Fleeting Entertainment? I'll Take It

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The last couple of days have brought a number of fleeting entertainment moments -- and one fleeting expletive.

Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens provided the latter -- and some of the former.

Fleeting entertainment may have been in order for Sunday’s ratings runner-up after the Super Bowl -- in a far, far distant, second place none other than PBS' "Downton Abby" with some 6.6 million viewers, a mere 102 million behind the Super Bowl. Fleeting for some.

CBS must feel a little cursed by all of this. Not only did it have to juggle an out-of-nowhere 34-minute power outage, but after the game, had to deal with Flacco's f-bomb.

No worries on the latter. The Federal Communications Commission has clearly spelled out what a "fleeting expletive" is. This had all the markers: a live event where live emotions are a natural part of the process. Not only that but Flacco’s outburst wasn't during an interview but a spur-of-the-moment celebration caught by CBS during the celebration melee right after the game concluded.

Remember that CBS had the Super Bowl in 2004 and had to deal with Janet Jackson’s "wardrobe malfunction." Years afterwards, CBS was still defending and managing this process -- in part trying to deal with MTV, then a sister company, which produced that half-time show.

This time around, Beyonce's uniform appeared to behave -- despite some volcanic dancing. Flacco did have one pseudo-improvisational moment after the game, but it was more scripted than anything else. Looking straight into a camera for broadcast a little while later, he said: "I'm going to Disney World!"

Parental TV groups may be groaning that CBS let another one slip through the cracks.

But I'm wondering where the real parental entertainment was found during the show – in the hard-hitting football or in the sexed-up dancing from Beyonce.  I have no problem with either. I have a problem with TV marketers and sport leagues selling one thing and delivering another.

That didn't happen here -- just some fleeting content.

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1 comment on "Fleeting Entertainment? I'll Take It".

1. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited
   

   commented on: February 6, 2013 at 10:22 p.m.
   A man ripping or trying to rip off a part of a woman's dress especially on the part of the dress that covers a private personal part is a criminal assault, not a wardrobe malfunction. Whoever designed that action and those who "just followed orders" and did it should have had ensuing criminal repercussions. I'll keep saying it until it gets through to people who have the will and influence to do something about it. It is never too late.

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