“In 1957 a TOILET appeared on TELEVISION for the FIRST TIME during an episode of the hit show Leave it to Beaver.”

National Geographic 5,000 Awesome Facts, # 10 on toilets

In the 21st century it is hard to imagine not seeing a toilet on t.v. We see them in movies where partying teenagers/adults get sick in a toilet for drinking too much, or in the Dumb & Dumber movie when one of the stars ingests a laxative and is stuck on the toilet for a time. It is totally acceptable for a toilet to be shown in today’s world.

But, according to mentalfloss.com toilets on t.v. were too risque and network executives refused to show them on t.v. back in the days.

That was all to change in 1957 when an episode on Leave it to Beaver showed just the tank of the toilet. The episode was named “Captain Jack” in where the 2 boys, Wally and Theodore Cleaver (the Beaver), ordered an alligator from the “Robot Men of Mars”, comic book that was published for 2.50 cents. They were expecting a full grown alligator and instead got an 8″ baby one. (snopes.com/fact-check/potty-time).

The boys didn’t want to keep it in their bedroom for fear of it being discovered by their parents so they decided to keep it in the tank of the toilet in the bathroom instead of the bathtub where it may be discovered.

The episode actually got shelved for week while another episode aired due to problems with CBS’ Practices and Standards groups. CBS refused to approve the episode but it had to be shown in its original form because they couldn’t redo it without having a toilet present. After quite a discussion between the network and production company they decided the episode could include shots of the tank of the toilet only. (snopes.com)

Well, just “Leave it to Beaver.”