In a piece designed to appeal to the 14 people still waiting for Studio 60 to get good, the New York Times gives the behind-the-scenes machinations on the NBC decision to put the uncensored version of the Timberlake/Samberg "Special Gift" duet that ran on Saturday Night Live las weekend....
While the show’s producers had already concluded on their own that the video would have to be bleeped to be broadcast, they had a special request for Mr. Ludwin: Would he permit the uncensored version to be made available on the Web?
“My first instinct, without having seen anything, was that we probably shouldn’t do that,” Mr. Ludwin said later in an interview. “My thought was that even though it’s going on the Internet, it’s still representing NBC. But I hadn’t seen it yet. So I said it would depend on how dirty it was.”
Drawing close to a monitor adjacent to the show’s vaunted eighth-floor studio, Mr. Ludwin watched as Mr. Timberlake (in a blond wig) and Mr. Samberg (decked out with a close-cropped beard that made him look like the pop singer’s twin brother) sang of the various holidays on which they wanted to present their special gift (including Hanukkah and Kwanzaa) and the various settings (including backstage at the Country Music Association Awards.)
“We were all laughing,” said Mr. Ludwin, who had been accompanied by a representative from the NBC legal department. And then Mr. Ludwin said he had a change of heart.
“Those people who go on the Internet will not be shocked by this,” Mr. Ludwin recalled thinking. “Obviously there are some people who will be offended. Those people are probably unlikely to go searching for it on the Internet. It’s just funny.”
Still, the material was touchy enough, Mr. Ludwin said, that he sought final approval for the Web version of the video from the highest echelons of NBC, including Kevin Reilly, the president of NBC Entertainment , and Jeff Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal Television Group.. Both approved the idea, he said. Another executive suggested that a disclaimer be placed before the Web-only version of the video that warned of its explicit content, a proposal that was immediately accepted.
Again, we got all excited yesterday when we thought we had been first to note that NBC had taken down the uncensored version. It was down for a few hours in the morning, but just as soon as we posted, it went back up. Whoops.
But, regardless, the point of post was pondering how regulators will eventually view online versus broadcast video content. And, considering this, how big networks will regulate themselves in putting up content to minimize regulatory incursions.
It's interesting to see the justification by the NBC execs that, on the Internet, one needs to seek out content that could be potentially objectionable. Therefore, those who might be offended wouldn't be found searching for "dick in a box" on YouTube.
I can just hear the talk show hosts asking now: "But, what about the children?! Won't anyone think of the children?"
Hopefully, the inside-the-box thinking at NBC is incrementally nudging us toward an acceptance of the diverse community standards that exist on the Web and not the homogeneous ones that underpinned media regulation 1.0.
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Posted by: Bernadeta | January 30, 2013 at 06:53 PM
i remember in the baunorgckd of one episode, there was abed pulling a baby out of some woman in the back of a van. I thought it was just so random thing but then when i saw the shirley giving birth episode i freaked out because it was a real thing did anyone else see that? i dont remember the episode, but they def showed abed delivering the baby in the baunorgckd
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