# Cbs **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 4, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432 "2003-11-04T22:31:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/1 "2003-11-04T22:31:01Z")
[Story link](http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/04/business/media/04CND-TUBE.html?hp) regarding the new movie about Ronald Reagan, which has now been dropped by CBS and will appear on Showtime, instead. CBS, you fucking cowards, caving in to biased political pressure like that. So much for your support of the first amendment. :mad: Knorf ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/2 "2003-11-04T22:51:48Z")
Yeah, cause the first amendment has anything to do with corporations… ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/3 "2003-11-04T22:52:57Z")
Puh-leaze. The movie itself was apparently so ridiculously biased, making shit up out of nowhere, conversations pulled out of nowhere but the author’s head, to try and blame Reagan for basically every bad thing that has ever happened in the history of America. The political influences in this incident were those that got the filmmaker to blindly follow his leftist “Reagan = EVIL” formula and present a shameless piece of biased crap that CBS realized it couldn’t air without losing credibility. So send it over to Showtime where the viewers will probably love all the fictitious conversations in which Reagan single-handedly creates AIDS and then storms through bath houses lopping off the heads of all the evil gays he didn’t manage to infect. I mean, why deal with the realities of a problem and the truth about it’s origins when you can just blame it all on some guy you already don’t like? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/4 "2003-11-04T23:07:14Z")
Didn’t Nancy shoot JR? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/5 "2003-11-04T23:07:20Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Knorf \* > [BSo much for your support of the first amendment. > :mad:_\* Whatever it is or isn’t, it has nothing whatso-fucking-ever to do with the First Ammendment. The ignorance in that statement is nothing short of appalling. CBS is a company. They make money by selling advertising. Why shouldn’t they be allowed to decide what they should or shouldn’t air? Politics had nothing to do with this. It was a business decision. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/6 "2003-11-04T23:47:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Knorf \* > \*\*[Story link](http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/04/business/media/04CND-TUBE.html?hp) regarding the new movie about Ronald Reagan, which has now been dropped by CBS and will appear on Showtime, instead. > > CBS, you fucking cowards, caving in to biased political pressure like that. > > So much for your support of the first amendment.\*\* I wonder if you’re as stupid as this post makes you seem. 1. 1st Amendment-see every other respose so far except to add that a corporation has no obligation to do anything beyond follow the laws and make profits for it’s stockholders. 2. In the US, it’s nearly impossible for a celebrity/public figure to successfully sue for libel/slander. If it weren’t, tabloids would have long been sued out of business (“ALIENS SAY MADONNA BEARING ELVIS’S CLONE’S LOVE CHILD!”). Given that, what does it say about the movie when CBS’s own lawyers expressed “growing concern” about the movie? Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/7 "2003-11-04T23:53:33Z")
I wish someone had had the same reservations about the Jessica Lynch film. Has this piece of tripe hit the screen yet? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/8 "2003-11-04T23:54:01Z")
Man, I thought this was going to be a thread about the best invention ever in the history of mankind: The Citizen’s Band radio! Where else can you hear 20 amped-up, out-of-thier-mind truckers on 4 day benders all talking at the same time about everything and nothing at all using funny “handles” and quaint colloquialisms? Why, as a boy, I would sneak out to the old man’s pickup truck and turn on that most magic of devices and educate myself in the ways of the world via oaths and slogans uttered by junkie truckers! And thats not even mentioning the huge volume of truly mind-altering music inspired by the lunatic rambling that can be heard over the airwaves just by plunking down $29.95 (antenna extra!) at the local Radio Shack. “Trucker Music” is the finest of all musical genres! C.W. McCall owes his very existance to the CB Radio. I think theres 35 words used for “titties” alone in the CB culture! Long live the CB! * * * She told me she loved me like a brother. She was from Arkansas, hence the Joy! ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/9 "2003-11-04T23:57:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gatopescado \* > \*\*“Trucker Music” is the finest of all musical genres! C.W. McCall owes his very existance to the CB Radio. I think theres 35 words used for “titties” alone in the CB culture! > > Long live the CB! And leave us not forget the song “Convoy” by Mr. McCall, greatest of all Trucker songs! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/10 "2003-11-05T00:01:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gatopescado \* > **Where else can you hear 20 amped-up, out-of-thier-mind truckers on 4 day benders all talking at the same time about everything and nothing at all using funny “handles” and quaint colloquialisms?** You mean apart from Internet message boards, Usenet and AM talk radio? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/11 "2003-11-05T00:05:27Z")
