More on the yin and yang of indecency

The "Desperate" attempt by ABC to generate some publicity for its hit TV show on MNF has generated a lot of talk, not the least of which is coming from FCC Chairman Michael Powell, whose agency is looking into it. Today, we offer competing viewpoints from Tom Winter, Executive Director of Parents Television Council and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

First, Mr. Winter: "ABC's airing of its sex-themed 'Desperate Housewives' commercial during Monday night's NFL game was grossly irresponsible. It is yet another symptom of television network arrogance, piping sexual content into America's living rooms at a time when millions of children are watching. For decades families have gathered together to watch Monday Night Football and ABC responds with a sucker punch. Is this the legacy of Walt Disney's corporate vision? Half-hearted apologies are not enough. TV network executives refuse to shoulder any accountability for the graphic and gratuitous material they broadcast on a nightly basis. And now apparently a football game is fair game for their raunch. Families across our nation are sick and tired of this wanton, reckless behavior."

Mr. Cuban, on the other hand, sees a valuable PR tool. Describing the prevailing anti-indecency attitude in Washington, he pretends he's a network PR exec, and tells the general media, "The environment is perfect for both of us. We want as much media coverage of our programming as can possibly get. You need things to cover. So her is the deal. From our end, we are going to create 'Apologevents.' An Apologevent is where we plan an event that we know we will have to apologize for. The Apologevent will be designed to entice all the 'I'm shocked by anything' viewers to call their local stations and newspapers and of course 'Inside Edition,' 'The Insider,' etc., to remind them of how inappropriate the Apologevent was and how shocked they are." Basically, the press gets an easy ongoing story and the network gets free PR.

Cuban also did some head-scratching on why some things are OK and others aren't. "What's even crazier and more hypocritical," he wrote, "is that we can use a derivative of any curse word and not have a problem at all. Frickin'...go for it. F'in. No F'in way...no problem. You are full of Shinola. Let 'er rip. FUBAR...make 'em figure out what it means. My fave is MOFO...acronyms are a blast!"