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4 items from 2006

11 September 2006 | The Hollywood Reporter | See recent The Hollywood Reporter news »

NEW YORK -- The marquee matchup that opened NBC's regular-season Sunday Night Football prevailed in an unusually strong night of television highlighted by 9/11-related programming and premieres of Fox's sitcom lineup. ABC's controversial miniseries The Path to 9/11 did respectable, although not overwhelming numbers. The Manning-against-Manning drama between the Indianapolis Colts and the New York Giants -- which the Colts won, 26-21 -- was according to preliminary estimates the night's most watched program as well as the highest-rated in the adults 18-49 demographic. Sunday Night Football averaged 20.7 million viewers and an 8.1 rating/19 share in the demographic, according to preliminary data released Monday by Nielsen Media Research. That's about even with last year's opener for Monday Night Football. It faced off against tough competition on the other three broadcast networks, including ABC's first night of The Path to 9/11 as well as an updated version of CBS' 9/11 documentary and the premiere of The Simpsons, Family Guy and other Fox sitcoms. »

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8 September 2006 | Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news »

Giving the CBS documentary on the 9/11 events a new lease on life, a federal appeals court on Thursday called a temporary halt to the FCC's enforcement of its indecency rules and ordered the commission to clarify them within 60 days. More than two dozen CBS affiliates had previously indicated that they would not air 9/11 for fear that some of the language used by rescue personnel in the film might be considered indecent under the FCC's rules and could therefore result in stiff fines. CBS had reportedly considered editing the documentary (although earlier versions had previously aired without deletions). However, it said following the court ruling on Thursday that the program will air Sunday night without edits. »

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4 September 2006 | Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news »

More than two dozen CBS affiliates have decided either to drop or delay an updated version of the documentary 9/11 after some "family values" groups mounted a campaign to urge the FCC to fine the network and its stations for what one of their leaders described as "hardcore profanity" spoken by some of the rescuers who appear in the film. Congress recently increased the fines the FCC can impose on a station for broadcasting indecent language from $32,500 to $325,000. Martin Franks, executive vice president of CBS, said that the pullout by the stations represented "example No. 1" of the chilling effect on free speech of the legislative action and by earlier fines meted out by the FCC for the Janet Jackson incident at the Super Bowl two years ago. The Rev. Don Wildmon had asked the 3 million members of his American Family Association and other sympathizers to bombard the FCC and their CBS stations with complaints about the language in the documentary. But on Arianna Huffington's liberal blog, one message read: "Let me get this straight: It is perfectly okay for children to watch a documentary on 9-11 and see planes crash into the WTC; view footage of people jumping out of burning buildings; witness pandemonium in the streets of NYC; hear audio tape of real 911 calls; and see scenes of the wounded being treated at triage units; but it is NOT okay for them to hear curse words?" »

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31 August 2006 | Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news »

CBS said Wednesday that when it rebroadcasts 9/11, its Emmy- and Peabody-winning documentary about the 9/11 attacks on Sept. 10, it will air without commercials. When it originally aired six months after the attacks, there were three breaks, used for public-service announcements and fundraising appeals. The network said that the time will be used instead for updates and for interviews with some of the firefighters who appeared in the original piece. The documentary is facing the wrath of the American Family Association, which charges that it "contains a tremendous amount of hardcore profanity." The decision of the network to air it, the AFA said, "is a slap in the face to the FCC and Congress, which recently raised indecency fines to $325,000 per incident." The group charged that CBS was using it as "a test case ... to see how far they can go. If there is no outpouring of complaints from the public, they will go further the next time." It has asked its "3,054,720 supporters" to write to the FCC demanding that the indecency law be enforced and has warned that it will file a formal complaint against CBS and each of its affiliates if the broadcast goes ahead as planned. »

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4 items from 2006