guy. But when the show's creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, tried using an image of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, it was like all hell broke loose. Prior to the episode airing on Comedy Central, the network banned the showrunners from using a visual of the prophet, which was reportedly due to safety concerns. This did not make Stone or Parker happy campers, so rather than showing a picture of Muhammad, they posted a message onscreen reading, "Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Muhammad on their network." They've seen been targets of ISIS and other hate groups.

#12 Heil Honey I'm Home! - The Comedy Version

Not everything that comes out of the world renowned Buckinghamshire studio is guaranteed to be a success. One of the most unusual British sitcoms of all time is proof. Geoff Atkinson's Heil Honey I'm Home! was supposed to follow a re-imagined version of Adolf Hitler and his partner Eva Braun as they deal with living next door to fictional Jewish couple Arny and Rosa Goldenstein, though the show fell right out of the gate. The Board of Deputies of British Jews labeled the sitcom antisemitic, and the now-defunct Galaxy channel was forced to pull it after just a single pilot episode. The show is often ranked among the most tasteless ever created, but Atkinson has always insisted his intentions were misunderstood.