Upcoming 'Will & Grace' ep proving controversial

[easttxtv]

Looks like a new pot to stir up for you guys, but here goes...

According to this article:

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16058859&BRD=1994&PAG=461&dept_id=227937&rfi=6

NBC's 'WILL & GRACE' ALLEGED EPISODE CAUSES NATIONAL STIR
By: PATRICK BUTLER, Religion Editor
02/02/2006

NBC once again raised the ire of the conservative Christian American Family Association, while eliciting "shock and disappointment" from some of the television network's own affiliate executives on Tuesday.

A local NBC official's reaction to an Associated Press article mentioning a comedy segment titled "Cruci-fixin's," to be aired on the show "Will & Grace" on the eve of Good Friday, was swift and decisive.

"If such a show or segment exists, KETK would absolutely not run it," Mike Delier, general manager of the local NBC affiliate, told the Tyler Morning Telegraph on Thursday. "I find the possibility that any network, anywhere, running such a segment offensive. I can tell you there are executives in NBC affiliates around the country who are also shocked and disappointed."

The "Will & Grace" segment comes on the heels of NBC's controversial show "The Book of Daniel," featuring a pill-popping Episcopal priest who embraces homosexuality and talks to a Jesus that many viewers felt was a blasphemous portrayal. After four episodes the show was canceled.

Randy Sharp of the American Family Association, a conservative Christian media watchdog group headquartered in Mississippi, said the "Cruci-fixin's" segment was "typical" of NBC's "anti-Christian bias and agenda."

"NBC is angry at the cancellation of 'The Book of Daniel' and the lost revenue it represents," Sharp told the Tyler Paper on Thursday. "This is their way of getting revenge and we're ready to ask our 3 million online supporters to protest this latest denigration of Christian faith. America has gotten fed up with the attacks on Christianity."

Delier said he spoke with NBC executives in New York on Tuesday after reading the AP article describing the "Will & Grace" episode, in which Britney Spears portrays a conservative Christian "sidekick" to the character Jack McFarland on a talk show. After Jack's TV network, "Out TV," is bought by a Christian TV network, Spears' character contributes a cooking segment called "Cruci-fixin's."

"Those executives told me they were caught completely by surprise by the AP article," said Delier. "They told me they had no idea where the information came from, that it must be an NBC West Coast thing and as far as they knew, no such segment existed, was scripted, titled or produced or approved by NBC's department of standards and practices. It's a rumor."But New York-based AP reporter Jake Coyle, who wrote the article, said he was surprised by Delier's response.

"This information was released by the NBC (network) in Burbank," Coyle said to the Tyler Morning Telegraph on Thursday. "We were not the first news outlet to run that story."

NBC publicist Jaime French, whose name appeared at the bottom of the network's press release, was not available to respond to calls from the Tyler Paper on Thursday. The publicity department's Diane Lynch said she was aware of the brewing controversy, but referred all questions to Barbara Thomas, the network's senior vice president of publicity, who did not respond to the Tyler Paper on Thursday.

While Delier agreed with the AFA that any "Cruci-fixin's" segment would be offensive, he added that NBC was "full of Christian people and people of other faiths, who seek to offend no one."

"There were some viewers who could glean some challenging ideas in 'The Book of Daniel,' a show I personally felt was poorly done," he said, "But this is different. A so-called comedy segment titled 'Cruci-fixin's' will not see the light of day in Tyler."

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Anyone else heard of this? I'd heard that BS would appear on W&G, but I didn't know there might be a pre-emption potential with the ep.

PS:::: please play nice, kids.... <P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by easttxtv on 02/03/06 03:42 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[Nertz]

Who appointed the American Family Association as television censors?
If people have a problem with something, just don't watch it.
Otherwise just shut up.

 

[ToddJenkins]

> Who appointed the American Family Association as television
> censors?
> If people have a problem with something, just don't watch
> it.

Affiliates have the right to pre-empt anything that they want.
Freedom of speech works both ways. Freedom to self-censor is also freedom of speech. As long as its self-censorship, I'm OK with it.

But if a religious group (or any other group) stops a free exchange of ideas, then I have a real problem with that.

