among other popular shows.......people seemed so happy that is was coming back....
Published on Tuesday, January 18, 2005 by the Guardian/UK
Fearful US TV Networks Censor More Shows
by Dominic Timms
The panic that is gripping American TV bosses facing a puritanical backlash or exorbitant government fines has today extended to a cartoon series and a BBC drama.
Fox TV has decided to pixelate a bare derriere in a cartoon series, The Family Guy, which was originally broadcast five years ago with no complaints.
And American public television network PBS is censoring BBC drama documentary Dirty War, wary of attracting a public backlash and fines from the federal watchdog.
PBS, the American public television network, said it would cut scenes featuring a naked woman being decontaminated in a shower, in the film that centers on the aftermath of a dirty bomb attack on London.
Fox TV has already been hit by fines from the Federal Communications Commission with its network of affiliate stations each fined $7,000 in October for airing Married by America, a reality series in which a female contestant was seen licking cream from a male stripper's chest.
With its affiliate stations already rapped, FCC is now considering a record $1.2m fine for the Fox network for the same offence.
"We have to be checking and second-guessing ourselves now," Gail Berman, the head of Fox Entertainment, told Variety today.
PBS said it would use other footage from the film to show the woman from a different angle.
The BBC drama, which is distributed by cable giant HBO in the US. is part of a parcel of three films the network is donating to PBS in order to show its programming to a wider audience.
But fearful of a backlash from Christian and decency groups and increasingly stiff fines from regulators that apply to mainstream television but not to cable channels. PBS said it would cut the film.
The PBS president, Pat Mitchell, said it was making the cuts in order to protect local stations from potential fines from the FCC.
"Cable doesn't have to live with those regulations - we do," Ms Mitchell told delegates during a company briefing, adding that it would also cut an expletive used by the vice-president, Dick Cheney, in Sometimes in April, a film about the Rwandan genocide.
While the FCC has been accused by some groups of deliberately undercounting complaints, it has nevertheless shown an appetite for hitting stations with substantial fines.
Last year CBS parent Viacom was given a $500,000 fine for showing a sub-one second glimpse of Janet Jackson's breast during the Super Bowl half-time show.
Fearful of even the slightest protest, Fox this year turned down an advert for a cold remedy because it contained a brief flash of 84-year-old actor Mickey Rooney's bottom.
Other networks are also being ultra-cautious - late last year 66 stations in the ABC network refused to show Steven Spielberg's second world war drama, Saving Private Ryan, because of its explicit language.
Groups such as the Parents Television Council, and the American Decency Association have become increasingly adept at harnessing the power of the internet and email in particular to lobby for what they call family friendly TV.
Supporters can simply email the groups website to have their complaint sent through to the relevant sector within the FCC.
Just last week the PTC urged supporters to mount an email campaign against CBS for re-broadcasting an episode of missing person drama Without a Trace which attracted around 7,500 complaints when it was first shown because it featured scenes of a "teenage orgy".
"As if it isn't bad enough that CBS/Viacom was so irresponsible to air this rubbish once at a time when millions of children were in the viewing audience, they chose to air it again - this time on the heels of their Consent Decree in which they admitted to violating indecency laws and promised to take immediate steps not to do it again," said Tim Winter, the executive director of the PTC.
"We are urging our members and other concerned citizens to file indecency complaints with the FCC about this rebroadcast."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0118-11.htm
Published on Tuesday, January 18, 2005 by the Guardian/UK
Fearful US TV Networks Censor More Shows
by Dominic Timms
The panic that is gripping American TV bosses facing a puritanical backlash or exorbitant government fines has today extended to a cartoon series and a BBC drama.
Fox TV has decided to pixelate a bare derriere in a cartoon series, The Family Guy, which was originally broadcast five years ago with no complaints.
And American public television network PBS is censoring BBC drama documentary Dirty War, wary of attracting a public backlash and fines from the federal watchdog.
PBS, the American public television network, said it would cut scenes featuring a naked woman being decontaminated in a shower, in the film that centers on the aftermath of a dirty bomb attack on London.
Fox TV has already been hit by fines from the Federal Communications Commission with its network of affiliate stations each fined $7,000 in October for airing Married by America, a reality series in which a female contestant was seen licking cream from a male stripper's chest.
With its affiliate stations already rapped, FCC is now considering a record $1.2m fine for the Fox network for the same offence.
"We have to be checking and second-guessing ourselves now," Gail Berman, the head of Fox Entertainment, told Variety today.
PBS said it would use other footage from the film to show the woman from a different angle.
The BBC drama, which is distributed by cable giant HBO in the US. is part of a parcel of three films the network is donating to PBS in order to show its programming to a wider audience.
But fearful of a backlash from Christian and decency groups and increasingly stiff fines from regulators that apply to mainstream television but not to cable channels. PBS said it would cut the film.
The PBS president, Pat Mitchell, said it was making the cuts in order to protect local stations from potential fines from the FCC.
"Cable doesn't have to live with those regulations - we do," Ms Mitchell told delegates during a company briefing, adding that it would also cut an expletive used by the vice-president, Dick Cheney, in Sometimes in April, a film about the Rwandan genocide.
While the FCC has been accused by some groups of deliberately undercounting complaints, it has nevertheless shown an appetite for hitting stations with substantial fines.
Last year CBS parent Viacom was given a $500,000 fine for showing a sub-one second glimpse of Janet Jackson's breast during the Super Bowl half-time show.
Fearful of even the slightest protest, Fox this year turned down an advert for a cold remedy because it contained a brief flash of 84-year-old actor Mickey Rooney's bottom.
Other networks are also being ultra-cautious - late last year 66 stations in the ABC network refused to show Steven Spielberg's second world war drama, Saving Private Ryan, because of its explicit language.
Groups such as the Parents Television Council, and the American Decency Association have become increasingly adept at harnessing the power of the internet and email in particular to lobby for what they call family friendly TV.
Supporters can simply email the groups website to have their complaint sent through to the relevant sector within the FCC.
Just last week the PTC urged supporters to mount an email campaign against CBS for re-broadcasting an episode of missing person drama Without a Trace which attracted around 7,500 complaints when it was first shown because it featured scenes of a "teenage orgy".
"As if it isn't bad enough that CBS/Viacom was so irresponsible to air this rubbish once at a time when millions of children were in the viewing audience, they chose to air it again - this time on the heels of their Consent Decree in which they admitted to violating indecency laws and promised to take immediate steps not to do it again," said Tim Winter, the executive director of the PTC.
"We are urging our members and other concerned citizens to file indecency complaints with the FCC about this rebroadcast."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0118-11.htm
The lastest Sex Files was an expose on hardcore porn movies. They showed everything but the actual penetration shot.
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