During the original run of the MTV animated series Beavis and Butt-head from 1993 to 1997, I laughed uproariously because they reminded me of so many of the young guys I worked with at various radio stations. Many of the internet generation had to sneak to watch the show, or only know it in reruns, so you might not know much about Beavis and Butt-head’s groundbreaking series.
2. MTV PULLED THE SHOW SOON AFTER IT BEGAN.
Not due to any controversies, but because Mike Judge and the animation staff couldn’t keep up with the demand for new material, forcing MTV to stop airing the show entirely two weeks after it premiered. It made its return over six weeks later on May 17th with “Scientific Stuff” and “Good Credit.”
5. ALL REFERENCES TO FIRE WERE REMOVED PERMANENTLY AFTER THE SHOW WAS BLAMED FOR A DEATH.
In October 1993, a 5-year-old boy set fire to his Ohio home which killed his 2-year-old sister. Their mother claimed Beavis’ fire-making and blatant spoken love of arson was responsible. MTV’s quick response was to only air the show after 10:30pm and to wipe all fire references from all of the previous episodes—only fans who taped the offending episodes on their VCRs have proof that the word was ever uttered. “Fire” was banned for the rest of the series’ original run, but it was allowed again in 2011.
11. BEAVIS ALMOST SAID SOMETHING TOO CLEVER.
Judge told The New York Times in 1993 that one of the big challenges of the show was to keep the two in character and, therefore, dumb. An original line had Beavis telling his classmates that they had “Beavis envy” because he received a school pass. It was cut because it almost made the 14-year-old with the underbite too smart. In 2011, Judge admitted to “cheating” and probably making them smarter than they are during the music video commentaries.
There’s plenty more stories about Beavis and Butt-head in a trivia list at mental_floss.