Blue
Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, told broadcasters Tuesday that government programming regulations should apply to cable television. Stevens usually makes headlines as the undisputed king of "pork barrel" spending. (Alaska, per capita, receives federal subsidies at 20 times the national average.) This time, instead of being in bed with big oil or big timber interests, he's lubing up the National Association of Broadcasters, who have been losing audiences to cable channels over the last couple years at a record clip."The problem is most viewers don't differentiate between over-the-air and cable," the senator said. "Cable is a greater violator in the indecency arena."
You're damn right it is. I don't pay $73.64 a month to watch "According to Jim." That cable line is my business- and, maybe, the business of my local cable provider. But that's it. Stevens also indicated that he does not differentiate between basic cable service and premium channels. Oh, what I wouldn't give to see Tony Soprano take that belt to Stevens the way he took it to Councilman Zellman.
It is truly pathetic that so-called liberal and independent lawmakers are so silent on an issue so fundamental to our civil liberties. Their silence allows politicians like Stevens, who are already bought and paid for by Corporate America, to avoid answering to the citizenry. Who will have the balls over the next couple days to say something-- anything-- in defense of the First Amendment? I suspect no one. In February, only 38 members of Congress (out of 427) voted against the bill that increased broadcast indecency fines from $11,000 to $500,000. In passing that bill, they also extended the financial liability from just the broadcast companies to anyone who appears or is heard on the airwaves- including you.
I probably sound like a broken record, but once again, we see how conservatives reap political and cultural benefits by pushing further and further to the right. In this country, if you frame the debate, you win the debate. It's that simple. Last month, we were arguing about whether broadcast content was indecent, now it's cable content.
Ten years ago, broadcasters agreed to police themselves by backing a ratings system and the V-chip technology that blocks any undesired programming in private homes; but the nation's babysitters (to my admiration, politically) weren't satisfied. Next, they'll be coming after your local video/DVD store and your internet access.
And I, for one, will be getting my "fuck"s in while I can.
Fuck.
The broadcasters have been curiously silent since Janet's nipple appeared, which makes me wonder if there hasn't been some sort of under-the-table "tit-for-tat" leading to this attack on the cable outlets. The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) are each pushing for amendments to protect performers, but their corporate employers seem resigned to surrender their creative freedom, as long as they could also lose some of their competition. What we should be seeing in the industry is a high profile movement that would energize First Amendment supporters. Howard Stern has suggested that radio and television stations go dark for a period of time in protest. That would get people's attention. It's ironic after all that, in this instance, the group under attack actually controls the technology that turned Americans into zombies.
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Hopefully you've already heard that a pioneering TV show will be leaving the air after tonight. I watched "NYPD Blue" regularly for the first eight or nine of its 12 seasons. Dennis Franz, in particular, had a hell of a run, and I'm pleased to tell you that you can continue to enjoy the grittiness of the show through co-creator David Milch's newest artistic venture, HBO's "Deadwood." The second season premieres Sunday night at 8 central.
Thank you "NYPD Blue" for everything you've meant to me and my country's Bill of Rights. I've enjoyed every ass and side of the breast you've ever shown us. Tonight, I'll be hoping for one more from that brunette.
posted by CM @ 8:53 PM
3 Comments:
Amen to the First Ammendment stuff.
This season of Deadwood looks prominsing. I recently re-watched every episode. I have a greater liking and appreciation after seeing all of every episode.
From what I read, it seems that the season starts with the Dakota Territory being created. Al won't be happy.
Al's never happy when it comes to the "dirt worshippers." He won't be happy until he learns to love himself.
I need to watch the first season a second time. The dialogue crackles and I know I'm missing a lot of it. Milch is the David Mamet of television.
David Milch is an interesting guy. He went to the Writer's Workshop in Iowa City years ago and back when Tom Snyder was the host of the Late Late Show (in the early years of NYPD Blue), he was a frequent guest and would tell some Iowa City stories about living in the Jefferson Building and of his mentor, Robert Penn Warren, author of All the King's Men. These were especially interesting, since I was living there at the time, although by his own admission, Milch has large gaps in the memory of his time there.
He is a great storyteller and the more you know about Milch, his obsessions and his addictions, the more layers it seems to add to Sipowicz's character. He also has an incredible vocabulary and watching his interviews, it helps to have a dictionary nearby.
I find this fascinating, but find his writing style, like Mamet's, a bit off-putting in some contexts. It's so stylized and aspires to such a specific vernacular that it doesn't always feel natural. (Though maybe that's not the point.) It's a little hit-and-miss whether or not I can get into it. I love his early NYPD Blue stuff, for example, but I can't get into Deadwood.
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