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Made for Television Movies and Mini-Series
Theatrical Motion Pictures on Broadcast Network Television
On Air Promotions, Previews, Recaps, Teasers, and Advertisements
Emerging Broadcast Networks (UPN, WB)
Although other television media are sampled, broadcast network programming is the primary focus of this study. Broadcast network television still accounts for a majority of what is watched on television. The other aspects of the television world--cable, syndication, home video and video games--have been sampled for the purpose of comparison.
Network television has been divided into six areas, each of which was thoroughly examined:
For our analysis, last year's monitoring of the 1994-95 television season now becomes the baseline for this and subsequent television violence monitoring reports. Last year was the first time we compiled data on the nature and extent of television violence. The quantitative and qualitative information from last year's report can be compared to that collected this year. This allows us to make some very important and specific comparisons to evaluate how the broadcast networks are dealing with the violence issue.
Series still make up the majority of the networks' programming. They are what most distinguish network television from cable and other video media. More people watch television series than any other format. Series such as Roseanne, Married with Children, Murphy Brown and Seinfeld have continued to attract large numbers of viewers weekly for many years.
As described in the methodology section, every prime time series in the 1995-96 season was monitored at least four times to determine whether it raised issues of concern with regard to violence. Shows that raised issues continued to be monitored, frequently through the entire season, while shows that aired less than four times were monitored each time they aired. Overall 114 television shows on the four networks were monitored in this way, and a complete listing of each show and the number of times it was examined can be found in the appendix to this report. Another 20 series from UPN and WB were monitored in the same way, and the results can also be found in the following section.
Of the television series we examined, there are five that raise frequent concerns about the manner in which they deal with violence. This compares to nine from last season. These five television series deal with violence in a variety of different ways. The efforts of the networks' practices and standards departments have contributed to what we see as positive signs in television series. This report makes a real effort to understand each show, its goals and style and the manner in which it deals with violence. Of particular importance is understanding the context in which violence occurs in each of the shows. Shows cannot be adequately compared without explaining the specific nature, style and content of each show. These elements comprise the context of each show in which the violent acts occur. The violence cannot be adequately understood or evaluated apart from these elements.
Television movies this year also demonstrate some improvement over the 1994-95 television season. We monitored every television movie that aired during both seasons. While 23 out of 161 television movies, or 14%, raised concerns last season, this year the number raising concerns drops to 10%, or 20 out of 198. Movies that raised concerns usually did so because of a variety of factors, such as lack of advisory, violent theme, violent title or inappropriate graphicness of a scene. Unlike with theatrical films, the networks have complete control over television movies. They decide what movies get made and what the audience will see. Though there are still some television movies that raise concerns, it is clear that some improvements have been made in this area.
Theatrical films on television were identified last year as the most problematic type of programming. This season this area of television has witnessed improvement. We monitored every theatrical film on television that aired during both seasons. Of the 118 theatrical films monitored last year, 50, or 42%, raised concerns about their use of violence. This year the percentage drops significantly to 29%, as 33 of 113 theatrical films raised concerns. Theatrical films are made for a different medium and have to be retrofitted for the world of broadcast television. This is a difficult, and frequently impossible, task. As a result, we expected to see little progress this season. While there were still a number of films that contained over 40 scenes of violence, there were fewer of them than last season. In several instances the broadcast networks did not re-run theatrical films they purchased because of the quantity or nature of the violence. There are still a number of problems such as lack of advisories and inappropriate time periods. While the percentage of theatrical films raising concerns about violence has decreased this season, those theatricals that remain still feature the most intense and disturbing violence on television.
On-air promotions, more than any other type of television programming, demonstrated the most improvement over the 1994-95 television season. This is where we expected to see the largest improvement and, in fact, our expectations were realized. Networks were able to create new policies and hire new personnel to deal directly with this important issue. This year there were relatively few on-air promotions featuring only scenes of violence from a television series. Theatrical films shown on television still managed to yield promos full of action, but they contained fewer scenes of violence and were almost never shown during programs or in time periods that would draw a large audience of children. This season problems in regard to promos were only found in the area of advertisements for theatrical films about to open in theaters.
Children's television showed some improvement as well. The number of Saturday morning programs on the four broadcast networks featuring "sinister combat violence" dropped from seven to four. Fewer shows used intense violence or combat as part of their overall theme. Many shows are not vehicles for combat or fighting, and whatever "violence" is used is very minor. A larger number of shows this season appealed to kids' imaginations rather than catering to a demand for action. Still, there were four shows that featured sinister combat violence, involving combat as the theme and promising confrontation.
1. Comparison of This Season's Shows with Last Season's Shows
Last season nine programs on the four broadcast networks were found to raise frequent concerns about how they depicted violence while this season the total drops to five. Of the nine programs raising concerns last year, six ran for the entire season and three ran less than ten times. Of this season's five shows with frequent issues, three aired during the entire season and two were broadcast fewer than ten times.
Seven shows from last season raised occasional concerns about violence and five of these ran all season. This year there were eight shows and six of them aired during the entire year.
a. Last Season's Shows Raising Frequent Concerns About Violence
Last year's report indicated that the following shows raised frequent concerns about issues of violence:
Three of these shows, Mantis, Fortune Hunter and VR-5, were canceled and one, Tales From the Crypt, aired only once this season. Only one show from last season, Walker, Texas Ranger, continued to raise frequent concerns this season and will be discussed shortly.
Two of the shows that raised frequent concerns, America's Funniest Home Videos and Due South, moved down to the list of shows raising only occasional concerns this year and will be discussed in that section. Two of the shows raising frequent concerns last year did not raise any concerns (frequent or occasional) this year. Those two shows are:
Lois & Clark (ABC)
In last year's report it was noted that Lois & Clark was originally intended as a romantic comedy/drama with much witty dialogue and flirting between Lois and Clark. In its second season last year the plots often took a darker turn with an often threatening tone. In its third season Lois & Clark seems to have returned to its romantic and comedic roots and raised no issues of concern during the season. The decreased amount of violence seems to have had no effect on the show's popularity as its ratings increased slightly this season.
The X-Files (Fox)
Last season this was one of the most difficult shows to monitor. Often the show was exemplary in how it created the mood and tension of violence and conflict without actually resorting to depictions of violence. The X-Files used music, lighting and quick edits to simulate violence and often offered a textbook example of how to create unease and suspense without using excessive violence. Many times last season, however, the show did cross the line and raise concerns about its use of violence. This season the show seems to have found a more effective way to portray conflict without the use of violence. Though the images are often disturbing and stressful, they are accomplished through special effects, lighting and music rather than actual acts of violence. Monitored 24 times, this season the show only raised concerns once, while improving its ratings substantially.
Violence is a crucial aspect of The X-Files. It is present in every episode we have ever monitored. This is not surprising in light of the fact that the premise of the show revolves around the investigations of violent phenomena. While this opens up the potential for the show to raise contextual concerns due to its heavy reliance on violence, the tone with which the violence is treated, the ways in which it is shown and the role it plays in terms of the story all contribute to make it non-problematic.
Although gruesome forms of violence are typically used to create an ever-present sense of foreboding and danger, actual depictions of violent acts are infrequent. Instead, the program prefers to use graphic images that are the result of violence, clever lighting schemes and ominous music to unsettle audiences and make them squirm in their seats. These creative methods have the commendable effect of implying violence without depicting actual violent acts. An example of this can be found in the episode shown on 11/3/95, in which a man who preys upon lonely, overweight women attacks a woman in her car. Just as this violent encounter begins, the camera cuts to the exterior of the car. The rest of the scene consists of the image of the rocking car and sound effects that let viewers know what is going on without actually showing the gruesome attack.
When a violent act is shown, it always furthers the plot and is invariably portrayed in a realistic manner that shows no more, and is no longer, than is necessary. Also to be noted is that violence in The X-Files is always shown with both physical and psychological consequences. An excellent example of this can be found in an episode that aired on 2/23/96 in which a police officer, under the psychic control of a murderer, pours gasoline on and ignites himself. Had the intense scene been treated differently, it could have raised serious concerns. After the fire is extinguished, the man is shown extremely burned, convulsing on the ground. It is very graphic. However, it is graphic only in establishing how awful the act of violence and its consequences are. The entire ordeal is taken very seriously and is not glamorized or glorified in any way. All parties involved demonstrate extreme distress at what has occurred and the physical consequences are explored and portrayed realistically.
Violence in The X-Files is always portrayed as an evil that must be stopped. The show successfully achieves a perilous tone without relying on the depiction of violent acts, instead favoring innovative cinematic techniques and the use of graphic images to achieve this end. Although the show frequently revolves around gruesome acts of violence, these acts are almost never shown. When a violent act is shown on-screen, it is always well edited and is no longer than is necessary. However, because of the nature and effect of the disturbing subject matter, the program would benefit from an advisory warning audiences that the following program may be too intense for younger audiences. Otherwise, the program is extremely responsible in its portrayal and treatment of violent content.
b. Last Season's Shows Raising Occasional Concerns About Violence
Last year's report indicated that there were seven television series that raised occasional concerns about how they portrayed violence:
None of these shows moved from the occasional to the frequent list. Of the seven, one, Earth2, was canceled. Two of the series, The Simpsons and SeaQuest, continued to raise occasional issues and will be discussed shortly. Four of the series dropped off the list of shows raising occasional concerns. They are:
America's Most Wanted (Fox)
In its quest to engage the audience to help capture criminals, America's Most Wanted last season occasionally resorted to excessively graphic and disturbing re-creations of crimes. This season the show demonstrated notable improvement in regard to its use of violence and yet it still successfully elicited audience reaction contributing to the capture of criminals (over 425 throughout the life of the show). It managed to do so while raising no concerns about the manner in which the violent criminal acts were depicted.
The Marshal (ABC)
Last season The Marshal raised occasional concerns about the way in which it portrayed violence. Although the show aired sporadically this season, it raised absolutely no issues of concern and was even commendable in how it resolved some of the action stories without violence.
Rescue 911 (CBS)
Using re-creations to teach audiences how to respond in emergency situations, this show last year occasionally resorted to overly long or graphic images. The show ran on an irregular basis this season and raised no concerns.
Unsolved Mysteries (NBC)
Unsolved Mysteries is another show using re-creations. Last year it occasionally used very graphic images or repeated the same scene of violence several times (sometimes just before commercials as a hook) within the same show. This season it raised no concerns.
These are the television series that raise the most concerns about the way in which they portray violence. It is important to recognize that they are presented in no particular order. These are the shows that raise more concerns because of a large variety of contextual issues, which were discussed in the criteria section.
