I am under the impression that there is no TV equivalent of the MPAA’s Ratings and Classification board; ratings are assigned by the producers and/or broadcasters. I am also unaware of any specific rules that force particular TV ratings (like the “any drug use is a PG-13 minimum” rule for movies).
Besides - if smoking makes a show TV-MA, then why isn’t pretty much every episode of The Simpsons with Marge’s twin sisters in it an MA, or even a 14?
I doubt NBC will let anything “too graphic” through for broadcast, and will insist on a TV-14 rating.
What surprises me the most about the show is, NBC thinks there will be enough people in its “intended audience” home on Friday nights at 10:00.
Uhhh… not trying to be pissy, but why is this important? It’s not like being bi is a vital defining characteristic for JC. He’ll mack on another dude for robbery and racketeering purposes, not for jollies.
Firstly, you’re somewhat behind on John’s canon. The character I mentioned in that post, Nick Necro, was in a long-term committed (and polyamorous) relationship with John (and Zatanna). Nick’s a fairly recent addition to John’s story (maybe 2 years), but it certainly took the ‘depraved bisexual’ taint off John’s earlier play.
Second, you’ve rather misinterpreted my concern. It’s not concern for the purity of John’s character, but rather the possibility of a missed opportunity to represent an underrepresented group (which I happen to be a member of) by ignoring an established aspect of the character.
He’s from Liverpool. He lived mostly in London during the comics, and was ‘sectioned’ (institutionalised) in Newcastle for a period, which is why its referred to.
Distance isn’t as important in the uk for roots and accent/attitude. Newcastle is about 300 miles north of London, Liverpool about 200 North west (Scotland 350), all have wildly different accents.
I’ll have to look for that story arc. I have zero memory of it, but I forget a lot of things.
Plus, I think of all the terms that can be used to describe JC, “purity” is nowhere near the top. I just thought if you’re going to designate somebody as iconic of your culture, JC would be a strange choice.
I don’t know about the smoking thing, don’t think it translates well. I was watching “Blue Is The Warmest Color” and one of the female protagonists smokes a lot. I kept thinking, “She sure looks stupid with that cigarette hanging out of her mouth.” I don’t think that was the intended effect. But I suspect it will be the effect on a large part of the American audience.
It’s not really an arc - it was part of the last month or so of the Justice League Dark/Constantine/Pandora/Phantom Stranger crossover section of the Forever Evil event. Like I said, Nick’s a very new character, introduced not quite 2 years ago, and all this was part of his first major appearance. (He’s also supposedly dead, but that didn’t stick before - Zee and John sending him to Hell, after he went nuts, was part of the backstory - so I’m hoping for more from him.)
And, yeah, John’s not a great role model, but he is a hero (even if a flawed one), and his sexuality doesn’t have to be tied to his negative traits, even having existing comic canon to take a…well, I won’t say positive, since it all went to hell, as John’s relationships tend to, but a genuine, and originally as healthy as it could have been, given the guys involved, relationship. (And, yeah, I’m willing to take evil-bi-dude Nick as part of the bargain, since his sexuality ties into his villainhood only as what ties him to John.)
(Conversely, I’m not desperate enough for representation to want to see Daken (a straight up (sorry) Depraved Bisexual) in an X-Men movie anytime soon.)
Oh, gotcha. I subscribe to Constantine, but not the other titles, so I didn’t really follow what was going on. I have all the Hellblazer issues. I couldn’t remember JC doing it with another guy, but it wouldn’t have surprised me if he did.
I just thought if you’re going to designate somebody as iconic of your culture, JC would be a strange choice.