Swearing on TV

andy614 · 29/05/13 - 01:07

I have noticed that swearing appears in several american shows here in the UK before the watershed. Words such as "pissed" and "bastard" are used quite alot. How come they can they get away with this? A UK show would never be able to use such words before the watershed.

The22ndRachel · 29/05/13 - 01:20

Recently in Hollyoaks, the character Esther was being bullied, and they kept calling her 'pissy - pants' on the 6.30pm show (and 7pm first look).

They can obviously get away with piss/pissed etc before watershed. Don't know why though.

allafix · 29/05/13 - 01:48

andy614 wrote: »

I have noticed that swearing appears in several american shows here in the UK before the watershed. Words such as "pissed" and "bastard" are used quite alot. How come they can they get away with this? A UK show would never be able to use such words before the watershed.

Pissed in the US context (meaning upset, angry) isn't swearing. I'd be very surprised if either word was banned before the watershed here. TV is already over censored, post "sachsgate". I was watching Saturday Kitchen at the weekend and one chef in the omelette challenge said "bloody hell" quite quietly as he got started. James Martin felt the need to apologise, which only served to draw attention to it. Since when did we regress to the time when "bloody hell" was deemed that offensive?

The22ndRachel wrote: »

Recently in Hollyoaks, the character Esther was being bullied, and they kept calling her 'pissy - pants' on the 6.30pm show (and 7pm first look).

They can obviously get away with piss/pissed etc before watershed. Don't know why though.

Reflecting real life in a bullying story line perhaps, so justified. Just a wild guess. You can't sanitise everything. And in that context it isn't swearing.

Real life isn't censored, why do you expect TV to be so sanitised, especially if the words used are justified by context?

Scrubber · 29/05/13 - 01:58

Most channels censor this stuff and it annoys the crap outta me. The way E4 butchers Scrubs does my head in and words like bastard and pissed ARE removed. as is anything else remotely offensive. They even cut out frick, its not even a word!!!

degsyhufc · 29/05/13 - 02:01

allafix wrote: »

I was watching Saturday Kitchen at the weekend and one chef in the omelette challenge said "bloody hell" quite quietly as he got started. James Martin felt the need to apologise, which only served to draw attention to it. Since when did we regress to the time when "bloody hell" was deemed that offensive?

I hate it when he does that. It's more annoying that they highlight what some would deem to be a problem when it could easily be glossed over and no fuss made.

[Deleted User] · 29/05/13 - 02:06

It annoys me when they make a big deal out of swearing on shows like Loose Women. Do adults really get offended at hearing the f word so much that they go through the effort of complaining? Surely children don't watch LW and if they do, swearing is the least of the possibly offensive things they will hear

E4 really butcher programmes. I once watched an episode of 2 Broke Girls in the middle of the night that was so editted I could barely follow it.

degsyhufc · 29/05/13 - 02:12

degsyhufc wrote: »

I hate it when he does that. It's more annoying that they highlight what some would deem to be a problem when it could easily be glossed over and no fuss made.

I found a previous example of this

degsyhufc wrote: »

Slightly off topic but why the need to constantly apologise after swearing. It just highlights it even more.

An example would be the other week on Saturday Kitchen Live. A scandiavian chef was on and during the omlette challenge he said the omlette looked 'shit'. James Martin said 'you mean it looks rubbish?"
Chef: Yes, sorry.
A little laugh between the two.

Sorted.

Or you would think that until after the item when Martin apologied if anyone was offended by anything they heard earlier on.

Ok, official apology done. Sorted.

Nope, end of show and again Martin apologies to the viewers about anything think they heard during the show that they found offensive.

In the background the chef apologised again and Martin says 'see, even the chef apologies himself - see you next week'.

Why, why, why?????

It was a slip of the tongue on live tv that was dealt with in a humourous manner. I can't see 100s of people writing into complain about it.

Why keep referring back to it?

Colin Murray did the same to Freddie Ljungberg when he swore on MOTD2. He just wouldn't let it go.

