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Why don't they just say the F-word on "RESCUE ME"?

Bad Bishop

Bad Bishop

Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
I appreciate the fact that FX and the producers want to protect their multitudes of viewers who happen to be little children. But what is the point of avoiding any use of the word "fuck" (or variants such as "fucker" or "fucking") while freely using other profanities, including "cock," "asshole," "goddamn," "shit" and "pussy"?

For the record, I personally don't mind the harsh language on the show. You can't really have a gritty show about firefighters and have them speak like a bunch of Mormon missionaries.

Incidentally, Maura Tierney has been on the last few episodes. Nice to see her again since ER ended. She looks good. I wish her good health.
 
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I dunno, I got bored with the show and I don't watch anymore. But I have started watching Sons of Anarchy on DVD and I have to start noticing whether they say "fuck" at least on DVDs because that would be craaazy if they don't, considering the subject matter. :rommie:

The FCC has no jurisdiction over cable, do they? They shouldn't. And why would anyone think Sons of Anarchy viewers are delicate little petunas?

However, I have to admit it's significant that I haven't noticed one way or the other. If I haven't missed the cursing, it is needed?
 
I have no idea how cable stations are governed. The rules seem very inconsistent to me. I mean, take SyFy (or whatever they want to call themselves):

I was watching some "Sentinel" episodes on a weekday, and in once episode, Blair calls the evil terrorist threating to kill thousands a dick. They silenced it to "What a --."

Yet, when they have their movie marathons during the week, you have Pumpkinhead and Megashark decapitating people and biting them in half while they scream horribly.

So, evisceration is OK on afternoon TV, but you can't call a bad guy a dick? :wtf:
 
I haven't watched the show in a while, but yeah it did crack me up how often they relied on "shit" for all their profanity. lol

Hell, they could have at least used "freakin" or "frickin". That's almost more common than fuck nowadays anyway.
 
Cable-sations are self-regulating. No agency or other organization mandated what they can and cannot say or show. It's odd but cable TV is proof how a self-regulating industry CAN work without government intereference considering time and time again cable stations are lauded for their content and FCC-mandated broadcast stations are panned for theirs.

Since cable stations are self-regulating and their exsistance is dependant on cable companies buying them for broadcasting which is why cable stations keep their content "in check", controling things like language and other content that may deter viewers, which would make cable companies nervous and unlikely to buy a certain cable station.

FX doesn't use the "f-word" and its variants because the "f-word" is still very, very taboo and harsh cursing unlike many of the other curses openly used on cable, and broadcast network, stations. For this same reason you don't get much, if any, nudity on cable tv (although they can completely show it.) They don't want to rattle any cages and potentialy get dropped by a cable company.
 
Since cable stations are self-regulating and their exsistance is dependant on cable companies buying them for broadcasting which is why cable stations keep their content "in check", controling things like language and other content that may deter viewers, which would make cable companies nervous and unlikely to buy a certain cable station.
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Yeah, I'm sure that's it. Nobody is going to cancel their cable subscription because of a biker gang who never utters any unpleasantries beyond the occasional "darn it!" But there are certainly people who would cancel over bad language. Even if they are surpassingly few (envisioning the biker-gang-show aficionado who can't handle salty talk), why take the chance of losing any viewers with no compensating upside?
 
Trekker4747 said:
Cable-sations are self-regulating. No agency or other organization mandated what they can and cannot say or show. It's odd but cable TV is proof how a self-regulating industry CAN work without government intereference considering time and time again cable stations are lauded for their content and FCC-mandated broadcast stations are panned for theirs.

Since cable stations are self-regulating and their exsistance is dependant on cable companies buying them for broadcasting which is why cable stations keep their content "in check", controling things like language and other content that may deter viewers, which would make cable companies nervous and unlikely to buy a certain cable station.

FX doesn't use the "f-word" and its variants because the "f-word" is still very, very taboo and harsh cursing unlike many of the other curses openly used on cable, and broadcast network, stations. For this same reason you don't get much, if any, nudity on cable tv (although they can completely show it.) They don't want to rattle any cages and potentialy get dropped by a cable company.
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Pretty much it. Most stations are worried about being pulled from the lineup that the cable company offers.
 
A nice example of this in play is MTV.

In the early 90s a localy owned and operated cable station my parents had -their only option- in our new home didn't carry MTV, despite how many viewers it'd likely pull in. The "benifits" of it didn't justify the drawbacks, all of the controversy MTV generated in the early 90s and even today with their content up to and including the music videos popular at the time was considered too risky for this small cable station. It was too likely that people would either boycott their company or boycott local advertisers who bought time on MTV. (Local advertisers buy time for some slots on cable stations.)

