Tscott

I don't have Showtime, so I've been getting the Penn & Teller Bullshit DVDs as they come out. My copy arrived from Amazon today and I look at the description on the back and see in small print: * Does not include The Vatican episode.

WTF? This was one of the ones I was looking forward to. Seems like it would be timely too, due to the current revelations. And ironic too that they have the "Right to free speech" prominently displayed on their front cover.

I didn't see this mentioned anywhere else on this site, so just be aware that if you're thinking of getting this, this is not the complete 7th season on DVD.

Brian Jones

I, too, came here hoping to find an answer to this question. I received the discs from Netflix, so I didn't learn about the missing episode until I finished Disc 2 and realized the Vatican topic (shown in the opening credits) was never included as an episode.

RevengeFan

It looks like this episode isn't available on the Showtime site either. Also, on the Showtime forums, there isn't a dedicated topic on the episode like every other episode. Looks like Showtime's balls got clipped by the Vatican.
I was able to find the episode on Youtube.

phrekyos

This episode appears to have fallen off the face of the Earth. Too bad, I was going to get the seasons 1-7 set, but not if it isn't truly complete.

If Showtime really did give in to the Catholic church, that's pretty pathetic. Especially since the episode featured a woman that was almost put in jail for her own criticisms - I guess they didn't learn anything from the show.

darkside

Sad. No reason at all to support Showtime by buying the set.

Gatherer

Very disappointing that the Vatican episode has been censored from the DVDs. Anyone who hasn't seen it yet should definitely watch it on YouTube, while you still can. Several copies of it posted on other video sites have been removed.

For a premium channel (more so than regular cable channels) to censor anything like this is already absurd, but to censor something after it's already been aired is truly ridiculous. Showtime even erased all evidence of the episode's existence from their website -- in addition to being unavailable to watch online or discuss in the forum, it's also vanished entirely from the list of episodes: www.sho.com/site/ptbs/episodes.do

story

I wonder how Penn and Teller feel about it. Someone interview them, or something. That way, it'll end up being a bigger deal in the media because of the censorship!

darkside

Shocking that in 2010 in supposedly the country with the most freedom in the world you are not allowed to criticize the Vatican and Comedy Central is scared to say the name, much less show an image of Muhammad.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Unless you want future seasons to come out

Dr. Mantle

Watch 'em while you can.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

skacore

It's pretty easy to find, in HD no less. Not particularly controversial either. I'm sure it'll end up as an extra on season 8.

phrekyos

Bullshit airs in HD? Jeez, there's another reason not to get this set. HD show and no Blu-ray version of the set. Lame, lame, lame.

Bob_Bobbson

Well, I sent Penn a tweet about it on twitter yesterday, but I'm not expecting a response.

Gobear

Yeah, I Twittered both of them today, and no response. I understand that since Showtime pays the bills, they get to set the rules about what's released, but I can't believe that this act of religion-based censorship sits at all well with P&T.

Red Dog

While it's bullshit that the episode wasn't included, I don't remember it being all that good....one of the weaker ones of S7.

story

Huh. Well, maybe they'll do an episode about being censored by Showtime in their next season.

Truffaut Fan

Any update on what happened here? Surely they've commented on why it isn't there by now. I just can't seem to find anything using search engines.

darkside

I'm pretty sure this one is a legal issue. I'm betting they will not be able to talk about it until Showtime lets them or they stop doing the show and are no longer under contract.

Rusty Nail

Penn did an interview with Vanity Fair last month

The Vatican episode isn't included on the season 7 DVD of Bullshit. What happened there? Was that Showtime's decision or yours?

I swear to god, it was just a little oversight in the printing process. (Laughs.)

Do you really think I'm dumb enough to believe an avowed atheist who begins a sentence with "I swear to god"?

The honest answer, and it's actually less fulfilling than the answer I just gave you, is I don't know. They never told me. The DVD came out and the Vatican episode wasn't on it and nobody had talked to us and I actually found out about it by fans going "What the fuck?" But of course when you try to say you didn't know anything about it, you sound like a cross between Nixon and an idiot.

Do you have any theories about what might've happened? Maybe Showtime was nervous about a backlash?

I think that has to be the case, even though the reaction was overwhelmingly positive, and what we said about the Catholic Church was actually much more conservative than what the New York Times said a few months ago. We don't actually say that the Pope himself was covering up child rape, which turns out to be the truth. We don't say that, because at the time we didn't have proof. The funny thing is, if you look at the Vatican show now, after everything we've learned over the past year, it almost plays an apology for the Catholic Church. As you know, there are hundreds of people involved in a corporation, and I guess somebody at Showtime decided it was for the best to leave it off the DVD. And maybe it was for the best. I'm always surprised when the corporate world does stupid things, because they're often not very stupid in hindsight.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/osc...talk-show.html