Stefano92 · 29/05/13 - 02:14

Just realized, in Hollyoaks today, the word "bitch" was used. Unless I heard wrong and it was "witch", but that would make no sense. Not too bad I don't think, I'm unaffected by swearing on TV but that's because I don't have children yet to protect from that language.

grahamzxy · 29/05/13 - 02:22

Salv* wrote: »

Just realized, in Hollyoaks today, the word "bitch" was used. Unless I heard wrong and it was "witch", but that would make no sense. Not too bad I don't think, I'm unaffected by swearing on TV but that's because I don't have children yet to protect from that language.

Bitch is not a swear word - it has been uttered on Eastenders many times, and numerous comedy shows pre 9pm.

[Deleted User] · 29/05/13 - 02:31

I can't understand why they bleep out the f-word on HIGNFY even though it's broadcast after 9pm!

degsyhufc · 29/05/13 - 02:33

the gold room wrote: »

I can't understand why they bleep out the f-word on HIGNFY even though it's broadcast after 9pm!

Was reading this earlier on

popeye13 wrote: »

I read a story that was quoting the exe producer Richard Wilson saying the reason its bleeped now, is because he got so sick and tired of fighting with the BBC on a weekly basis to include the words uncut.
And because the BBC has such a moronic manner in how strong language is passed for broadcast, the fact HIGNFY is filmed on a Thursday evening, meant by the time clearance came, it was to late and the final edit had been rendered and to go back then unedit it, would be to costly and the BBC wouldn't agree to that either.
Most of the time, the BBC would deny the request anyway. It was the days where even Friday Night With Jonathan Ross show was bleeped way past 11pm at night. Fearing one petty whino instead of realizing that actually, were adults and don't need censorship the likes of US tv!
(The process currently for strong language for BBC is..
Exec producer sends request form to the BBC channel controller, who will review it, then send to the BBC Vision director who has final say, if declined, no go for uncut airing)

allafix · 29/05/13 - 04:05

degsyhufc wrote: »

Was reading this earlier on

And we can blame all that on post-Sachsgate compliance procedures.

andy614 · 29/05/13 - 04:43

It's interesting the mentions of E4 cutting alot from american shows, they do, i have noticed it, but what made me bring this whole thing up was that the word "pissed" was just used in How I Met Your Mother at the time and i have heard other similar words used in other shows too on the channel like Scrubs and even Friends when that was on. It seems E4 are a bit sporadic with when and what they cut.

UKbloke0404 · 29/05/13 - 04:46

Salv* wrote: »

Just realized, in Hollyoaks today, the word "bitch" was used. Unless I heard wrong and it was "witch", but that would make no sense. Not too bad I don't think, I'm unaffected by swearing on TV but that's because I don't have children yet to protect from that language.

I have kids and to be fair you are never going to protect them from bad language...will probably hear a lot worse at school/ut and about then they would ever hear on TV...It's part of life nowadays unfortunately and as thus TV should reflect it within reason

LolaSvelt · 29/05/13 - 04:55

It's really painful to watch a TV show where it looks so obvious that the character wants to swear, but obviously they can't.

That's why cable channels like HBO and Showtime are the best. Great acting, great stories being told and of course, no airs or graces.

kezo · 29/05/13 - 05:18

Just watch Midsomer Murders - Bitch Bastard **** and possibly Slapper make the airwaves before 9pm now (Corrie even does this before 9pm I noticed)

Grabid Rannies · 29/05/13 - 05:22

A very transparent, interestingly so, shift firstly into 'endorsing swearing' and then retreating from it occurred in the mid/late 00s. Take The Apprentice as just one example - first couple of series, no strong potty mouth, but then it moved to BBC1 from BBC2 and for a couple of seasons thereafter, everything up to and including 'F' was 'in' in its 9pm timeslot - with the obligatory 'warning' of course. However, the past few seasons have been noticeably sanitised to the extent that now even mild - and more remarkably, once 'pre-watershed' acceptable expletives of even the level of 'shit' no longer make any appearance. In this latest series I can't remember any swearing of any description from one episode to the next (not that I particularly WANT to hear bad language, I just find the backtracking interesting).

rdanville · 29/05/13 - 05:38

Swearing adds zero to the show. If you were to meet someone who swears like these 'actors' do on tv you'd avoid them. It's all very fake and tiresome.