So if affiliates interrupt this W&G episode because they believe it to be in poor taste, then you'll just have to wait for syndie or the DVD!


> Otherwise just shut up.
>
TV ratings prove that Judah-Christian families HAVE 'shut-up' - they're changing the channels to HGTV, Food Network, Fine Living, etc. They don't need AFA to tell them to change the channel when crap like Daniel shows up on network TV.<P ID="signature">______________
-Todd Jenkins
The best things in life aren't things.</P>

 

[genXdxerLR]

> TV ratings prove that Judah-Christian families HAVE
> 'shut-up' - they're changing the channels to HGTV, Food
> Network, Fine Living, etc. They don't need AFA to tell them
> to change the channel when crap like Daniel shows up on
> network TV.
>

If the Wildmon Gang had shut up, TBOD might have lasted maybe 2 episodes at best. The AFA helped that show stay on the air as long as it did. Crappy scripts don't a good show make (and it has nothing with any "anti-Christian" bias). I watched all four aired episodes (taped them) hoping for improvements, but by the second week the (parden the pun) writing was on the wall. And very few watch on Fridays compared to Sunday and Thursday nights.

NBC was happy to get rid of that dog, it just took longer than ABC with Emily's Reason's Why Not.

 

[BRNout]

> Who appointed the American Family Association as television
> censors?
> If people have a problem with something, just don't watch
> it.
> Otherwise just shut up.
>
Not wishing to take sides here, but want to throw this out there:

Some of the shows poke fun at Christianity in a manner that would NEVER be tolerated if the target were Judaism or Islam. From what I have read, the W&G episode does this - and during Holy Week. In these hypersensitive times, many Christians wonder, why is this okay - yet we need to tiptoe around the feelings of other groups?

And, Hollywood has shown a lot of outward contempt for "Christianity" in recent years. A show like "The Book of Daniel" would never have featured a Rabbi or an Imam in such a setting. The network would have been roasted as hate mongers.

Since no other interest group seems to "shut up", why should Christians be any different?

If all religions/ethnic groups were harpooned equally, I suppose that there wouldn't be as much of a fuss. But, many feel that all belief systems are not treated with "equal" respect - at least not on TV.

I know that some of these groups DO get out of hand on censoring certain shows. And, normally, I agree on the "change the channel" concept. But, in this case, I don't think feeling offended is "stupid" when there is some justification for it. From what I've read, this episode is pretty vitriolic and mean-spirited about Christianity. And, it's done in a different way than the amusing disrespect that "Family Guy" often features. FG is also an equal opportunity prankster - yet I don't see W&G making fun of Jews or Asians as well as Christians on a weekly basis. That's why FG doesn't get these protests.

Again, just food for thought...

 

[dhett]

> Who appointed the American Family Association as television
> censors?
> If people have a problem with something, just don't watch
> it.
> Otherwise just shut up.
>

Same people who appointed the ADL to look out for Jewish interests, CAIR to look out for Islamic interests, NAACP to look out for Black interests, etc.

The reason why you hear so much from the AFA is, it's their ox that's being gored.

Let me prescribe your own medicine: if you have a problem with them, just don't listen. Otherwise it is you who are trying to censor them.

---------

The advantage to being an affiliate over O & O is that you don't have to simply pass through everything that the network tries to force on you. You have the right to tailor programming to suit the needs of your own community. Having said that, you then have the responsibility to know what are the needs of your community.<P ID="signature">______________
Dave</P>

 

[Tom_Desmond]

> TV ratings prove that Judah-Christian families HAVE
> 'shut-up' - they're changing the channels to HGTV, Food
> Network, Fine Living, etc.

Not really. HGTV, Food Network, Fine Living, etc are successful niche networks that have ratings that are a small fraction of those earned by even the least successful prime time network programs. That would suggest that if Judeo-Christian families are changing in large numbers to those particular channels, then there are a lot fewer Christians in this country than I believe to be the case.

Regarding the alleged "Will & Grace" episode...right now this falls in the category of a rumor, which hardly seems worth investing a lot of energy in complaining about until there is at least some evidence that they really are working on such an episode and it isn't just another urban legend.