So this evening I’m surfing through the channels to see what’s on. Lo and behold, Blazing Saddles is on, and although I’ve seen it more times than I can remember, I decide to leave it on while going through some mail, etc. It’s not long before I realize that some significant chunks of dialogue are being bleeped out, and then I notice that the movie is on the ABC Family Channel.
Now, I understand why some movies get bleeped, or dubbed with more innocuous words, when they are shown on channels like this. But the choice of movie in this case is ludicrous. One of the things that makes Blazing Saddles funny and edgy is the clever use of non-PC language and actions. If you’re going to bleep out every fifth word in some scenes, edit Lily von Schtupp’s name and song so that the best lines are left out - hell, even erase the fart noises when the bad guys are sitting around the camp fire eating beans - then maybe you should have just picked another movie to show, eh?
This isn’t really much of a rant, which is why I didn’t put it in the Pit. Let’s just say I’m airing my disappointment here. Feel free to chime in with your own examples of egregious editing for the sake of “family programming” or the like.