[Ashcroftism at work. Bleepin’ bleep of a bleep. -Thomas]
PBS watches its mouth rather than pay big fines. Now it’s up to the
other networks to fight the FCC.
by Tim Goodmanm, SFGate.com
***
Because of this, a new drama called “Cop Shop” starring Richard Dreyfuss
and other actors who made a sort of creative labor of love on the cheap
for public broadcasting, has been edited to avoid the potential wrath of
the FCC. The cuts prompted executive producer and writer David Black
and Dreyfuss to whip out prepared statements before facing the nation’s TV
critics here on Friday.
“Ladies and gentlemen, ‘Cop Shop’ was never meant to be bleeped,” said
Dreyfuss, reading from his prepared statement, via satellite from New
York where he’s appearing on Broadway. “David and I agreed to be bleeped
because we were told that KCET, our greatly appreciated allies in this
affair, could be subject to intimidating fines in the hundreds of
thousands of dollars. … And so, more reluctantly than I can describe,
we agreed to be bleeped. But being bleeped is more than it is cracked
up to be. Having now been bleeped, I can only say that it doesn’t feel
very good. It feels kind of dirty. But you can never be unbleeped, so you can
only learn from your bleeps and move on.”
***