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Thursday, November 11, 2004
Scrapping ‘Private Ryan’
That little schedule change over at KVUE really has the town buzzing, doesn’t it?
On the radio, in Starbucks, at the office. Everybody is talking about the flap over KVUE and many other ABC stations pre-empting the scheduled Veterans Day telecast of “Saving Private Ryan.”
The decision was revealed in today’s A-1 story in the Austin American-Statesman.
KVUE and its corporate owner, Belo, agonized over the decision and came to the conclusion Wednesday that 48 uses of the f-word might prompt angry viewer response and a possible fine by the FCC. Violence was a potential problem, too.
Never mind that the context of the profanity and violence is Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award-winning movie about World War II.
By the way, KVUE asked ABC for permission to run the movie later tonight, but said the network denied that request.
I don’t agree with KVUE’s decision, but I understand it. Sadly. The FCC under Michael Powell’s leadership is on a mission to rid television of all perceived dirt. Fines are being levied for surprise flashings on live TV (Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl) and other brief, unplanned incidents.
And the stations, not the networks, are at risk. Why is that? Because the stations are licensed to use the public airwaves and thus must meet certain FCC standards. The networks are program suppliers and not licensed for broadcast.
But even the FCC is not totally at fault here. The government entity responds to public complaints, and certain segments of the public have been complaining about perceived smutty television since the Super Bowl. It’s unclear how large a segment of the viewing public these complainers are, but they’re certainly loud, passionate and influential.
And TV stations such as KVUE risk losing viewers and advertisers in this environment.
Nevertheless, it’s a sad day when an edited “Lethal Weapon III,” a mindlessly violent movie about an unbalanced cop and his nicer partner, is deemed more appropriate than an unedited “Saving Private Ryan,” arguably one of the most realistic and moving films ever made about World War II.
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