TVSquad

On Monday's episode of The Jay Leno Show, Mariah Carey made quite the entrance, taking a little stumble on her way out to meet the talk show host. I've always wondered how the heck she walks in those super high heels, but since it's all you ever see her wearing, she gets plenty of practice. In this clip from SlashControl, she doesn't blame the heels themselves, but rather a strap that broke backstage. That would be a shoe strap, not the other kind.

And speaking of that, it's a good thing Mariah didn't fall any further than she did, or there would have been some major wardrobe malfunctions going on. With the dangerous combo of high heels and that massive chest, it's a wonder she can stay upright at all. Oh, come on. You know you're thinking the same thing. Nick Cannon is either a very happy guy, or a very tortured guy who puts up with the diva for, uh, his own personal reasons.

The FCC has dismissed indecency charges against ABC's NYPD Blue and CBS' Early Show, but has upheld charges against - oh, delicious irony - Fox.

Back in April, the networks sued the FCC and asked an appeals court to invalidate the Commission's charges of indecency against NYPD, Early Show and Fox's broadcast of the Billboard Music Awards in 2002 and 2003 on the grounds that the charges were unconstitutional.

ABC got off easy. The NYPD Blue episodes that used the words "dickhead" and "bullshit" were let off the hook because they aired several years ago - before the FCC upped its fines 10x, post-Janet wardrobe malfunction.

On Friday, CBS finally paid the $550,000 indecency fine that the FCC levied against the network and its stations for the Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl. Then, according to this article, they turned right around and sued the government agency over their ruling, claiming the fine for the unexpected incident was unfair.

Then why did they pay the fine? According to CBS, they had to pay the fine in order to file the appeal. Some system, huh? You can't sue the government until you pay them first. Anyway, its good to see the networks finally fighting back against the nebulous indecency rules that the FCC uses, especially in light of the recent ten-fold increase of the fine amount. If the incident happened today, CBS would have had to pay the FCC (gulp) $6.5 million. All for a floppy boob. Jeez.

Yesterday, President Bush signed into law a bill that increases FCC indecency fines tenfold, from $32,500 to $325,000 per violation. The sponsors of the bill, as well as the members of the Parents Televison Council, pushed for the higher penalties so they can make more of an impact on the networks. "For some broadcasters, this amount is meaningless," said Bush at the signing ceremony.

The law states that broadcast networks cannot air any obscene material and no indecent material from 6 to 10 PM. The problem is, the definition of "indecent" is still up in the air, and the mechanism for the FCC to intiate indeceny investigations is coming under fire for its inequites (as in: 4,000 PTC members with Internet access and a form letter can trigger an investigation). The push for higher fines was sparked, of course, by Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl.

Oh, Janet. What have you gotten us into here? All this hoo-ha over a misshapen, nipple-ring-clad breast. And, to be honest with you, considering what's happened since, that looky-loo you gave us so wasn't worth it.

The FCC denied CBS' second appeal of a hefty fine for the now-notorious "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl. I'm sure we all remember where we were when, during the half-time performance, Justin Timberlake ripped off Janet Jackson's breast patch to reveal her bare boob and some sort of sun-like nipple ring. The incident touched off a fury among many Americans over indecency on television. After its second appeal, the FCC has ordered CBS to pay a $550,000 fine for the bare breast incident. The FCC concluded that the show was indecent and that the so-called wardrobe malfunction was, in fact, "willful".