Are there any standards which determine the rating (e.g., PG, 14, MA, etc.) of a program besides the subjective, “Only suitable for mature audiences” line of reasoning? Here’s why I’m asking… on South Park on Comedy Central, rated TV-MA, they still bleep words like “shit” and “fuck.” On a program rated TV-MA on HBO, they do not bleep these words, and they can show nudity as well. I thought at first it must just be the difference between basic cable and premium services, but I’ve also seen a TV-MA MTV special where a drill seargent uses vulgarities, including “fuck,” to scare young cons straight–without bleeping!
I’d say the bottom limit of TV-MA may be standardized, but the top limit is essentially “whatever is permissible by the FCC”. So on HBO this is obviously a much higher limit than on broadcast TV.
In addition, there’s a lot less regulation by the FCC on what is and is not allowable. Most of the decisions about what to bleep are made by the networks now. Most of the time, these decisions are based on advertising. I’m sure Cuddly Wuddly Wittle Puppie Dog Store would not want to be advertised on a show with lots of vulgar language.
I’ve heard “shit” recently on CBS, The History Channel, and others, though i haven’t heard “fuck” on anything but pay channels.
The censorship of ‘fuck’ and ‘shit’ on South Park is, I believe, the choice of the creators, as they feel its funnier that way (I don’t understand that either).
I think its also something to do with the way it is marketed as an ‘adult cartoon’, but is also watched by children.
Speaking of MTV and their “documentaries” to get ratings, they also show this “documentary” with these often good looking girls getting and considering boob jobs. They selectively censor some breasts and not others for whatever reason, but you definitely get a lot of good and some bad boob shots.
They also did show the “Smack My Bitch Up” video by Prodigy in its entirety a couple of times uncensored (it displays full frontal nudity) before they took it out of rotation because of its “questionable message.”
Uncannily enough, not more than 3 hours after I posted my question, I saw part of that boob job documentary. It seems MTV will air something “naughty” if it’s at least superficially beneficial. E.g., showing the pros and cons of breast augmentation and (eek) reduction surgery, helping to scare young deliquents straight, etc.
I’ve never heard about self-censorship from Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Is that something you know for sure, or is that something you’ve just heard somewhere? It seems they get off on pushing the envelope, and so would include many dirty words as possible. Witness Bigger, Longer, Uncut and The Spirit of Christmas.
What? Okay “shit” MAYBE on CBS, but on the History Channel?! Yeesh. I’m not saying its wrong, its just weird.
The breasts on MTV I remember. Back when it was on, I remember wondering how MTV was able to do that…how? But the thing with that is some of those you really didn’t want to see. (TMI!)
Hm. Cuddly Widdly Puppy Store? Sounds like someplace i might like to go.
The creators of South Park may not want to censor South Park, but Comedy Central sure does. As has been mentioned, censoring is done by the network itself, partly for economic reasons, and partly to keep the FCC off their back. The reason the FCC allows networks to establish their own standards is because they’ve been doing a pretty decent job of it so far. Occasionally, the swear word slips through and nobody raises a fuss. (The network probably gets a few irate letters from hypersensitive viewers, but that’s probably it.) In the case of the MTV special, Scared Straight, where juvenile delinquents visit a maximum security prison, they chose to air it without bleeps, to preserve the effect. In this case, there was a reason to do so, so again, nobody raises a fuss. If Comedy Central were to uncensor South Park, it would attract even more negative attention than it does now, maybe even the attention of the FCC, and some advertisers would probably be nonplussed.
Random thought I had as I was reading my own thread… I remember watching “Blazing Saddles” on The Family Channel one day. The classic scene with the beans and the farts, well, they replaced that with burping, for some reason. And yet they elected to keep the word “nigger” in there, for some reason.
(TMI!)