News TV-MA Star Trek shows now TV-14
- Thread starter Cap'n Calhoun
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My guess is it's so that they can release a lucrative uncensored version in time for Xmas.
i'm pretty sure the bleeps are part of the joke it is a comedy after all
The thing about the whole Hollywood rating system--which covers everything from TV, to movies, to even music--is that it's completely arbitrary and self-enforced by networks, studios, and distributors. There isn't really a set standard for all companies to follow regarding the rating of content other than stuff that it is very obviously not meant for kids (no bare boobies for little Johnny). When Congress started looking into establishing an actual rating system in order to better police content a few decades ago, Hollywood promised that it would regulate itself rather than have the government do it. As such, the only ones who really get in Hollywood's face about acceptable content are special interest groups--some of which can be a force to be reckoned with, IMO.
But it all works for the most important aspect for Hollywood--the government isn't the one calling the shots there--but it does create some confusion when one company may rate the content in one show TV-14 and another may rate the exact same content in one of their shows TV-MA. Ditto for shows that could be rated either TV-PG or TV-14.
I don't know why the fear in an functional democracy to let the government deciding the ratings. At least here (Italy) people who decide the ratings have a face and a name, differently from the USA where a bunch of anonymous people who are not accountable to anyone decide what people can or can't watch. And here you can appeal a rating (something that is almost impossible in the USA) and the Big Studios aren't treated differently from independent ones.
The fear likely stems from a belief that it would be the first step towards the government censoring--if not outright banning--content that it establishes as objectionable. A functional democracy can both support freedom of expression and impose limits as the former is not a blank check. Hollywood probably doesn't want to risk having politicians--either with personal or voter-based agendas--be in their writers' room or editing rooms at all, so it might be considered best not to let any of them in the door by rating stuff themselves. It's not perfect, but it was never said to be.
It's not quite like that in the USA. There is the government-accountable Federal Communications Commission that handles broadcast television, and they don't really decide what people can or can't watch, but they can impose pretty hefty fines on broadcasters who willingly air stuff that fits their criteria of indecency. As far as cable, satellite, and streaming, that's more of a self-regulated thing and they have much more leeway than broadcast TV anyway.
Neither are they treated differently in the USA. Still, ratings can be appealed, though. But since such appeals can take a very long time with no guarantee of success, it's simply easier, cheaper, and far quicker for a director to make a few edits to get the rating they want. They can always release the uncensored version later in the home video or video on demand release.
It's just how it is these days. It's like with movies and how they want almost everything to be PG-13, whether it makes sense or not.
I generally can't stand the rating PG-13. It's usually either a movie that should've been PG but they threw something in just to get the PG-13 or it's a movie that should've been R but they cut the guts out of it figuratively and literally.
That's just sheer fucking hubris on your part there.
How are they TV-PG?
I think they might be doing it as a stylistic choice. They think it's funnier that way? I think older eps of South Park are funnier when censored. Perhaps they just know that kids will be watching it b/c it's ST, so they tone it down a bit.
As for the MA in advance, it's most likely so that there is no limit to what they can do. They probably don't want to promise a tv14 show and then deliver a tvma show. Lawsuitaphobia? It's better to err on the safe side.
EDIT: Picard is probably listed as tv14 in error.
I don't understand how his post could have been considered arrogant. I had to look up "hubris" just to make sure there wasn't another meaning. I've been trying to figure this out for too long. Please explain?
I was making a joke. I assume you haven't seen the show, or the line in question. A character in PIC actually says 'sheer fucking hubris' to Picard, which was why the show has the TV-14 rating. It's all thanks to Admiral Pottymouth. I'm also assuming @BillJ will get the joke too.
If you had a choice, do you prefer Star Trek to be PG or R? I wouldn't mind the occasional tale where the producers strongly felt an R rating was necessary for the particular story they're trying to tell, but for all ages should be the bar.
I like both, but it depends on the story. For the movies, I'd go with PG. For TV, it depends on the story and the series. I think Picard should be soft-R. But I think Strange New Worlds would feel wrong if it were R. PG is the way to go there. Discovery is that in-between show. Literally, I think PG-13 should only be used if you can't decide between PG and R, which is how it used to be used at first.
That and the violence.
I still find it hilarious that TMP is the only Trek film with a G rating, especially with the lovely transporter mishap that gave me nightmares for years.
Planet of the Apes, with its heavy amount of murder, blood, swearing ("God damn you all to hell!"), a decayed corpse, and the occasional lobotomy and Charlton Heston's backside, also got a G rating. What a time to be alive.
Planet of the Apes, with its heavy amount of murder, blood, swearing ("God damn you all to hell!"), a decayed corpse, and the occasional lobotomy and Charlton Heston's backside, also got a G rating. What a time to be alive.
Never mind on the whole thing, or at least I think never mind. I *think* the series rating is just gone entirely and the Roku CBS app just shows the rating for the next episode with the series description (even for Short Treks where they don't list the next episode title on the series page), even though the rest of the information on that line is about the series as a whole, like what year it launched and how many seasons it's run so far. Basing that largely on the overall Lower Decks showing as TV-PG this week, and this week was their first TV-PG episode. Probably can confirm with more testing, but it matches with the next episodes I have listed for Disco (1x02 TV-14) and Picard (1x01 TV-14).
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