Fox Blurs Cartoon Rear End on FCC Worries

[Tab]

LOS ANGELES - Fox says it covered up the naked rear end of a cartoon character recently because of nervousness over what the Federal Communications Commission will find objectionable.

The latest example of TV network self-censorship because of FCC concerns came a few weeks ago during a rerun of a "Family Guy" cartoon. Fox electronically blurred a character's posterior, even though the image was seen five years ago when the episode originally aired.



"We have to be checking and second-guessing ourselves now," Fox entertainment president Gail Berman said Monday. "We have to protect our affiliates."

Fox hadn't gotten any complaints about the cartoon. But the move follows the FCC's decision in October to fine 169 Fox stations $7,000 each for airing an episode of "Married By America" that showed people licking whipped cream from strippers' bodies and a man in his underwear being spanked by strippers.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050117/ap_on_en_tv/tv_obscured_rear

[arwalden]

1. Ah... So We've Regressed To Puritanism.

:eyes: I'm sure that pleases the fundamentalists.

[durablend]

2. PTC is pleased...

But they'd much rather have all that lewd stuff replaced with good clean fundie christian shows.

[Todd B]

3. Yeah...

FOX has been censoring a lot of Family Guy reruns that weren't censored the first time they were run.

I remember hearing an interview with Seth sometime before Christmas, I believe, that said they were fighting tooth and nail with the standards department though.

Welcome to the prudish Amerikkka - remember, "horrific deplorible violence is ok as long as they don't see any naughty words (or show a boob, appearently)".

[catzies]

16. Fox isn't going to let Family Guy get away with what The Simpsons do

The Simpsons pre-dates Fox being FOX. The Simpsons is (are?)untouchable. They're not going to let that happen twice.

[sandnsea]

4. Fight the PTC

They're the ones instigating all this nonsense.

Amanda Toering
SpeakSpeak.org
Members of SpeakSpeak.org are protesting PBS executives’ decision to censor the HBO film “Dirty Bomb.” We understand that Right-wing groups have created a difficult climate for broadcasters. The line between what is acceptable and what is obscene has been obscured by the activism of a fanatical minority. Because of the lobbying of Parents Television Council president Brent Bozell, the FCC slapped broadcasters with unprecedented obscenity fines in 2004.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2964012&mesg_id=2964012

[Seemann For Congress]

5. They cut an entire scene

In an episode about 2 years ago, an entire scene was gone.

Filmed before 9/11, Stewie decides to sing "Good Ship Lollipop" to the airport screeners to get their attention away from the knives and guns he is carrying in his bag. Once through security, he proclaims "Let's hope Osama bin Laden doesn't know any showtunes."

Seconds later, bin Laden scampers up singing "God I hope I get it....I hope I get it....how many people does he need" from "A Chorus Line"

Now granted, that scene probably should have been cut...it was being aired too soon after 9/11 and it's humorous intentions were outweighed by the outrage which would have followed.

But it is funny that a talking cartoon baby knew to watch out for bin Laden, while Condoleeza Rice thinks "nobody could have possibly imagined" it.

[jayctravis]

11. To sum up...

we're now a more repressive society.

I did notice that FAMILY GUY is getting play in prime time. It probably does belong on late night, or Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

And it was originally a FOX production.

[IndianaGreen]

6. Everybody is afraid of the Morality Tsar, Michael Powell

While Mister Powell sits on his biracial ass doing nothing about investigating the Bush Administration's payola to media personalities, such as Armstrong Williams, to promote its policies under the guise of news analysis.

[DrWeird]

7. Fox doesn't deserve to show The Family Guy.

Adult Swim should get all the credit for revivving it.

[norml]

8. It's not five years ago.

And it's not the same administration, or the same FCC.

[leesa]

9. It's perfectly alright to lie us into a war, but an ass is TERRIBLE!

Does it turn on O'Reilly too much? Does Baby Jesus Hannity get a boner??

[MADem]

10. And it ain't even a real ass!!!

It's a cartoon--blatantly cartoon--rendering of an ass! It's an ass twice removed!

How absolutely PATHETIC. What's next? Televised hanging? Branding with the Scarlet A, right after Fear Factor?

Lord hep us awl!!!!

[FizzFuzz]

13. LMAO!! An ass twice removed! AHAHAHahahahahahahHAHAH!! n/t

[PallasAthena]

15. A cartoon ass, yes, but don't forget the need to edit marionette sex

from Team America: World Police. They had to cut several seconds in order to change the movie from NC-17 to R, per the contract. And these were PUPPETS!!!!

[FizzFuzz]

12. Aren't priorities FUN? Welcome to Ironic America, "It's Your Brain, We

Just Own It"

yee

haw

[gatorboy]

14. Reminds me of another leader that ran on censorship for high morals sake:

http://www.hartnell.cc.ca.us/westernstage/press_releases/CABARET/Cab_suppplement.htm

German cabarets were often censored for the radical satire and protest they presented. However, with the rise of the Weimar Republic in the 1920's, everything changed for Germany and its cabarets. The new constitution not only gave women the right to vote, but also abolished censorship, freeing the cabaret to parody and satirize whatever they pleased.

As with America in the 1920's, German culture experienced a tidal wave of liberalism and loose morals. The Weimar Republic even went so far as to allow public nudity, which of course the cabarets of Germany capitalized on However, it all came to an end in 1933. Adolf Hitler declared martial law and abolished the Weimar Republic. The cabaret clubs were raided and closed down in a single night. It is this dramatic shift, from hyper debauchery to overwhelming oppression that the stage play Cabaret depicts.

