Defamer: Fcc

Hey, FCC: Fox Has Your $91,000 Right Here

Seth — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:44:00 PDT

· Atta boy, Fox! The network flatly refuses to pay an FCC fine of $91,000 for Married by America (is that the one with the midgets? Or the fake prince?), for the 2003 reality show's depiction of "contestants licking whipped cream off strippers." Fellow networks stand in quiet solidarity, with Ben Silverman observing that "the fine sets a dangerous precedent, not to mention potentially ruining our sweeps week My Dad is Better Than Your Dad father-daughter whipped-cream surprise!" [Variety]
· Smashing Pumpkins sue Virgin Records for cheapening their name by using their music and likeness in a crass Pepsi Stuff promotion. Billy Corgan also wants everyone to check out "1979," and "Tonight, Tonight," both to appear on Guitar Hero IV! It'll be Smashsational! [Variety]
· In a reverse-engineered comic-book-movie-making miracle, Hugh Jackman teams with Virgin Comics to create Nowhere Man, a new comic specifically designed to then be adapted for Jackman to star in on the big screen, and featuring the first superhero to harness the power of showtunes to defeat evil. [Variety]

· Even Hollywood gets the blues. :( [Variety]
· Warner Bros. wins a bidding war for Daily Show writer Josh Lieb's book proposal I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President. [THR]

[Photo Illustration: Variety]

Producer Surnow Leaves '24,' Tired Of Thinking Up Ways For Jack Bauer To Violate The Geneva Convention

Mark — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:45:42 PST

· 24 co-creator/primetime-torture advocate Joel Surnow is leaving the series to follow his muse, having previously ceded day-to-day control of the show to fellow executive producer Howard Gordon. Surnow explains his decision to officially pass on Jack Bauer's interrogation-speeding belt-sander to his colleagues: "I've done seven years, almost eight years at the same place with the same great group of people. During the strike I started thinking about different things I'd like to do independently, and decided it was time to see if there were other opportunities I wanted to pursue." [Variety]
· Hoping to pressure SAG leaders into opening negotiations with the studios long before the June 30th expiration of their contract, "several top stars" may launch a public campaign in hopes of preempting a second industry-crippling work stoppage, possibly in the form of a series of "Don't Be Fucking Crazy. No One Wants Another Strike For At Least Three Years" ads in the trades featuring actors like George Clooney, Ben Affleck and Teri Hatcher hugging moguls such as Peter Chernin and Les Moonves. [Variety]

· Re-teaming alert! Jim Jarmusch will reunite his Broken Flowers co-stars Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton in The Limits of Control, a thriller/road movie about a "mysterious loner" up to no good. [THR]
· Jericho finally returns from hiatus, but to ratings close to those that earned it the short-lived cancellation that inspired outraged fans to bury short-sighted CBS executives in several tons of peanuts. Meanwhile, American Idol's two-hour Back to Hollywood episode put up the series' best numbers since its premiere. [THR]
· A cheerily delusional FCC chairman Kevin Martin tells the House of Representatives that he expects the coming transition from analog to digital television will be a smooth one, dismissing fears of nationwide riots induced by the unexpected, simultaneous darkening of millions of TV sets as "somewhat unlikely." [Variety]

The FCC's brand of puritanical justice ...

Mark — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:25:59 PST

The FCC's brand of puritanical justice may not be swift, but it is severe: this afternoon, the Guardians of Primetime Morality suggested $1.4 million in fines for ABC's transgressions against federal anti-sideboob statutes committed in a 2003 (!) episode of NYPD Blue that "dwelled" upon a "small portion of one side of [an actress's] breasts" in "shocking and titillating" fashion. (Also, an unacceptable display of partially revealed buttocks were mentioned.) ABC has already responded: "When the brief scene in question was telecast almost five years ago, this critically acclaimed drama had been on the air for a decade and the realistic nature of its story lines was well known to the viewing public," a nod to the series' envelope-pushing early days, when weekly scenes of a seminude Dennis Franz helped cement its hit status. [B&C]

Hoping to book a halftime act that's far ...

