Last week ABC-TV appealed a 1.4 million dollar FCC fine against it for indecency. Why? You'll love this. 5 years ago (!!) an episode of "NYPD Blue" showed buttocks and one side of a breast. Oh, the horror!
But here's where it descends even further into madness...they're only fining the network for the Central and Mountain timezones, which aired the show at 9pm as opposed to 10pm in the East and West. The FCC's "safe harbor" indecency provision starts at 10, but all this is nothing but a naked (pun intended) cash grab on the part of the Commission. Where's the indecency? How many children watch that show? Even if they did, I doubt they suffered any harm.
A better question is why would it take 5 years for the FCC to act on this? What changed? The crusading FCC commissioner Michael Copps, who has let his power corrupt him into substituting his morals for the entire TV audience. Let's not forget the premiere episode of "Blue" (15 years ago) also showed buttocks...at 9pm Central/Mountain. The world is still spinning on its axis last I checked. ABC released a statement saying in part "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 were well known to the viewing public."
Remember, after the "wardrobe malfunction" 99.1% of complaints came from one source-the Parents Television Council. It was a form letter campaign from people who for the most part didn't see the show themselves. These people are free to have their opinions, but they have no right to determine what we can and can't see on television. And in my opinion, neither does the FCC. If the show was that obscene, it wouldn't get viewers and get cancelled. The free market has a way of handling these things, and maybe the FCC should back the hell off and stop standing in loco parentis...loco being the operative word.
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