[ahimsa]

17. This is textbook CYA

:+

[gauguin57]

18. Pretty soon Fox will be running nothing but "Davey and Goliath" reruns.

[nolabels]

19. Cartoons are often used for depicting life's lessons to children

or brain washing them into needing to buy a certain kind of cereal.

Some them cartoons are even kinda scary to me :scared:

[trogdor]

27. Here's a spoof on that sort of thing.

http://www.homestarrunner.com/cheatcommando.html

For the H*R challenged, 'The Cheat' is one of the more popular characters in the cartoon world depicted by this website. He's a little yellow, um, thing.

Here's an intro toon for The Cheat.
http://www.homestarrunner.com/vcr_cheat.html

[nolabels]

33. That stuff is just plain nuts !

Thanks :-)

P.S. People who still have dialup modems miss more than they know

[gauguin57]

38. I LOVE Homestar Runner.

Strongbad's emails are the funniest thing I've ever seen on the Web. Not to mention Teen Girl Squad.

[Skidmore]

20. But what a way to put FOX out of business.

The network that lives by sleaze, will die by sleaze.

[Flammable Materials]

24. Let's not forget that FX runs "Nip/Tuck" and "Rescue Me" n/t

The two raciest shows on non-pay cable.

[Liberal_and_proud]

35. But even Todd Flanders won't watch that

On account of a talking dog being blasphemous

God help us all (can I say that now a days?)

[NeoConsSuck]

21. I filed this story

under category, "Like I really give a fuck".

Fox supported the Texas pig farmer, they smeared Kerry nightly. Now they can try to coexist with the misadministration they helped put into office.

[TomClash]

22. But during the Vikings-Eagles game

8 year olds could see all the Levitra commericals they wanted.

I guess "when the moment is right . . . "

[BiggJawn]

23. Donald Duck and Garfield don't wear pants!

Shameful!

Superstitous Sheep.

Wonder if there'd be the same concerns about a cartoon story about Adam and Eve befroe they got Shame?

[sleepyhead]

31. A while back...

In the eighties, I think, there was a similar ridiculous hullabaloo instigated by (can't remember first name) Wildmon, the family values guy, about a supposed drug reference in a cartoon. He claimed that the character was snorting cocaine, when in reality he was smelling a flower. There have always been repressed crazies who find "filth" everywhere - it does seem that they are all crawling out of the woodwork lately, though. Guess it's because they are constantly being validated by the present political climate.

[BiggJawn]

32. Mighty Mouse.

Wildmon insisted that in a sequence where Mighty mouse and his friends were sitting around a campfire and MM pulled out some cheese and smelled it, the cheese was cocaine. He even had "stills" that showed it was a powder.

Only thing is, I saw that episode myself, and it was CHEESE, NOT some "powder".

Wildmon's point was that since Ralph Bakshi was drawing MM then, and he created "Fritz the Cat" (who also doesn't wear pants), then that meant he was trying to "ensnare" Murka's yoots with his EVIL agenda...

And I agree that they have "validation". When NPR runs a feature about some "scientific study" on whether Americans praying can cause South Korean women to become pregnant, can trials according to "The Writ of Common Wisdom" be far behind?

[SweetLeftFoot]

25. Rupert Murdoch

You have to admire the chutzpah of the man ... in the US he rakes in millions from prudish Fox shite, in Britain its all tits-and-bums.

[drscm]

26. Meanwhile, the lies and obfuscation promoted by their news channel

are not deamed as obscene, although they promote death and destruction.

[sarcasmo]

28. The PTC has created the new FCC monster.

Thanks to the PTC and all of their photo copied complaints we have a media fearful of what they say and show. This is the biggest form of Nazi style government we have right now and it's freaking scary.

[durablend]

36. One way to marginalize the PTC...

I saw this suggested on another board...use the PTC's "file a complaint" form to complain about all the shows they APPROVE of. I think they're for the show 7th Heaven so complain that you saw somebody having sex or you (ghast) saw a booby.

If Powell gets enough frivoulous complaints maybe he'll tell them to go jump in a lake.

[TalkingDog]

29. Does it hurt to have your ass pixilated? n/t

[Gay Ranger]

30. I saw this show on Fox Sunday and...

it was not censored. Some people are trying to get too much credit!

[UL_Approved]

34. This is about idea censorship

The fact that Brittney Spears, Christina Aguliera, Jessica Simpson, and other soft-core porn models out there are getting plastered over every part of the news is sure proof that this is bullshit.

But did you ever stop to think about the greater plan here? If you think about it, there is something deep and disturbing going on here.

The same media powerhouses that own the Disney channel own porn companies. The same places that spout RW extremism also sport these barely-clothed pop stars. The same stations that spout moral values also provide the most degradation of such things.

And then the plan:

1. Produce obscene and vulgar content for the world. Manufacture filth, violence, and a "tearing at the moral fabric of our society."

2. Start to raise opposition to this trend, which you created in the first place, in order to gain validation and control. Become the "moral opposition" to all of this garbage.

3. Work your way into society through tightening civil liberties, such as a free press, in order to stem the tide of "corruption". Do this in as blunt, sweeping, and monolithic way as is possible so as to gain the most control.

4. Maintain power through a systematic hunting down of individuals who will not stand for the oppression you have successfully placed on people. This is the eternal war that keeps you in power.

[snippy]

37. This is what happens when people vote republican.

More people need to understand the consequences of their votes.