NBC quietly canceled the Chris Hansen-starring reality vehicle To Catch A Predator. Now it is planning to launch a similar sort of program in War Criminals which tracks down war criminals (obviously) and arrests them on camera.Didn't these guys learn their lesson the first time around? Vigilante justice with a camera is still vigilante justice, and vigilante justice only works well in the comic books and movies. It works on television too, but only in the scripted variety and not like this.
Granted, prostitution with a camera is called pornography, but that's legal. It has a system to govern it and make sure it doesn't reach children or other inappropriate people (how effectively it works is another discussion). Even the government has expressed concerns about televised sting operations interfering in the legal apprehension of criminals.
While this may bring some short-term ratings to NBC, I don't see it lasting long. The last thing they need is another Bill Conradt-style lawsuit.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-16-2009 @ 2:13PM
Modwild said...
Is this their way to try to catch Bush and Cheney? Soldiers who shot an Iraqi? I don't get it. While predators seem like a dime a dozen these days (thanks to media, granted), I can't figure out how you would find, let alone set up a war criminal for filming.
This is embarrassing.
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2-17-2009 @ 2:06PM
JT said...
Not a true statement that prostitution when filmed becomes legal (pornography). This is only true in California, as it really hasn't been tested at a Supreme Court level in other states. And there are married couples or dating couples who do porn, who aren't necessarily paid, or own the content they are producing and thus theres no "hiring" of them. For me see:
http://randazza.wordpress.com/2008/03/18/why-is-prostitution-illegal-but-pornography-is-not/
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2-18-2009 @ 2:03PM
kurt said...
Modwild - you beat me to the Bush comment, but wouldn't it be great if he was in a promo for the show walking out of a Baskin Robbins holding a cone up to the camera covering his face. Where did I get that image? Not sure - but that is what I imagine he is doing with his time these days.
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