New York Undercover (Fox)
Although many of the scenes of violence in this show last year were intense, occasionally graphic and came close to raising concerns, they were an essential part of this urban drama. Ultimately the show, aired in Fox's latest time slot of 9:00 p.m., did not raise concerns. This season yielded substantially different results.
This year the level, tone and character of the violence were considerably heightened and the show did raise frequent concerns about how it portrayed violence. Its use of music during scenes of violence added considerably to the concerns.
New York Undercover focuses on the work and personal lives of two undercover detectives, Eddie Torres and J.C. Williams. With the support of a female detective, Nina, who is also Torres' girlfriend, the detectives use their ethnicity and knowledge of the streets to help deal with their cases and the criminals they encounter. More than any other television series, music is an integral part of the show and the lyrics of the music frequently add to the context of the story and its underlying message. Set to hip hop, rap and R&B music, the show captures the pulse of urban America in a way that is not stereotypical or condescending. It is well written and acted and often deals with issues or controversial subject matter in an intelligent and thoughtful way.
A good deal of violence occurs in this show as would be expected in an urban police drama set in New York City. That violence is part of the story is not the concern. It is the manner in which the violence is shown and the way it is often glorified that raise frequent concerns. One technique is used throughout almost every episode. Most episodes open with a sequence that more closely resembles a music video than a scene in a television series. A montage of clips illustrates a violent crime, the resolution of which becomes the focus of the particular episode. Popular hip hop, rap or R&B music always blares during the montage, drowning out all sounds but those of the violence, be they gunfire, punching or groans of pain. There is no dialogue in these scenes but the song lyrics sometimes correspond to the events on the screen. While this technique can sometimes be used to make the violence more dramatic and affecting, stirring up emotions such as shock or horror, it more often has precisely the opposite effect.
The style and message of the music, the lack of any real dialogue and most of the sound effects serve to defuse the real horror of the scene and sometimes even serve to glorify the violence or make it seem worse. Though the producers may claim that this technique is artistic and accentuates the violence, rarely does it do more than make the scene appear unrealistic without genuine emotion or consequences. Rather than feeling disgust or outrage at the horrible violence on screen, audiences are more likely to find themselves engaged by the familiar music, tapping their toes and bobbing their heads to the pulsating beat. In this way the music trivializes or, in a few cases, glorifies the violence in the program.
One of the best examples of this use of music occurred on 11/16/95. With James Brown's catchy Poppa Don't Take No Mess playing loudly over the scene, guest star Ice-T walks over to a man sitting in a car, who is later revealed to be a drug dealer, and shoots him at close range. Then he reaches into the car and cuts off the man's finger with a pair of hedge clippers. It was one of the most graphic images on all of television during the season. The camera lingers on the bloodied, maimed hand. All of this occurs without screams or dialogue with only the upbeat music in the background. All of these cinematic techniques serve to minimize the violence in the scene.
Another example was found on 2/15/96 when a pregnant jogger in a park is shot in the head and robbed while upbeat R&B/hip hop music plays. Once again the audience hears only the music. The rest of the program deals intelligently and responsibly with the crime that has been committed. Although the show explores the issue of the persecution of young black men by the police, viewers are more likely to remember and focus on the opening scene since it is so prominent and glorified compared with the rest of the episode.
As an earlier section of the report suggests, music can be an essential ingredient in either mitigating or aggravating the portrayed use of violence. New York Undercover is one of the few shows on television to feature popular music with recognizable lyrics. This may be an important part of the show's appeal to the audience. Although music can warn us of imminent violence or even lessen the need to show graphic portrayals, in New York Undercover the pulse and tone of the music and vocals, in addition to the muting of all but the violent sounds, serve to glorify scenes of horrific violence.
Occasionally certain questionable behaviors and tactics are glorified, even when used by the show's protagonists. Moreover, sometimes these acts are even rewarded. On 2/1/96, while investigating a series of arsons, detectives Torres and Williams tie up a corrupt construction contractor, dowse him with lighter fluid and threaten to set him on fire if he does not reveal the information they need. Fearing for his life, the contractor talks and the detectives get what they want without expressing remorse or receiving any punishment for their unethical and illegal behavior.
As an urban drama airing at 9:00 p.m., New York Undercover deserves some latitude in telling stories about the gritty underbelly of New York life. Last year that latitude was given and the show, although it did contain violence, did not raise concerns. This season the level of violence escalated and became more intense and ugly. Because of the glorification of violence and the use of music that frequently accentuated the violence, New York Undercover raised concerns ten of the 26 times it was monitored.
Walker, Texas Ranger (CBS)
The only series to raise frequent concerns both this year and last, Walker, Texas Ranger became a big hit for CBS this season. With the popular Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and Touched by an Angel as surprisingly effective lead-ins, Walker serves as an action showcase for Chuck Norris' martial arts skills. Though the producers would correctly argue that Norris adheres to a strong moral code in each episode and exercises his considerable combat skills only against deserving villains, each show is filled with many overly long scenes of intense violence.
The signature of the show is the promise of many long fight scenes in which Walker uses any physical means necessary to subdue his adversary. The typical Walker features six to 12 scenes of violence, many of which contain much hand-to-hand combat. One episode (1/13/96) was so violent that CBS issued an advisory twice during the program. This episode contained 12 scenes of violence and featured terrorists using many explosives, guns and other deadly weapons. The level and type of violence in some episodes of Walker exceeded what was found last season. Guns and other devices more lethal than Walker's fists are more evident this year. An episode on 3/9/96 portrayed a samurai sword fight in which Walker's opponent is slashed three times. After breaking for a commercial, the fight continues, finally ending when Walker kicks his foe off a suspended platform, impaling him on a spike below.
Although Walker is never one to shy away from a fight, he usually reserves punishment for deserving criminals who are about to elude his grasp. In an episode on 11/18/95 Walker comes upon a mob of thugs beating up a mentally disabled man behind a jail. Instead of arresting them, Walker takes on the mob in a graphic fist fight and wins. Then, the punishment meted out physically, Walker lets the attackers go rather than arresting them and allowing the legal system to run its course.
Another Walker that strayed from the norm was a 10/14/95 episode which featured more scenes of violence than any other this season. The program, with over 20 scenes of violence, became one in which the entire context of the program was violence and action.
Obviously, the Walker character is highly popular as audiences come to expect him to defend justice by doling out his own form of violent punishment. In many ways, Walker is a character similar to those played by Clint Eastwood or John Wayne. A frequent contextual problem is that the plot mainly serves to string together many scenes of violence portrayed heroically. A more common problem is the standard presence of glorified and prolonged scenes of hand-to-hand combat. Walker, Texas Ranger raised concerns 23 of the 27 times it was examined.
Kindred, the Embraced (Fox)
A mid-season replacement, Kindred, the Embraced came on the air in April. In keeping with the motif of "vampire chic" inspired by such works as Bram Stoker's Dracula and Interview with the Vampire, the program is extremely dark and sensualized. It tells the story of warring clans of vampires, some good, some evil, living in secret among the people of San Francisco, and of the cop (played by C. Thomas Howell) who has sworn to destroy them.
In light of the subject matter, it is not surprising that the show features a high level of violence. However, what is most disturbing is the high intensity and exceedingly macabre nature of the violence. In the 90-minute series debut airing at 8:00 p.m. on 4/2/96, the opening scene features three men, who later are discovered to be vampires, engaged in a violent battle on the rooftop of a building. After several heavy blows are exchanged, the scene culminates with two of the vampires overwhelming the third, pinning him down and plunging a television antenna into his chest. As the police arrive, the killers leap off the building and their victim bursts into flames. The same episode later shows a coroner, under the psychic control of a vampire, slicing open his own wrist with a scalpel as the vampire presses his fanged mouth to the gushing wound.
Other episodes such as the ones on 4/24/96 and 5/1/96 feature more grisly and unsettling violence such as beheadings and more severed wrists. A particularly troubling aspect of the violence in the show is the glorification of the vampires. Portrayed as lushly desirable and intriguing, these extremely violent characters are the most appealing aspect of the program. Both good and evil vampires find themselves embroiled in violent conflict in every episode, usually with each other. Of the seven episodes monitored, Kindred, the Embraced raised concerns five times.
Space: Above and Beyond (Fox)
This show--more than any other this season--raised the issue of "tonnage" or a constant barrage of violence. Though the violence is rarely as graphic or intense as what is found in Walker or Kindred, each episode is filled with non-stop fighting and conflict. Episodes of Space: Above and Beyond frequently contain over 15 separate scenes of violence. The show becomes one in which the entire context of the program is violence and action.
Space: Above and Beyond is a high-budget, science fiction, adventure drama set in the year 2063 after Earth has been attacked by a hostile alien race. The story is based on the experiences of a platoon of five rookie space Marines who are called into active duty to fight the aliens' onslaught. With the combination of excellent special effects, the science fiction theme, the young attractive cast and a Sunday at 7:00 p.m. time slot, the show is likely to attract a young audience, including children. In light of this fact, the program seems very much out of place. The story lines are complex and explore the darker side of human nature. There are extended scenes of very intense violence. As many as 19 scenes of violence were found in one 60-minute episode.
While some of these scenes are impersonal dogfights between spaceships, many are intense scenes of hand-to-hand combat. In an episode that aired on 1/7/96, a malfunctioning cyborg jams the palm of his hand into the face of a doctor knocking him to the ground. The cyborg then kicks the fallen doctor in the face and plunges a knife into his body five times. It is a disturbingly violent and graphic scene for any time and particularly for 7:00 p.m. on a Sunday evening.
The length of many of the combat scenes is far longer than required by the story. An episode on 2/18/96 highlights a battle scene that lasts for the entire last half of the program. Thematically this program is about violence, conflict and action. The context of the story contains little else. The time slot, one in which the other three networks carry children's or news programming, seems particularly ill-suited for Space: Above and Beyond. Of the 21 times it was examined, it raised concerns 12 times.
Nash Bridges (CBS)
Another mid-season replacement, Nash Bridges features Miami Vice's Don Johnson as the title character. Bridges is a streetwise San Francisco police inspector with two ex-wives and a rebellious teenage daughter. Nash Bridges is a cop show tempering lots of action with a sly sense of humor. In many ways Bridges is a lot like Chuck Norris' Walker although with a more developed, outgoing character. Bridges is both tough and likeable.
