Wednesday, January 14, 2009

No Comment Department

Breaking: FCC reviewing NBC's Golden Globes telecast | Show Tracker | Los Angeles Times: "After receiving multiple complaints about NBC's Sunday telecast of the Golden Globes, the FCC said Wednesday that it is reviewing the program for possible violations of indecency rules.

Toward the end of the program, director Darren Aronofsky was caught on camera jokingly making an obscene gesture -- 'flipping the bird,' as it's commonly called -- at actor Mickey Rourke, who was onstage accepting an acting award for Aronofsky's film 'The Wrestler.' Rourke and other attendees also salted their speeches with occasional off-color language, some of which was bleeped by NBC censors.

Now the FCC, which regulates decency issues on the broadcast networks, has stepped into the fray. 'We received 18 complaints about the Golden Globes telecast,' FCC spokeswoman Edie Herman wrote in an e-mail to The Times, 'and the commission is reviewing the matter.'"

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I have a comment.

What a waste of tax dollars! Catering to stupid people always makes me angry. 18 complaints? The world is ending. Oh my god. Call out the pleasure police.

I think the readers of this blog should deluge the FCC with notes of thanks to the Golden Globes for being slightly less boring that usual because of things like the flipping off of Mickey Rourke and the slightly off-color remarks.

sas

Anonymous said...

18 complaints? Most likely they got 18 copies of Brent Bozell's form letter from his Parents Television Council. Old Redbeard must be slipping; he usually can scare up at least a few hundred...

Anonymous said...

I am so glad the FCC is protecting me from a program I never watch.

Anonymous said...

it was shocking indeed (gasp) 18 complaints does seem pretty lame...

Brent McKee said...

I'm hoping that Obama's apparent choice to head the FCC, his old law school friend Julius Genachowski, will mean that this sort of thing will be treated with the "respect" it deserves. That is to say very little.

The big question currently is how the Supreme Court will rule on the "fleeting obscenities" case that the court heard on Election Day. The Second Circuit Court originally ruled that the FCC policy under which fleeting obscenities were liable for fines was arbitrarily arrived at and thus not valid (that's simplifying it of course). It then went to the Supremes and they have yet to present a ruling. This incident would probably qualify as a "fleeting obscenity."

Genachowski seems like a pretty interesting guy. I am particularly interested in his involvement as board member for a group called "Common Sense On Media." Their mission statement is quite interesting and I really like their attitude to shows as compared with Bozell's creation the PTC:
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/about-us/our-mission

Anonymous said...

I'm not generally in favor of violence, but if Brent Bozo and every single member of the PTC were shit on and killed, the world would be a much better place. I, too, am hoping Obama will put an end to this foolishness and we'll be safe until we get another president elected by religious fanatics.

Anonymous said...

Man, this country is so behind the rest of the world if 18 people thought there was anything indecent that night. What a waste of time.

RJR

Anonymous said...

Considering that the Golden Globes takes place in a room full of actors, directors, writers, producers and other folk, all of whom have been consuming alcohol for god knows how many hours, I'd say they should be grateful they only got eighteen complaints.

But seriously, are we children?