| | This article or section appears to have been copied and pasted from a source, possibly in violation of a copyright.
Please edit this article to remove any non-free copyrighted content and attribute free content correctly. Follow the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. Remove this template after editing. (July 2009) | | | This article has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality. Discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page. (July 2009) | In the United States, Standards and Practices (also referred to as Broadcast Standards and Practices or BS&P) is the name traditionally given to the department at a television network which is responsible for the moral, ethical, and legal implications of the program that network airs—in the vernacular, "The Censors". They also ensure fairness on television game shows, in which they are the adjunct to the judges at the production company level. [edit] Incidents - Episode 97 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) has yet to be shown in the United States due to pressures from Fox Broadcast & Standards (although 4Kids Entertainment leased the time from the network for their FoxBox block and aired the series, it still had to meet Fox's broadcast standards). On the official TMNT website Lloyd Goldfine states:
| “ | The final edited and mixed version of the notorious 'Insane in the Membrane' was deemed unsuitable for air by Fox Broadcast Standards and Practices. Apparently, in between the time the episode was written, storyboarded, animated and edited (all stages approved by Fox BS&P), and the time the show was mixed for air, there was a change of personnel in the Fox BS&P offices, and no one involved in the original approvals was still employed at Fox. Upon seeing the episode, they were said to be 'horrified' and that there was no way they could air the episode. I'm not sure I disagree with them—had there been BS&P comments earlier in the process, we certainly would have handled the show differently. But as it was approved at every stage, we went full steam ahead. In the end, I was told it was bad judgment on my part... so there you have it. I believe this episode will eventually be available, but plans have not been finalized.[1] | ” | - The final three episodes of the first season of Moral Orel were held back for various amounts of time by Standards and Practices due to being too dark and over the top sexually crude even for Adult Swim, which airs many shows rated TV-MA. The most shocking episode entitled "God's Chef" was delayed for months before the Adult Swim network was able to show it.It has since been released uncensored along with the rest of season 1 and part of season 2 on DVD.
- X-Men: The Animated Series was very heavily influenced by BS&P. Unlike the comic book, characters were rarely ever in any danger and characters almost never hit each other directly. A few excerpts from BS&P on the show:
| “ | Page 4: It will not be acceptable for Mojo to call anyone 'numb nuts.' Also, he should not pick Spiral up by the head. Page 11: Please substitute for Longshot's two uses of the word 'killed.' Something like 'destroyed' or 'take their lives' would be acceptable. Page 23: It will not be acceptable for Jubilee to blast January in the face. Please revise. Page 25: Please substitute for the boulder Rogue hurls at the two hunters, since this would injure them severely. Please incapacitate them with something less harmful. Page 29: Caution that Slagg not backhand Wolverine in the face. Page 32: Please show that the bounty hunters are alive after the facade falls on them.[2] | ” | - The acclaimed CGI show ReBoot was heavily censored by the American Broadcasting Company during its run on the network. When ABC was bought by Disney they announced ReBoot's cancellation during the shows second season. The writers decided to write stories that purposefully violated the extreme censoring since they were being canceled anyway. ReBoot went on to produce another successful season and two made for TV movies on other networks.
[edit] Game Show Incidents Game shows are most often involved in Standards and Practices violations over irregularities over game play that take place on these shows. The most common resolution that happens if an irregularity occurs during a game, and the contestant loses the game is to not remove the contestant's eligibility. Instead, the contestant who is victimised is permitted to appear on the game again at a later date. Contestants who have lost games because of procedural irregularities have been awarded a technical win by officials, and there have been questionable bidding and procedural incidents. - Early in Season 1, Clock Game contestants were awarded both prizes after the clock ran out after 22 seconds. The clock is supposed to last 30 seconds.
- Contestants on the episode slated for September 6, 1972 that did not air because one of the contestants was ineligible (common-law wife of a cameraman). The other prize winners were awarded prizes even though their show did not air.
- On an episode that originally aired on March 3, 1989, a One Away contestant guessed numbers incorrectly on the price of a car. However, one of the numbers was improperly inserted, and the correct price of the car could not be made with the numbers placed. The contestant was awarded the car.
- In early 1996, during a playing of $uper $aver, then-host Bob Barker forgot to mention to the contestant that the game could still be won after she had picked marked up item. The show's staff consulted with Standards and Practices after the incident and awarded her the prize. $uper $aver was retired as a result.
- Twice in Season 36, contestants have had the jukebox in Race Game display the wrong number after they pulled on the lever to reveal the number of correct prices. Contestants were awarded all four prizes.
- During a playing of Bonkers, the light sequence during the introduction of the game did not stop during game play in an April 2008-taped show. The contestant was awarded the prize because the contestant could have been confused.
- In a playing of Plinko taped July 22, 2008, a prop official forgot to remove the fishing line used in the filming of a previous promotion for the official video game (so the chip will only fall on the $10,000 slot) before having it readied for game play. A contestant won $30,000 before the mistake was discovered by co-producer Adam Sandler (not to be confused with the actor). The game was repaired by having the lines removed, and the contestant started at $0. The contestant was allowed to keep the $30,000 because of the violation of procedure, plus the money won during the actual game; however, the $30,000 did not count towards the contestant's cumulative winnings on the show.
- During a September 22, 2008 taping, a contestant made a perfect Showcase bid. CBS Standards and Practices, host Drew Carey, and producer Kathy Greco grew eerily suspicious someone else other than one of the two contestants in the Showcase had given the bid, and a violation of game rules had taken place. Officials had a meeting that resulted in a 45-minute stopdown. Carey was still suspicious and showed it during the Showcase reveal, but Standards and Practices declared it legal, but the show was moved back from its scheduled air date for officials to evaluate the situation, hoping to prevent another Charles Ingram incident.
