TV Scenes So Bad They Were Pulled From The Show

Deleted scenes are akin to mythical beasts for hardcore fans of a TV show. In the past, you'd have to buy a series on DVD to check out what scenes were filmed but ultimately pulled before it went to air. However, there's a type of deleted scene that is even rarer — ones that made it to broadcast but were pulled after the fact.

Sometimes, audiences react badly to a certain scene right away and network execs waste no time in pulling it from subsequent airings. Other times, changing societal attitudes render a scene that was once considered okay unacceptable and it gets cut from the episode it originally appeared in for reruns and on streaming services. There are also examples of scenes being removed for innocuous reasons, like there being something in the shot that wasn't supposed to be there.

Execs would like us to forget that these scenes even exist, but the fact is, they do, and they were all aired at one stage or another. The following TV moments are so bad and/or offensive that they're now difficult to find, but we've got all the details below.

The hit Netflix series "Squid Game" is somewhat controversial by nature: Not only is it violent, but it's also an anti-capitalist show that highlights the extreme inequalities that exist in modern society via a competition in which desperate people compete in a series of deadly games for the chance to become a millionaire. However, one untold truth of "Squid Game" is that the first season of the show wreaked havoc on one person's life due to the inclusion of a very real phone number. 

The first episode of "Squid Game" sees Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) receive a card containing a phone number he can call if he wishes to compete in the games. There are only eight digits, but even plugging those in will direct to someone as a local call. After the show premiered on Netflix, one person was inundated with thousands of calls daily. "Since the airing of 'Squid Game,' I have been receiving text messages and calls 24 hours a day that make it difficult for me to live my daily life," the phone number holder told Money Today, adding, "I get calls out of curiosity day and night without any sense of time, to the point where my phone battery would run out in half a day."

This person wasn't the only one to suffer from the inclusion of these digits in the first "Squid Game" episode: Someone else also received frequent calls since their phone number was only one digit off. "The stress from incessant prank calls is driving me crazy," they said (via The Korea Times). It was surely a nightmare come to life, especially not knowing at first that a new show was behind it all. Fortunately, Netflix edited the episode so that viewers watching it now can't see any numbers.

"The Big Bang Theory" was a cultural juggernaut for over a decade, but it got off on some rocky footing. There's the now-infamous unaired pilot that's very different from what viewers eventually saw, in which the female lead is Katie (Amanda Walsh) rather than Penny (Kaley Cuoco). Even the pilot that made it to air still needed some tweaking, as evidenced from the sperm bank scene that was pulled for being too inappropriate. 

The very first scene of the pilot involves Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons) going to a high IQ sperm bank to make some money. For a show where most of the jokes amount to "Look at how nerdy these nerds are," it's a pretty risqué way to kick things off. It also feels out of character for Sheldon, who later in the series would struggle with the ins and outs of sexual behavior.

The sperm bank scene was later cut from syndication, although it's back in the episode if you watch it on Max. While the scene does raise some questions, it's ultimately necessary, as there's a callback in Season 12. Sperm donation comes back into play in "The Donation Oscillation" when Zack (Brian Thomas Smith) and Marissa (Lindsey Kraft) ask Leonard if he would be their sperm donor. 

The "Star Wars" franchise has the mystical Force, lightsabers that can slice a body in two, and space whales that can create tunnels through hyperspace. But, apparently, a guy wearing jeans is just a step too far. In "The Mandalorian" Chapter 12, "The Siege," Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) gets into a shootout with some Stormtroopers. Fortunately, he has Cara Dune (Gina Carano) and Greef Karga (the late, great Carl Weathers) for back-up. If you were to look closely at the bottom right-hand corner during this scene, you'd see a person standing behind the doorway wearing a green shirt, watch, and blue jeans.

It's an absolutely hilarious thing for editing to miss, and fans had a blast making fun of it. A meme was even born designating the person "Admiral Jeff Blue-Jeans," complete with a mock-up of his very own action figure. Of course, there's no deeper meaning to this, as this was clearly a member of the crew who thought they were out of frame, but the internet remembers all despite Disney's best efforts. Jeans Guy was digitally removed from "The Siege" shortly after it first aired, and while he may be gone, he'll never be forgotten. 

