Street Smarts Coming to GSN!

[tommycharles]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Apr 27 2004, 04:44 PM\']
At least for now, since there have been rumbles in Washington about regulation for cable thanks to Nipplegate (which was produced by MTV, even if it did air on the broadcast CBS network).  They'll probably die down after lots of National Cable Television Association lobbying money and the election in November. [/quote]
 To regulate them how, exactly? Would it prevent certain shows that are currently airing from airing in the future (Graham Norton comes to mind)?

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'tommycharles\' date=\'Apr 27 2004, 05:27 PM\'][quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Apr 27 2004, 04:44 PM\']
At least for now, since there have been rumbles in Washington about regulation for cable thanks to Nipplegate (which was produced by MTV, even if it did air on the broadcast CBS network).  They'll probably die down after lots of National Cable Television Association lobbying money and the election in November. [/quote]
To regulate them how, exactly? Would it prevent certain shows that are currently airing from airing in the future (Graham Norton comes to mind)?[/quote]
Well, no one's said anything concrete other than plain old political hot air, but I would imagine that the possibility of threats of heavy fines for indecency similar to what's been handed down to Clear Channel for Bubba the Love Sponge could be waved in the air.

The argument that cable has always had is that because you pay extra for the service, regulation for content was unnecessary--and for the most part, basic cable networks followed the network Program Practices books regarding indecency (it's the premium channels, which you haveto pay more for, that were raising the barriers initially).  Some channels, like say CBN (Family), might be a little stricter, but everyone basically played the same rules as broadcast TV.

However, we've now had "South Park," "The Shield" and "Nip/Tuck," to name a few, raising the basic cable bar (or lowering it, depending on your view) for language/sex/violence.  One could argue that MTV by itself has raised the bar higher than any other net.  But thanks to fragmentation, nobody was paying much attention other than the professional nannies--until Super Bowl Sunday...

SortaObGameShow:  "Fake-a-Date":  The first GSN show with a TV rating higher than TV-PG.

[tommycharles]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Apr 27 2004, 05:50 PM\']

However, we've now had "South Park," "The Shield" and "Nip/Tuck," to name a few, raising the basic cable bar (or lowering it, depending on your view) for language/sex/violence.  One could argue that MTV by itself has raised the bar higher than any other net.  But thanks to fragmentation, nobody was paying much attention other than the professional nannies--until Super Bowl Sunday...

SortaObGameShow:  "Fake-a-Date":  The first GSN show with a TV rating higher than TV-PG. [/quote]
 This is true - they seem to be caring less about the "decency" barrier anymore - as long as they can slap a TV-MA rating on it, they'll air anything :-)

It's one of the things that, I'm sorry to admit, actually shocked me the last time I was in Britain - I thought the fact that I was raised over there would have made me less of a prude about these things... but I got there, turned on the tv, and there was Graham Norton, and the first thing I heard was "and I sneezed, and he came through my nose". And my first reaction was "can you say that on tv???"

ObGs - check out the Naked Jungle pilot sometime.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'tommycharles\' date=\'Apr 27 2004, 10:37 PM\'][It's one of the things that, I'm sorry to admit, actually shocked me the last time I was in Britain - I thought the fact that I was raised over there would have made me less of a prude about these things... but I got there, turned on the tv, and there was Graham Norton, and the first thing I heard was "and I sneezed, and he came through my nose". And my first reaction was "can you say that on tv???"[/quote]
Well, the Brits have had for a long time the so-called "watershed" after 9 p.m., which is their version of what we call the "safe harbor" where adult programming can be expected.  Which doesn't stop the complaints to the regulatory authorities (many of them coming, I suspect, from members of Mediawatch UK, the organization founded by the late notorious prude and crusader against "filth" Mrs. Mary Whitehouse)--and on occasion even the authorities would say that something was out of bounds, even after the watershed.  But one phrase from the bulletins of the now-merged Broadcasting Standards Commission continues to stand out from its frequent appearance in their decisions:  "Considering the time slot, the incident did not exceed the expectations of viewers."  (Add for BBC2, Channel 4 and Channel 5 shows "...on a minority-appeal channel..."--that's minority as in "not mass appeal," not racial.)

ObGameShow:  ITV's brought back "WLOD" in a late-night slot, and from all indications, the material's a lot naughtier than what Burt Convy or the 90s British morning TV version ever did.  My main interest is that Liza Tarbuck's hosting--and I've mentioned before that I like her work, since she seems to be about the only female TV "presenter" under 35 with a brain.