TVSquad

(S01E05) What does Nadia Comenici, civil liberties, Harry Reems and bowling have in common? They were all woven into this very topical episode of Swingtown, one of the best of this summer series thus far.

The undercurrent of swinging and sex was still there, but the theme of the show was more about choice and control, who makes them and and who has it.

The Millers aren't in synch. In fact, Susan is the first to say it out loud, turning to Trina for guidance. I really like how the women on this show are becoming more real with each episode and less types. Trina is so much more than the wanton from the pilot.

I've been a fan of Dexter since its premiere two years ago, and it's yet to disappoint. When word came that CBS would be airing (at least) the show's first season, I had mixed feelings. I was glad to see the show get more exposure, and seeing that Showtime/CBS has such faith in the series shows promise that we'll see many more seasons of this series to come. However, I'm somewhat afraid that its success on CBS might remove the show from Showtime, meaning an overly-edited and watered-down version of the show.

Recently I got to take a look at a screener of the pilot that will be airing on CBS (this coming Sunday), and to put my fears to rest, I played my season one DVD in my laptop as the screener played on my TV, both synced to the same moments.

Here's what you need to know to understand why I'm writing this column.

1) Last Sunday, I liveblogged the Emmys for TV Squad.

2) During the Emmys, Sally Field decided to make her feelings about war known. She said, "If mothers ruled the world, then we'd stop this G*dd*mn war."

3) AOL, TV Squad's parent site, decided to link to my liveblog under a question asking their readers to "sound off" about what Sally said.

4) Every single comment that is posted on something I've written here at TV Squad is sent to me as an email.

5) AOL has a lot of readers. Not that TV Squad is any slouch, but holy Jeebus, my inbox was stretched to the breaking point.

George Carlin's "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" routine famously landed him in jail. He was charged for obscenity in 1972 after performing the bit at Milwaukee's Summerfest. When it was broadcast the following year on a New York City radio station, the FCC got in on the act. The radio station challenged the fine, and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Now, I intend on using every one of Carlin's "dirty words" after the jump so consider yourself warned. Be prepared to wash your computer's mouth out with soap. It may look like a saint, but it swears like sailor.

A movie theater owner in Iowa got squeamish, or had complaints or something, and changed the name of Jackass Number Two to "Jackbutt Two" on the marquee. An alert passerby snapped a photo which her cousin posted on Flickr where you can check it out.

If anything, "Jackbutt" sounds much nastier -- downright skanky even. I don't know why they didn't go with "Jackposterior" or "Jackrearend" -- too many letters maybe. There will probably never be a movie of the CBS sitcom The Class, which is fortunate, because what could they call it at this theater? "The Cl-butt" just makes no sense at all.

[via digg]

At a recent speech given to students at Stanford University, Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane alluded to the "Cartoon Wars" two-part episode of South Park which ruthlessly took aim at Family Guy for using easy humor and being written by manatees. Anyone who has read interviews with McFarlane has probably guessed that he didn't really have a problem with the episode, stating, "they sh*t on everybody like we do." Spoken like a true satirist, says I. Besides, I'm looking forward to a Family Guy where they take a few shots at South Park. I'm not here to root for one team, I just like watching the battle.

In the same speech, McFarlane also spoke about censorship, and that the interference of family advocacy groups would only get worse. Despite their different approaches, this seems like one thing both South Park and Family Guy have in common.

[via South Park Studios] 

ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX have all filed appeals to the FCC's fines for indecent language and subject matter in their programming. The biggest fine was against CBS's Without a Trace for a scene showing too much of a teen-age orgy (or maybe they didn't like the subject matter altogether?). For that, the FCC says CBS must pay an unprecedented $3.63 million. There were also fines against The Early Show on CBS for sucking - ha! just kidding - for profanity in 2004 when a Survivor castoff said "shit", and against The Billboard Music Awards on FOX for the same thing.

The networks are all appealing the fines on the grounds that the FCC's tough new stance on indecency is vague and inconsistent.

Last night South Park, in a way only South Park can, managed to mix Family Guy and the recent kerfuffle over cartoons involving the Prophet Muhammed into a scathing indictment of both. In the South Park universe, the "offensive Muhammed cartoon" is an episode of Family Guy which the Fox Network decides to censor. Cartman convinces Kyle to join him on his quest to get the episode off the air. It turns out Cartman doesn't care about the offensive episode, he just really, really, hates Family Guy, calling it poorly-written and accusing it of using interchangeable jokes, rather than jokes that actually have something to do with the plot.

I've said it on this blog and elsewhere that Family Guy's humor can be very jarring at times. Whatever plot there is has to be ground to a halt in order to insert as many one-off gags as possible. There's no effort on behalf of the writers to try and weave jokes into the story, jokes simply pop in and out wherever they seem to fit. In that regard, it's not even comparable to shows like South Park and The Simpsons, which take a more substantive approach to their humor and satire, even if South Park appears to delve into the same scatological humor as Family Guy at times.