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PTC Sees Red Over Dexter and Goes Green with Fury Over Vegas
Michael C. Hall in Dexter by Peter Iovino/(c)2007 Showtime/CBS
The Parents Television Council has recently had a bone to pick with Dexter on CBS, but now it's filing a complaint against yet another show: NBC's Las Vegas.
Despite the fact that the series has likely ended, the organization still filed a complaint with the FCC following the airing of the show's Feb. 15 episode. In the ep, three partially nude women are seen in the shadows on security monitors. The Council, whose complaint comes on the heels of the ABC pay-out for a similar FCC issue, accuses NBC of testing the FCC's "resolve to fine stations for violating broadcast indecency laws," as well as maligns the show's airtime, which was at 9 pm in central and mountain zones, and at 10 pm elsewhere. NBC has not yet responded.
The PTC's sentiments about Vegas follows the latest episode in a similar campaign against CBS, with whom the group is dissatisfied over the clean-up job on its rebroadcasts of Showtime's blood-soaked Dexter. "Despite countless public calls for restraint and corporate responsibility, CBS broke its own promise to the public that it would employ careful editing and accurate ratings guidelines," PTC president Tim Winter says in a statement. "Depictions of violence were barely altered from the Showtime network original format." The PTC is calling upon Eye affiliates to exercise their power to preempt future airings.
CBS has no comment on the Council's latest gripe, but previously issued a statement saying, "As always, with broadcasts containing mature content, television audiences will be well informed with an appropriate V-chip rating and parental advisories in advance and during the broadcast."
Related:
• NBC's Leaving Las Vegas
• Parents' Group Wants CBS to Kill Dexter
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Feb 22, 2008 7:59 AM
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The PTC need to get over themselves already. Dexter is a bloody, gory, sometimes possibly disturbing show. It's about a serial killer, so what do you expect? If you don't like it, don't watch it, and don't let your kids watch it. Be responsible for your own viewing habits, and don't interfere with mine. I watched Dexter on Showtime, and wasn't going to watch on CBS, but since nothing else caught my eye, I tuned in and was pleasantly surprised at how faithfully CBS kept to the original. They should keep it up!
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Feb 22, 2008 8:03 AM
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If PTC members do not want their kids to see Dexter, than they should use their own control as parents to prevent their kids from watching it. V-Chips? Lock out on cable box? Please! Stop trying to control what everyone watches and take control over your OWN FAMILY!
Personally, I don't have Showtime, so it's on my Netflix list, as I want to see the unaltered series. If it's too excessive, I'll remove the DVD. For kids, I'd just turn the TV off. How hard is that?
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Feb 22, 2008 8:47 AM
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As with video games and movies, there are restrictions in place that parents SHOULD be enforcing, IF that is their desire to do so. One, Dexter is on at 10PM. Most children are in bed by that time. Two, there are locks on most of our televisions/cable/satellites and it falls to the parents to make sure those locks are in place.
Don't blame the company for putting out material that some people enjoy. Place the blame on the parents for not doing their job.
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Feb 22, 2008 8:51 AM
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I won't be watching Dexter because I have a low threshold of tolerance for violence and gore, but even so, I resent being told "of course you can't watch it; we won't let you." These people are petty dictators and I'll bet their own children rebel against these strictures at some point. I'll determine and enforce the rules in my house, thank you very much, and I'd like these organizations to butt out.
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Feb 22, 2008 9:02 AM
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Hey,PTC...CBS would like to thank you for not shutting up about Dexter,and the many more viewers you're probably going to give them for the show.
If you don't like the show,there's an amazing cure: The OFF button...or the channel changer. Use them,and stop trying to be the nanny of our TV viewing choices.
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Feb 22, 2008 9:02 AM
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Sometimes I think these censor groups WANT these shows on the air, if only to raise their own profile in the press. They're not happy unless there is a show on to complain about.
Otherwise, we have to believe that these people are too cosmically stupid to turn programs they don't like OFF.
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Feb 22, 2008 9:16 AM
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Have they seen Criminal Minds???? Give me a break PTC! This is no worse than most of the other procedurals on CBS.
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Feb 22, 2008 9:58 AM
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Have they seen CSI? it can be pretty gory too..
also question.. why is your child up after 10 on a sunday evening?????
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Feb 22, 2008 11:20 AM
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The PTC are a bunch of whiny, conservative ignoramuses. I saw this post on their page one time where this woman was complaining because her kid gets up at 3 am and won't go back to bed, so she puts on the tv for him. She was all appalled because of the late night "phone sex" ads and Girls Gone Wild commercials. I was like, why the HELL are you letting your child watch tv at 3 in the morning anyway?? Exercise some d*mn parental responsibility and make your kid go to bed.
And when it comes to Dexter, it's not just that CBS hasn't toned it down. They pretty much are against the entire premise of the show. They believe that it is glorifying murder. They have an issue with it making the audience root for a "brutal killer". They obviously haven't even watched the show if that's what they think. There is so much more to it than that.
Ugh, they piss me off.
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Feb 22, 2008 11:34 AM
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Excuse me, but at what point do the parents have to take responsibility for what they allow their children to watch? Just because it is on the television, does not mean that you have to watch it, OR let your children watch it.
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Feb 22, 2008 11:50 AM
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I admit that I lean more toward the conservative viewpoint of what should be aired on TV at certain times--and I agree with Obama's opinions about marketing adult-themed and scary programs properly--but CBS is airing the show as late as it can. If your child is up past that time, he or she is probably old enough to watch. And if not, then change the channel or turn it off. When my kids were younger, my husband and I taped Desperate Housewives and watched it when the kids were in bed.
I'm not one to say "air whatever you want"--I believe some responsibility and self-censorship should be exercised--but seriously, if you're watching a show about a serial killer, isn't that the first clue that things will get a little bloody? I have more problems with some of the talk shows that air after school. Talk about mind-rotting.
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Feb 22, 2008 12:06 PM
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Just for the record, violent TV, especially when the violence is justified or unpunished (sound familiar?)has long been proven to actually cause violence, and (no kidding) appears to result in more harm to the public health than sexually transmitted HIV or lead paint exposure. Check out what the scientists brought together by the CDC had to say about it at:
http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/PublicHealth/tb/7531
Posted by BobShear
Feb 2, 2008 10:04 PM
* Report Abuse
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Feb 22, 2008 12:09 PM
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Dexter is not a particularly violent show.
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Feb 22, 2008 12:25 PM
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Add my voice to the chorus.
Why does the PTC, and other supposedly child-friendly groups, think that it is the responsibility of the television watching public to restrain their viewing habits to satisify parents who will not, do not and apparently cannot bring themselves to raise their children in a responsible manner. Parents...it is your job to see that your children are taught the rules and manners that are necessary to live in society. Evidently you parents were not taught that you take care of your family and allow others to do the same. I raised my children with the TV in the off position for many programs that I would have liked to have seen, but did not think appropriate for my kids. Now that they are grown I would like to view my choices without interference from you.
Do you need to be told that 10 pm is a reasonable hour for adult viewing? What are your children doing up at that hour? Are you not aware that kids need at least 8 hours of sleep to be able to do well in school? Do you really want others to raise your kids? Are you too lazy to do your job? If you can't control them you need Super Nanny to show you the ropes.
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Feb 22, 2008 12:28 PM
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