Television Q&A: Is prime-time TV show getting too violent?
Published in Entertainment News
You have questions. I have some answers.
Q: Just a complaint about “FBI” at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. It's way too violent for that time slot. It has become progressively so in each season.
A: I have watched “FBI” and can’t say I find it all that violent. But your comment about it not being suitable for that time period recalls the old argument about the 8 p.m. hour being “family time,” with the expectation that programming would be suitable for all viewers.
While complaints about TV violence and sex date back to the 1950s, the family hour became a formal thing in 1975 when the broadcast networks responded to pressure from the Federal Communications Commission. A legal decision later said the FCC had unfairly restricted the networks’ First Amendment rights, but the family hour continued for some time.
Not for all time, of course, and protests have flared up in ensuing decades as networks put more rough and risque shows in that early hour. And a Texan colleague of mine also liked to point out, whenever a network suit talked about 8 p.m., that it was 7 p.m. in her part of the country. The content is still not as extreme as you can find on non-broadcast venues such as cable and streaming (which are also places to find family-friendly programmers). But the networks’ pursuit of viewers has certainly loosened some standards. Remember “Friends” airing at 8 p.m. Eastern? And the 1995 episode where Rachel has sex in a dental chair? Asked how he would explain that to his 12-year-old daughter, a TV executive shrugged and said, “It’s part of life.”
Q: What do “showrunners” do?
A: Showrunners, a term often mentioned here, are one kind of executive producer on a television series. The Producers Guild of America says showrunners have “overall creative authority and management responsibility for the entire scripted series." They may also have other responsibilities, for example as a creator of a series, but when there are questions about what a show is doing, it’s usually the showrunner who answers.
Q: As I continue to mourn the death of Gene Hackman and his wife, I am trying to recall an old Hackman movie. He plays the chief legal counsel for an automotive firm that is being sued after one of their cars explodes after a rear-end crash. He has an estranged daughter who is counsel for the family injured in the crash. I cannot recall the name of the movie. Any thoughts? And is this movie available on DVD?
A: I think you remember “Class Action,” from 1991, although Hackman played the attorney suing an automobile company, while his daughter, played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, was representing the carmaker. There have been DVD releases, although they can be somewhat expensive.
Q: Around 1973, there was an hourlong documentary about the migration of geese called "Fly High and Free.” Glen Campbell narrated and sang the theme song throughout the entire show. Is there any way to purchase this program?
A: While the name of the song is “Fly High and Free,” the 1972 documentary itself is known as “The Flight of the Snow Geese” and “The Incredible Flight of the Snow Geese.” There are several versions, with narration respectively by Peter Scott, Andrew Sachs and Glen Campbell. I found the Scott and Campbell versions on YouTube. I have not found an authorized release on DVD.
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