There was an unwanted and, for a time apparently undetected screen presence in CBS’s latest round of “Survivor,” taking place in Gabon. One of the participants in an immunity contest unfortunately found that his shorts were not up to the challenge of keeping his private parts private, and the Parents Television Council is hopping mad.
“Unsatisfied with the growing volume of indecent material on live broadcasts, CBS has once again decided to violate the public trust, this time by including an unedited shot of a penis on ‘Survivor,’” said PTC President Tim Winter. “Although this instance was brief, it was nonetheless shocking and purposeful. Unfortunately, with the number of people inside the network reviewing every frame of video, CBS knew full well of this nudity and elected to include it anyway.”
CBS disagreed. In a statement, the network said, "This was a completely unintentional, inadvertent and fleeting incident that was virtually undetectable when viewed in real time. In the first 24 hours after the broadcast, before freeze-frame images were widely posted online, we received one viewer comment from the 13 million who watched the telecast."
RBR/TVBR observation: Does PTC really think that CBS, or anyone, would expect to profit in some way from an eyeblink exposure of this type? We love how PTC is able to insinuate itself into other people’s brains – how else would they be able to discuss what CBS decided? And once again, the American viewing public either didn’t notice the infraction, or found it too insignificant to bother with. But the PTC is here to save us all, sending its posse to the click window to send a prefab protest to the FCC about something most likely didn’t even see. As a matter of fact, the relative dearth of PTC click-and-send protests makes the case that the airwaves are anything but the sewers the near-sighted watchdog likes to pretend they are.
