NBC and Saturday Night Live are on the naughty list of the Parents Television Council (known henceforth in this post as the PTC). The conservative watchdog organization of people who have nothing better to do are politely asking (OK, angrily demanding) that the network rethink its decision to air an uncensored version of the now famous 'Dick in a Box' skit on its own website as well as YouTube. In this particular skit, Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake liberally use Richard Nixon's nickname several times in a song about the perfect gift to give to your girlfriend.
When the skit originally aired on SNL the word was bleeped out a total of 16 times. However, since Scrooge the FCC has no jurisdiction over the Internet the network was able to leave the online clip uncensored. According to PTC blowhard president Brent Bozell NBC has hit a new low and will stop at nothing to find loopholes to have indecent programming to reach the public. In its defense the network has asked that unauthorized copies of the skit be yanked from sites like YouTube. The network's website airs both a censored and uncensored version of the skit and they have put up a warning saying that the uncensored version contains explicit lyrics.
Here's my two cents on this matter. First, if you are a responsible parent or guardian (and I know you all are) you're probably not going to have your 6-year-old sit on your lap while watching either version of the skit. And, even if they happen to watch the uncensored version won't your kids be asking questions anyway why Christmas gifts are stuck to their pee-pees? Next, if your child is 12 or older, they've probably seen and heard worse already. I've seen the uncensored skit and, frankly, I found it pretty tame. Really, members of the PTC should spend time with their kids and watch them opening gifts rather than spending time criticizing Internet material.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-24-2006 @ 1:29PM
LC said...
Apparently the PTC has not heard of software that regulates what children see on that net. I can understand not airing certain things on network television during the hours that children are awake and we have all lived by those rules, but the internet is another story.
The PTC is just pissed that they have no pull on what is put on the web. Hell, if you don't want your kid seeing this, then password protect your computer, keep it in the family room and only allow access when you are in the room with them, this way you know what they are looking at.
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12-24-2006 @ 1:50PM
RSL said...
LC, that would require parents spending time with their own kids. Nobody wants that! Not when you can legislate it instead. That way Mommy and her girlfriends can keep on noshing and gossiping on the veranda while Dad stares lifelessly at the ESPN. Praise Jesus!
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12-24-2006 @ 2:35PM
shawn said...
it is tame, but it also hilarious!
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12-24-2006 @ 2:38PM
Sam G. said...
Great, now they don't just want to legislate television, but the Internet as well??
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12-24-2006 @ 4:08PM
iLoveLA said...
and i was this close to finishing my new song "vagina in a suitcase"
damn you Parents Television Council!!!
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12-24-2006 @ 4:39PM
Donnie said...
THERE ARE THINGS ON THE INTERNET THAT ARE UNSAFE FOR IMPRESSIONABLE CHILDREN?!?!?
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12-24-2006 @ 5:34PM
Kevin O\\\'Shea said...
The internet is for porn!
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12-24-2006 @ 10:05PM
ac said...
lol, the PTC needs to get a life and learn about parental controls. HELLO this is porn on the internet too and they cant do a damn thing about it. NBC shouln't have caved, PTC had no legal right to get them to remove it.
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12-24-2006 @ 11:42PM
Brent McKee said...
The PTC probably has heard of software that keeps your kids from seeing inappropriate material. They have in fact also heard of the V-Chip. They hate the V-Chip. They think the V-Chip is the networks' collective way of covering their asses - oh sorry this is the PTC; covering their buttocks. The only sure way of protecting America's impressionable youth is by Big Brother Government stamping on anything that the "good people" (that's the PTC, the American Family Association and their fellow travellers) tells the FCC is evil and bad and naughty. They undoubtedly feel the same way about Parental Control software too.
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12-25-2006 @ 12:49PM
Jameson said...
Keep in mind, the PTC exists only as a political entity to push "culture war" issues and try to convince moderate Republican voters that their values are under attack. Whenever you hear of a giant outcry from "family groups" over something "indecent" on TV, it's something whipped up by the PTC, sending out the same form-letter complaint on behalf of thousands of members and non-members, just trying to get publicity. This time (like usual) it worked.
They don't sound like reasonable, informed parents because that's not who they represent; they're only adopting that guise to push a political agenda. If their complaints don't make a lot of sense to you, fear not; they weren't meant to.
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12-25-2006 @ 4:48PM
TomB said...
Considering all the adjectives that could have been used to describe a penis, "dick" is pretty unobjectionable. I was surprised that they had to bleep it on a show that airs from 11:30pm until 1:00am.
Why do I, an adult with no children, have to have my TV/internet content altered because lazy parents across the country sit their kids in front of the TV and computer to use it as a babysitter.
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12-25-2006 @ 8:55PM
Trish said...
my 11 year old watched it with me and half way through walked away stating... that's lame. Hmmmm so much for it warping the minds of children. Teach them to have self respect and the facts of life - and you'd be surprised at how "maturely" they can handle things. It's the parents that decide that thier kids should be sheltered from everything they find "evil" in the world, instead of teaching them how to deal with those things in a matter of fact way - they are they ones visiting thier kids in rebab when their 16.
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12-26-2006 @ 11:07PM
Alberto said...
Jameson, I couldn't agree more with you. That is one of the problems I have with religion/values including my own (Catholic) lately.. it's that it is all political. It's about getting votes and not really about doing any good. I thought we lived in the land of the free... guess I was wrong.
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12-27-2006 @ 9:28AM
corbett said...
Jameson lays it out perfectly, concerning the PTC.
Which brings me to something else... PTC = parents TELEVISION council... where is the internet mentioned anywhere in their name or mission? It's easy to argue that television is becoming less and less relevant to children as the internet grows and grows and this is just a defensive attack against their new enemy. Naw, they aren't smart enough to see that coming.
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12-30-2006 @ 1:21PM
TV Addict said...
The sad thing is that SNL has sucked lately and that was probably the only funny skit they've had on in weeks.
P.S. LOL about the suitcase commnet from iLoveLA.
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1-06-2007 @ 7:01AM
katherat said...
With the departure of Rachel Dratch, Horation Sanz, and Chris Parnell, the current SNL cast is it's weakest in a number of years. (Note Tina Fey not listed as her departure as a performer was not a big loss, although she is GREAT in 30 Rock)
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2-21-2007 @ 12:17AM
johnperson said...
To quote Perry Cox
"I'm fairly sure that if they took all the porn off the Internet, there'd only be one website left, and it would be called Bring Back The Porn."
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