Gutch220

I've noticed a lot of cable channels (FX,TNT,etc) trying to compete with HBO and Showtime by creating their own "edgey" shows in the last few years. Shows such as Nip/Tuck, Dirt, Saving Grace, The Shield, Rescue Me, The Riches, and so on. They try to appeal to the same demo as HBO and Showtime. However, I've noticed that all of these shows have drawn a clear line to what they will and won't say/show. And the line is.....
1) "Sh-t"
2) "Assh-le"
3) guys asses

This is what they have to work with. Everything else is obscured. It's kind of pathetic and contrived if you ask me. If they want to make a show for adults then they shouldn't follow childrens standards, no? So if you want a good laugh, the next time you watch any of these shows, watch out for the Sh-tassh-oleguysasses rule.

whotony

ok thanks for the tip.

John_Shil

I'm sure I've heard [expletive deleted] on Nip/Tuck before.

Giantrobo

For years they've been doing"

"___ Damn"


They bleep out "god" but not damn! Why even bother?

Back on topic...who cares? Good for them. I'm an adult and I'm tired of people telling me what I can and cannot hear and see.

calhoun07

I can't say I even notice swearing in movies/tv shows, unless it's so over the top/in your face you can't ignore it.

And I really have better things to do than count all the times somebody says a naughty word in a basic cable TV show.

I think censorship in general is pathetic and contrived. If somebody doesn't want to watch it, they don't have to.

Rypro 525

it seems the only thing they can't really show on any of these basic cable shows are the front nude, the f word and the c word. I've prob heard and seen it all else on one of those shows. Also, they can show the bare female ass, i've seen it on the Shield and Nip Tuck sometimes.

DJariya

I'm not sure what your trying to say, but the FCC doesn't regulate Cable TV programming as strictly as broadcast and those swear words are allowed at the 10pm hour. Although if you have Directv, you will see them earlier in the West Coast.

Mr. Salty

Unless something has changed recently, the FCC can't regulate cable programming at all. However, the cable industry does try to police itself, at least a little.

Gutch220

Yes, this is true.

I think it's rediculous that these cable channels draw such a line in the sand. They should exercise their freedoms more.

rfduncan

I swear I thought I've seen several shots of bare breasts on Nip/Tuck - however, the number is FAR outweighed by the amount of male heiny. And this is a bad thing?

Okay - again. Slow summer programming is the result of another oddball TV Forum thread..

Orbi-Wan Techno

I have heard g-d- on Burn Notice a few times.

Josh-da-man

They want to regulate it, though. Since most television programming has moved away from the public airwaves and onto cable and satellite, the FCC gets very little say in what kind of content can and can't be shown on "TV." I remember a couple of years ago that the FCC and certain congressmen were wanting to give the FCC authority over cable and satellite TV. Don't think anything came of it, but it wouldn't surprise me if they tried it again.

The non-premium cable channels are still commercial television, and thus are still beholden to advertisers, which is why most of them still don't go all-out with nudity and profantiy.

pinata242

Isn't it a freedom to choose to self-censor as opposed to it being mandated?

I know what you're saying, they're trying to play both sides of the aisle by going almost there but at the same time not actually going there.

rfduncan

Still you raise an interesting point. They may try to push this again with the impending switch to digital. Many people may decide to switch to a provider instead of fussing with the box required to switch all their sets over. In that scenario, fewer people would be watching "public airwaves" with all the additional channels cable/satellite provide. Will they kick up a stink to their congressperson when they see nudity and hear "vulgarity" on basic stations like FX that their kiddies might sneak a peek at?

Yes which more parents should exact by enabling their v-chip. Maybe manufactures should switch this practice around by enabling the maximum parental settings as the factory default. Then my freedom wont be hampered when I simply disable all the protection while negligent parents who choose to whine about the "devil's programming" never get a chance to see what their TV can do!

Larry C.

The problem with that is the sponsers. Sure A&E can show whatever they want, but would they still be able to sell there TV spots as easy?
maybe, maybe not.

riley_dude

Networks want to start showing asses, that is fine with me.

Gutch220

There have been small rumblings of this many times over the years but it will never happen since it's a gross violation of the first ammendment and there is overwhelming force against this.

Here is a post I wrote from another forum. Some may agree, some might not............................

A couple points I want to make:
- Leave religion out of it. The US isn't Christian by default. So don't shout from your perceived moral highground. I find it humerous when bible-toting know-it-alls praise America and find it blasphemous to be unpatriotic, and then instantly want to take away peoples' "freedom of speech" which is the foundation of the US constitution.

- Leave children out of it. For the most part we are talking about shows aimed towards adults. Nobody is saying there should be topless cheerleaders freebasing heroin on Sesame Street at 7am but examples of "mild nudity" during daytime hours doesn't hurt anybody. Parents should be FAR more restrictive of internet usage where material is much more explicit and readily available. This is the job of a parent, not society. You had kids, deal with it, because I don't care about YOUR childrens upbrining and I wouldn't expect you to care about mine.

