WB show tamed for TV, uncut on Web

Cnet ^ | 03/30/2006

[Panerai]

The WB television network, seeking to avoid the ire of federal regulators, debuts its sexually charged series "The Bedford Diaries" on Wednesday with some of the more suggestive shots removed.

Viewers who prefer to see the show as its creators originally intended, including scenes of two female college students kissing and another upzipping her pants, can watch an uncut "streaming" version on the network's Web site.

Julie Martin, one of the show's executive producers, said on Wednesday that the version of the episode offered on the Web was the one originally approved by network censors after some initial alterations.

She said the WB insisted on additional cuts in response to the Federal Communications Commission proposing a record $3.6 million in fines earlier this month against CBS stations for an episode of the crime drama "Without a Trace" depicting teenagers engaged in group sex.

The FCC also upheld $550,000 in penalties against CBS stations for Janet Jackson's breast-baring Super Bowl halftime performance.

Martin said she, with fellow executive producers Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson, refused to make further cuts in their show themselves because they "felt that was giving into unreasonable censorship, or fear of censorship."

She quoted Fontana, the series co-creator whose past TV credits include "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "Oz," as telling the WB, "If you believe the show is indecent, don't air the show."

The WB, jointly owned by Time Warner and Tribune, said in a statement that the network had "always been mindful of the FCC's indecency rules."

[Gay State Conservative]

WB...isn't that the network that,on a typical evening,draws about 0.015% of TV viewers?

[ansel12]

Powerful millionaires that will do anything for more money and attention.

[chae]

This is nothing compared to half of the stuff on F/X's show, Nip/Tuck.
Also, UPN already "went there" with season 6 and 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so WB is just playing catch-up.