I’m sat here in the UK right now watching an old Sex and the City episode. So far there have been several f- words, and at least one c- word. When I lived in the US I don’t ever remember hearing this sort of stuff. Are these words broadcast there? If not, are they beeped out, or am I watching some sort of ‘international edition’?
Broadcast TV: Not usually, though contrary to popular belief, there is no law against this. Terrestrial broadcasts fall under the auspices of the FCC obscenity doctrine, but much more importantly, are supported by their advertisers. Thus, broadcast networks will not air naughty language unless they can justify it artistically or journalistically.
Basic cable: Sometimes. Basic cable is not regulated and can theoretically air whatever it wants. But most basic cable channels are likewise supported by advertisers. Many basic cable channels will air naughty words and nudity late at night, if they can find brave enough companies to pay for it. Comedy Central has done well here.
Premium cable: All the fucking time. Note that Sex and the City was an HBO show. No ads == curse up a fucking storm, you cunts.
SATC was not originally brodcast, but was shown on premium cable, which is far less restricted in what they can say - or show. The rebroadcasts on basic cable or over the air have been bowdlerized.
The Sopranos was also originally shown on cable, then later syndicated in a sanitized version for broadcast TV. In anticipation of that, they produced multiple versions of scenes and recorded two sets of dialogue. Not sure if Sex and the City or other shows that premiere on cable do the same.
Breaking Bad… which airs on basic cable… bleeps lines of dialogue, which suggests that the DVD versions will be uncensored.
Of course it also depends on what you mean by a swear word. “Damn” for example would be commonly heard.
For further info see George Carlin’s seven words you can’t say on TV (though that’s not literally true)
I’m not quite sure what you mean by “there’s no law against this” — can you clarify? The FCC can and does levy fines against expletives that are broadcast — in fact, the Supreme Court of the U.S. recently confirmed that the FCC has a right to regulate against even “fleeting expletives”. (The case was FCC v. Fox Television Stations.) The FCC imposed $3.9 million in fines on stations for various “obscenity” reasons in the first half of 2006, and a single instance can cost a station up to $325,000.
See also The Wire, another HBO show with plenty of obscenity and genitalia.
I think he means that it’s not literally against any law-- the FCC’s authority to fine stations has it’s roots in their control over the airwaves, which is derived from Congress. I’m not sure about this, but I think a station could theoretically refuse to pay a fine, and the worst thing the FCC could do would be to revoke their license to whatever section of broadcast spectrum they have the rights to.
Edit: Thinking more on this, I’m really not sure this is true.
Picking nits, I think the fact that the FCC rules fall within the CFR would qualify them as administrative law, so I think it’s reasonable to assert that FCC rules are as law-like as anything else in the CFR (which includes almost all aviation and transportation regulations, for example).
That said, the Fox case is back with the 2nd Circuit to decide on its 1st Amendment issues, and with the current composition of the SCOTUS if the case does make it back to them I believe they will rule that the FCC does have the power to regulate the fleeting obscenities / indecencies and that free speech protections are not violated, especially if the incident occurs between the hours of 6AM and 10PM, when children are assumed to be watching TV. Keep in mind that the primary objective of the broadcast stations being licensed is to serve the public interest and provide public benefit… although with the lack of educational & public service content nowadays that fact is probably lost on most… a topic better suit for GD IMHO.
Also important to mention that after a certain hour, the FCC loosens their grip on the naughty words. Some channels will run pretty much anything after 10pm (or is it 11pm?).
There is no law (or regulation) that contains a list of banned words. In order for the FCC to fine a broadcast station they need to demonstrate, on a case-by-case basis, that the content runs afoul of community standards, and that depends on the context of the item in question, as well as the timeslot.
As an example, I will point you to famous old-person-timewaster 60 Minutes, which regularly airs un-bleeped curse words in interviews. Contrast that with the bruhaha over some Janet Jackson booby at the Superbowl.
It’s interesting to note that Channel 7 (Free-To-Air) here in Australia is running The Pacific at 8:30pm on a Wednesday night, complete with the uncensored “Fuck You”-s and people getting their heads blown off and spraying blood everywhere when they get shot.
It’s a good series, too. 
I remember reading that Sex and the City was shot the same way.
Is addition to some fine swearing, we were also treated to full frontal nudity(Sam of course also Richard) too many buttcheeks to count, pot smoking, rude gestures and cursing at babies!
They’re not restricted at all.
But the enforcement is subjective. A while back Bono said. “…really, really fucking brilliant!” on an awards show. After reviewing complaints, the FCC concluded that it was not obscene because he was using it as an intensive adjective. If he had been actually talking about, you know, fucking, then that would have been a different story.
FCC regulations are not laws.
Two recent examples where the regulations were suspended: both Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan, both R rated films, were shown on NBC and ABC, respectively, without any editing whatsoever (well, almost).
You know, I was wondering about this. As a general rule, if something is broadcast with bleeps do they normally have it unbleeped on DVD?
A few months ago my wife and I watched all three seasons of “Arrested Development” on DVD. I remember a couple of f-bombs in the pilot, but all of episodes that aired on network TV had bleeps in them on DVD as well. I don’t know if “AD” was an exception in that respect, and of course for a show like that the bleeps are probably funnier anyway.
Some of the bleeps remained censored because they weren’t using actual curses when they filmed it - specifically Buster’s 10-20 second totally bleeped tirade against Lucille was just the actor reciting the alphabet.
And there, for me, is a rant all by itself.
I fucking hate the “Spielberg exception” to the FCC’s prudishness. There are plenty of great movies where swearing is an important part of the dialog, and where violence or nudity or sex are crucial components of the film’s artistic merits. I guess the only context where this stuff is OK, though, is if you’re fighting Nazis. :rolleyes:
South Park used to leave the bleeps in for DVD. The later seasons, however, as well as the episodes on South Park’s web site, have been uncensored. Trey Parker and Matt Stone have gone on record as saying that they thought the episodes have been funnier with the bleeps left in, however, I guess they are responding to fans’ demands for uncensored language. Also, Kenny’s curses are usually left in. It just makes it all that much funnier because his voice is almost always muffled.
I agree that bleeps are often funnier especially when used sparingly. A recent episode of The Office (US) had Dwight flirting with a women, then suddenly notice that his contracted baby-making partner was standing next to him. His bleeped explicative was funnier than actual swearing would have been.