If you grew up in the eighties, you basically have a permanent mental image of green slime pouring onto a kid’s head. It was messy. It was gross. And honestly, it was the coolest thing on TV. That show was You Can’t Do That on Television, and it didn’t just give Nickelodeon its identity; it gave us a cast of kids who felt like our actual friends.
The show started in Ottawa back in '79. It was raw. No one knew it would become a global hit. But the You Can't Do That on Television cast became legends of the after-school time slot. We watched them get slimed, watered, and insulted by Barth at the burger joint.
But what happened when the cameras stopped rolling? Most of those kids just... went back to normal life. Some became superstars. Others vanished. Let's look at where they actually ended up.
The Faces You Never Forgot: Christine and Alasdair
You can’t talk about the show without mentioning Christine McGlade, better known as "Moose." She was the heartbeat of the series. Funny thing is, she only went to the audition to support a friend. The producers told her she had to audition or leave the room. She stayed, got the part, and her friend didn't. Life is weird like that.
Christine stuck around for roughly 90 episodes. She was the one who usually tried to keep things on track while everything fell apart. After she left in 1986, she didn't chase the Hollywood dream. She stayed in Canada, got into digital design, and became a serious executive. Today, she’s a digital strategist and a professor. Sorta wild to think the girl who took a thousand buckets of water to the face is now teaching university students about data analytics.
Then there was Alasdair Gillis. If you were a girl in 1984, you probably had his picture taped to your locker. He was the "heartthrob" of the show. Alasdair was with the cast from 1982 to 1986. After the show, he did a bit of theater and some voice work, but he mostly stepped away from the spotlight. He eventually went into social work. He’s spent his adult life helping people rather than dodging slime, which is a pretty noble career pivot.
The Man of a Thousand Faces: Les Lye
We have to talk about Les Lye. He was the only adult male in the cast for years. Honestly, he was the show. He played Barth the cook, Ross the stage manager, the dungeon master, and the guy in the firing squad.
- Barth: "Duh, I heard that!"
- Ross: Always trying to cheat the kids out of their pay.
- The Firing Squad: "Ready... Aim..."
Les Lye was a professional. He appeared in every single one of the 144 episodes. There's this famous story about the "smoking" episode. Les didn't smoke in real life, but he smoked for the sketches because it fit the characters. As soon as the scene ended, he ripped off his fake mustache and swore he’d never do it again. Sadly, Les passed away in 2009 at the age of 84. He was the backbone of that set, a mentor to dozens of kids who had no idea what they were doing.
The Superstar: Alanis Morissette
This is the one everyone brings up at trivia night. Yes, Alanis Morissette was on the show. But she wasn't a veteran. She was only in about five episodes in 1986.
Back then, she was just a kid with big hair and a great voice. She used the money she made from the show to fund her first demo tapes. A few years later, she was a Canadian pop star (the Robin Sparkles era, basically). Then Jagged Little Pill happened and she became a global icon. It’s hilarious to watch old clips of her getting slimed and then realize she's the same person who sang "You Oughta Know."
Why the Cast Rotated So Fast
If you watch old episodes, you'll notice the You Can't Do That on Television cast changed constantly. There’s a reason for that. Roger Price, the creator, had a rule: once you hit puberty or got too tall, you were out. He wanted the show to feel like it was made by kids, not by teenagers trying to look cool.
- Kevin Kubusheskie: He was another long-term regular. He ended up working behind the scenes in production, much like Christine.
- Lisa Ruddy: Famous for her "The cat has my tongue" jokes. She left the industry and reportedly moved into the business world.
- Abby Hagyard: She played the Mom and all the female adult roles. She’s still around, doing voice-over work and running a publishing business.
The turnover kept the show fresh, but it was hard on the fans. When the "Original" cast like Moose and Alasdair left in '86, the show lost its magic for a lot of people. The later seasons just felt different.
The Green Slime Legacy
The slime wasn't just green paint. In the beginning, it was a mixture of lime Jell-O, flour, and oatmeal. If it sat under the studio lights for too long, it started to rot. The cast hated it. They said it smelled like old trash.
Eventually, they moved to a more "industrial" recipe (mostly shampoo and food coloring), but the trauma remained. The show's rule was simple: say "I don't know," and you get slimed. Say "Water," and you get a bucket of water. It was the first time kids' TV felt unpredictable.
What happened to the rest?
Most of the You Can't Do That on Television cast went on to lead very normal, Canadian lives.
- Vanessa Lindores: She was a staple in the mid-80s. She eventually left acting and worked in the travel industry.
- Doug Ptolemy: The "dorky" kid. He had some struggles after the show but has occasionally appeared at fan conventions to talk about the "good old days" at CJOH studios.
What You Can Do Now
If you're feeling nostalgic, you don't have to just rely on memories.
- Check YouTube: There are dozens of full episodes uploaded by fans. The quality is grainy, but the humor still holds up.
- Watch "The Orange Years": It's a documentary about the rise of Nickelodeon. It gives a lot of love to the Ottawa crew that started it all.
- Search for "Project 131": This was a reunion special filmed years later. It’s the closest thing we ever got to a series finale.
The show was a fluke. It was a low-budget local program that accidentally conquered the world. And the cast? They were just kids from Ottawa who happened to be in the right place at the right time. They didn't get rich, but they became a permanent part of our childhoods.
If you want to dive deeper, look up some of the old interviews with Christine McGlade. She’s remarkably well-spoken about the weirdness of being a child star in the pre-internet age. She’s proof that you can get dumped with green goo for seven years and still turn out to be a totally normal, successful adult.
