The perennially pissy Parents Television Council is crying victory because some sponsors dropped their support of NBC's Playboy Club, which the PTC believes is the cause of not only society's collapse, but dropsy, gout, and chronic flatulence.
So it's time to cue their spokeswoman, Mrs. Lovejoy...
But I feel that it behooves me to offer a slight correction to the PTC's theory.
It's wrong.
Completely wrong.
It couldn't be more wrong if it was wrapped in wrong, placed in a box made of wrong, then buried in the world's deepest shaft where they mine wrong from the bowels of the planet Wrong which orbits Star Wrong-343245 in the Wrong Galaxy.
You see there are two other, interconnected reasons, for the sponsors to drop the show, even if they tell the PTC that they're doing it all for them.
Nobody watches The Playboy Club.
The Playboy Club isn't a good show, and will probably be cancelled before mid-season.
I knew the show was doomed without the input of the PTC when I was channel surfing the night of the premiere I saw that The Playboy Club was on, so I flipped over to NBC, and saw a scene of two people having sex in the employee washroom.
That was when I knew the show was doomed.
It's like a curse, I've never seen a show that has a scene of people having sex in an office / bathroom / other semi-public place last a complete season. It's the sort of thing network executives insist on having in the pilot in a vain attempt to make the show "sexy" and "edgy" in the vain hope that the audience won't notice the fact that there is no story.
Hollywood thinks sex still sells the way it did in the 1970s when their brand of light titillation could seal the deal. It worked because "sexy" content could only be found by leaving your house to the movie theater (R-Rated and X-Rated) or the closest magazine rack with a stock of girlie magazines.
But people have the internet now. If they want to see some ladies who ain't got no clothes on doing things that you will never see on network TV they just need a computer, a wireless connection, and a firm, but soft grip.
Audiences have become incredibly jaded, and now see attempts at being "sexy," and "edgy" as being code for not giving them what they really want when they sit in front of the TV, a good story.
I even wrote about this topic before, but it's obvious no one at the PTC was paying attention, or they would have developed the modicum of shame needed to admit to their intellectual dishonesty.
So shut the hell up PTC, the show was sunk by its own suckiness.
In general I agree with the sentiment that tv networks are stupid to show nudity, sex, or have cuss words at times when kids can see them.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, it is clear that tv networks ARE stupid, and so would do just that all the time if they could.
Therefore I do not object to some degree of censorship on tv though I scorn it on movies, which a parent can much more easily control.
"...a good story."
ReplyDeleteBut...but...that's hard.
I suspect the Pan Am will also suffer the same fate of the Playboy club.
ReplyDeleteBut...but...that's hard.
ReplyDeleteSeems a bad pun considering this source.
Therefore I do not object to some degree of censorship on tv though I scorn it on movies, which a parent can much more easily control.
I just scorn it because it seems so often to be code/cover for "LAZINESS". If it was up to me, I'd ban all sex, swearing and excessive violence from entertainment just to force writers and creators to actually WORK on the creation instead of putting in shortcuts.
(P.S. We should all chip in to ship Master D to the bad movie gala hosted by the High Priest of Jabootu. Although I fear for reality if that much common sense was located so close together.)
I agree. I pledge to pay up to $75 of Furious D's film ticket to get him to good old Texas, where he will be fed barbeque, jalapenos, steak, and chili. Also I will give him a bed at the house if he promises to watch movies all night long with us instead of sleeping. Note: not ALL the movies we watch are bad. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteNate - have YOU been to T-Fest? The interim fest, Tween Fest, is scheduled for this spring, though no date has been set. Probably February or March.
While I'd love to go, I have family commitments that keep me in place to go alongside my poverty.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the offer though.
@Sandy - I would love to schedule to go sometime. But because of some computer moves etc, I've lost a lot of my old B-movie site links (especially since a lot of them moved). Where is the listing now for the event?
ReplyDeleteI suddenly remembered: Have any of you guys (you, Ken, the awesome Lyz, etc) ever submitted your own iRiff?
@Furious D - Well some year you should put a "donate to get D to texas" (or some such) button your blog so a bunch of us can chip in to get ya down here.
Nate - check out T-Fest on Facebook which occasionally has announcements. It's the "T-Fest" with a dinosaur head as its emblem. Also Jabootu.net sometimes announces Tyrannosaurus Fest or Tween Fest.
ReplyDeleteFurious D - wait, you have family commitments that keep you booked throughout ALL of February and March? I smell a rat. You're afraid of Texas, aren't you?
I'm pretty much booked all the time around here. Not so much a commitment, but an overall responsibility that keeps me on the home turf for the foreseeable future.
ReplyDeleteAs for Texas, I actually do have relatives down there, so I do know it's possible for civilized people like myself to survive down there.
:-p
Well ... civilization is not really possible during the Texas summer. At least not this last summer.
ReplyDeleteYou can't take 5 days off? Is your plan to murder your rich uncle THAT carefully orchestrated?
I'm afraid my plan is far too intricate to let anything slip. He's a wily old fart. :-)
ReplyDeleteHowever, if you'd like to support the blog and get something concrete as well, you could buy some of the merchandise I shill on my sidebar. Try "Studio Notes For Literary Classics." Many have found them amusing.