Eh… I think they made the right decision by handing it over to Showtime. After the director threw his hands up, the task of editing it was passed over to executive types, and it’s been characterized as “edited with a machete.” Getting the project _away from CBS executives_ is probably the best move as far as un-stifled expression is concerned. Let someone who isn’t insisting on a hagiography air the damned thing. Since they were looking at the possibility of an _advertiser_ boycott, it makes good political sense to move it from one pocket to another by shifting it over to another CBS company that is not quite so dependent on advertising. (Does Showtime carry any advertising at all, or is it totally subscriber-supported?) As for the furor over the AIDS line, where was the concern when the (also fictionalized) [authorized biography _Dutch_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375756450/qid=1067990485/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-2955997-6391901?v=glance&n=507846) attributed the line “Maybe the Lord brought down this plague […] illicit sex is against the Ten Commandments,” to Ronnie? Does the speculative mood make it okay? Or is just because nobody cares about print media? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/12 "2003-11-05T00:14:36Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by RexDart_ > Puh-leaze. The movie itself was apparently so ridiculously biased, making shit up out of nowhere, conversations pulled out of nowhere but the author’s head, to try and blame Reagan for basically every bad thing that has ever happened in the history of America. > > The political influences in this incident were those that got the filmmaker to blindly follow his leftist “Reagan = EVIL” formula and present a shameless piece of biased crap that CBS realized it couldn’t air without losing credibility. So you’ve seen the movie then, **Rex?** Or just making a blind judgement based on what Bill O’Reilly told you? Call me stupid, but I thought that in a free and open democracy, all ideas should get a chance to be heard. It’s up to the viewers – _not_ the Republican Party – to decide if the Reagan movie as insightful and accurate or extremist and delusional. If reality gets bent to the breaking point, that’s what libel and slander laws are for. But, then again, that’s because I’m one of those nutjobs that believe in a free and open democracy, unlike our friends in the GOP. They sure didn’t make any complaints about historical inaccuracy when Showtime aired their right-wing rah-rah special on the 9/11 terrorist attacks last month… ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/13 "2003-11-05T00:20:15Z")
What the fuck does free and open democracy have to do with a privately-owned network? ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/14 "2003-11-05T00:27:23Z")
OTOH - CBS apparently **is** entertaining the thought of running a [Michael Jackson Special](http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/11/04/showbuzz/index.html#1) Insert joke here: ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/15 "2003-11-05T00:43:27Z")
This is the situtation that whoever came up with the phrase “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” was probably thinking of when (he?) created the phrase. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/16 "2003-11-05T00:52:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > **Call me stupid, but I thought that in a free and open democracy, all ideas should get a chance to be heard. It’s up to the viewers – _not_ the Republican Party – to decide if the Reagan movie as insightful and accurate or extremist and delusional. If reality gets bent to the breaking point, that’s what libel and slander laws are for.** Did I miss the part where the Federal Government forced CBS to cancel the show or are you a fucking tool? Haj ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/17 "2003-11-05T01:26:58Z")
Now that I can’t see B.S. on CBS, I shall have to switch my viewing habit to Fox. Plenty of B.S. to see _there_. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/18 "2003-11-05T01:31:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > **I wonder if you’re as stupid as this post makes you seem.** Nice _ad hominem_. > [@](#): > > 1. 1st Amendment-see every other respose so far except to add that a corporation has no obligation to do anything beyond follow the laws and make profits for it’s stockholders. CBS was being intensely pressured by right-wing Reagan-idealogues to either completely redo the miniseries or add a “this is fiction” warning label. Instead of sticking up for their right to make the movie–a movie whose script had long been approved–they caved to this political pressure. Ergo, giving up their first amendment right to present the miniseries. Unless you like the idea of the government (many of the Republicans who attacked the miniseries **are** government officials) controlling media, this episode such be more than a little alarming. > [@](#): > > 1. In the US, it’s nearly impossible for a celebrity/public figure to successfully sue for libel/slander. If it weren’t, tabloids would have long been sued out of business (“ALIENS SAY MADONNA BEARING ELVIS’S CLONE’S LOVE CHILD!”). Given that, what does it say about the movie when CBS’s own lawyers expressed “growing concern” about the movie? It says they’re tools of the Republican Party. It DOES NOT necessarily mean there’s in fact anything factually wrong with the miniseries (I’m not myself saying there is or isn’t; having not seen it, I do not know). Many Reagan-worshippers are flapping off about it based on presumptious arguments as to its content, without knowing diddly as to what is actually in the script. Rumors, and spastic reactionary posturing are running this controversy. AS if Reagan were above criticism. To hear some of these Republicans freak out about it, criticizing Reagan is pure heresy, comparable someone was suggesting Mary might not have been a virgin after all. Knorf ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/19 "2003-11-05T01:38:53Z")
By the way, regarding all the stupid jokes about Cbs, I entered the pit subject as CBS, all caps, and it was changed on posting. I surmise there’s some sort of punctuation correction when you post a subject. P.S. I stand by my pit of CBS. They _are_ fucking cowards to have caved on pulling a major miniseries which was approved and funded long ago. Perhaps someone in charge should have had more oversight on the project, but for crying out loud, CBS, have the courage to present the content you create. As for first amendment issues, members of the government were actively involved in pressuring CBS to pull or entirely rewrite the miniseries due to their concerns about its alleged content. CBS should have stuck up for _its_ first amendment rights, regardless of the historical veracity of the miniseries. Knorf ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432/20 "2003-11-05T01:42:45Z")
Before any asshats like **Fenris** attack my intelligence again, I am well aware of a couple typos that crept in to my posts above. Here are corrected versions of two of them: “…this episode _should_ be more than a little alarming.” and “…comparable _to_ someone suggesting Mary might not have been a virgin after all.” Knorf [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs/211432.md?page=2)