# When did the Basic Cable "Fuck" Wall get Broken? Regular use on SyFy's The Magicians.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 12, 2018, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456 "2018-01-12T12:01:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/1 "2018-01-12T12:01:31Z")
I watched the first episode of season three. It continues to be not bad. But several characters dropped F bombs. When did that start becoming okay?
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### Author:  [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/2 "2018-01-12T13:23:19Z")
I hear it on Mr. Robot all the time. It is quite shocking sometimes.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/3 "2018-01-12T13:33:22Z")
For a while now. Heck, CNN anchors were saying “shithole” yesterday without blinking an eye. Any restrictions on cable language is from the broadcasters themselves and presumably with input from advertisers.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/4 "2018-01-12T13:38:28Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> For a while now. Heck, CNN anchors were saying “shithole” yesterday without blinking an eye.
Not just televised news. It says “shithole” right on the front page of the Washington Post today, and probably a whole lot of other newspapers, too. Really making me feel like an old man here but that’s just not right.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/5 "2018-01-12T13:43:47Z")
Van Helsing is doing it, too. At least on Netflix, it remains unbleeped.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/6 "2018-01-12T13:51:13Z")
Cable stations were never subject to FCC broadcast regulations regarding decency. They chose on their own not to avoid the seven words you can’t say on TV, but evidently feel now that it’s not going to seriously affect the number of viewers, though they may still willingly limit how often it’s used.
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### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/7 "2018-01-12T14:26:59Z")
> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> Not just televised news. It says “shithole” right on the front page of the Washington Post today, and probably a whole lot of other newspapers, too. Really making me feel like an old man here but that’s just not right.
It’s my understanding that TV can quote the President verbatim. Johnny Carson did in when Pres Carter said “I’ll kick his ass.”
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### Author:  [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/8 "2018-01-12T15:12:08Z")
**Happy!** is hitting some incredible new heights here.
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### Author:  [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/9 "2018-01-12T15:57:52Z")
Cable has never had a barrier the way broadcast TV does - it’s always been a matter of whether you can get enough advertisers to pay for a swearing show. South Park on Comedy Central was known for playing with the limits of swearing as far back as 2001, and I’m pretty sure some of the non-premium movie channels played unbleeped movies in the 90s.
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/10 "2018-01-12T16:16:00Z")
Hasn’t “bullshit” already snuck its way into broadcast TV?
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### Author:  [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/11 "2018-01-12T16:27:33Z")
Watching CNN last night was like seeing that episode of South Park where they say “Shit” 167 times.
Anyway “Breaking Bad” dropped a few f-bombs during its run.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/12 "2018-01-12T16:27:46Z")
True, cable voluntarily self-censored for most of its existence. The question is why it has it been changing recently?
My guess is that the regular cable channels are feeling the heat from the pay cable channels. When HBO and Showtime started to bring home boxcars full of awards for their unregulated original series it put pressure on every other cable original series to compete. (Even more so with a thousand streaming channels.) Sex, violence, and swearing were ways to do that. Network television keeps inching closer as well, but that has real walls.
I’m pretty sure that the shows would already have broken more boundaries except that the younger audiences who wouldn’t be offended are feeling rapidly, leaving the older audiences who apparently are more sensitive. The occasional dirty word is the compromise.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/13 "2018-01-12T16:42:57Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> I’m pretty sure that the shows would already have broken more boundaries except that the younger audiences who wouldn’t be offended are feeling rapidly, leaving the older audiences who apparently are more sensitive.
I wonder which generation of “old people” will no longer pretend they never cursed or did drugs in their twenties, because the Vietnam Generation apparently ain’t it.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/14 "2018-01-12T16:46:58Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> True, cable voluntarily self-censored for most of its existence. The question is why it has it been changing recently?
>
> My guess is that the regular cable channels are feeling the heat from the pay cable channels. When HBO and Showtime started to bring home boxcars full of awards for their unregulated original series it put pressure on every other cable original series to compete. (Even more so with a thousand streaming channels.) Sex, violence, and swearing were ways to do that. Network television keeps inching closer as well, but that has real walls.
>
> I’m pretty sure that the shows would already have broken more boundaries except that the younger audiences who wouldn’t be offended are feeling rapidly, leaving the older audiences who apparently are more sensitive. The occasional dirty word is the compromise.
That feels right and speaks to what I was after in the OP.
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### Author:  [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/15 "2018-01-12T20:22:25Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#):
>
> Hasn’t “bullshit” already snuck its way into broadcast TV?
In 2001 ABC aired Saving Private Ryan uncensored during prime time on Veterans Day, and I’m pretty sure there’s at least one ‘bullshit’ in there.
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### Author:  [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/16 "2018-01-12T20:34:25Z")
> [@Pantastic](#):
>
> In 2001 ABC aired Saving Private Ryan uncensored during prime time on Veterans Day, and I’m pretty sure there’s at least one ‘bullshit’ in there.
NYPD Blue was throwing in a bullshit in nearly every episode for a while, and ER was doing it a bit too prior to ms jackson if she’s nasty showing her nip at the stupid bowl. But bullshit is no fuck, so it was always going to get more common faster, like ass in the early 90’s on stuff like In Living Color.
Bates Motel on A&E was pretty loose with the expletives, but judging by complaints around here they were blanking them out on certain reairings depending on the time slot.
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### Author:  [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/17 "2018-01-12T20:55:00Z")
> [@Pantastic](#):
>
> In 2001 ABC aired Saving Private Ryan uncensored during prime time on Veterans Day, and I’m pretty sure there’s at least one ‘bullshit’ in there.
Pretty sure the German guy digging the grave says “Fuck Hitler”
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/18 "2018-01-12T21:01:18Z")
South Park[said shit 162 times in 2001](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Hits_the_Fan). The [traditional cutoff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watershed_(broadcasting)) is 10 pm or sometimes 9. It may occasionally be ignored for artistic merit, IIRC the aforementioned Saving Private Ryan was justified this way.
I don’t have cable anymore, but it seems that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has had unbleeped “shit” for quite some time. Again on cable it just means that “family values” companies won’t want to advertise with them. Only broadcast TV has FCC standards. And premium channels can do whatever they [del]darn hecking[/del] want as they are user-supported.
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> Van Helsing is doing it, too. At least on Netflix, it remains unbleeped.
I don’t know how it originally aired, but many shows will record a non-bleeped version but bleep it for the first airing, but leave it uncensored for DVD and streaming. Family Guy etc. is that way.
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/19 "2018-01-12T22:39:06Z")
> [@joebuck20](#):
>
> Anyway “Breaking Bad” dropped a few f-bombs during its run.
I don’t remember that. In fact, I specifically remember them bleeping it on the line “I fucked Ted” in the episode “I.F.T.”
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2018, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-basic-cable-fuck-wall-get-broken-regular-use-on-syfys-the-magicians/806456/20 "2018-01-12T23:08:51Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> My guess is that the regular cable channels are feeling the heat from the pay cable channels.
I think you’re right, but we can’t disinclude the internet. “Fuck” is very, very common, from message boards to news articles to comics. Just one example is from Mikel Jollet’s twitter feed: [x.com](https://twitter.com/Mikel_Jollett) (it shows a closeup, presumably of a protestor, holding a sign that says, “Shit is fucked up and stuff”).
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