Did anyone else watch that last night ?
I thought it was pretty funny. Two parts in particular made me laugh. The first was when the lobbyists were in the church attending a meeting for the PMRC and the guy was reading the lyrics to some songs. The second was when Dee Snider walked into the lobbyist’s office, sat down and the little girl took one look at him and cried.
I was a little suprised to hear swear words in the movie, I didn’t think they could do that.
I watched it and I thuoght it was great. IIRC, they used the words in the Senate hearing verbatim as they did back in '87. The church scene was super, it even had my dad laughing. My favorite part was hearing the singers (Zappa, Snyder, and Denver) give their testimonies about the censorship issue.
At the end of the movie, Jason Priestly’s character said “Shit” That wasn’t during the Senate hearing.
I caught most of it. The church scene had me cracking up. I also liked the scene with Zappa messing with the PMRC receptionist. But I think John Turturro would have made a better Zappa than Griffin Dunne. With a basic cable movie and budget you take what you can get. Has Mariel Hemingway always been that bland of an actress? Or was that just her trying to be Tipper?
As far as the swearing goes, since it’s basic cable, they aren’t really subject to the same standards as broadcast networks. They can have rougher content, but until recently, they rarely pushed it that far out of fear of offending the audience or irritating advertisers. Just look at the FX show The Shield, the “shit” episode of South Park, or that ESPN movie about Bobby Knight, A Season On The Brink. I was surprised that Warning bleeped language early on, but didn’t during the second half of the movie. IIRC, They did it that way during the rerun (sorry, encore presentation) after the first airing. So I guess it wasn’t just a primetime thing.
Dee has a morning show that I listen to, so I’ve been hearing all about this movie for the past couple of months. They were talking about it a minute ago. The testimony in front of the senate wasn’t verbatum, they all spoke for much longer IRL, but the main parts of what was said were in there. The swears will air during late night showings of the movie, but not during daytime or evening showing, at least thats what Dee said. I haven’t watched it yet, so I can’t really comment on anything else.
Aren’t there FCC “blue laws” that say you can say whatever you want on TV after 10:00pm?
The movie was good. Even though it did happen in real life, I still think Snider, Zappa, and Denver is one of the strangest combinations ever.
The scene that ran over the credits was interesting too. Watching the entire cast sing along to We’re Not Gonna Take It (including the actor playing John Denver smashing his guitar) was absurd, seeing as it just breaks the fourth wall and splits both sides of the controversy into one.
Did anyone catch what the “Filthy Fifteen” songs were? They showed a list near the start of the movie, but it went by too fast for me to read more than a couple titles.
Here’s the PMRC’s Filthy Fifteen (source: VH1):
Darling Nikki, Prince (the song that started the PMRC)
Sugar Walls Sheena Easton
Eat Me Alive, Judas Priest
Strap on Robby Baby, Vanity
Bastard, Mötley Crüe
Let Me Put My Love Into You, AC/DC
We’re Not Gonna Take It, Twisted Sister
Dress You Up, Madonna
Animal/F**k Like A Beast, W.A.S.P (I don’t care about the “Fight Like A Beast” joke from the film, I’m putting it this way since that’s the way it’s written on the album cover)
High 'N Dry, Def Leppard
Into the Coven, Mercyful Fate
Trashed, Black Sabbath
Into My House, The Mary Jane Girls
Possesed, Venom
She-Bop, Cyndi Lauper
Dee Snider gave his own “Filthy Fifteen for 2002” to tie in with his appearance in this film. For sake of completion, here it is. And remember what Dee says about it, that the only reason the people belong on this list is that "ultraconservative, shortsighted judgmental assholes assume they do’’:
Slave 4 U, Britney Spears
Lady Marmalade, Christina Agulera et al.
Where My Niggaz, DMX
Kim, Eminem
Super Ugly, Jay-Z
Paid, Kid Rock
Hey Mister, Custom
The Reflecting God, Marilyn Manson
Shake You’re Ass, Mystikal
Closer, Nine Inch Nails
House of 1000 Corpses, Rob Zombie
It Wasn’t Me, Shaggy
People=Shit, Slipknot
Anything by Snoop Doggy Dogg
Chop Suey, System of a Down
The FCC doesn’t regulate cable television content. As widdershins mentioned, cable television can broadcast whatever they want–but they self-regulate to appear “family friendly”.
As far as over-the-air broadcasing – the FCC does have something called “safe harbor” which allows broadcasters more leeway in airing more “adult” material after 10PM…maybe that’s what you’re thinking of.