- According to host Drew Carey on his blog, the show had introduced about six new prizes per taping week (six shows) before the incident. He noted, "It was possible, if one wanted, to watch the show for a while and memorise the price of almost every prize we offered."
- After the incident, producers and staff decided for every taping week, over 30 new prizes are usually used (in a One Bid, pricing game, or Showcase) per taping week in order to prevent such an incident from happening again.
- During the opening taping for Season 38 in June 2009 (aired September 21), a contestant was told a prize package in the pricing game Push Over featured a Dell computer. On the broadcast, a Hewlett-Packard computer was shown instead. The contestant lost the game, but officials declared a technical win as the contestant's guess was compromised by the wrong brand of computer being shown.
- In 1999, a contestant who lost on a Jeopardy! Teen Tournament game on a questionable ruling was ordered brought back for a 2000 College Championship.
- A January 30, 2008 episode of Jeopardy! resulted in Arianna Kelly being brought back on an episode July 8, 2008 when officials found questionable calls during game play against her during that episode. Kelly's sister Larissa won six games between Arianna's appearances, and her brother-in-law Jeff Hoppes was Victim #140 of Ken Jennings.[3]
- Ed Toutant in 2001 was victimsed by a bad question:
- Scientists in England recently altered what vegetable so it glows when it needs water?
- Potato
- Tomato
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Toutant selected Tomato, but the show said it was Potato. It was later found the answer was flawed after further research from Marc Knight, a professor at Oxford University Department of Plant Sciences. The $860,000 Skins Game jackpot was in use at the time, and he was allowed to play for the million and the skins game jackpot.
- Patrick Hugh won $1,000 during a Season 7 (syndicated) episode, but a critical word in his $25,000 question was found to be misspelled. He was given the option of being awarded $25,000 "no questions asked" or to forfeit his winnings and return to the show and begin his game with a new $25,000 question with all four of his lifelines reinstated. Hugh used two lifelines (Ask the Audience/Double-Dip) to correctly answer his new $25,000 question, only to later miss the $50,000 question after using his Phone-a-Friend and Ask-the-Expert lifelines, so he left with $25,000 this time.
[edit] Parodies Many television programs (especially cartoons) have parodied the existence of Standards and Practices departments. - One episode of the Beetlejuice cartoon featured the cast being harassed by Goody Two-Shoes, a fairy godmother-like media watchdog from the "Bureau of Sweetness and Prissiness" (BS&P, a knock at ABC's Broadcast Standards and Practices) who wanted them to clean up their act. The end of the episode also brings attention the show's own censoring, as Beetlejuice's complains about the camera always cutting away to a disgusted character's reaction of him whenever he eats bugs. A later episode also referenced this practice, where Beetlejuice is forced by Lydia to discourage a young boy from acting like him.
- The television show ReBoot also featured several jabs at ABC's Broadcast Standards & Practices department. In "The Quick & The Fed", Bob uses a command called "BS&P" to teleport through a window (according to the producers, Standards had nixed the idea of Bob breaking the window with a rock). "In the Belly of the Beast" featured Enzo firing a gun with the words "BS&P approved" on it that shoots rubber life rafts. "Talent Night" featured a "prog censor" named Emma Fee who kept complaining about objectionable content in the acts Dot wanted, and a group called "The Small Town Binomes" singing a song called "BS'n'P".
- In the Ed, Edd n Eddy episode "Ed Overboard", Eddy is sworn in as a temporary member of Rolf's "Urban Rangers", and quips "I'd swear, but Standards won't let me."
- In one episode of the anime Fushigi Yūgi, part of a test to see if main character Miaka is worthy of receiving a magical artifact requires her to take her clothes off. She strips down to a one-piece undergarment, and explains she cannot take it off because "This is the limit of what the broadcast code allows."
- In the Adult Swim series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, during the episode "Gee Whiz", the show makes reference to CN's Standards & Practices department, referring to it as "A vital link in keeping good and funny ideas away from you, the television viewer." It then demonstrates its purpose with a series of otherwise offensive material and places it into context against humorously inoffensive material (for example, showing a nun having her head blown off with blood gushing out as unacceptable, but that same nun having her head blown off with a rainbow coming out as acceptable). They are also not allowed to say Jesus, but are to use "Gee Whiz" instead.
- In the South Park episode "It Hits the Fan", the frozen knights enlisted to prevent the uttering of the "words of Curse" are called the Knights of Standards and Practices.
- In Sealab 2021, one fourth-wall breaking episode has the characters all engaging in incredibly dangerous or deplorable activities. In one scene, a character flashes a series of helicopters, causing another helicopter to appear, claiming that it is from Turner Standards and Practices. It tells her to "put your breasts back in your shirt, you dirty whore!" even though her breasts are blurred out.
- On Adult Swim, one bump calls Standards and Practices "where funny goes to die".
- In The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy episode "Wrath of the Spider Queen", when the alien is cutting the web off Mandy, she says, "Hey, Hey!" "Are you nuts?" and the alien stands there and Mandy says "Duh! Standards and Practices."
- In the animated TV series Histeria, Lydia Karaoke was the WB appointed censor, who would regularly interrupt the sketches that could be considered "offensive" (e.g. Admiral David Farragut's famous "damn the torpedoes" quote).
- In the Thanksgiving episode of Animaniacs Miles Standish asked the Warners to give him the bird (referring to their pet turkey) and Yakko responds "we'd love to really but the Fox Censors won't allow us" referring to the slang term "giving the bird" with means giving someone the middle finger.
[edit] Notes and references [edit] External links |
