Titus (TV Series) - Censorship By The Network

Censorship By The Network

More than one episode was censored/banned by Fox, including a two-part episode made in the months after the September 11 attacks that centered on the premise that the U.S. government believes Titus is a terrorist after Titus suffers a nervous breakdown on a plane from his mother's suicide, Tommy complains to a flight attendant about his mispronunciation of chicken à la king to the point where Tommy gets down on his knees and cries, "A la, a la, a la king!" (which sounds like "Allah king"), and Dave comes out, gurgling mouthwash (which seems like he is speaking unintelligibly) and wearing a towel turban, a robe, and shaving cream on his face which looked like an Islamic beard.

The episode "The Intervention" was also almost banned, as the censors were wary about the episode glorifying alcoholism (since the story focused on Titus convincing his father, Ken, to drink again since Ken's sobriety is making him boring). Christopher Titus had to read the script to the president of Fox page-by-page over the phone in order to show him how the episode could be funny.

Another episode, "The Protector", was not aired until the very end of the last season, as it dealt with the revelation that Erin's niece, Amy, was sexually molested by a male family friend who looked after her while her parents were in prison (which Amy remembers because the man had a rose tattoo on his penis). Had "The Protector" aired in production order, viewers would have seen the real reason behind Amy's asocial, criminal behavior (besides the fact that her parents are drug addicts who neglected her and were always in jail for drug crimes or domestic violence), and a possible explanation for Amy being a lesbian (as seen in "Errr"). Also, if "The Protector" had been broadcast in production order, the references to Amy being molested and going after a boy who sexually harassed her in school (who turns out to be the son of the man who molested Amy) in such episodes as "The Session" and "Insanity Genetic (2)" would have made more sense.

"The Wedding" was aired out of order as well, as the Season 3 premiere "Racing in the Streets" dealt with Titus's recovery from the accident in "The Pit" and continued in "The Pendulum", yet he seems unaffected and the accident is not mentioned in the Season 2 finale. This is also confirmed by these episodes' production codes, which put "The Wedding" in between "Tommy's Girlfriend II" and "Hard Ass". "The Wedding" was banned due to scenes depicting violence at a church (Juanita's second husband punches her in the face after the two argue about Juanita taking her medication and Juanita ends up shooting her second husband after Titus, Ken, Dave, and the priest presiding over the wedding tie up the man and yell at him for abusing his wife).