Commentary

TV Indecency -- Fleeting or Always?

by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, August 30, 2010

One should hope the Federal Communications Commission battle to go after fleeting indecency keeps going. Maybe some day, it'll get to the real truth and lies in our TV lives.

Right now, it's focuses on the big mistake. Seems that no one is entitled to make one of this. All is punishable. Talent on live television shows may regret momentary improv-ed word choices. The truth is: experiences on television are all fleeting.

You may want to see old episodes of "Alias" and "Joan of Arcadia" occasionally. But all this disappears quickly. If the FCC wants to worrying about bad fleeting TV stuff, it needs to cast a wider net.

Janet Jackson's breast? Not exactly too sure I remember what it looked like during the dim and strobes of that half-time entertainment. I'm sure it was presentable. But not for the family entertainment we know as the NFL. You know that game -- crunchingly, indecent-looking 300-pound-plus lineman violently pounding each other, swearing quarterbacks, skimpy-dressed cheerleaders. It's a regular Hallmark Channel.

The NFL as a TV franchise looking for big contract renewals -- wants to eke out a few more bucks, going to an 18 game schedule from the present 16 game lineup. Surely, TV advertising sales executives will be happy. CBS, for example, has said its upcoming season NFL TV ad revenue performance is perhaps its best on record. That's a sign TV marketers only want a lot more.

And not just with the NFL. Strong national TV sales, which grabbed near double-digit program price increases for TV networks this upfront, seemingly have continued with the fourth-quarter scatter market, notching up additional 5% to 6% price hikes over pricing just set for the new season with the upfront ad market this past June.

No doubt TV advertisers would say this is all indecent -- taking us back to the wild and woolly 1990s TV advertising markets. Let's find more rude stuff to complain about.

regulation, television

3 comments about "TV Indecency -- Fleeting or Always?".

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Aaron B. from AnimationInsider.net, August 30, 2010 at 11:40 a.m.
Any idea how next year's lockout will affect longer term projections?
Reply

Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, August 30, 2010 at 3:20 p.m.

Since you mentioned it: The ripping off of a woman's clothing to expose, even to mimic exposing, is a violent act, not sexual. This is a criminal act and should still be held as such. No matter what the director or anyone else tells the entertainers to do, it was their decision whether to act upon it. Ultimately, Justin Timberlake should be held responsible for attempted rape. The others held as conspirators. That would be a better message to send that a measley fine.

Jerry Foster from Energraphics, August 31, 2010 at 2:09 a.m.

Great satire. Especially Paula's characterization of radical feminist ideology gone wild. Yes, let's arrest Justin Timberlake and put him on the sex offender list.