Again, it's interesting to see how well the cable companies and stations can "self regulate" when other industries cannot. :cough:the financial industry:cough:
 
davejames said:
I haven't watched the show in a while, but yeah it did crack me up how often they relied on "shit" for all their profanity. lol

Hell, they could have at least used "freakin" or "frickin". That's almost more common than fuck nowadays anyway.
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I don't watch Rescue Me, but I do watch The Riches and it amused me after several episodes how often "shit" was used. It seemed like the writers thought, "Well, this is the worst word we can use, so let's use it in every other sentence!" I don't mind profanity either way, but it was amusing to me.
 
They say "shit" a lot in SoA (particularly in that episode where they smuggled AK's in a septic tank truck :rommie:) but yeah now that I'm watching for it, not "fuck." I didn't realize anyone thought there was a difference on the "badness" of these words. Who decided that?
 
Trekker4747 said:
Cable-sations are self-regulating. No agency or other organization mandated what they can and cannot say or show. It's odd but cable TV is proof how a self-regulating industry CAN work without government intereference considering time and time again cable stations are lauded for their content and FCC-mandated broadcast stations are panned for theirs.

Since cable stations are self-regulating and their exsistance is dependant on cable companies buying them for broadcasting which is why cable stations keep their content "in check", controling things like language and other content that may deter viewers, which would make cable companies nervous and unlikely to buy a certain cable station.

FX doesn't use the "f-word" and its variants because the "f-word" is still very, very taboo and harsh cursing unlike many of the other curses openly used on cable, and broadcast network, stations. For this same reason you don't get much, if any, nudity on cable tv (although they can completely show it.) They don't want to rattle any cages and potentialy get dropped by a cable company.
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All this is true.

Cable stations could curse like a fucking sailor if they wanted to. There's nothing legally stopping them from fucking doing whatever they fucking wanted to fucking do. But "fuck" is the last "dirty word" that is pretty much verboten on any channel outside of HBO or the like. In the past decade we've seen "shit" creep in to cable programming such as Rescue Me or South Park and even a fleeting on NBC's ER.

They got away with it because the 10pm Eastern hour is outside the "safe harbor" rule. If a broadcast network really wanted to, they could air whatever they wanted between 10pm and 5 (or 6?) am the next morning. But money being what it is, they're always going to play it super-safe and only break down that wall after society has already accepted it.
 
davejames said:
T'Baio said:
davejames said:
Hell, they could have at least used "freakin" or "frickin". That's almost more common than fuck nowadays anyway.
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What kind of Amish community do you live in? :lol:
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Ha ha, maybe I just hang out with too many girls. They use "freakin" in pretty much every other sentence to describe stuff. lol
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I wish I could introduce you to my grandma.

Ironically, New Galactica gave us another alterative to fuck, frak.

Although, if I hear THAT overused word one more time, I'm gonna commit murder.
 
Squiggy said:
Trekker4747 said:
Cable-sations are self-regulating. No agency or other organization mandated what they can and cannot say or show. It's odd but cable TV is proof how a self-regulating industry CAN work without government intereference considering time and time again cable stations are lauded for their content and FCC-mandated broadcast stations are panned for theirs.

Since cable stations are self-regulating and their exsistance is dependant on cable companies buying them for broadcasting which is why cable stations keep their content "in check", controling things like language and other content that may deter viewers, which would make cable companies nervous and unlikely to buy a certain cable station.

FX doesn't use the "f-word" and its variants because the "f-word" is still very, very taboo and harsh cursing unlike many of the other curses openly used on cable, and broadcast network, stations. For this same reason you don't get much, if any, nudity on cable tv (although they can completely show it.) They don't want to rattle any cages and potentialy get dropped by a cable company.
Click to expand...

All this is true.

Cable stations could curse like a fucking sailor if they wanted to. There's nothing legally stopping them from fucking doing whatever they fucking wanted to fucking do. But "fuck" is the last "dirty word" that is pretty much verboten on any channel outside of HBO or the like. In the past decade we've seen "shit" creep in to cable programming such as Rescue Me or South Park and even a fleeting on NBC's ER.

They got away with it because the 10pm Eastern hour is outside the "safe harbor" rule. If a broadcast network really wanted to, they could air whatever they wanted between 10pm and 5 (or 6?) am the next morning. But money being what it is, they're always going to play it super-safe and only break down that wall after society has already accepted it.
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Hell, both CSI and Chicago Hope (and others, I'm sure) have shown topless females in their shows. They only got away with it because of the context of the nudity. In the case of CSI it was a cadaver, but played by a comely young actress, and in Chicago Hope for a disfigured teenage girl who just got reconstructive surgery on her chest.

Also whenever "Roots" has been shown on network TV the nudity of the African women in the first part of the first chapter is usually kept in.

Justin Timberlake ripping off the costume of Janet Jackson during the Superbowl? Not the context for nudity broadcast TV likes to have. ;)
 
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