The violence in the show is typical for the police-action genre. Each episode is full of guns and fist fights. In the series debut on 3/29/96 there were over 15 scenes of violence in just one hour. In the episode aired on 3/30/96 a Chinese gang breaks into Bridges' apartment, and guns blaze nearly non-stop for the next minute and a half. Another example of prolonged gunfire is found in the episode on 4/5/96 in which the police conduct a drug sting. After the cops burst into the drug dealer's apartment, machine guns and pistols spray bullets back and forth for a full minute before Bridges bashes the criminal unconscious with a fire extinguisher. Although the program is aired at 10:00 p.m. and thus deserves some latitude in its violent content, long and excessive sequences emphasize the violence. Of eight episodes monitored, it raised concerns on three occasions.
JAG (NBC)
An action-oriented detective show with a military theme, JAG features the adventures of Lieutenant Harmon Rabb, Jr., a U.S. Navy lawyer in the Judge Advocate General's office, JAG for short. With the help of Lieutenant Meg Austin, Rabb is assigned the duty of investigating cases ranging from murder to drug dealing.
The first problem with JAG is the large number of violent scenes, often excessive in length. The second problem is that the combination of the U.S. Navy theme and the quest for justice leads to a glorified use of violence. One episode of JAG on 12/2/95 was filled with over 15 scenes of violence. In this episode, as in many others, much of the violence is less about developing the plot than inspiring a sense of patriotism in the audience.
Violence, from hand-to-hand combat to huge explosions to heavy amounts of gunfire, is an essential ingredient in the show. The violence seldom raises concerns due to intensity or graphicness but rather through quantity, glorification, the 8:00 p.m. time slot and scene length. The episode on 4/10/96 contained only one scene of violence but that scene, which occurred near the end and served as the culmination, contained seven separate explosions and much gunfire.
Another violent finale occurred in the episode on 10/21/95 in which the wife of the Thai ambassador tries to kill Rabb. After drugging him, she pulls out a knife and there is a closeup of her slashing his arm. As they struggle, Austin arrives and fights the crazed woman. The two women fight and wrestle each other to the ground until Austin is able to knock the woman unconscious by punching her in the face. This is a fairly typical fight scene for JAG.
The use of the upbeat, high-charged, patriotic music in the background of many scenes (reminiscent of old John Wayne war films) creates a sense of excitement and stimulation that glorifies the action on screen. Of the 20 times JAG was examined, it raised concerns six times.
American Gothic (CBS)
Following the success of Fox's eerie thriller, The X-Files, American Gothic represents CBS's effort to develop an intense program focusing on the supernatural. Like The X-Files, it aired on Friday nights at the beginning of the season.
A serial program set in the sleepy community of Trinity, South Carolina, American Gothic focuses on the ongoing struggle between good and evil that plagues this seemingly picture-perfect small town. Sheriff Lucas Buck, the show's main character, is a mysterious and wicked being who uses his strange and evil powers to manipulate and punish all those who do not bend to his will. In effect, he holds the town hostage to his capricious personality. His goal is to gain control over his only son Caleb, whom he fathered during a rape, so that he could pass on his legacy of evil. All that stands in the way of Buck's scheme are a reporter, a doctor and the spirit of Caleb's murdered sister.
With this kind of theme, it is not surprising that American Gothic was one of the darkest television series broadcast this season. This was its intent and the apparent reason it appealed to its audience. Like The X-Files, the heavy supernatural influence added to the overall unsettling feeling of the show and made it seem more violent than the number of scenes would otherwise indicate.
The actual number of violent scenes was never very high, particularly considering its 10:00 p.m. time slot. However, unlike JAG or Space: Above and Beyond, it was not the number that raised concerns but the macabre and brutal nature of some scenes that raised important issues. In the series debut on 9/22/95, a father viciously hits his mentally deranged teenage daughter over the head with a shovel. Although viewers do not see the shovel's impact, what has happened is clear and it is likely to cause a strong reaction from the audience. Sheriff Buck then enters the room to find the man standing over his daughter with a confused and frightened look on his face, not really comprehending what he has just done. Buck ushers him out of the room only to return and take the girl's head in his hands and twist it, breaking her neck and killing her. The episode was preceded by an advisory, but this type of brutal and malevolent violence, particularly with a child victim, raised considerable concerns.
American Gothic's opening credits often consist of a chaotic montage of scary and violent scenes. For example, at the beginning of one episode the viewer sees in the course of six seconds images of a human skull, a screaming boy, a spilled goblet of blood, a hand choking a woman, the cut-up face of what appears to be a possessed little boy, a demon's face transform into that of a man, a dollar bill splashed with blood, a body being thrown across the room as it is electrocuted, a window being shattered and a man trying to break down a door with a shovel. All of these scenes flash by while jarring, threatening music blares. This opening sequence gives the impression that the program is filled with ugly, violent scenes when in truth only a few of the episodes contained content of concern. Of the 12 times the show was monitored, three episodes raised concerns.
Melrose Place (Fox)
A highly stylized melodrama from prolific producer Aaron Spelling, Melrose Place focuses on the lives, work and loves of a group of young, attractive residents of an apartment complex on Melrose Avenue. Although it contained some violence that came close to raising concerns last season, ultimately it did not make the list of shows which raised occasional concerns. This season is a different story.
Not only is the violence intensified this season, but also there is much more of it. While most is typical fighting or brawling, some is particularly intense, often depicted in slow motion or accompanied by melodramatic music. In an episode on 9/18/95 the psychotic physician Kimberly stabs a therapist in the hand with a pencil. Although the scene was probably designed to show that Kimberly was at her wit's end, its main effect is to make the audience squirm in their seats. The next episode (9/20/95) features an intense struggle followed by a graphic shooting. The following episode (9/25/95) uses the same graphic scene to recap what happened in the previous episode.
Occasionally violence occurs in the dreams or fantasies of the characters. On the same 9/25/95 show, Kimberly's former husband Michael dreams of his ex-wife. In his dream she breaks out of her cell in a mental institution and then stabs him with a knife. On 1/15/96 Sydney fantasizes about pushing her sister Jane in a wheelchair into the street where she is graphically and noisily crushed by a fast-moving big truck. The 4/1/96 episode opens with another of Sydney's very violent dreams, this one involving her love interest being attacked by two hitmen. In the course of the scene there is a barrage of gunfire resulting in the death of the two Mafia thugs.
Scenes that last year might have ended with a slap to the face now conclude with characters crashing through chandeliers (10/23/95) or getting hit in the head with a hammer (4/15/96). Violence is present in most episodes of the show and frequently is portrayed in slow motion or with other special effects. Of the 32 times Melrose Place was examined, it raised concerns ten times.
SeaQuest 2032 (NBC)
The second incarnation of SeaQuest in three years, this season the underwater action/adventure show moved into the future, setting the program in the year 2032. The time shift meant that the previous captain of the submarine, Roy Scheider, had be to replaced by a new leader, the tougher-than-nails Michael Ironside.
Last season the plots containing action and violence raised occasional concerns, largely due to its 8:00 p.m. time slot. These problematic plots continued in the new futuristic setting of the show. The concerns this year were never related to the graphicness of the violence but rather to the prolonged and at times intense battle scenes in what is primarily a children's television show. Some of the episodes of SeaQuest contained ten or more scenes of violence. Many of the scenes are portrayed as "cool" and exciting. The episode on 11/1/95 contained nine scenes featuring stun guns, knives, a large whip, a metal bar and the ever-present lasers. One of the nine scenes lasted for close to two minutes. SeaQuest was monitored ten times, raising concerns on three occasions.
Due South (CBS)
Due South, which last season was on the list of shows raising frequent concerns about violence, was downgraded this year to the list of shows raising occasional concerns. Seemingly canceled at the end of last season, this joint Canadian-American production returned as a mid-season replacement program this year.
This is a police show with large doses of humor. The plot concerns a straight-laced Canadian Mountie who moves to Chicago where he is teamed up with a streetwise American cop. The humorous element arises out of the conflicting personalities and styles of the Mountie and the cop. As a police show, violence is inherent in the theme.
Last year the concerns centered on the 8:00 p.m. time slot; the frequently excessive, long scenes of violence near the end; and some occasional, intense violence that seemed out of context with the light, comic tone of much of the show. These same issues exist this season, though problematic violent scenes are fewer in number and less intense. There are still occasionally long scenes of excessive violence, sometimes lasting well over three minutes. Frequently, the show features unrealistic violence which is very exciting. Characters jump out of windows and dive through glass doors unscathed. Slow motion is often used to intensify scenes of action, such as those in which bodies fly through the air as the result of an explosion. At times the violence is accompanied by lighthearted or exciting music which tends to either trivialize or enhance the act.
One episode on 12/15/95 contained two scenes in which characters are shown being sliced with a knife close-up. Another show on 12/22/95 contained many scenes of violence featuring windows being smashed, punches and fist-fights, kicks, two people being shot, knives, falls, a car collision and a dog attack.
Much of the time the show successfully blends police action with humor. This is basically a lighthearted comedy that sometimes goes overboard in utilizing ugly, graphic and prolonged images of violence. All of these comments aside, Due South managed to blend action and comedy with fewer scenes of problematic violence far better in its second season than it did in the first. Consequently it only raised occasional concerns this season on four of the 16 times it was examined.
America's Funniest Home Videos/World's Funniest Videos (ABC)
As we predicted, a few people did react with "Oh, come on," to last year's placement of America's Funniest Home Videos on the list of programs with frequent concerns. Though not the program or type of violence many social scientists or governmental officials would cite when identifying television violence, we argued last year that the program does raise concerns and we still believe it does.
Midway through the season, America's Funniest Home Videos was joined by a sister show, World's Funniest Videos. Although the programs have different hosts, their format is identical and both use amateur home video clips. Since the issues they raise are exactly the same, we lump them together for this report while noting that the violence in the videos clips on World's Funniest Videos is more intense than on the older, more established America's Funniest Home Videos. Though the issues remain, the overall severity of the violence has lessened somewhat, accounting for the program's shift from the frequent concern list to the occasional concern group.
This is still a show about people, frequently children, bumping their heads, falling down or running into things. The video clips are accompanied by exaggerated sound effects and laughing audience reaction shots which send the message that what viewers see on the screen is really not very serious and does not hurt.
Viewers would probably think it tasteless to laugh when Greg Louganis hit his head on a diving board during an Olympic dive. But they do laugh when the same thing happens to an unfortunate diver in the 1/11/96 episode. Viewers would also be unlikely to laugh had they watched Christopher Reeves being thrown from his horse, resulting in serious injury. But a similar scene, without the injury, in America's Funniest Home Videos on 1/18/96 produces laughter.
The episode on 2/1/96 contained videos of a man who hits his head on a pole, a soccer player who runs into a goal post, three consecutive video clips of people hit in the groin and approximately 20 clips of people falling down or running into various objects. On 4/11/96 a heavy basketball backboard falls on the head of a player and, in one of the worst scenes ever, on 4/25/96 audiences laugh as a man stands too close to an open flame and catches on fire.
