Television Outcry and Censorship
NBC affiliates in Port Arthur, Texas and Lima, Ohio decided not to
broadcast a January 1996 episode of NBC's hit sitcom Friends, which
showcased a lesbian wedding. The episode, which contained a
highly-publicized cameo of Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's gay
sister, Candace, in the role of a minister, was determined to be "not
in good taste" by the two stations.
The Emmy-winning The Rockford Files, which ran from 1974 to 1980 on
NBC-TV and starred James Garner, was condemned by the National P.T.A.
as one of TV's ten worst shows, due to its "excessive violence."
In October 1994, the children's action TV showMighty Morphin Power
Rangers was banned by a horrified Scandinavian network after a
5-year-old Norwegian girl was brutally kicked and stoned by playmates
and left to freeze to death. While Prime Minister Gro Harlem
Brundtland and other national officials did not directly attribute the
youngster's death to the action program, growing concern over TV
violence led to the decision to ban the show in Sweden, Norway, and
Denmark. The show was later reinstated once no link was found between
the crime and the show. However, the Prime Minister cautioned that
Norwegians should think twice before allowing free-market violence to
be broadcast.
CBS, despite high viewership ratings, abruptly cancelled the weekly TV
comedy show The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1969. It was believed
that the talented, irreverent team of Tom and Dick Smothers had
challenged and satirized the network's censors one time too often. The
decisive skit which prompted the cancellation was - ironically -- a
televised spoof on censorship that the insubordinate twosome had
deliberately concocted to irritate CBS management. It worked too well.
Later, in 1973, a Los Angeles jury awarded the Smothers brothers
$776,300 in damages from the network.
The Mississippi State Commission for Educational TV banned the showing
of the children's educational television program, Sesame Street. With
a harmonious, multi-racial neighborhood as its hub, the award-winning
show was shocking and deplorable to many bigoted conservatives in the
U.S. when it first aired. The state's decision to ban was reversed in
1970.
In June 1994, the sitcom Roseanne was condemned by the Media Research
Center, a conservative media watchdog, as the most biased and liberal
show on U.S. television. Its chairman stated that the show had "a lack
of positive role models, the frequent promotion of homosexuality, and
the condoning of drug use." Roseanne was one of ABC's top-ranking
shows in the 1990's.
Michael Jackson's worldwide television premiere of his Black or White
music video outraged thousands of home viewers with its violence and
sexual innuendo. Millions of viewers watched the highly-publicized
video debut when it aired in November 1991. During a 4-minute dance
segment at the video's end, Jackson simulated masturbation, smashed a
car with a crowbar, and grabbed his crotch repeatedly. Following the
weighty criticism from parents and religious organizations, Jackson
released a formal apology through his press agent, and announced that
he would delete the offensive footage. The music video, which was
directed by John Landis and used an extensive amount of computer
graphics, cost $4 million to produce, an industry record.
In 1994, the popular pre-schooler show Barney and Friends went under
attack and was boycotted by members of the Ku Klux Klan. It was
revealed in the spring that Bob Joyner, the actor who donned the
massive purple-and-green costume to portray beloved Barney the
Dinosaur, was black. Upon learning this, KKK parents were enraged,
publicly denouncing the show because they'd never been told that their
small children were enamored with and being influenced by a black man.
Author: Vicki McClure Davidson
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