Dear BBC America:

[yendi]

I just watched the first episode of Series 2 (or, as we say on this side of the Pond, Season 2) of Manchild. And I'm a tad confused. Not by any of the content, as the show continues to be hysterical, and perfectly acted. But by your choices of what we could be exposed to.

So, we're allowed to hear Gary threaten to "beat the shit" out of Patrick. We're allowed to see Terry's girlfriend's breasts (or at least her hypothetical post-surgery ones). But whenever a character says, "fuck," you feel the need to mute the show.

Why?

Sincerely,

Adam

Comments

[ariedana.livejournal.com]

The scary thing is, I watched it and found myself really liking it. I don't think that it's normal for any woman to like Manchild. But I also think I've developed a thing for Patrick, so that might be the reason.

[ariedana.livejournal.com]

Oops, I met Terry. My bad.

[yendi]

Well, I first heard about the show from britgeekgrrl's LJ, and I know that chelona enjoys it, as well. So I suspect it's not as gender-specific as the title implies.

[mfree.livejournal.com]

It's BBC... the Brits have a different set of obscenity/nudity laws for television viewing, and BBC-Am knows that they're cable only, so they stick with the British model.

[mfree.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, *they* mute the show on "Fuck".

Alright, now I'm confused too.

[ariedana.livejournal.com]

I think it's like Sax and the City - it's pretty hard for the opposite sex to relate to. But me, I just like British wankers. Patrick on Coupling is a favorite too.

Good to know other women like it too. Now I don't feel quite so weird. :P

[cissa.livejournal.com]

I enjoy it! I think I like it more than Sex and the City, even. (And my husband likes Sex and the City, too.)

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

I'm baffled by that too...

Last season, they 'bleeped' out the earlier (PST) showtimes, but if I tuned in for the 10PM (or later) re-run, I would get all the naughty words in their pristine glory.

Once again, BBCA proves their whacked. Don't even get me *started* on their habit of cutting down shows/movies to make room for ads, rather than letting 'em run 2.5 hours (I'm getting VERY tired of watching "Waking the Dead" and/or "Wire in the Blood" and knowing that entire scenes are just *gone*...)

[tarpo.livejournal.com]

Its the same in Canada.. Language and violence is more tightly reigned than nudity.. Anything below fuck seems to usually be ok..

[luis-mw.livejournal.com]

I've not watched the show here in the UK, but the time it is shown I would imagine (along with similar shows) that we don't bleep/mute the word "fuck" here. Plenty of other shows use it, but only after the watershed (9pm, when all good children are in bed). The word "cunt" on the other hand seems to get treated more seriously.

Censorship is a strange thing. I find it highly amusing that we can watch grown men beating the shit out of each other with chairs, tables and bits of the scenery, but we aren't allowed to hear the word "ass" - which when they show the programmes here, always gets bleeped - as in "... The Rock's gonna whoop your candy-bleep...". I don't think that is Sky doing it. They do make some peculiar edits though - when they show highlights in the mornings on Saturday, whenever a steel chair gets brought into play, we see the swing, but for the impact, we get a cutaway to audience reaction and just hear the impact off camera. After 9pm they show the impact - strange!

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

It's American "morals"..... it's not the Beeb's choice. *sigh*