Mark — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:54:28 PDT

Hoping to book a halftime act that's far less likely to attempt to sexually assault America's delicate eyeballs with a 50-foot, hellfire-ejaculating demonschlong, the NFL is reportedly close to booking The Eagles as its Super Bowl headliners. Still, we wouldn't rule out the possibility that Glenn Frey might whip it out during an abbreviated version of Desperado or Don Henley might show some nip. [SportsByBrooks]

Fox Censors Anti-Blasphemy, Pro-Mammary At Emmys

Mark — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:27:41 PDT

While the scintillating debate about whether Fox's censors directed the profanity-erasing silence-rays of its Sphere of Censorship against Sally Field for either the "goddamned" or "no more...wars" portions of her rambling acceptance speech rages on, we thought it would be fun to share a clip of some the filthy, filthy things that the network's Standards & Practices allowed on the air during the Emmys telecast.

Not only did Fox permit 'Til Death star Brad Garrett to spend a full minute alternately discussing Joely Fisher's generously displayed cleavage and sharing his desire to explore the area between her knees in a carnal fashion, it also allowed Charlie Sheen's image to be broadcast into the homes of millions of morally upright TV viewers, any of whom could have initiated a potentially disastrous FCC letter-writing campaign following their forced flashback to the actor's notoriously checkered sexual past.

On TV, 'Extreme Caution' vs. Free Speech [ABC News]
Previously: Fox Saves America From Silent Dirty Words, Blasphemy, And Fornication Talk At The Emmys [Defamer]

Fox Saves America From Silent Dirty Words, Blasphemy, And Fornication Talk At The Emmys

Mark — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:45:28 PDT

We're still (pretty unsuccessfully) trying to shake off our Emmys hangover—drinking was really the only way to make it through all three-plus hours of last night's telecast without going insane from boredom—but we're now lucid enough to tackle the "mystery" of that trio of perplexing cuts (compiled in the above clip) from Ray Romano, Katherine "If You Call Me Hi-Jel I Will Fucking Cut You" Heigl, and Sally Field to the giant, profanity-erasing Sphere of Censorship hanging in the rafters of the Shrine.

As today's THR notes, it was a Fox censor's itchy dump-button finger that triggered the jarring cuts, an attempt to avoid the post-Nipplegate wrath of the FCC for airing Romano's joke that "Frasier's screwing my wife," Heigl's silent mouthing of the word "shit" to express surprise that she'd actually won, and Field's taking of the Lord's name in vain ("goddamn"). We applaud the network's efforts to expunge these adulterous, scatological, and blasphemous references from the show, sparing millions of TV viewers—even the lip-readers!—from a potentially ugly controversy like the Jesus Can Suck It Incident that marred the Creative Arts Emmys earlier in the week.

Fox steer clear of utter disaster [THR]

Trade Round-Up: Scorsese Gives Next Four Years Of His Life To Paramount

Mark — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 11:21:54 PST

Smelling money all over him in the aftermath of The Departed's success, Brad Grey lures Martin Scorcese into a four-year deal with Paramount, which includes the unique provision that the 'Mount can own half of any movie the director does for another studio while still retaining 100 percent of his soul. [Variety]
· Lindsay Lohan parlays her significant real-life experience of playing a victim on a variety of talk shows into a role portraying a more dramatic kind of victimhood in the psychological thriller I Know Who Killed Me. [THR]
After the firing of striking America's Next Top Model story editors, the WGA files unfair labor practice charges against Executive Producer Ken Mok's Anisa productions with the National Labor Relations Board. The Guild calls the action strike-breaking, while Mok claims that once they figured out how to force their IATSE-unionized editors to make their cast of skinny models seem remotely interesting, having writers around just seemed silly and wasteful. [Variety]
The FCC asserts that Hollywood can't say "fuck" and "shit" on the public airwaves whenever it wants, even when those words are mouthed by Cher and Nicole Richie at awards shows nobody cares about. [THR]
· Chastened by the historic fuck-ups of 2000 and 2004, the networks showed a new hesitancy to incorrectly project last night's election results. [Variety]