America's Funniest Home Videos continues to air in a Sunday at 7:00 p.m. time slot which historically has been mandated by the FCC for news, public affairs or children's programming. Though the show has shown some improvement from last year, it still presents disturbing videos of violence with no context. The programs raised concerns 11 out of 40 times.
The Simpsons (Fox)
The Simpsons continues to be one of the most popular satires on television. Last year the show appeared on the list of programs with occasional problems because of intense and grisly violence that, while satirical, was likely to go over the heads of the considerable number of children in the audience of this 8:00 p.m. program. There is no question that the use of bright animation, funny voices and stories often told from the child's point of view all contribute to making this a popular program among children. Adults are usually able to discern satire from reality but children have a harder time doing so.
The concerns about The Simpsons, occasional though they be, do not arise from the slaps, kicks, brawling or other staples of animation. Instead they result from the sometimes intense, extraordinarily graphic images--such as dismemberments, stabbings, and beheadings--occasionally found in this satire of America set in the town of Springfield in an unidentified and unidentifiable state.
The best example of the excessive violence is found in "The Itchy and Scratchy Show," a cartoon about an animated mouse and cat. They are characters in the most popular cartoon on Krusty the Klown's after-school cartoon show that Bart and Lisa Simpson watch. Based on cartoon characters Tom and Jerry, Itchy and Scratchy are a spoof of the ultra-violent cartoons many adults grew up watching as kids. They take the extreme cartoon violence and raise it to a new and ridiculous level. Within this context, adults can appreciate the satire. However, children only see Itchy and Scratchy as extremely violent cartoons that Bart, Lisa and even Homer love. Several seasons ago, Marge (the mother) registered her dismay at these violent cartoons and, in a satire of Terry Rakolta (a Michigan mother who campaigned to get violence off of television), wrote to advertisers protesting their sponsorship of such violent programming. The sponsors listened and the cartoons disappeared, but Marge realized that she had gone too far and had become a censor, which was never her intent. In the subsequent season, Itchy and Scratchy made a movie which was filled with nothing but violence. Last season the cartoon mouse and cat opened a theme park, Itchy and Scratchy Land, "The Violentest Place on Earth." As an adult satire this works. For children, it may be nothing more than ultra-graphic images of violence that are made to appear laughable.
This is not the typical animated violence found in old cartoons in which a character is shot at close range creating a gaping hole in the midsection which is then quickly healed. On 10/1/95 Itchy breaks a bottle and stabs Scratchy in the chest, causing blood to pour out of Scratchy's chest onto the pavement. Other disturbing scenes involve the tormented cat being stabbed in the eye with the Seattle Space Needle (10/8/95) and being set on fire (3/17/96). On 10/15/95 Scratchy's stomach is cut open.
Bart and Lisa are always shown laughing at the gruesome cartoon. The satirical intent is clear to adults but lost on the large number of children viewing. As the report stated last year, The Simpsons works as an adult satire and if it were scheduled for adults and had mainly adults in its audience, it would raise few concerns. However, this is not the case. There is no way to ignore or not take seriously these images which are some of the most violent on television. Of the 26 times The Simpsons was monitored, the show raised concerns six times.
Charlie Grace (ABC)
Airing on Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m., Charlie Grace features Mark Harmon as the title character, an ex-cop turned private detective in Southern California. Trying to capture a film noire feeling with a 90's twist, Grace is a hard-boiled, upright private detective with a sensitive side that is brought out by his almost-teenage daughter.
At its core, Charlie Grace is a lighthearted drama with the comedic and action elements that are typical of this genre. The principal concerns raised by the show were the occasional instances of heavy gunplay (10/19/95), fist fights (9/14/95) and glorified violence, particularly for this early time slot. The program would have raised fewer concerns at 9:00 p.m. Of the seven times it was monitored, it raised concerns twice.
An in-depth discussion of particular issues in prime time series television follows. It should be noted that several of the matters discussed below were addressed in last year's report. We repeat them this year because, while we have distinguished and addressed new and interesting issues from the 1995-96 television season, several of those that were raised last year are compelling and important enough to warrant continued consideration this year. Several of these issues, when appropriate, have been updated and illustrated with examples taken from this season. However, in instances in which we felt that a better example existed in the first year of monitoring, we were compelled to use it to better illuminate the issue.
The 1995-96 season produced some of the best drama ever to appear on television. The overall quality of shows such as NYPD Blue, Chicago Hope, E.R., Law & Order, Homicide, Murder One and Fox's 9:00 p.m. Party of Five (the Fox network does not have a 10:00 p.m. time slot) reached new heights this season.
These are shows featuring vivid, fully drawn, multidimensional characters who have complex personalities that unfold as the season develops. Though these shows frequently contain scenes of violence (as shows dealing with the real world would be expected to), they rarely, if ever, raise concerns about how they use violence. The ways in which they portray violence and the lessons that can be learned from these shows will be detailed in the following section.
But these are not just shows that deal with violence well. They contain some of the highest quality drama created by Hollywood. Considering that a two-hour motion picture takes a year or more to produce while a program like Chicago Hope produces 22 high-quality hours a season, it is an tribute to the talent of the creators and writers. Many episodes of Homicide and Law & Order are as well written and compelling as some feature films.
Certain genres of television programming and feature films frequently combine elements of violent action and comedy. This is different from the use of slapstick violence in situation comedies or the hyperbolic "real" violence found in the Naked Gun films where the violence itself is the joke. Instead, in these instances, the humor simply accompanies the violence, typically in the form of dry, snappy dialogue during violent encounters. Detective shows like Charlie Grace, Nash Bridges and Due South are the types of programs that most often feature this blend of comedy and violence. This union of themes often has the effect of enhancing the characters' appeal, making them appear cool under pressure. However, it also functions to trivialize the violence, much of which is, in reality, very serious. Incorporating comedy into such dangerous and potentially lethal violence as fist fights, gun battles and car chases makes the violence seem lighthearted and inconsequential. Scientific research and logic indicate that this can have the effect in viewers of lessening their inhibitions against violence by making it appear less serious than it really is as well as glorifying it. By detracting from the severity and consequences of violence, certain audience members could become desensitized to this type of violence and view it as more acceptable. This is of particular concern when it occurs in earlier time slots because of children's greater susceptibility to such perceptual influences.
E.R. was the breakout hit of the 1994-95 television season. It finished number two in the Nielsen ratings for the entire season last year and this year it finished in first place. Created by author, director and physician Michael Crichton and produced by John Wells, it was the first medical show in years to become popular and restored much of the lost luster to television drama. Chicago Hope was produced by David Kelley, the Emmy Award-winning writer and producer of L.A. Law and the creative force behind Picket Fences.
Both series run at 10:00 p.m. and raise interesting issues regarding context and definitions of violence. Both are set in hospitals and E.R., of course, is specifically set in an emergency room. It is one of those odd coincidences that both also take place in Chicago. It is not surprising, in light of the producers' intent and approach, that both shows deal with and necessarily show very graphic portrayals of the consequences of violence.
Very early last season, we had to deal with scenes of doctors using scalpels to cut into patients. We had to decide whether these were scenes of violence and, if so, how to classify them. This is where the soundness of the contextual analysis of violence became most apparent. We clearly felt that under no circumstances could a scene with a doctor using a scalpel to save someone's life ever be construed as a scene of problematic violence. Early last season we saw an episode of Chicago Hope in which a doctor makes a long incision into an abdomen during surgery. The camera zoomed in very close and, as the scalpel moved, the viewer could see blood rise to the surface of the skin. It was an extraordinary special effect likely to make many of those watching squirm. While it was an extremely graphic image, it could not be categorized as problematic violence. The context lets us know that this is a beneficial act designed to save a life. The same scene of a scalpel cutting, however, would have been one of the most horrific scenes of violence possible if the knife had been held by a terrorist or a murderer. The difference between a non- problematic violent act and a horrific act of violence has nothing to do with the close-up itself. It is the surrounding context that determines whether the act is interpreted as life-saving or sadistic.
Medical shows frequently contained scenes similar to the one described above. We expect to see scalpels and blood in medical shows as part of the context. In both shows, there was only one case over the past two seasons that raised some concerns, Chicago Hope on 10/20/94. In this episode a man walks into the hospital and opens fire with a gun. The scene, in depicting the consequences of the gun fire, uses overly graphic and disturbing images of blood spurting and gushing from the victim's neck. Although the show is based on realistic themes and is intended to demonstrate consequences, the extraordinary amount of gushing blood served more to illustrate special effects than to advance the story. Together the two shows were examined 25 times this seasons and never raised any concerns: an impressive record.
This is yet another of the new hits of this television season. 3rd Rock (the Earth is the third planet from the Sun) is about the adjustments a group of aliens must make when they arrive on Earth. It is filled with comedy and social satire about the Earth's strange ways as seen by the aliens. In one episode on 2/6/96, the female alien uses pliers to grab the groin of a chauvinistic mechanic, thereby attracting his attention. This is a scene played completely for laughs which is not meant to be taken seriously. While the extremity of this act was more severe in comparison to the other slapstick acts of violence in the program, it did not raise serious issues with regard to violence. Although this particular scene was not problematic, this points to a noteworthy issue. While comedy does deserve (and gets) some latitude, somewhere a scriptwriter decided that there would be a scene where a character's crotch is grabbed with pliers to make the audience laugh. This incident raises the issue of laughing at people getting hurt. Of all the ways we can be made to laugh, this is the one the producers choose in this episode. Whereas this specific example was not serious enough to be a problem, there exists the potential for inappropriate uses of violence in comedy.
A handful of shows monitored this season raised issues regarding their opening credits. While two of those programs--American Gothic and Real Stories of the Highway Patrol--are specifically described elsewhere in this report, we felt that they deserved a more in-depth discussion.
Typically, television programs open with scenes that introduce the story of the ensuing episode or recap continuing story lines. At the scene's conclusion, it moves to the opening credits which usually consist of a montage of clips set to a theme song. In most instances, the principal function of these clips is to gain viewers' interest by establishing the basic premise of the program. Some programs vary their opening credits as the season progresses, only featuring a particular collection of clips for a few episodes. Other programs use the same credits throughout the season.
The opening credits of a handful of series this season raised issues. These programs each frequently feature credits containing as many as ten successive violent images in the course of six seconds. The opening credits for Walker, Texas Ranger feature Chuck Norris smashing through the windshield of a car and kicking an object out of the hand of a man, two explosions, Norris' sidekick punching a man and a gun fired toward the camera.