The following slide includes references to suicide.

"13 Reasons Why" takes an unflinching look at the realities many high school students go through. This includes bullying, depression, and, tragically, suicide. The show's first season centers on the death of Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford), who has left behind cassette tapes for the people in her life to listen to and gain a better understanding of why she did what she did. While suicide is a topic of discussion throughout the season, things come to a head in Episode 13, "Tape 7, Side A," in which viewers see what happened. 

Creator Brian Yorkey released a statement to X explaining the rationale: "Our creative intent in portraying the ugly, painful reality of suicide in such graphic detail in Season 1 was to tell the truth about the horror of such an act, and make sure no one would ever wish to emulate it." However, many experts disagreed, stating how depictions of suicide can make viewers more likely to contemplate the act themselves. Immediately following the backlash, Netflix added more trigger warnings, and, more than two years after the episode first aired, it pulled the scene entirely. 

But even that may not be enough to cleanse "13 Reasons Why" of how problematic it is. Lisa Horowitz, a pediatric psychologist at the National Institute of Mental Health, told NPR, "One of the things that mental health clinicians recommend is that you don't talk about or publish the suicide note. And '13 Reasons Why' is really 13 hours of a suicide note, and that's a problem."

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org

The following slide includes references to suicide.

"13 Reasons Why" at least appeared to have good intentions. "The Office" was clearly going for shock humor during the cold open of Season 6, Episode 8, "Koi Pond." The Dunder Mifflin staff set up an appropriately lame haunted house for some kids to go through, with Michael Scott (Steve Carell) promising to really scare them. At the end of the tour, we see that Michael's attempt to scare them involves him faking his own death via suicide before cutting the act, turning to the children, and saying, "Remember kids, suicide is never the answer." All the while, Michael's costume is one of the "D*** in a Box" guys from "Saturday Night Live," for an extra level of inappropriateness. 

There's too much poor taste here, even for "The Office." Unsurprisingly, many viewers complained, and the moment also reportedly drew criticism from Caryn Zucker, then-wife of NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker, who previously worked in suicide prevention. The entire cold open was subsequently removed from reruns, and it's nowhere to be found on its current home at Peacock. While the gag seems in line with Michael Scott's inability to read a room, it feels more at home in something like "Family Guy" rather than "The Office."

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org

Blackface dates back to the 19th century, where white performers would apply dark makeup and perform offensive caricatures of Black people. It's an incredibly racist practice that has somehow continued to crop up on screen in the 21st century, with the likes of "30 Rock" and "The Office" among the guilty shows. In 2020, amid the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by George Floyd's murder, many streamers pulled or edited episodes depicting blackface from their line-ups. 

In many cases, full episodes were cut, with Hulu removing five episodes of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," for example. Then there are shows like "The Office," which merely removed the controversial scene in question. In Season 9's "Dwight Christmas," Dwight (Rainn Wilson) dresses up as Belsnickel, a figure from Germanic folklore. After researching the character, his colleagues become worried about his sidekick, a boy named Zwarte Piet, or Black Peter. The character is traditionally portrayed by white people using blackface. While Dwight insists he'd never go that far, he soon tells his cohort Nate (Mark Proksch), wearing blackface, to get rid of it. The scene can no longer be found on Peacock. 

In a statement about the scene (via The Hollywood Reporter), "The Office" creator Greg Daniels said: "The show employed satire to expose unacceptable behavior and deliver a message of inclusion. Today we cut a shot of an actor wearing blackface that was used to criticize a specific racist European practice. Blackface is unacceptable and making the point so graphically is hurtful and wrong. I am sorry for the pain that caused." Satire or not, it's about time that producers realized that this racist practice needs to be left in the past.

