So, is he saying the movie needed the expletives and the violence to tell the historical tale properly?
ABC, which told its stations at the time that it would cover any indecency fines the FCC might slap on stations that broadcast the flick, declined to comment yesterday for public consumption.
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Even though ABC said in November that it would run 11 advisories during the broadcast, including one at every ad break, 66 of ABC's more than 220 stations, covering nearly one-third of the country, decided not to air Steven Spielberg's movie on Nov. 11.
Most cited fears that the FCC would fine them for the broadcast, even though in 2002 it had ruled that the flick was not indecent.
But that was before Janet Jackson's Super Bowl halftime show and the pixelated bachelor-party scene on "Married by America" caused the knotted and combined locks of the FCC and of Congress to part, and each particular hair to stand on end like quills upon the fretful porpentine.
(Wow, this really is a useful line!)
ABC's deal with DreamWorks SKG precludes censoring the movie's content in any way; it broadcast the film uncut in prime time in 2001 and 2002.
The so-called indecency law prohibits broadcast networks from airing so-called indecent material (read, references to sexual and excretory functions) between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., because that's when kids are likely to tune in.
Yesterday the FCC also gave thumbs-down to indecency complaints filed by the Parents Television Council against two sitcoms, NBC's "Will & Grace" and Fox's "Arrested Development."
