There are days when I'm so disappointed by the human race.
Today is one of those times.
I can't believe how riled up people are getting over last night's Monday Night Football intro starring Terrell Owens and Nicolette Sheridan. Why? Because we saw Sheridan's naked back? Because she openly flirted with T.O.? Because (gasp) sex was implied?
To anyone who called ABC to complain about the "inappropriateness" of the opening segment - get a life. Isn't it enough that you just re-elected a right-wing fascist to the office of the Presidency? Now you have to try and ruin the rest of our fun?
The segment itself was very funny - done in a tongue-in-cheek "soap opera" style, befitting the fact that it was spoofing/cross-promoting Desperate Housewives. My mother, who is over the age of 60, thought the bit was hysterical. She wasn't offended in the least, and she called me this morning to tell me how great she thought it was.
Doug Darroch, a writer from the Philadelphia Daily News who I've never heard of until today, actually said the piece made Janet's Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction seem like small potatoes." He then imitated a child watching the show, asking, "Daddy, why is that woman not wearing any clothes?" Please, give me a fucking break. If you have a child who is up at 9:00 on a school night, then you should be concerned with not only the programs, but also the commericals they are exposed to. And if you need ABC's help with parenting your kids, then you're a retard who deserves to have your children taken away from you.
I applaud ABC. I applaud T.O. Hell, I even applaud Nicolette Sheridan! They at least provided an exciting counterpoint to a boring, listless performance by the Dallas Cowboys. Did anybody call ABC to complain about the Cowboys' spotty secondary? Or Jerry Jones' frightening plastic-surgery riddled face? Now, that's truly offensive!
Article comments
1 - Lono
another example, I am a big fan of CSI - however... there must be at least 3 very gory corpses shown before the 10 pm news. I'd rather my child see a titty LONG before he seees a corpse.
of course, I clearly do not have childen.
2 - RJ
"Isn't it enough that you just re-elected a right-wing fascist to the office of the Presidency?"
Just so you know, this is the point where I stopped taking your post seriously...
3 - rabit
RJ -
Just like I stopped taking YOU seriously after the 'Jungle Fever' remark. ;)
Cheers
4 - Brian Streeper
"Just so you know, this is the point where I stopped taking your point seriously..."
Thanks, RJ. I'm sure the rest of it was well over your head, anyway. At least you saved yourself a headache from trying to "get" humor and farce.
5 - alethinos59
As I've said earlier on this site - Bush wins and so it begins... All due respect to Eric O's post yesterday but I think he's not seeing the long haul picture here. Of course the Republicans used the Christian Right, just as they use all those local fools who drive around in their luxuary SUVs, worry over their golf scores and what cigar to smoke, all the while feeling like they're a "mover and shaker" because the went to a $1000 a plate dinner. Now they're sure they've got Karl Rove's ear...
But Bush and company may find they're riding the tiger now... And we all know how fun it can be trying to dismount that!
Thanks for the good post Brian!
6 - curt
jerry jones had plastic surgery?
7 - alethinos59
Also, I wonder if the "Outrage" would have been significantly less had the football player been WHITE. Dollars to donuts it would have been. If it's shocking to consider this - think of the backward, ignorant and ugly attitudes we've seen in the weeks leading up to the election and now afterward...
8 - Brian Streeper
I completely agree with you alethinos59. Imagine for one moment that it was Peyton Manning in that promo and not T.O.
The silence would be deafening.
9 - andy marsh
One point I will make concerning the comment in the post about kids being up past 9 on a school night. You do have to consider that it's only 9 on the east coast. It's 6 on the west. I personally don't care. I think Sheridan has a nice back! I know you can change the channel or not tune in, but parents do have a right to be "warned" if there might be some material that they might deem objectionable. It is one of the reasons that the game has a few second delay, so that kids don't have to hear what comes out of some of the players and coaches mouths during the telecast.
Just a thought.
10 - Brian Streeper
Good points, Andy, but I wonder where we draw the line? Should parents be warned ahead of time that, in 30 seconds time, a beer commercial featuring two women wrestling in a fountain will be coming on? Or how about the one where a woman sounds like she's having an orgasm, but instead is just enjoying Herbal Essences shampoo? Should we send advance warning on that one, too?
Want to know why people don't complain about those commercials? Because they're not "big time" enough to garner press. I doubt the outraged viewers were really that upset, but complaining to a huge corporate giant like ABC makes them feel powerful and important, and subjecting me to their idea of "morality" gives their empty lives meaning.
Thanks for responding, Andy.
11 - andy marsh
that is true...you reminded me of "and twins"...I like that one too! I would say that PC has definately gone a little overboard in the last few years.
12 - Mac Diva
Good entry, Brian. Thoughtful, well-written and about a topic of interest -- increasing desire to censure harmless media content by the Right. I wish there were more new Blogcritics like you, instead of children, Right Wing wackos and the semiliterate.
So. . .that was what was really going on. Thanks for letting me know there is a racial angle, Alethino. Racism played a part in the Janet Jackson episode, too. In some ways, America doesn't change much.
Feeling you, Rabit. Suffice it to say you have read him correctly.
Curt, drop me an email to let me know how you are doing.
13 - Scoota Rey
Geez, I don't see what the big deal is with censoring things for children. They're gonna know sooner or later, so why not show them now so they won't grow up to be sickos and pedophiles. I saw my first porno when I was eight and I'm a moral, respectable person.
I think that if you censor everything for the children, they'll grow up learning this stuff from their peers who don't know what the hell they're talking about. Learning these things from their peers, they'll probably do some of the most disrespectful things (sexually, relationship-wise, etc.) which could've been prevented if parents would stop being bitches and teach their children about sex and the things relating to it. If they learn it then, then the chances of them being sane are much greater.
14 - Bagboy
"you just re-elected a right-wing fascist"???? You liberal communist puke! If you don't like how our democracy works - go to China and pitch your little fit there and see how far it gets you.
15 - Eric Olsen
Are there left-wing fascists? Are there moderate fascists? Are there right-wingers who aren't fascists? Democracies aren't supposed to fight each other - can fascists fight each other? Would Berlin and Tokyo have turned on each other had they won the War?
16 - Joe
Really, any conversation regarding fascism is incomplete unless it is considered within the context of "The Young Ones" where it was examined to great effect.
sigh...
17 - Craig Lyndall
I agree that this is ridiculous, but I find it offensive that you turned this into a red vs. blue, black vs. white, left vs. right conversation.
Why can't it just be the not offended vs. the too easily offended?
Is everything about the election? Until when? When is the moratorium on relating everything to partisanship?
18 - Mac Diva
Craig, I like you. Your political conservatism notwithstanding, I envision you as this thoughtful (bearded?) fellow taking time to think about things. There isn't enough of that in the blogosphere. But, bad news, I'm afraid. Democrats more or less calmly accepted rule by people who have no concern for most Americans for four years. That is not going to happen this time around. The stakes are too high in too many ways. So, there is going to be rancor and uproar in coming years.
Alethinos has a second thread on this topic that Blogcritics' bigots are all over. It leaves no doubt that racism is an issue in this episode.
19 - cur3t
mac diva,
i don't know your email address...i recently learned that there was another curt (cw) before me...hence i have evolved into cur3t (the "3" is silent) to prevent any confusion.
20 - RJ
"I saw my first porno when I was eight"
Ahh...Blue America...