NationStates Jolt Archive

On this day to honour the fallen, ABC wanted to give praise through a screening of Saving Private Ryan - uncut. A fitting tribute, and one they have done for the past couple of years.

The problem? It IS a very violent movie with the use of the f-word, and with the clampdown and fine increases since Janet Jackson's nipple and Bono's expletive shocked the easily-shockable, stations want to ensure that they aren't going to recieve half-million dollar fines.

So, they asked the FCC for a waiver for this showing.



Denied. (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=502&ncid=716&e=7&u=/ap/20041111/ap_on_en_mo/movie_canceled)



I guess that remembering the horror of war and the sacrifices of the troops is simply not to be done unless it can be remembered in a clean, wholesome, family sort of way...

Yay nanny state!

I if only all wars could be as bloodless as when India finally took back the lasy Portuguese colony.

Then they could be shown accurately all day

::EDIT:: Just one question though, does the US not have a water shed time?

Only about a dozen stations are refusing to show it I believe. ABC has 200 something affiliates so it's still being shown in a majority of the country.

Personally I think they should be able to show to show it without penalties. It shows the hell soldiers have had to go through in order to protect their country. If they were showing it on a day that wasn't a holiday in remembrence to veterans I think it would have to be heavily edited though.

I think they are doing it anyway though.

The FCC is stupid.

Only about a dozen stations are refusing to show it I believe. ABC has 200 something affiliates so it's still being shown in a majority of the country.

Personally I think they should be able to show to show it without penalties. It shows the hell soldiers have had to go through in order to protect their country. If they were showing it on a day that wasn't a holiday in remembrence to veterans I think it would have to be heavily edited though.


yeah - only about a dozen stations are covering their asses. Without a waiver though, the rest are taking a chance. What it comes down to is complaints, and if the FCC receives some and acts on them, then these stations could get major fines. If the FCC has no intention of imposing fines for any complaints about this movie played today then they should just issue the waiver.

LEaving it up in the air is just stupid. Either they intend to enforce the rule, or hand out the waiver. Don't waffle.

"Will I get fined if I show this?"

"Maybe"

It's either a rule that will be enforced in this instance, or it isn't. MAke up your fucking minds and we'll make our business decisions accordingly.

And yes - this is a once-a-year special event. Normally if the stations wanted to show it uncut they would push it back to after 10:00 to meet requirements. The idea, though, is that parents might just want to let their kids see this today in the context of a shared learning experience about the sacrifices made.

They should show 'The longest Day'. It doesn't have any 'naughty bits' the FCC grannies could get their knickers in a twist about and I always view that as a better movie to 'Ryan'. After the first 20 minutes of 'Ryan', it starts getting boring and (typically) Spielberg goes all smaltzy at the end.

There are plenty of classic war movies that aren't as f-happy as SPR. I think that today's youth should be shown something other than what they've already seen, like Patton or The Longest Day, classics, and very suitable for TV.

Am I the only one who found himself wanting to sucker-punch Ryan and drag his ass off the battlefield? (figuratively speaking, of course)

There are plenty of classic war movies that aren't as f-happy as SPR. I think that today's youth should be shown something other than what they've already seen, like Patton or The Longest Day, classics, and very suitable for TV.

Oh please, if the f-bomb is the worse thing my kids ever do, I'll be quite a happy parent.

Am I the only one who found himself wanting to sucker-punch Ryan and drag his ass off the battlefield? (figuratively speaking, of course)
:sniper: Nope.

I think the German movie "Stalingrad" would be an appropriate one to show the other side of things to students or youth especially...particularly the fact that not all Germans were evil. A good educational movie that is underused. Instead they're all watching Schindlers list or reading "Night"...not saying that these aren't good but it focuses too much on one aspect (well that was my experience with school anyway)

Anyway, good film. Track it down.

I'm not arguing that there aren't other great movie options. All quiet on the western front for example.

But if you ask a cop if you can do something, you will get a yes or no answer. What you won't get is a "whatever ... give it a shot and if nobody else complains it's no skin off my ass" response.


I'm just stating that if the FCC can't come up with a firm position on something ahead of time, how are broadcasters supposed to know how to adhere to guidelines?

I think the German movie "Stalingrad" would be an appropriate one to show the other side of things to students or youth especially...particularly the fact that not all Germans were evil. A good educational movie that is underused. Instead they're all watching Schindlers list or reading "Night"...not saying that these aren't good but it focuses too much on one aspect (well that was my experience with school anyway)

Anyway, good film. Track it down.
Enemy at the Gates purports that quite well. Of course, there's quite a bit of Stalin bashing but he deserves it.

I think the German movie "Stalingrad" would be an appropriate one to show the other side of things to students especially...particularly that not all Germans were evil. A good educational movie that is underused. Instead they're all watching Schindlers list or reading "Night"...not saying that these aren't good, but...

Anyway, good film. Track it down.
I found 'Stalingrad' so incredibly formulaic and banal. It became irritating by the end. They dropped so many war cliches in there.Ugh.
A very good german war movie is 'Europa', about the too-incredible-to-be-true real-life exploits of a jew growing up in Germany during WWII.
I thought 'Enemy at the Gate' was pretty good.

And one of the best movies I've ever seen about WWII is 'Come and See', a brutal and disturbing Russian movie about a boy caught up in the Russian/German war. Of course, being Russian there is no happy ending.
(You'll also see where Spielberg got his brilliantly 'original' idea from with Tom Hanks being deafened by the shellfire)

Speaking of boys in wartime, do yourself a favour and read 'Empire of the Sun' by JG Ballard - his autobiography of growing up in Beijing during the Japanese occupation.

There's a substantive difference between ABC's airing of Saving Private Ryan and the Janet Jackson fiasco during the Superbowl halftime show. Timberlake and Jackson performed during what was supposed to be a "family friendly" televised event. However, ABC is including parental warnings in all their promotions of tonight's movie. Most of us who were upset with the "wardrobe malfunction" ( :rolleyes: ) were not so much upset that it happened, but where and when it happened. We thought we were getting one thing, but some took it upon themselves to force something else onto us. However, with Saving Private Ryan we're being told ahead of time what we're getting: a very good movie that has a level of violence and language not normally seen on prime time network television. There's going to be a few complainers, but because we know what we're getting ahead of time, because we won't be getting something different than we expected, because we are being given a choice as to whether we want to watch it, most of us don't have a problem with it.

Enemy at the Gates purports that quite well. Of course, there's quite a bit of Stalin bashing but he deserves it.

I was put off by the fact that everyone had British accents...

I found 'Stalingrad' so incredibly formulaic and banal. It became irritating by the end. They dropped so many war cliches in there.Ugh.

Hmm, maybe. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. Now you've said that, i'll have to dig out the tape and watch it again.

A very good german war movie is 'Europa', about the too-incredible-to-be-true real-life exploits of a jew growing up in Germany during WWII.
I thought 'Enemy at the Gate' was pretty good.

I *really* want to see Europa. I've only heard good about it.

And one of the best movies I've ever seen about WWII is 'Come and See', a brutal and disturbing Russian movie about a boy caught up in the Russian/German war. Of course, being Russian there is no happy ending.
(You'll also see where Spielberg got his brilliantly 'original' idea from with Tom Hanks being deafened by the shellfire)
I'll check that one out...

Speaking of boys in wartime, do yourself a favour and read 'Empire of the Sun' by JG Ballard - his autobiography of growing up in Beijing during the Japanese occupation.

It was Shanghai, not Beijing. :)

Read it, good book.