It may be a network for children, but Nickelodeon has a history of deleting offensive scenes deemed unsuitable for broadcast. The "SpongeBob SquarePants" episode "Procrastination" ran afoul of the network's guidelines in more ways than one. It's a classic episode where SpongeBob struggles to write an essay to try and get his boating license. There's one scene involving Patrick applying sun tan lotion to Sandy that was later removed, potentially for being a bit too suggestive. The same could probably be said of Nickelodeon removing a beat where SpongeBob does calisthenics, with his nose moving in a way some people may not like. But the most noticeable scene to get cut from reruns involves a moment where SpongeBob daydreams about what he can do once he gets his license.

To depict SpongeBob's fantasy, the episode cuts to live-action footage of a drag car racer burning out, flipping over, and crashing into a wall. It's a violent sequence and one that parents probably didn't want their kids to see. While all three of these scenes were gone for a while, they eventually came back when "Procrastination" began airing on Nicktoons in 2019. Nickelodeon followed suit by bringing the scenes back to broadcast in 2024, and they exist in their entirety on Paramount+. "SpongeBob" got away with a lot, especially during those first few seasons. It's surprising that more moments weren't cut from later showings. 

There are plenty of things that only adults notice in the original "Animaniacs," and when the show was rebooted in 2020, it maintained that devil-may-care attitude. However, there was one moment that went a little too far. In one episode, Brain creates an infomercial offering his assistance to alien invaders interested in conquering Earth in exchange for allowing him to rule (as has always been his modus operandi). At the end of the ad, he provides what you would assume is a made-up phone number. However, as the people who got curious and called it found out, it was actually for a phone sex hotline, which isn't ideal when the target demographic is children. 

Hulu temporarily removed the episode before bringing it back with all the text displayed on screen during this scene removed, so it was just Brain talking surrounded by a blue rectangle. That solved the problem, but it didn't really lend itself to the infomercial parody. Hulu edited it once more so that the text came back, and the phone number was now 1-800-555-0199, which is actually a made-up number. If "Squid Game" and "Animaniacs" have taught us anything, it's to always go ahead and give any "fake" number you want to use a call before putting it in the episode. 

Everyone loves "Bluey." It contains positive messages for kids, and even adults can watch a "Bluey" episode and bawl their eyes out at how sweet it is. But even "Bluey" isn't exempt from controversy, as various episodes have been met with contention over the years, including Season 1, Episode 8 — "Fruit Bat." The main crux of the episode is that Bluey wants to be a fruit bat, but, toward the beginning, she is seen sliding around on a wet bathroom floor like a penguin. It seems innocent enough, and it initially aired in Australia without incident. But when the episode aired globally, the moment was removed in some countries due to concerns that kids could imitate Bluey's game.

There's no denying that sliding around on a bathroom floor is dangerous. Youngsters who get carried away could possibly end up injuring themselves while trying to imitate the energetic Blue Heeler puppy. That being said, this clearly isn't as potentially triggering as seeing a real car crash on "SpongeBob SquarePants," for example. At the moment, "Fruit Bat" can be found on Disney+ with the bathroom scene intact. So was the temporary removal of the scene an overreaction? "Bluey" has always felt like it's trying to set a good example for its audience, and it's better to play it safe than sorry, so we'll give the creators the benefit of the doubt here.

"Game of Thrones" was such a massive production that it's something of a miracle it came together as well as it did — even if we didn't get the ending we really wanted. There were multiple signs that the final season was coming undone a bit, such as the presence of a coffee cup resting on a table next to Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) in the episode "The Last of the Starks." Contrary to popular belief, it actually wasn't a Starbucks cup as the whole internet immediately assumed: It came from a coffee shop in Northern Ireland near where they were filming, which probably could have used all of the publicity that Starbucks got instead.

As expected, HBO edited out the coffee cup pretty quickly, possibly to avoid rampant speculation about what kind of coffee shops are present in Westeros. It's a good thing there are no Starbucks in this fictional land — if the baristas have trouble spelling common names, can you imagine them trying to spell Daenerys? Another embarrassing gaffe would befall "Game of Thrones" in the final episode when a water bottle was spotted during a scene. Everyone is capable of making a mistake at work, but for most of us, said mistake won't be witnessed by millions of people.