Because of the rapid-fire nature of most credits, little or no context is supplied for these acts of violence. They are little more than a string of violent interactions. This raises an issue similar to one discussed later in the section on promotions, namely, that opening credits of this type use decontextualized violence to sell the program.
In a related issue, at the end of each episode of the program Deadly Games (discussed later in the section on the emerging networks), the most violent clips from that episode are featured in its concluding credits. Although this does not raise the same issue of selling the program with violence, it does function to highlight only the most violent aspects of the program. This does represent a new technique in which the purpose of the closing credits of a show is to capture and hold the audience's attention, in this case using violence to that end.
f. Repetition of a Scene of Violence within an Episode of a Series
This is a technique primarily found on Unsolved Mysteries and some tabloid news programs in which an episode may play the same scene of violence three or more times. Some of the tabloid news programs, as evidenced by an episode of American Journal on 5/24/96, play the same action or violent scene as many as five times in a single episode. On the 12/8/95 episode of Unsolved Mysteries, a team of Oakland police officers is ambushed by drug dealers and a gunfight breaks out. The scene is shown twice. A scene on 11/17/95 in which a man attacks his ex-wife with a knife is shown three times (once as a preview and twice during the account).
While neither of these scenes raised issues of concern with regard to the on-screen presentation of the violence, it is worth noting that the scene of violence was the one they chose to replay. While in the first Unsolved Mysteries example cited above we found that this technique lent itself to effective storytelling and to the emphasis of a point, in the other example it was completely gratuitous and only had the effect of showcasing the most violent element of the program.
g. Beverly Hills 90210 (Fox) and Shows That Rarely Contain Violence
Sometimes a show that rarely deals with issues of violence will air a program with a violent theme. This raises a very interesting question. The show develops a reputation as one that seldom, if ever, contains violence. Viewers get used to this, rely on it and perhaps it is a major reason they like the show. When, because of violence, a particular episode is out of step with the entire series, is it inappropriate because it is not what viewers expect? Or because the show so seldom raises these issues, is it afforded a measure of latitude occasionally to expand its themes or move in a slightly different direction?
This issue was raised last season in a Beverly Hills 90210 episode aired 1/18/95. The show is about the interpersonal relationships of a group of college students attending California University in Los Angeles. Rarely does this show deal with issues of violence, although in the past there have been occasional episodes dealing with timely subjects such as date rape. One of the plot lines of the show last season was the way in which Dylan McKay dealt with losing his fortune to swindlers. The viewer sees him return to alcohol and engage in self-destructive behaviors. Toward the middle of the season, he learns that the couple who stole his money is in a Latin American country. He travels there for a confrontation to recover his wealth.
The entire episode is very much out of character for Beverly Hills 90210. Dylan hooks up with a somewhat shady investigator and the show more closely resembles a B-grade detective film than an episode of Beverly Hills 90210. The show culminates in a fight scene with fists flying, sword fighting and gun fire. Similarly, a later episode in the season features Dylan, in a hypnotic spell, reliving a past life in the Old West in which there is also gun fighting. Dylan himself is killed in the final scene.
The issue arose again this season in an episode aired on 11/8/95 in which Dylan's wife is mistakenly killed by a bullet meant for Dylan. The scene of violence, which had the potential to be extremely graphic, was very well handled, showing no more than was necessary to the plot. However, the fact remains that this type of violence is more lethal and brutal than viewers might reasonably expect to see on this program.
Violence is out of character for these kinds of shows, but they deserve a measure of latitude, particularly as they search for new directions. While the show rarely features much violence, the level of violence must still be fairly non-graphic and tame for it not to raise concerns. These types of shows are subject to the same general standards to which all shows are held. Though out of character episodes such as those mentioned above in Beverly Hills 90210 could raise concerns, these particular ones did not.
h. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (NBC) and "Real Violence" on a Comedy Show
The Fresh Prince is about the character played by the likable Will Smith who lives with his relatives in Bel Air in a show reminiscent of the old Beverly Hillbillies. This is a comedy that draws heavily on the considerable talents of Smith who plays off of his rich and stuffy relatives and friends. Although it uses a fair amount of slapstick comedy, it never raises serious concerns about its use of violence.
In a two-part episode last season (2/6/95, 2/13/95), Will was shot. These episodes add a somber and scary note to an otherwise lighthearted show. Even though it was out of character for the show, in no sense does the violence of the shooting raise any concern. It might catch young viewers off guard and add an element of unpleasantness into an otherwise pleasant show. This is exactly the intent of the producers and they do it well. The violence is jarring. Viewers do not expect to see our favorite characters shot, just as they do not expect to see their friends or family members shot. The shooting is not sensationalized and the consequences of the act are seen. Will and his family learn first-hand about the devastating effects of violence. Everything in this "special" episode is an attempt to deal responsibly with violence in our everyday lives. M*A*S*H, for example, was quite effective at this by mixing comedy and the tragedy of violence in a thought-provoking way. While the intrusion of violence into comedies may disturb some viewers, responsibly portrayed violence is exactly the kind of thing television should do more often.
Reading the above analysis might give the impression that prime time series are filled with violent themes. In fact, only a few shows this season consistently raised issues about violence. Many shows impressed us with how well they were able to convey conflict and grittiness without resorting to excessive or contextually inappropriate uses of violence. As mentioned earlier, the 10:00 p.m. dramas were particularly outstanding in how they handled violent themes while almost never resorting to excessive, graphic images or gratuitous or glorified violence. The work of Steven Bochco, David Kelley, Steven Spielberg and John Wells was especially notable in its sensitive handling of violence. It is encouraging to see that violence can be portrayed so responsibly and thoughtfully.
An entire season of monitoring NYPD Blue 21 times, Picket Fences 12 times, Chicago Hope 14 times, E.R. 11 times, Homicide 22 times, and Law & Order 11 times produced only one inappropriate portrayal of violence. Although these shows deal with themes containing violence, they generally do so by portraying violence in a way that is not overly graphic, is relevant to the story and is in a time period suitable for such themes. There is much to commend in these shows and they should serve as models for how to deal with violence in an intelligent and responsible manner. In the following analyses we have tried to explain what we feel is impressive in these shows. The three programs that were commended in last year's report continue to be high quality shows, often with violent themes, that seldom raise concerns about how they portray violence. The three shows repeating from last year are:
NYPD Blue (ABC)
Envisioned as broadcast television's first R-rated drama, NYPD Blue consistently deals with violent themes in a responsible manner. Famous for its use of some semi-nudity and explicit (for network television) language, the show was never found to be irresponsible in its use of violence. Many people unfamiliar with the show associate it with other police shows containing explicit violence. Those who watch NYPD Blue know that it contains little violence and, when it does address violent themes, they are always completely relevant to the story.
Based on the experiences of New York City Police Department detectives, the show necessarily deals with violence. It would not be possible to portray the lives of New York cops without frequently dealing with violence. Unlike the policemen portrayed on older police shows such as Adam-12, the officers are not completely virtuous. Pushed to the wall by the pressures of their dangerous jobs, the officers struggle and occasionally act brutally when arresting or extracting confessions from suspects.
The show also deals extensively with the psychological causes and consequences of violence. Violence is depicted as a realistic part of daily life in the city. However, the show is not overrun by guns. The violence, such as slaps or threats, is often born of frustration. Although the police officers frequently consider violent action, they typically demonstrate restraint.
Violence is portrayed as problematic. The police are depicted as human and multi-dimensional characters. The bad guys are not pure evil. This leads to a responsible and realistic handling of violence. The producers understand that it is not necessary to show graphic scenes of violence in order to deal with violence in the show.
Every act of violence portrayed in NYPD Blue is contextually appropriate. Nothing is excessive, everything is realistic and the consequences are always shown. NYPD Blue is close to a textbook example of how to deal with violent material and others can benefit by studying its methods.
Homicide (NBC)
Homicide contains few scenes of violence and some episodes contain none at all. Frequently scenes are nothing more than already dead bodies that are used to set up a homicide investigation. The show is often a murder mystery that does not even depict the murder. The focus of the program is typically on the investigation and psychological dimensions of the crime and not on the graphic and exciting nature of the violent act itself. Like NYPD Blue, Homicide presents a world in which violence and conflict are prevalent in urban life.
Almost all of the violence is realistic and demonstrates consequences. Frequently action is taken to prevent violence. Homicide effectively avoids gratuitous violence while at the same time portraying the gritty reality of urban life.
Law & Order (NBC)
"In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate but equally important groups: the police, who investigate, and district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories." With this statement, Law & Order begins. This is an unusual show which dedicates approximately half of its one-hour program to a police investigation and the other half to the follow-up prosecution of the case. The goal of the show is to depict the justice system in a realistic light. This is achieved through character and plot development which is gritty, intense and illustrates consequences.
Typically, Law & Order will feature one act of violence at the beginning of the show. This is usually the crime which is being investigated, which acts as the story line's driving force. Thus, this act of violence is always contextually appropriate (as are all of the other violent acts in the show). More often than not the crime itself is not seen, and the audience is presented with the aftermath of the violent action, i.e., a "dirty dead body." Moreover, the consequences of the violence are dealt with in a commendable manner. One example of the show's admirable portrayal of consequences occurred the season finale airing on 5/22/96. In this episode the four main characters are witnesses to a state execution. The remainder of the show is dedicated to how the characters deal with what they have seen: two turn to alcohol, one has a brief affair and the other questions the law and even her own job. In speaking with one of her old law professors, she says, "...what happened this morning will stick with me for the rest of my life."
In attempting to make the show true to life, it occasionally portrays the police as bullying some suspects with threatening language or physical coercion. In one episode, a police officer pushes a suspect during an interrogation. However, these acts are never overdone or gratuitous in nature.
Law & Order integrates violence into the plot in a responsible fashion. The violent acts are not heroic, glamorized or prolonged. Law & Order substitutes graphic images and realistic consequences that work in tandem to give the program a more violent feel without having to show the violent act. The dramatic edge is provided by the detailed rigors of police investigations, which often create mysteries that the District Attorney's office must solve. Then, the dramatic tension is continued by the atmosphere of the courtroom in which a verdict of guilt or innocence is never predictable. This is a cop show without a lot of violence and yet it has compelling elements that keep its viewers riveted to the show.
In addition to the three shows from last year that deal with violence well, there are four programs that were added to the list:
Matt Waters (CBS)
A mid-season replacement show which ran for six episodes, Matt Waters stars daytime talk show host Montel Williams as a strong-willed, moralistic, yet understanding ex-Marine turned high school teacher in the inner city. In each episode Waters provides wisdom and support for his students in dealing with important social issues ranging from domestic abuse to teen pregnancy to racism. Earnestly attempting to capture the richness as well as the grit and danger of urban America, the show thoughtfully deals with any and all of the violence that occurs in the program.
