Tuesday 4 January 2011

Hollywood Babble On & On #655: Random Drippings From My Brain Pan

Welcome to the show folks....

Wasted too much time playing Angry Birds today, so instead of anything deep, here are a few little business/show-biz related bits to assuage your hunger for my particular brand of crankiness.

WHY DO I HEAR A BANJO PLAYING?

The 10th Doctor, David Tennant, is engaged to marry Georgia Moffett, the daughter of the 5th Doctor, Peter Davison, who played his clone "daughter" in an episode of Doctor Who.

Now I know that they are not really related, and I wish them both the best, but I just can't shake the vision of a British version of the kid from Deliverance playing the banjo on the front step of BBC headquarters in London.

NOW THIS IS INDECENT

An appeals court has tossed out a 2008 $1.4 million fine from the FCC over a 2003 episode of NYPD Blue where the backside of actress Charlotte Ross was apparently exposed for all the world to see.

Think about for a second.

The butt baring occurred in 2003, the FCC finally decided to get around to acting against this crime against all that is pure in the world and used their vaguely worded rules and regulations to fine ABC and its affiliates $1.4 million, only to have it tossed in this, the year 2011.

Almost 8 years, and Xenu knows how many millions of dollars paying lawyers, judges, and bureaucrats were wasted on this case. The FCC seems to exist solely to be a nuisance that never actually accomplishes anything except give a mail drop to the small cluster of people who actually write letters of complaint about fleeting glimpses of buttocks or suspicions that certain cartoon characters might be homosexual.

Now Dennis Franz's bare ass, that's a prison offense, Charlotte Ross, not even a fine.

The FCC's rules are too vague, and reach too far. Fears that broadcast television would be overrun with hardcore pornography without it are deeply unfounded, because guess what,
NYPD Blue is gone, long gone, and who else on broadcast television drops trow the way that show used to do?

People can get nudity on the FCC free cable channels if they want it, and can get whatever fetish gets their freak-on on the internet. And even there, shows that feature nudity, foul language and violence don't get as many viewers as most mainstream network shows that don't. Market forces are way better enforcer than the FCC or the MPAA could ever be.

Now that I think about it, Charlotte Ross' backside isn't the only ass in this story.

GET READY

The Weinstein Company have bought a 25% stake in Starz Media, the home of Anchor Bay Home Video and a cluster of cable channels.

Let's look at the pros and cons...

PROS:

1. The Weinstein Co. gets cable TV/home video outlets for their movies.

2. Starz gets a company supplying their cable TV/home video outlets with content.

CONS:

1. Having sold the TWC library to save the company from collapsing the content they provide consists of The King's Speech and ....

2. Most relationships with the Weinsteins tend to end in anger, litigation, and lots of money going to lawyers.

Will this relationship be any different? We have to wait and see.

1 comment:

  1. Sorry Furious D for going off topic but I discovered yet another film ,expensive to make ,which did poorly at the holiday boxoffice and it is 3-D.It is The Nutcracker in 3-D,a British production,which cost 90 millions to make and has done worldwide boxoffice of $234,928.00!!!The movie business has not acknowledged this bomb,which is the worst of the holiday losers by far.Looking at the trailer you wonder what were they thinking. This observation relates to the discussion regarding oversight/quality control executive decisions for films. Bad business,bad judgement.

    ReplyDelete