I love digital cable. One of my favorite channels has become BBC America, featuring the best of British television, from "Coupling" to "Ground Force" and "Changing Rooms" to "Absolutely Fabulous." All of these are great shows (the latter three favorites of mine), and they all know how to have a good time. But another reason I love BBC America: they don't censor.
That's one of my biggest pet peeves: censoring. It happens all the time on TV. You're watching Tremors or Airplane! on TNT or TBS or, for gods sake, ABC Family, and the movie is ten minutes shorter than the IMDB says it should be, and you never once hear a word more vulgar than "damn." "Jesus Christ" is replaced with "Judas Priest" (has anyone ever heard a person use that interjection?), and "shit" with "shucks" or the like. I mean, it is so obvious that they're censoring, and that you're getting a "nice," inoffensive version that neither reflects how the world talks today or even how the director saw it. And that offends me.
Why should I be forced to see the watered-down version? Why should prudes be pandered to? And since when do those who'd be offended by foul language watch movies that featured it, anyway? I imagine the main audience of Tremors isn't offended by "shit." What to me is more offensive is that I don't have the option: I have to rent it if I want to see it--and what's the point in airing movies on TV if it's senseless to watch them there and not from your VCR/DVD?
I understand that America has had a stick up its ass since the Puritans landed and made sure there were no impurities in life, period. It's the reason Lucy and Ricky didn't sleep in the same bed. And it's the reason "shit" is still cut. But we've made strides: Paul and Jamie Buchman made constant references to sex in and out of the bed; the "Friends" characters are living sex machines. "Ass" (but not "jackass" and "son of a bitch" are all over "NYPD Blue" and "Law & Order." About these I am happy: we're making strides. America has loosened up quite a bit.
But I'd still like to see the full version of "Tremors" on television. My sister bought me the DVD, and after watching it, I realized just how much I'd never heard or seen before. Why can't they broadcast it in its entirety? If someone's offended, let them switch the channel.
Not that I advocate cursing. I just think it's part of daily reality. When was the last time you said "shucks" or "darn it" when you stubbed your toe or slammed the door shut on your finger? The common reaction, I think, would be "shit" or "goddammit!" Don't you? And if you just managed to kill a gigantic prehistoric carnivorous underground beast, and it stunk worse than a manure pile, would you cry out "Judas Priest"? I just want reality, or at least the director's vision, accurately portrayed. It's not so hard, given the audience of any movie that features that kind of language most likely uses that sort of language on a daily basis themselves.
Do you hear me, American Network censors? Take a clue from the BBC, and let us hear the honest dialogue! We can handle it!