In an episode on 1/17/96, after a drive-by shooting at the school endangers students, Waters teaches them about the problem of becoming desensitized to violence. He takes a group of teenagers to a hospital emergency room on a Friday night where they learn about the importance of life and the destructive effects of violence. In this episode, all of the scenes containing violence were extremely well handled. Nothing was in any way gratuitous or prolonged and it was all contextually relevant to the story.
Although the program is occasionally preachy, Matt Waters deserves to be lauded for seriously and responsibly dealing with important social topics, many of which involve violence. Regrettably, the show did not find an audience and was canceled. We hope that more programs will follow in the mold of Matt Waters and find an audience.
Chicago Hope (CBS) and E.R. (NBC)
Similar in premise, both Chicago Hope and E.R. follow the lives and work of doctors in Chicago hospitals. Both are high quality shows featuring strong characters and well crafted stories. Focusing on the treatment of injury and disease, both programs necessarily include a degree of violence as patients are often the victims of attacks, car accidents, fire and other incidents. Sometimes the acts of violence occur in the hospital itself and are directed against the medical staff. Both programs deal with the full consequences of violence, making it clear that death or permanent injury is a result of violence and that the toll on the victims, their families and friends and the doctors themselves is usually devastating.
On the occasions when violence is portrayed within the shows, both Chicago Hope and E.R. have handled it with commendable gravity and realism. An episode of Chicago Hope on 1/22/96 contained the most realistic depiction of an explosion and its consequences that was seen all season. Unlike what was seen in many theatrical films, the explosion on Chicago Hope was in no way stylized or glamorized. It was shown as a horrible event with horrendous consequences. Typically when something explodes on television the explosion is filmed in slow motion from multiple angles as red, yellow and orange billows of fire and smoke unfold across the screen. However, an episode of Chicago Hope, in which an extremist anti-abortion organization bombs a clinic, was handled in a manner that in no way glamorized the explosion. Instead, viewers were confronted with a realistic blast and its effects, thereby achieving a far more dramatic impact than if it had been treated in a typical action manner.
At no time during the season did either program raise any issues in terms of violence. All violence contained in either show was integral to the development of characters and plot. It was also portrayed in a realistic manner that fully dealt with the consequences of the violence.
High Incident (ABC)
One of the first television shows developed by the new studio Dreamworks SKG, High Incident is executive produced by Steven Spielberg. A cop show focusing on a group of LAPD officers, High Incident follows the police as they patrol the city investigating and solving crimes.
Although it contains more scenes of violence, is more graphic and less gritty than NYPD Blue, High Incident handles violence in the same commendable way. Emphasizing the development of its characters far more than the violence they face is a defining characteristic of the show. The program portrays violence realistically with long-term consequences. In the debut episode, an officer is gunned down by a motorist. His partner witnesses the attack and is forced to shoot and kill the motorist. The wounded police officer dies as blood pours from his throat. The rest of the episode as well as the next few episodes of the program deal with the heavy emotional toll the policeman's death has on the department and especially on the partner. The devastated partner experiences fear for his life on the job and mourns the death of his fellow officer, so much so that he is forced to see the department psychologist. The entire account focuses on the consequences of the violence rather than the actual incident which only served to establish the story line.
SUMMARY:
These dramatic series are commendable not because they avoid dealing with violence. Most comedies do this. What is so impressive about these shows is that they achieve a high level of grittiness and excitement without overemphasizing violence. A recommendation that a police or hospital show simply avoid violence would be unrealistic given the demands of the genre. These shows deal with violent themes but consistently do so in a contextually appropriate manner. Some conclusions we have drawn regarding responsible depictions of violence are as follows:
1) Violence is a part of city life. These shows understand that violence does occur in twentieth century urban America. They do not have to invent unusual or unrealistic ways of portraying violence.
2) The violence must be realistic. When violence is depicted on these shows, it is never exaggerated, cartoonish or sanitized and the consequences are shown.
3) Characters who commit violent acts do not do so easily and frequently demonstrate remorse. Violence does not exist in a vacuum. Rarely do police officers shoot or kill suspects, even guilty ones, and call it a day. Deciding to commit a violent act can be difficult. Often a character struggles with other options before resorting to violence. After committing a violent act, one often undergoes a painful process of self-examination and reflection.
4) It is not always necessary for the audience to see the violence. Violence need not always be shown in order to make a point, advance the plot or develop a particular character. Graphically depicting violence is seldom necessary and often serves merely to sensationalize rather than illuminate.
5) It is more difficult to write and produce these kinds of shows than typical action shows.
These shows require the creation of multi-dimensional characters whose actions are not always predictable. The characters cannot be superficially drawn because viewers have to understand their backgrounds and personalities in order to comprehend their actions. More traditional action shows, on the other hand, can use simplistic characters who reflexively resort to violence as the solution to problems.
These guidelines point to ways in which programs can effectively deal with violent themes in an contextually appropriate manner that rarely, if ever, raises concerns.
This is a new section of the report. Last season there was only one issue that arose in a television special. About midway through the American Comedy Awards on 3/6/95 Ellen DeGeneres presented the award for best motion picture comedy. Clips from each of the nominated films were shown beginning with The Santa Clause, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Forrest Gump. Then a clip was shown from Quentin Tarentino's Pulp Fiction. The clip that was chosen featured John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in the front seat of a car and a petty criminal in the back seat, held as prisoner. Holding a gun on the hostage, Travolta accidentally shoots him in the face, killing him and splattering massive amounts of blood and brain all over the car.
What was surprising was that such a violent clip was chosen, particularly in a television special with many children as well as unsuspecting adults in the audience. This was especially troublesome because it was included in a sequence of harmless clips taken from films that had family and youth appeal. Ironically, when Travolta and Jackson appeared on late night television talk shows to promote Pulp Fiction, they used a completely non-violent clip in which Travolta explains the difference between the McDonald's hamburger menu in France and in America. The clip used in the American Comedy Awards show was jarring and inappropriate for the context of the comedy awards and the audience. It was also a problem because there was nothing in the title or format of the show that would cause a viewer to expect a scene of such extreme violence.
Despite the problems cited above, the scene was an aberration and no other specials raised issues of concern. Therefore, there was no reason to focus on them or create a separate section in the report.
This season, however, specials have raised several issues. Two similar specials airing on different networks have raised exactly the same concerns and warrant being identified and discussed in this report. Both of these specials, airing on CBS and Fox, use real and re-created clips of animals attacking and, in some cases, killing and eating human beings.
On 1/25/96 CBS broadcast The World's Most Dangerous Animals Part I and on 5/7/96 Part II. CBS also broadcast on 5/21/96 World's Most Dangerous.... On 4/28/96 Fox aired When Animals Attack at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday night and then re-aired the show on 5/6/96. All of the specials were almost identical in format and featured a mixture of real and re-created footage of animals attacking people. The programs were reminiscent of the popular home video rental title Faces of Death which purports to be actual footage of people caught in the act of dying through falling, electrocution, suicide and, in some cases, from attacks by dangerous animals. Playing to the same morbid human fascination that leads people to gawk at auto accidents, both programs appeal to a perverse and voyeuristic aspect of human nature.
In some cases film footage of the exact same event was used in both programs. Video of a circus elephant in Honolulu going on a wild rampage, attacking several people, was shown in both programs. The scene begins with the elephant going wild and, when the trainer tries to stop the elephant, he is gored and crushed. The scene goes on, showing the elephant punishing and stomping a circus hand, kicking him in the head and tossing him around like a rag doll. The scene then shifts to outside the circus where the elephant charges another man, sending him flying to the ground. Quite graphic, the video shows a real person (the trainer) dying on camera. At the conclusion of the video clip, the elephant too is killed by gunfire from authorities unable to subdue the rampaging animal. The graphic video is accentuated by the fact that viewers know that what they are watching is real and that the victims are really hurt and, in one case, killed.
Other scenes in the specials show tigers attacking their trainers, bears mauling people, sharks biting divers and pitbulls attacking bystanders.
Some of the video re-creates animal attacks on humans. One such re-enactment in The World's Most Dangerous Animals depicts a woman being attacked by a crocodile. Viewers see the woman swimming in an African river and then the camera cuts to the lurking reptile. Suddenly the animal attacks, biting down on the woman's arm. Screaming, the woman is pulled under and billows of blood cloud the water. A man comes to help the woman and, as he is pulling her from the river, the image of the crocodile's mouth clamped down on her bloody arm is shown on screen. Ultimately, the woman loses her arm but keeps her life. As she is shown staggering away from the scene of the attack, the camera returns to the crocodile's menacing grin as it lies in wait for its next victim.
These specials are filled with dozens of images of ferocious animals attacking human beings. When Animals Attack was preceded with a strongly worded advisory: "The following program contains graphic real-life footage of animals attacking humans. Viewer discretion is strongly advised." The advisory was repeated after the opening sequence and near the end of the program, before the elephant attack. While the use of advisories is necessary and appropriate, it is not sufficient to alleviate concerns. It is also important to note that the Fox special aired at 7:00 on Sunday night, a time when the audience is likely to be filled with many children.
The CBS special The World's Most Dangerous Animals also issued an advisory: "Certain images in our program may be disturbing to some viewers." This advisory, however, rather than being issued in full screen or spoken, was scrolled quickly at the bottom of the screen. The other CBS special, World's Most Dangerous..., ran the same advisory in the same manner.
These are frightening and disturbing programs. While there is admittedly a human fascination with this kind of programming, these are just showcases for exploitative video footage of people being attacked and occasionally killed. The programming of a television network should not seek to emulate a car wreck at the side of the road.
The Discovery Channel also exploits this human interest in animal violence. The highest ratings for Discovery occur during "Shark Week." While the documentaries featured during "Shark Week" contain interviews with people attacked by sharks and offer many images of menacing sharks, they also offer scientific insight into what is known about sharks. They are not merely videos and re-creations of sharks attacking people. The Discovery Channel's documentaries may appeal to some of the same instincts that attract viewers to the dangerous animals specials, but they offer more than shot after shot of carnage.
The dangerous animal specials on CBS and Fox this season are programs that, more than just scaring children, are likely to terrify them. While almost all of the content featuring violence on broadcast television is fictional, a fact that can serve to reassure the audience that what they are watching is "just a story," this is not the case with these specials. Some of these specials were rerun on their respective networks.