[Deleted User] · 29/05/13 - 05:45

I remember watching the movie ‘Midnight Run’ when it was first shown on TV. There was a load of swearing that was not only humourous to listen to but also essential to the flow of events in the movie. The BBC showed a version of the movie with all the fukk-word changed to the word ‘freak’. Let’s be honest......the local Mafia don’t tap you on the shoulder and ask "Excuse me, Darling, would you kindly remove your gun barrel from my nostril”........when they would actually say “Get the gun out of my fukkin’ nose!”
I’ve always believed that censorship should be limited and never at the expense of the narrative. More importantly, adults should supervise their childdrens’ viewing habits. Why should I lose tense and adult-appropriate dialogue because children may be watching? Let’s be honest..........why on Earth would they watch adult-themed movies? The little buggers should be in bed!

petely · 29/05/13 - 13:21

allafix wrote: »

Since when did we regress to the time when "bloody hell" was deemed that offensive?

Because there are so many busy-bodies with nothing better to do :rolleyes: than sit, watching a programme and just waiting for something to happen that they can write in and complain about - it's probably the high-spot of their day. They probably see, hear and say, themselves, much worse things every day in real life, but do nothing about it. Such is their passive-aggressive behaviour.

The problem is that the Beeb is so afraid of any form of criticism, these days - what with all the attention they bring on themselves regarding licence fees, wasting money and mismanagement, that they feel they have to react to every picky little letter or email they receive.

For these complainers, criticising TV shows is their equivalent of kicking the cat after a bad day, when they want to take out their pent-up frustration on something that can't fight back.

[Deleted User] · 29/05/13 - 17:28

One episode of The Simpsons had Ned Flanders record hours of TV when he was away so that he could rewind back when he got home in case he missed something to complain about to the regulators lol. I think it sums up exactly the type of people who make the complaints.

It is silly when a mild word gets drawn attention to. I remember Melanie Sykes covering for a Paul O'Grady show at 5pm made a big fuss over one of the guests saying 'crap'. I didn't even realise it was considered a swear word and doubt anybody noticed until she got all flustered.

anotherlongers · 29/05/13 - 18:16

I remember some documentary (Channel 4, I think) about new-wave comedians and how they are so much better than old seventies comedians. All the swearwords used by the seventies comedians were bleeped out and we were told how disgusting these men were. Then they showed some of our modern comedians acts, yet all their swear words were left in, no doubt to show it was 'clearly' right-on and done ironically.

Double standards, to me.

Itsallaboutyou · 29/05/13 - 18:34

I think the broadcasting rules need to be relaxed. Its 2013 for heaven sakes. We are in a modern society and you see/hear worse things than whats on TV.

I think these OFCOM complainers need to be named and shamed as they are a threat to broadcasting. Perhaps if you are a serial complainer you loose you right to vote, wotk?

degsyhufc · 29/05/13 - 20:25

LolaSvelt wrote: »

It's really painful to watch a TV show where it looks so obvious that the character wants to swear, but obviously they can't.

Anyone remember that advert for the ASA or similar where a guy was being arrested and being shoved into a police van and wasn't swearing at all?
That was the point of the ad, it was to say that they don't expect real life situations to be totally sanitised.

degsyhufc · 29/05/13 - 20:25

rdanville wrote: »

Swearing adds zero to the show. If you were to meet someone who swears like these 'actors' do on tv you'd avoid them. It's all very fake and tiresome.

I like Stephen Fry's outlook
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_osQvkeNRM

BritFlicks1 · 29/05/13 - 21:00

They've even took mild swear words out of repeats of One Foot in the Grave etc.

Do they imagine children never hear these words?

Hey there!

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