- People act as if they have "the right to not be offended" and this has got to stop. You choose to turn on the TV and you choose what you watch. So if you don't like a show, find something else, and if you don't like TV all together then go fly a kite and stop whining. Stop infringing on other peoples' rights while shouting "Land of the free". With the priviledge of Freedom of Speech comes the tolerance of hearing/seeing things you might not like, but thats OK. We can all like/dislike anything we want but that doesn't mean there should be laws pertaining to it.

- I think the standards towards network TV will eventually change as the old folks in charge begin to retire/die off. Cable is changing at a faster rate but still has a long way to go. Cables execs should be ashamed of themselves for not exercising their freedoms and catering to advertisers. How about seeking advertising that agrees with a more uncensored philosophy?

- To me, it's not about nudity or language or violence. It's about being boxed in by antiquated rules and being told what to do in situations where there should be no restaints in a country that calls itself "free". A friend of mine is from South Africa and when he came over to the US to live several years ago he was shocked by how many rules/laws there were. His previous notions of freedom in the US were wrong.

- To people that think nudity would run rampant on airwaves 24/7, this is just silly. People would get very bored, very quickly and begin to turn off television all together. If you don't believe me, take this exagerated example: watch the raunchiest dirty porno imaginable for literally 24 hours. After a while you will be so bored you'll be wishing the power goes out. It's like at the turn of the century where people would go to the beach in large grey wool dresses and dare not show their ankles. This eventually changed and now such dress would be very odd.

- Several channels already don't (or, used to not) censor themselves and nothing bad has ever happened. There are no riots in the street, no demons spewing from the underworld. For the sake of argument I will leave out movie channels such as IFC, MGM, etc. I find that these general interest channels that aren't based on airing movies are some of the better ones on TV. Examples of these channels are HDNet, LinkTV, PBS channels, and so on. Even Bravo (which is now a joke) used to air their films uncensored with no problems. I once saw the film "Sirens" on Bravo uncensored and nobody jumped out of buildings. It was a welcome site to see a channel do the right thing for a change.

- There is no legal difference between basic cable and premium cable. Cable companies just use the word "premium" so they can charge more money since those channels get revenue from subscribers and not advertising dollars. I don't know about you but I don't think Toyota, Pepsi, or Ruffles Potato Chips should be setting any kind of moral standards.

- Nudity isn't pornography, nudity isn't sex, sex isn't pornography, and pornography isn't evil. None of these things go hand-in-hand. Whether or not you believe something to be distasteful is irrelevant. Nobody cares what YOU think, nobody cares what I think. We all have different tastes so no single standard can cater to 300,000,000 people. So lets stop setting the bar so low by restricting ourselves so much and let people create things (like TV shows in this case) without endless regulations and restrictions.

- If you can depict, on television, someone getting beheaded by a Swiss Army Knife then you'd think anything goes. Society changes, and after a while those changes are seen as the norm and you don't remember what it was like before them. Such as the Hays Code from the 30's-60's. Most of us view this code as complete rubbish today. See for yourself how foolish this "code" was: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hays_co...ns_of_the_Code

- People here use words like "classy" and "tasteful" to justify their freedom. While I'm all for classy, tasteful (aka: serious) programs that are interesting and/or entertaining from time to time that doesn't mean everything needs to be like this. The Jerry Springer Show, or "The Bikini Carwash Company 2" are not classy programs but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be on TV. There's room for all types of programming on televsion. Seek out what you enjoy, and the rest of us will do the same.

DeputyDave

Damn, I thought this was a dating thread.

McHawkson

I have seen Gordon Ramsay said many bad words on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmare on BBCA - well, with closed caption. They allowed to show "asshole" and "cock," but they "bleep" out some "fuck" words like that: "F--- me" or "you're f---ed."

Giantrobo

It is my understanding that even in England "Fuck" or "Fucking" is not allowed on the air. "Shit" is ok though.

I know Joan Rivers recently got thrown off a Morning Chat show in England for saying something she thought was going to be censored by Delay.

Doc MacGyver

As was pointed out by Gutch, hell hath no fury like an offended god warrior.

It's ridiculous that they wield that much power (an army of dittoheads willing to boycott Arm & Hammer and picket Walmart if Sippowitz curses someone with god's name) or that anyone in the godless entertainment industry even listens to them... Christy McBornAgain or Hedenistic Soulless Studio Exec, I guess everyone's a whore when it comes to advertising dollars


-Doc

Gutch220

Like I said, they can get advertisers that know what a particular channels philosophy is regarding censorship

Matthew Chmiel

On basic cable it is.

When Coupling moved to BBC 3 for it's last season, the last episode has a "shit" and a "fuck." (BBCA kept the shit, muted the fuck.)

iggystar

By only looking at the title of the thread I immediately thought Nip/Tuck.

Patman

There are all sorts of F-bombs in Britain's Next Top Model (as well as Australia's Next Top Model).

Nowadays, people just say "Frack" and "Mother Fracker" and skirt around the censors in that manner.