Yeah, some couplings are just plain dirty and people shouldn't be watching them anyways.
Posted on 09/20/2003 10:59:32 AM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Second station taking stance that NBC sitcom too racy
KSL Channel 5 announced Friday that it will not broadcast "Coupling," a new NBC sitcom scheduled to debut at 8:30 p.m. Thursday.
KSL judged the series to be too sexually oriented and too crude and explicit in its sexual humor.
"KSL 5 Television will not air the new NBC series "Coupling," due to content not suitable to KSL standards," program director Russ Crabb said.
"The whole show is basically strong sexual content," he continued. "It"s not particular scenes in the show; it"s that the whole show is strongly sexually oriented."
"Coupling" is based on a British hit of the same name, which in turn was based on the hit NBC series "Friends," now entering its final year. KSL does air "Friends."
"It goes a few steps beyond "Friends," " Crabb said of "Coupling." "That"s the way NBC has been promoting it, and it lives up to the bill."
An NBC spokeswoman released the following response: "The show was reviewed by NBC standards and practices, and was considered appropriate for the network. It"s unfortunate that not everyone will have the opportunity to make their own viewing decisions."
The NBC press Web site describes "Coupling" as "a hip and frisky look at the ever-evolving relationships between six singles who are either involved, formerly involved or looking to become intimately involved with each other."
KSL is the second station with church ties to refuse to air the show. KSL is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The only other station that has refused to air "Coupling" is WNDU Channel 16, the South Bend, Ind., NBC affiliate. WNDU is owned by Notre Dame, a Catholic university, said station president and general manager Jim Bahling.
"In our judgment, "Coupling" goes beyond the boundaries of what is acceptable in this particular market," Bahling said.
"In at least the first three episodes we have seen, the show seems to be a collection of crude sex jokes that, when taken in total, go far beyond what is appropriate for free broadcast television. And in our market and in the Mountain time zone, it"s an 8:30 show. Children are still up, and we see that as a problem."
WNDU and KSL also made the same decision not to run "God, the Devil and Bob" when NBC put that controversial, animated prime-time series on the air in March 2000. WNDU does air "Saturday Night Live," which KSL elects not to air. "Saturday Night Live" airs on KUWB Channel 30 in the Utah market.
"God, the Devil and Bob" was pulled by NBC after just a few episodes due to low national ratings. "Coupling" could stay on the network longer because it airs on NBC"s highly rated, high-revenue-earning Thursday-night lineup. "Coupling" is in the hammock position between established ratings-winners "Will & Grace" and "ER."
"We were hoping to run this show, and we wrestled with it over the summer," said KSL"s Crabb. "When you put a hole in your Thursday-night programming, that is not a decision you make lightly. It isn"t something we did on a whim. We understand the gravity of it, and the show"s importance to NBC. We just hope people understand this issue"s importance to us. It was a decision we had to make."
KUWB has been offered the option of airing "Coupling," but it will not announce a decision until next week, after officials have had a chance to view several episodes, a station spokeswoman said.
KSL and WNDU are both struggling to find programming to fill the 8:30 p.m. time slot. Bahling said the ideal would be a syndicated sitcom that would appeal to the same audience that tunes in for "Will & Grace" and "ER."
Easier said than done, Crabb said, since all of Utah"s stations have their syndication contracts in place, and many of the desirable sitcoms are already committed.
"We haven"t made the decision of what"s going in there yet," Crabb said. "But with the timing, it will probably have to be a syndicated show we already have."
You can reach reporter Nancy Van Valkenburg at 625-4275 or nvan@standard.net.
That right there tells me just how far the alphabet networks have dropped into the gutter. That's why I mostly watch the History Channel, Discovery Channel, TLC, and programming like that. The alphabet channels have nothing left to offer me. Between their obnoxious sitcoms and communist liberal "news", they would do the world a favor if they would just go away.
Well thats certainly an improvement over watching a bunch of heterosexuals ... NOT!
Yeah, some couplings are just plain dirty and people shouldn't be watching them anyways.
Also, the British version stars people that actually look like real human beings - the sorts of people you would expect to be in their mid-30s and still looking for permanent partners - while the NBC version went out of its way to find the hottest actors and actresses they could get their hands on.
The US "Coupling" will bomb. Mark my words.
What's so important about Thursday night? I just happened to read the answer to this the other day.
Tim Goodman's column at sfgate: TV 101 - Everything you always wanted to know about the tube
"What's the most profitable night of the week for networks, and why?
Thursdays. Because that's when all the movie companies buy ad time, particularly if their movie opens the next day. So if you get a Thursday hit --
"Friends," "ER," "Survivor," "CSI" -- you can charge more for your ads, thus offsetting your license fees."
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