An interesting violence issue arose in one of the most unlikely of places, The People's Choice Awards, which aired on CBS on 3/10/96. This is an awards show that uses Gallup polls to determine the pubic's favorite stars, movies and television programs. Part of this year's program was a "Lifetime Achievement" award given to actor Michael Douglas. Preceding the award to Douglas was a montage of some of his most memorable acting roles. One of the clips came from one of his best known films, Fatal Attraction. The selected scene shows Glenn Close, believed to be drowned in a bath tub, lunge to life and attack Douglas, only to be stopped when Douglas' wife, Anne Archer, shoots Close in the chest with a revolver.
It is both very intense and graphic. What is most interesting, however, it that in a montage tribute to Michael Douglas, it is a scene that barely shows Douglas and absolutely does not showcase his acting talents. Surely many other scenes in the film would have done a better job of serving as a tribute to Douglas. The scene is, however, one of the most violent in the film and that appears to be the reason it was selected. One is left with the feeling that the opportunity to highlight a very violent scene was considered more important than assembling an appropriate tribute to Michael Douglas.
Beginning in the 1970s, movies of the week (MOWs) and mini-series became a staple of broadcast network television. Some of the most memorable moments of the past 25 years of television come from this format. Similar in many ways to theatrical films, but specifically written and produced for television, movies of the week and mini-series began as an important forum for the discussion of society's concerns and problems. Earlier mini-series and movies, such as Roots, Holocaust, Something About Amelia, The Day After and The Burning Bed, not only captured extremely high ratings and many Emmy awards, they also sparked valuable national discussions about slavery, the attempted extermination of the Jews, incest, nuclear war and spousal abuse.
Originally intended as "events" in a television world largely comprised of series, they quickly became a regular part of television programming and have lost some of their luster. Television movies abandoned important and provocative themes and soon settled into a "disease of the week" format. At the same time, mini-series, intended to be television's blockbuster events, frequently seemed inflated in length and concept.
One important difference between MOWs and theatrical films is the speed with which MOWs can be brought to the television screen. While a feature film may require one to two years of production, a MOW can be conceptualized, produced and aired in a matter of months, and even less in some cases. Now, many MOWs specialize in bringing very recent events to the small screen. Within months of the resolution of the Amy Fisher case, three networks aired television movies on this sensationalized story. NBC authorized a television movie on the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas and it was half-way completed before anyone knew whether the followers of David Koresh would get out alive. Whatever the outcome, the television movie would air. Fox aired The O.J. Simpson Story during the early days of the trial. Next season promises at least one television movie on the Unabomber and his solitary life in a Montana shack, and probably one or more on the explosion of TWA Flight 800.
As discussed in the history section, MOWs and mini-series in the May 1993 sweeps period were a major source of the belief that television violence had reached new heights. Most of the concern, but not all, was focused on the fact-based television movies claiming to be "based on a true story."
We went back and looked at earlier MOWs and mini-series programming, including some shows from the May 1993 sweeps, and saw that there has been progress since then. This is an area over which the networks have total control, and advertiser and political pressure may have influenced them to make some changes in this area.
Last season we monitored 161 television movies and mini-series. This season the number swelled to 198, an increase of 23%. There was no sampling with regard to television movies. Every one of the 198 movies was viewed in its entirety and examined to determine whether it raised concerns about its use of violence.
Last year 23 of 161 television movies were found to raise concerns, a rate of 14%. This year, despite the significant increase in the number of television movies, 20 were found to raise concerns, a rate of 10%. Clearly, there has been some improvement in this area of television programming. It is encouraging that while the number of television movies increased, both the number and the percentage of films causing problems dropped. Last season this was found to be one of the areas of broadcast television most free of problems. There was less room for improvement here than in other areas such as theatrical films, on-air promotions and children's programming. Yet, this year's study reveals that there has been some improvement. Also of note is the fact that television movies still seem to be the one type of programming for which the networks are most reluctant to use advisories. Although only a small percentage of these movies raised concerns, those that did were almost always lacking advisories.
The first part of this section will discuss some particularly relevant examples of programs that raise concerns. The second part will delineate some issues and themes which run through most of the programs that raise concerns.
Streets of Laredo Parts I & II (CBS-11/12 and 11/14/95)
Based on a novel by Larry McMurtry, Streets of Laredo was a two-part sequel to Lonesome Dove, one of the most successful and memorable mini-series in recent television history. Lonesome Dove was one of the very few television movies ever to be developed into a television series which now runs in syndication. Set in Texas during the 1880s, Streets of Laredo stars television veteran James Garner as Captain Woodrow Call, an ex-lawman turned bounty hunter on the trail of a 19-year-old Mexican murderer named Joey Garza.
Aired on two non-consecutive nights, first at 8:00 p.m. and then at 9:00 p.m., Streets of Laredo ran for a total of five hours during the November "sweeps" period. Both parts were preceded by an advisory warning of violent content. On both nights the advisory ran again after the first commercial break. Although this was one of the very few times that any of the networks issued an advisory for a television movie, there was so much extremely graphic and prolonged violence in this program that it still raised concerns. This was one of the few television movies that contained the quantity and quality of violence usually found only in theatrical films shown on television.
The three-hour first part contained 22 scenes of violence. These scenes ran the full spectrum of violence from mild pushes and grabs to full-fledged fist fights and shootings. In one of the most graphic scenes of the entire season, and certainly for television movies, 75 minutes into the program the character Billy, played by George Carlin, shoots off a man's ear with a rifle. As the victim stands in stunned disbelief, viewers see a large chunk of his ear dangle from the side of his head while blood pours down his collar. The man does not even appear very injured, only surprised. Billy, still pointing his rifle at the man as he moves toward him, cuts off what is left of the ear with a Bowie knife. He takes the remnant of the ear and shoves it into the victim's vest pocket telling him, "Could just have easy been your stinkin' heart." It is a horrific, graphic and glorified scene of violence that did not have to be so extreme to make its point.
The second part, beginning at 9:00 p.m., contained fewer scenes of violence. However, the nature of the violence in those scenes, as might be expected in the concluding part, was more extreme than in most of the scenes in the first part. In the opening scene of Part II, a crazed and vicious killer named Mox Mox strikes a little boy across the face and then pours fuel on him and his younger sister as he prepares to set them on fire. The two children are saved when Captain Call shows up and shoots Mox Mox and five members of his gang. The scene is very long and graphic as viewers see the bullets perforating the villains' chests. The thought of children being burned alive, even though it did not happen, created a very dark and disturbing tone throughout the scene.
The same episode contained an extremely intense scene in which a woman is forced to amputate Call's leg with only a Bowie knife and a rock. Although this is an example of violence to save a life and the actual amputation is not shown on screen, it was extremely intense. In the climactic scene, the killer Joey attempts to drown his brother and sister. When his mother attempts to stop him and bring him to reason, they struggle and Joey plunges a knife into her chest and then her stomach. Both stabbings are shown on the screen and the piercing of the stomach is shown close- up. It is an extremely graphic scene and, as mentioned earlier, uncharacteristic of a television movie.
In the discussion of whether Streets of Laredo raised concerns about violence, important consideration was given to examining the program within the context of the Western genre. Viewers are familiar with Westerns from the time they are little children. There is an expectation that this genre will contain men wearing holsters and carrying guns. It is also expected that there will be gunfights and morality battles between good and evil. This criticism of Streets of Laredo does not mean that a broadcaster should not be able to make and air a Western. Great latitude is given due to the fact that violence is inherent to the theme of most Westerns. The problem with Streets of Laredo is that the violence is so graphic, so plentiful and so much more vicious than is necessary to tell the story.
Gridlock (NBC-1/14/96)
When robbers strike New York City's Federal Reserve Bank and take hostages, it is up to David Hasselhoff to stop them in this action/adventure television movie. Hasselhoff plays renegade cop Jake Gorski, whose girlfriend Michelle, played by model Kathy Ireland, is one of those taken hostage during the heist. In a story very similar to that of the feature film Die Hard, Hasselhoff infiltrates the building and, after much action, single-handedly defeats the small army of villains.
Gridlock had the feel of a toned-down theatrical action film. Airing without an advisory, the television movie contained 27 scenes of violence, the highest number found in a two-hour television movie this season.
Never raising any serious concerns with regard to the issue of graphicness, Gridlock instead raises concerns over the amount and purpose of the violence. This is a good example of a program with so much violence that the entire context of the film becomes violence. At 27 scenes across two hours, with commercials factored in, a scene of violence occurs at an average of every four minutes. If most of these acts were mild, such as grabs or pushes or even an occasional punch, this would not be a major source of concern. However, this is not the case. Most of the scenes contain fist fights, gun battles, explosions and other forms of serious violence. Just about every type of violence found in an action television movie can be found in abundance in Gridlock.
This is a television movie that could have used an advisory. As an action story in the mold of a Die Hard, it is likely to attract a young audience. Considering that the theme is about violence and that violence forms much, if not most, of the context, an advisory definitely would help better inform responsible parents.
Generation X (Fox-2/20/96)
Loosely based on the Marvel comic book "The Uncanny X-Men," Generation X is an action- filled, cartoonish television movie chronicling the adventures of six teenage mutants. The mutants are selected to attend a special crime-fighting school that will allow them to use their super powers for the benefit of society. While developing their skills and powers, they attract the attention of an evil, diabolical scientist who wishes to extract mutated cells from their brains and inject them into himself, thereby gaining super powers.
The comic book familiarity and the similarity to other popular programs such as X-Men is likely to attract many children to this television movie. The 8:00 p.m. starting time further increases the likelihood that children will be watching.
This is another television movie that raises concerns because of the tonnage of the violence. Containing over 20 scenes in two hours, there is much action violence in Generation X. Also causing concerns is the lack of an advisory, the intensity and glorification of the violence and the length of several violent scenes.
In the climactic scene, just as the mad doctor attempts to drill into the skull of one of the mutants, he is attacked by the other mutants. A chaotic fight breaks out as each of the mutants uses his or her special skill to try to kill the villain. Within the scene there is a surprisingly fierce kick to the doctor's gut that seems especially mean-spirited when compared to the other types of cartoonish violence that occur throughout Generation X. It seemed particularly inappropriate considering that the kick was so intense and that it appears in a program appealing to children.
The violence in Generation X rarely raises issues of graphicness. The movie raises concerns about its use of violence because of the intensity, tonnage and glorification of the violence, the lack of an advisory and the fact that it is targeted to children. The violence in Generation X is similar to that found in the "sinister combat violence" category that applies to some children's television.
It Was Him or Us (CBS-11/21/95)
The ominous title of this television movie accurately describes a story about an abusive, psychopathic boyfriend who, when his girlfriend tries to leave him, takes her and her family hostage. The subject of abuse in a relationship, whether toward a spouse, a lover or a friend, has been a common theme of television movies over the past two seasons. Reflecting society's increasing concern over abusive relationships and pathological behaviors such as stalking, these television movies are frequently based on true stories and reveal the tortured details of these troubled relationships gone bad. It Was Him or Us is a good example of this type of television movie and other examples will follow shortly.
