When a cast member of NBC’s Saturday Night Live let an f-bomb slip out over the air last weekend, at least one watchdog was not surprised. Parents Television Council says the incident was to be expected.
NBC, like all broadcasters, wants fleeting expletive policy to go back to what it was — and PTC believes that means the network is trying to gain the right to go blue whenever it so desires.
Winter acknowledged that the error occurred during safe harbor and was not subject to any regulatory action.
“If NBC and other broadcast networks are successful in winning the right to air explicit language, sadly, the floodgates would be opened to unlimited profanity at any time of day, no matter the audience.”
RBR-TVBR observation: To the best of our knowledge, SNL’s astonishing record of living cleanly on the edge while performing live is proof that a slip-up was certainly a surprise.
Short-time SNLer Charlie Rocket let an f-bomb slip out way back in 1981 – and as far as we know that is the only other time the bomb has been unleashed on the program.
That’s 28 years of clean speaking for a program that puts on comedians who make a living poking holes in social mores. That’s 28 years of obeying rules that don’t even apply.
So once again, PTC resorts to its standard hyperbole, claiming that NBC’s sole aim in life is to flood the airwaves with filth.
If NBC wants the “floodgates” to be opened on SNL, it could simply open them. The fact that it does not tells you all you need to know about the inanity of PTC’s ridiculous charges.
