Do You Need A Nanny Or An Off Button On The Remote?
Tom Fontana's new WB show sounds like it's a victim of networks' increasing fears of getting fined by the FCC:
Emmy-winning writer-producer Tom Fontana ("Oz," "Homicide: Life on the Street") anticipated strong opposition to "The Bedford Diaries."He thought it would come in the ratings race, because his new show was scheduled Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST against formidable hits like Fox's "American Idol" and ABC's "Lost."
Instead, Fontana's WB drama, about the emotional lives of college students signed up for an elective course on "sexual behavior and the human condition," some of whom keep video journals of their activities, got zapped by its own network even before it aired.
With the Federal Communications Commission fining broadcasters as never before for programming it deems indecent, scenes of two young women kissing and another opening her jeans were edited out of the premiere episode by WB censors, much to the producer's dismay.
"I can't imagine that the majority of Americans want their programming decided by fear," he says. "I don't think they want it decided by four or five commissioners. The Federal government does such a rotten job of things in general, why would we suddenly expect that the FCC would be the one thing that works well."
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