The other night I got home late. Like, really late. Like, I-don't-even-know-what-time-it-was-late. (I swear I wasn't out drinking. Okay, I totally was). Anyway. I turned on the TV, and damned if I'm not immediately faced with a close up of Phoebe Cates, on the diving board, fulfilling Judge Reinhold's every masturbatory fantasy. Moments later, there's an extended full-frontal shot of a young Jennifer Jason Leigh, splayed out on a couch after unsatisfactory teenage sex. Yes, Fast Times at Ridgemont High was being shown uncut, uncensored on late-night cable. Was this HBO? Cinemax? Showtime? Uh-uh - I'm too cheap for those channels. It was on Turner CLassic Movies.Now, this struck me as odd for a couple of reasons. I guess I've never thought about TCM's policy on nudity (or profanity, or whatever else they aren't cutting out of Fast Times), because they probably don't have to think much about it themselves; it's only when they start deeming early 80s high school sex romps "classic" that the issue even comes up. But does this mean that the just-a-notch-above-basic cable network doesn't have a standard policy on censorship? Or did they just let those boobies be that night, under the rationale that film was going to show very late?
It's especially shocking when you take a look at how radically most networks are altering their "adult" content in order to protect fragile viewers. Just the other night, I made the mistake of trying to watch Pulp Fiction on Bravo. The edits were so harsh, and seemingly so arbitrary, that I did some reasearch. An entire list of the cuts made on the standard television version can be found at IMDB; they include a wholesale omission of both the scene where Vincent Vega shoots heroin, and the segment where Vince and Jules are scrubbing the blood from the backseat of the car. And yet, they left in shots of Mia Wallace snorting coke in her dressing room, and the image of Vincent getting shot on the toilet. Plus, they restored that totally useless deleted scene where Mia asks Vincent on camcorder if he prefers Elvis to The Beatles. No, there's nothing textbook offensive about it, but it still offends my sensibilities.
I guess I'm just a little fuzzy on the rules. I'm not an easily offended person, so I don't understand why the image of John Travolta shooting up is more problematic than that of Jennifer Jason Leigh's barely legal naked body. Anybody have any ideas?
Giveaway Monday: That '70s Show The Complete Series Stash box set
Giveaway Monday: Back to You season one DVD
Six shows that I am watching pretty regularly this season
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-23-2005 @ 1:05PM
eliot phillips said...
I was suprised once while watching "The day of the jackal" on TCM. The movie had nudity and was on during primetime. According to imdb the rating is PG. Is that why they ran it?
Of course since this is cable the channels are only bound by their own decency standards.
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7-23-2005 @ 3:43PM
Victor Agreda said...
1. It was late
2. I know of no children who ask to watch TCM
3. AMC used to show movies uncut and sans ads-- I wish they still did. TCM is the last bastion of truly classic movies, and even they now have to show "new" classics...
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7-23-2005 @ 11:49PM
rj said...
Last time I checked (which apparently was prior to the 2004 Superbowl), parents were in charge of monitoring what kids should view, not the FCC. Late night is for adults, and parents can easily blackout programming with cable, satellite or any better model tv with regular airwaves.
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7-24-2005 @ 1:56AM
Stone said...
Comedy Central has been showing unedited movies at late night for a while now, so I'm not suprised at that.
I'm really suprised at what the term "classic" has come to mean now. Sure, 80s movies came out over 20 years ago, but are they seriously "classics?" And now ESPN "Classic" plays games from 2004 and calls them "instant classics"? WTF?
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7-24-2005 @ 2:25PM
Fed said...
Well I'm actually a broadcasting student and I had to learn about this. Anyways the FCC has no control over cable television. The FCC has control just over the air (OTA) signals such as network television like NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and so on. The FCC doens't tell the networks what is considered indecent. They're only told that something is indecent when someone files a complaint and if the FCC finds it indecent then they will tell the network so.
Now with cable television. They censor themselves to please thier advertisers. Since most advertisers want to have a family image cable stations will often edit the movies they show even if they are meant for adults. So cable television will show anything as long as they're advertisers are still willing to pay them to play their commericals
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7-24-2005 @ 3:40PM
Fed said...
Well I'm actually a broadcasting student and I had to learn about this. Anyways the FCC has no control over cable television. The FCC has control just over the air (OTA) signals such as network television like NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and so on. The FCC doens't tell the networks what is considered indecent. They're only told that something is indecent when someone files a complaint and if the FCC finds it indecent then they will tell the network so.
Now with cable television. They censor themselves to please thier advertisers. Since most advertisers want to have a family image cable stations will often edit the movies they show even if they are meant for adults. So cable television will show anything as long as they're advertisers are still willing to pay them to play their commericals
Reply
7-26-2005 @ 6:24PM
Belgand said...
Indeed. The FCC has no regulation over cable and TCM's policy is that they show films completely unedited, in the original aspect ratio, and without ads. Combine this with TiVo and it's a great source for films that, while not exactly DVD quality, certainly is enough to keep me from renting quite so often. Despite Turner's past reputation for chopping up and colorizing films it's a true boon for film lovers who want to see films the way they were meant to be seen. Heck, even the corner bug tends to be very unobtrusive.
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