So Comedy channel can show unedited movies as long as it's after midnight?

[LynneSin]

I was unable to fall asleep on Saturday night so I flipped through the TV stations to see if anything interesting was on the Tellie (there wasn't).

But I ended up stopping on the Comedy Channel on the wee hours of the morning and they were showing "Scary Movie 2". Normally I would skip over stuff like this but what I saw amazed me. Nothing was edited out of this movie. They were using the word Fuck everywhere (hell they showed a tattoo on the back of some guy that said "Fucked up". And there was a peculiar full frontal of one of those Waylon brothers where his penis was tucked away but you could see the pub. hairs.

Now, I'm not trying to be a prude, but is the FCC being more lenient on the cable networks that as long as it's after midnight they can show anything they want?

BTW, I didn't watch much more of the movie - it was really bad.

[Horushawk]

1. Maybe the FCC has not caught on...?

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. I'm not American, so I may have misunderstood

but I thought the whole point was that the FCC doesn't regulate cable channels - only broadcast ones?

[LynneSin]

7. FCC doesn't regulate Premium Cable Channels

Premium Cable being HBO, Starz, Showtime, Cinemax, TMC, Encore etc. You have to specify that you want these channels and then pay extra to get them.

Comedy Channel is cable but it still falls under FCC regulation. What I saw with Scary Movie would not be allowed if the movie was shown during waking hours

[MADem]

3. They've been showing uncensored material late at night for some time

They show live comedy shows, like Chris Rock, with no bleeping at all, along with all sorts of movies (e.g. the South Park one).

It's cable, it may be expanded basic cable, but it's cable. Ya pay for it. You can't get it with a rabbit ears, so it doesn't fall under FCC guidelines....YET.

Course, it will if the GOP Taliban has their way...

[Cooley Hurd]

4. They've been doing this for a while...

On a somewhat-related note, when Jon Stewart had Harry G. Frankfurt on his show to discuss his book, On Bullshit, the 11pm initial showing didn't bleep out the word "shit," but subsequent showings did bleep it out.

Strangely enough, when the show was rerun last week at 11pm, they bleeped it.:shrug:

[deutsey]

5. I may be wrong, but I think they passed something back in the '80s

that relaxed restrictions on language after midnight.

I can't remember the details, though, or whether this is really why Comedy Central can do that.

[MousePlayingDaffodil]

6. The Comedy channel . . .

. . . or, for that matter, any cable network, could show unedited content at any time of the day they wished. If they are restricting their broadcasts of unedited content to after midnight, then that is a voluntary business decision on their part. The FCC does not have jurisdiction over them the way it does with respect to the major networks, which are broadcast over-the-air.

[LynneSin]

8. I think there is some restriction...

..or those channels would be using Fuck & Shit all the time even during the daytime. I mean, even Howard Stern's show on E! is edited down for what words are bleeped out.

[liontamer]

9. I don't think the FCC is the problem

the problem is "community standards" a cable network could air whatever it wanted but then a cable provider could refuse to carry the channel.

[Aiptasia]

10. The FCC changed it's guidelines about a year ago

If you've seen more PG-13 related material on the T.V. after 10:00 p.m., it's because the FCC changed it's obscenity rules regarding cable television. There is a lot more leniency with respect to the occasional bad word, drug/sex reference and violence in the post 10:00 p.m. timeslots.

After midnight, the FCC had changed it's rules again to allow R-rated material to be broadcast unedited. Thus, "Secret Stash" on Comedy Central was born.

Of course, this all happened before the Janet Jackson boob flash.

[ghostsofgiants]

11. Actually the tattoo was "fucked me"

The other guy had a tattoo that said "Ray"

"Ray fucked me".