6 TV Episodes Pulled From the Air for Unexpected Reasons

Making it onto television is challenging enough, and staying there can be even harder. While most shows pulled from TV fade into obscurity, a few installments were taken off the air for reasons so strange as to earn them a spot in television history. Whether their removal was due to edgy jokes, online outrage, or just poorly timed production, these shows left the air for some unforgettable reasons. 

1. Sesame Street Episode 847
2. Peppa Pig's “Mister Skinnylegs”
3. Pokémon's “Electric Soldier Porygon”
4. SVU’s Shelved Trump Episode 
5. Arthur’s Lance Armstrong Episode 
6. The Simpsons' “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson”

Sesame Street Episode 847

In a 1976 episode of Sesame Street, actress Margaret Hamilton reprised her iconic role as the Wicked Witch of the West nearly four decades after the 1939 premiere of The Wizard of Oz. The episode first aired in February 1976, but PBS quickly pulled it from the air after they were bombarded with complaints from parents claiming the episode was “too scary.” 

For years, the episode was unavailable for viewing, until a 2019 “Lost and Found” event celebrating the show’s 50th anniversary included clips from it. After being preserved in the Library of Congress, the episode was later leaked online. 

Before her ill-fated guest spot on Sesame Street, Hamilton made appearances as the Wicked Witch of the West on other children’s shows like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Like her Sesame Street episode, Hamilton’s appearances on Mister Rogers were in conjunction with storylines intended to help children overcome their fears. 

Peppa Pig's “Mister Skinnylegs”

First airing in mid-2004, Peppa Pig is a British animated children’s show centering on the titular, anthropomorphic Peppa Pig and her porcine family. In the season one episode “Mister Skinnylegs,” Peppa’s younger brother, George, befriends a spider. Though Peppa is initially frightened by the spider, she eventually befriends him herself, affectionately naming him “Mister Skinnylegs.” 

Despite the episode’s seemingly innocuous premise, it was pulled from the air in Australia following complaints from parents who cited Australia’s native venomous spider species as the reason. The network eventually acquiesced to the concerned parents and removed the episode from broadcast in Australia. 

Pokémon's “Electric Soldier Porygon”

On December 16, 1997, the 38th episode of the animated children’s series Pokémon aired in Japan. Already a bona fide sensation, the episode drew millions of viewers across Japan. 

In the latter half of the episode, a flashing explosion sequence triggered photosensitive epileptic seizures in hundreds of children watching. Within just a few days, more than 10,000 children were reported to have experienced symptoms of epileptic seizures while viewing the episode. The episode was swiftly pulled from the air, and the series’ producers were questioned by Japanese police.  

Since Pokémon was viewed by millions across the country, experts were able to easily understand the initial few hundred seizure cases, but found themselves stumped by how widely the symptoms had spread. A later investigation by medical sociologist Robert Bartholomew has suggested that the phenomenon was an example of mass psychogenic illness, better known as mass hysteria.  

SVU’s Shelved Trump Episode 

Back in 2016, it was reported by Variety that Law & Order: SVU would be airing an episode centering on a Donald Trump-like figure played by actor Gary Cole. Though the episode had completed production and was slated to air just ahead of the November 2016 election, NBC later decided to shelve the installment. 

Rumored to be about a chauvinistic businessman running for president and caught up in a maelstrom of sexual misconduct allegations, the episode was pulled from NBC’s release schedule shortly after a slew of real-life sexual misconduct allegations against Trump emerged. 

Though Trump had previously worked with NBC for more than a decade on his reality television series The Apprentice, the network officially cut ties with him back in 2015 after he’d made derogatory remarks about immigrants. 

Arthur’s Lance Armstrong Episode 

In the season 13 Arthur episode “The Great MacGrady,” Arthur and his pals learn that their school’s lunch lady, Mrs. MacGrady, has been diagnosed with cancer. Distraught from the news, Arthur’s friend Francine writes to Lance Armstrong, a real-life cancer survivor, after learning he is attending the Elwood City Bike-A-Thon. 

Armstrong responds to Francine’s letter and asks to meet with her to talk about how he got through his own cancer diagnosis. He assuages Francine’s concerns and even inspires her to plan her own biking-themed fundraiser for cancer.

Though the episode was received positively upon its initial release, it was pulled from PBS’s broadcast rotation in 2012 following Armstrong’s doping scandal. In 2021, a revised version of the episode was released on streaming services, leaving the plot almost entirely intact and simply replacing Armstrong with Binky’s Uncle Slam.

The Simpsons' “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson”

For the premiere of their ninth season in 1997, the Simpson family headed to the Big Apple. First broadcast in September 1997, the episode followed the family on a visit to New York City to recover their car. Borrowed by local drunkard Barney Gumble, the car had been abandoned outside the World Trade Center, where it collected a slew of parking violations and was booted. 

On account of the World Trade Center being heavily featured in the episode, the episode was pulled from syndication after the September 11th terrorist attacks. After a few years off the air, the episode was later put back into syndication. 

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