TV Worth Blogging
by David Thiel, Program Director for WILL-TV
An insider's view of public television programming and the issues that help determine what and how you watch
Sense and Censorship
Over the past several weeks, WILL received several impassioned e-mail messages urging us not to air a certain television series. That's not unprecedented, but what was unusual was that the show in question was Dexter, a Showtime production that had its broadcast premiere last Sunday on CBS. It was obvious that these e-mails were robo-spam. How could I tell?
1) The writing style was too formal; they read more like press releases than correspondence. They cited very specific information about audience demographics and FCC rulings that suggested an "insider" perspective rather than that of a typical, interested viewer.
2) They were writing to a PBS station about a CBS show.
3) They were all identical.
They were likely products of the watchdog group known as the Parents Television Council, which is currently waging a public campaign against CBS over the airing of Dexter, a crime drama about a forensics specialist. What makes this one different is that the main character is himself a serial killer, one whose twisted moral code allows him to murder only other serial killers.
I had never seen Dexter, and I suspect that most of the people taking advantage of the PTC's robo-spam generator hadn't either. I wound up recording it to see what the fuss was about. It's not my place to praise or condemn other networks' fare, so I'll forgo any comments here except to say that the edited-down, broadcast version seemed very much like a CBS offering. Last week, the network gave early fall renewals to 11 series, seven of which are crime procedurals decorated with artistically-rendered close-ups of forensic evidence.
Time TV critic James Poniewozik's essay on the controversy makes a case that the PTC's concern "is with Dexter's ideas, not its gore." He finds that disturbing, yet refreshingly honest.
Over the years, there have many occasions when viewers have demanded that we not air a given program. Usually, but not always, they are prompted to do so by a watchdog group. In most cases, they object solely to the expression of views contrary to their own. In virtually all cases, they have not themselves seen the show, but are reacting to someone else's description of its content. Such attempts at prior restraint come from both the political right and left, and the inevitable assumption is that WILL is biased against their own side. (For the record, WILL takes no political positions, and a core tenet of our programming philosophy is an open exchange of differing ideas.)
In the nearly 19 years I've had the honor of working for WILL-TV, I'm proud to say that we have never withdrawn a program from our schedule due to ideological objections or pressure tactics. We respect that the viewers of our evening documentaries and dramas are responsible adults capable of choosing for themselves the content they invite into their homes, and that they have plenty of options, not the least of which is the "off" button. We know that any given person will at times strongly disagree with opinions expressed by participants in our program lineup; if not, we wouldn't be doing our jobs.
That said, we also know that it's our responsibility to provide tools that help our audience make informed decisions. These include program descriptions, ratings icons, and--where appropriate--viewer advisories immediately prior to broadcast. I hope that you'll take advantage of these tips and make your own choices. If you have questions about upcoming programs, please write or call the TV Programming department.
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