Is this irony?
Some ABC affiliates have tried to contact the FCC for guidance and assurance that they won’t lose their licenses if they air the movie, but the FCC is closed – for Veteran’s Day.
I think they’re running scared. After all, CBS got fined half a mill for Janet Jackson’s tit flash, something that CBS surely hadn’t planned for and didn’t sanction. If they deliberately show a movie that clearly violates the rules (without going into whether the rules are silly or not) their lawyers have to know what might happen.
That said, I have no problem with showing it as long as there’s clear warnings about the violence and language before it starts and re-flashed quickly during each commercial break. Parents shouldn’t be too sheltering but they should be informed and decide for themselves, because each kid reacts differently.
As for my station–yep, there it is right on Channel 7! Love living in a blue state! I won’t be watching it because I saw it in the theaters, but still.
WVNY (Bulington/Plattsburgh) is runing the movie, but most of their viewers are on the Canadian side of the border and we’re much more relaxed about this sort of stuff than you Yanks are.
My state was almost blue. I think Bush won by about 7,000 votes.
We’re being treated to Return to Mayberry. I’ve complained to the local affiliate, but I’ll bet the e-mails they’re getting are 100 to 1 in favor of what they’re doing.
I’m disgusted. It was kinda funny, until I turned on the TV and found out that I’m really in Bush country.
I understand that Saving Private Ryan might be too intense for prime-time, but couldn’t they have found something more appropriate to put in its place?
I didn’t realize WVNY went that far north. I’m watching that exact station right now. I grew up with that station, man!
I could have sworn that ABC already aired Saving Private Ryan a year ago in prime time, completely unedited. Was that just a dream? 
I’m pretty sure one of the news reports mentioned that it was shown, unedited, pre-Janet’s breast. I’m just surprised that with the jarring violence in the film anyone notices the language. I’m sure there are plenty of groups that are less concerned about the violence than “the Lord’s name taken in vain”. Idiots.
They aired it uncut in 2001 and 2002. The FCC seems to be more concerned about the bad words now because Bono said something naughty on an award show. I don’t think there’s a kid in the country that hasn’t heard the “F” word on a daily basis. Og Forbid parents actually exercise some control and not let their kids watch it if they’re worried about the language and violence.
From what I heard ABC offered to cover any of their affiliates fines, if they do get fined. The FCC isn’t going to be watching, the only thing they will do is act if they get complaints. So, of course, some poo-head is going to watch it along with all the warnings about the violence and language and then get all offended because they heard the “F” word and complain.
My local affiliate is showing some lame “origin of thanksgiving” show, however the ABC affiliate in Sarasota is showing Saving Private Ryan and it’s coming in well here so I can still watch it.
It’s not being shown in St. Louis. The ABC affiliate here is part of the Sinclair Broadcasting Company, the same stations that would not show Ted Koppel reading the list of the Iraqi War dead.
Well, I’m not receiving it on an aerial or anything. The local cable TV company gives us access to American network affiliates and in the Montreal market, they naturally choose ones that are in geographically nearby Vermont and upstate New York. As part of the basic package, we get:
[ul][li]NBC (WPTZ Plattsburgh)[]ABC (WVNY Burlington/Plattsburgh)[]CBS (WCAX Burlington)[]PBS (WCFE Lyon Mountain and WETK Burlington)[]Fox (WFFF Burlington/Plattsburgh)[/ul][/li]
The number of potential viewers in Montreal is about twenty times greater than the combined populations of Burlington and Plattsburgh, so they naturally take us into account when making programming decisions.
And the station in St. Louis is showing Hoosiers – which is at least a decent movie. However, Hossiers only fills a 2-hour slot, and SPR was scheduled to run 3 hours. So with an extra hour to fill, the station ran an infomercial.
Gee, a TV station claims a controversy and then figures out how to make money off of it. Community standards, indecent material and unclear regulations or venal, money-grubbing, sanctimonious hypocricy?
Oddly, its running in my cable neighborhood at the same time as John Wayne in The Green Berets, which glorifys the Viet Nam war like it was the freakin’ Alamo. Now there is an obscenity, why propaganda is a curse word.
I haven’t seen the movie, but I hear it’s extremely gory and contains profanity. So, here’s my thoughts:
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The FCC needs to stop pretending they’re the Mafia. Give radio and TV stations clear guidelines and stick with them.
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ABC is playing a clever hand by choosing to view the movie in prime-time. Some stations will air it, some won’t out of fear…and either way, it makes the headlines. Hopefully, their action will compel the FCC to take a stance. It’s rather disturbing that the FCC hasn’t said yes or no to the movie. How hard is that?
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With all the cable out there (not to mention the fact that the movie has been out on DVD forever), are we really sure this is an issue that deserves all this fuss? Next thing we know, the conservative right will be monitoring what we watch with our children.
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I would LOVE for someone to ask Bush whether he thinks the movie should be shown! It’s Veterans Day and all… and his VP is quite familiar with the “F” word. :dubious:
The FCC should be returned to its legitimate function, which is to adjudicate disputes over who has the right to use Frequency X at Location Y.
Bush: “I think that, uh, you know, uh, stations, TV stations, ought to comply with the law. We’re a nation of laws.” <chortles quietly> “I’ve always said that. And I’m not about to change.” <nods, blinks>
Someone: “To follow up, if I may, Mr. President…”
Bush: “Sure. Go ahead.”
Someone: “Do you believe–”
Bush: “Just make it quick.”
Someone: “Yessir. Do you believe that the law, as you construe it, would prohibit the airing of Saving Private Ryan in prime time on broadcast television?”
Bush: <chuckles in a “can you believe this guy?” kind of way> “Look, uh… I have… the uh… I think it’s clear that we have laws. And we ought to be abiding by those laws.” <bobs head, looks around, appears bemused> “I really can’t make it any clearer than that.”
Oh gawd, I could hear his voice in my head. You nailed it.
Just want to point out that the Federal Communications Commission is an independent federal agency. It is not part of the executive branch. Although the chairman and commissioners of the FCC are appointed by the U.S. president, enforcement actions on indecency complaints are handled by civil service bureaucrats within the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, and hearings are conducted by administrative law judges.
At the very least, the FCC should have hung a little sign on their door: “IT’S OK TO SHOW ‘SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.’ HAVE A NICE DAY.”
The Associated Press version of the story wasn’t much different, but it made it sound like some stations were worried about things other than the FCC. The individual stations may be concerned that they’ll lose advertisers because they played a movie with bad words in it.
I doubt if anyone batted an eyelid when it was shown on TV here in the UK. But then we seem to allow rather more in the way of adult content (e.g. swearing and nudity) that they do in the USA, provided that it is after 21.00 on a terrestrial channel or after 20.00 on a cable or satellite channel.
Janet Jackson’s nipple? You see a great deal more than that every day on Limey TV.