Mormon-Owned Station Passes On NBC's 'Normal'

by David Goetzl @dgoetzl, August 27, 2012

The-New-Normal For the second year in a row, the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City has decided not to air a first-year series from the Peacock network. The Mormon Church-owned station will take a pass on comedy “The New Normal,” which includes a surrogate mom for a gay male couple.

Last year, KSL-TV opted not to show drama “The Playboy Club,” which had only three episodes on NBC.

"From time to time, we may struggle with content that crosses the line in one area or another," Jeff Simpson, Bonneville International CEO told the Salt Lake Tribune. "The dialogue might be excessively rude and crude. The scenes may be too explicit or the characterizations might seem offensive."

Bonneville International is the parent company of KSL and falls under the ownership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The CW Salt Lake City station will air the NBC comedy at some point on weekends. It carries “Saturday Night Live,” which KSL opts not to carry. Nexstar recently agreed to buy the CW station.

media, religion, tv

2 comments about "Mormon-Owned Station Passes On NBC's 'Normal'".

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Michael Kaplan from Blue Sky Creative, August 28, 2012 at 5:21 p.m.
Glad I don't live in a market where the station owner decides what I can and can't watch.
And glad I don't live in a market where a conservative religious organization controls the local TV market. In addition to the separation of church and state, how about a separation of church and entertainment?
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Chuck Lantz from 2007ac.com, 2017ac.com network, August 29, 2012 at 4:25 a.m.

Decades ago when KSL radio had one of the first call-in shows on a high-power station, listeners were warned that all topics were welcome, except politics and religion.

Sounds like not much has changed in the Land of Nod.