Richard Grieco plays Gene, the estranged boyfriend of Carrie, while Ann Jillian is featured as Carrie's mother, Peggy. The second half of the television movie depicts the insanely jealous and obsessive Gene taking Carrie and her family hostage in their own home and threatening to kill them.
Most of the early scenes of violence, though large in quantity, raise few concerns of intensity or graphicness. Most are of grabs or kicks and there is an occasional punch. There are also quite a few scenes in which Gene points a gun at and threatens to kill someone but does not actually complete any act of violence.
It is the final scene, however, that raises considerable concern about the way in which the violence is portrayed. It is obvious from the unfolding of the plot that violence will occur in the resolution of the story. That is expected. That it is so brutal, intense and accentuated by slow motion is not expected and serves only to emphasize and prolong the violence that ends the story. Just as Gene is about to kill his girlfriend and turn the gun on himself, the mother sneaks up behind him and shoots him five times. Although the impact of the bullets is not seen, the scene is, as already mentioned, filmed in slow motion and therefore prolonged. Serving as the dramatic payoff at the end of a tortuous and unpleasant story, the scene nonetheless seems glorified and the accompanying music only serves to emphasize this.
This is a typical example of a trend in television movies: an unpleasant story predicated on some of the most depraved and perverted crimes found in recent human experience. Although there may be merit in providing people with insight into these types of relationships, It Was Him or Us was filled with violence and seemed to use the sordid details of the plot to glamorize the story rather than to provide a warning.
Beauty's Revenge (NBC-9/25/95)
Another example of a television movie dealing with love turned violent, Beauty's Revenge stars Melrose Place's Courtney Thorne-Smith as Cheryl, a mentally unstable young woman obsessed with a man named Kevin. Cheryl's obsession with Kevin turns violent when he refuses to leave his girlfriend for her. The girlfriend, Beth, played by Tracey Gold, becomes the target of Cheryl's wrath and ultimately is murdered by her in an effort to gain Kevin's love.
Although Beauty's Revenge is predicated on violence, its subject matter could be considered to be important and provocative. It would be possible for the program to achieve its goal as a thriller while responsibly dealing with this subject matter. Unfortunately, this did not occur.
One of the recurring themes of the movie involves Cheryl's violent fantasy life. Typically her fantasies were played out on screen as if they were really happening in the story, only to end abruptly as the scene returned to real life. This serves to let viewers know that the violent scene they just saw only happened in Cheryl's twisted imagination. Two such scenes raised concerns. The first, occurring 12 minutes into the story, depicted Cheryl suddenly grabbing Beth by the neck and forcing her head into a sink filled with water. The camera's point of view then switches to show Beth's contorted face underwater as she struggles to free herself. It is a very brutal and disturbing scene because of its length and because viewers see her face as she is drowning. That it is immediately revealed to be a fantasy does not mitigate the concerns about the scene.
In the second fantasy, Cheryl picks up a pair of scissors and repeatedly stabs a receptionist in the chest. The impact of the scissors is not shown and the scene is filmed with a stroboscopic effect. Still, it is a scary and overly intense scene, especially as the victim clutches at her wound as blood pours through her hand.
Close to 90 minutes into the film, Cheryl actually kills Beth. After an argument, Cheryl climbs into the back seat of Beth's car and chokes her to death with a strap. It is a scene of ruthless violence that is shown in its entirety. Interestingly, the very same scene was shown at the beginning of the film but in a very different way. The first time the murder was shown, viewers see Cheryl attack Beth. But then the camera cuts to the exterior of the car while choking sounds let the audience know what is happening. It was an equally effective yet far less graphic means of portraying the murder.
Beauty's Revenge is based on a true story. That the producers are bound to the fact that Beth is murdered does not mandate that the death has to be shown with excessive graphicness. The earlier depiction of the murder demonstrates better than any critique that the crime can be portrayed in a way that does not irresponsibly shock and horrify the audience. This is another example of a television movie focusing on the most despicable and violent elements of humanity in a manner that does not inspire thought but rather morbid titillation.
An Unfinished Affair (ABC-5/5/96)
Another example of a movie about a jilted lover turning into a psychopathic killer, An Unfinished Affair stars Beverly Hills 90210's Jenny Garth as Sheila. Sheila is a younger woman who has an affair with Alex, a married man whose wife is diagnosed with terminal cancer. When Alex discovers that his wife will live and that he still loves her, he ends the affair. Spurned, Sheila seeks revenge. In retribution, she withholds a valuable silk screen that Alex loaned her and then seduces and tries to frame his son for murder. Finally she tries to kill both Alex and his recovered wife.
One of the scenes contained a very brutal and graphic stabbing. Sheila confronts a man who has been blackmailing both her and Alex. When the man turns away from her, Sheila twice plunges a knife into his back. As the man falls dead to the floor, the camera zooms in on the extremely bloody knife. A premeditated act, the killing is part of her plan to frame Alex's son for the blackmailer's murder. This was an unnecessarily graphic scene that could have been handled very differently. The return of the camera to the bloodied weapon serves only to accentuate the violence and does not add anything to the story.
Divas (Fox-9/19/95)
Telling the story of four female singers, Divas examines the difficulty of trying to get a record deal and make it in the music business. The film's central character is the singers' manager, Monty, who juggles family and financial problems and a romantic interest in one of the divas as he attempts to build a musical career for himself and the group.
Obviously violence is not the central theme of the film and there are only a few scenes of violence. What is surprising is the intensity and brutality of one of the scenes. Monty is angry that a man he set up on a date with one of the singers tried to rape her. He tracks down the attempted rapist in a pool hall where, after a brief verbal exchange, he jabs the man in the gut with a pool cue. He then proceeds to brutally beat the man, punching and kicking him while he is on the ground. Finally several patrons of the pool hall pull him off the severely beaten man. Although it could be argued that the attack was morally and dramatically (though not legally) justified and that it established Monty's strong feelings for the woman who was attacked, the violence was excessive, prolonged and glorified. This is especially true considering that there was so little violence in this film.
The music business theme and the lack of an advisory both promise a film that viewers might expect would be free of the type of scene described above. The brutal fight scene, while integral to the story and the development of Monty's character, could have been considerably shorter and less graphic without injuring the plot. Any viewer watching the promotions for the first few minutes of the film would not expect to see the pool hall scene. It can be argued that a Jean- Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal film, though loaded with violent scenes, makes it clear from the beginning that it contains much violence. This kind of film almost always contains an advisory to further prepare the audience for the content of the story. Divas, with no advisory and seemingly without violent content, may shock or dismay those who watch this television movie.
A Face to Die For (NBC-3/11/96)
Yet another story of love gone bad, A Face to Die For contains only a few intense scenes of violence, although its theme is centered on rage and violence. As a young girl, Emily is in a serious car crash that kills her father and leaves her face horribly scarred. Her feelings of self- loathing and despair do not end until a man, Alec, comes along and tells her that he loves her. Soon, however, Alec convinces Emily to steal from her boss and to cooperate in a robbery to cover his mounting gambling debts. Emily is caught during the robbery and goes to jail to cover for Alec while he gets away with the money. In jail she realizes he was using her and never really loved her, but instead was in love with her beautiful sister Sheila. While in prison she sees a plastic surgeon who reconstructs her face and makes her beautiful. Determined to get back at Alec, she assumes a new identity and becomes a famous fashion designer. When she discovers that Alec married her sister and has turned into a wife-beater, she concocts a plan to settle all scores. Alec soon discovers Emily's true identity and in the final scene attempts to rape both Emily and her sister. Emily, however, has brought a gun with her and in the final struggle pulls it out and, in self-defense, kills Alec.
There are acts of violence ranging from punches, kicks and hair pulling to the final shooting. The final scene was filmed from a variety of angles and features slow motion which further lengthens the depiction of the violence. A Face to Die For ran without an advisory.
In addition to the those listed above, the following television movies and mini-series were found to raise concerns about the use of violence:
The Babysitter's Seduction (NBC-1/22/96)
Deadly Pursuit (NBC-1/8/96)
Dead Man's Walk Part II (ABC-5/13/96)
Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Ice (NBC-2/18/96)
Face of Evil (CBS-4/9/96)
A Family of Cops (CBS-11/26/95)
Fugitive Nights: Danger in the Desert (NBC-10/15/95)
Hijacked: Flight 285 (ABC-2/4/96)
Remember Me (CBS-11/19/95)
Summer of Fear (CBS-4/3/96)
Terminal (NBC-2/12/96)
a. Network Television Has More Control Over Made-for-Television Movies than It Does over Theatrical Films
Television movies are a format the networks control from their inception. They can decide whether or not to make the movie, they have script approval and they can include or remove offensive or gratuitous scenes. Theatrical film is a different medium with different types of content and is less accessible to young children and thus has a greater opportunity to feature more violent fare. While many violent theatricals aired on television need to be cut to meet the standards of that medium, they cannot always be cut nor can their scenes be changed without significantly altering the film or damaging viewers' understanding. Examples of such films include Hard Target, Terminator 2, Under Siege and Cliffhanger. This being the case, it is debatable whether the most violent theatrical films are at all appropriate for the broad medium of network television in whatever form. At the same time, network television has complete control over television movies and thus is entirely responsible for their content. It is not surprising that the quantity and degree of the violence in television movies is considerably less than that found in theatrical films shown on television.
Possibly in response to last year's finding that relatively few television movies raised concerns (14%) while a much higher percentage of theatrical films did raise concerns (47%), there were many more television movies on the four networks this season and no increase in the number of theatrical films. And many of the theatrical films that did run this season were reruns of films already purchased by and aired on the networks.
Last season, the three traditional networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) used advisories only twice during the entire season for television movies and mini-series. This season there was a modest increase in the number of advisories used for television movies. Still, this is an area in which there is room for improvement in coming seasons. Our monitoring indicated that there was a clear need for more advisories. Many of the titles listed or described above contained themes of violence or very graphic or intense scenes. Many needed advisories.
The use or non-use of an advisory frequently made an important difference in the determination of whether a television movie raised concerns. Many of the television movies listed above would not have raised concerns if there had been an advisory and only one, Streets of Laredo, would still have raised concerns had it had an advisory.
The Fox network seems to have a different policy with regard to the use of advisories. This is undoubtedly due to the lack of a 10:00 p.m. network hour and the fact that all movies must begin at the earlier hour of 8:00 p.m. Fox is much more willing to use advisories and frequently runs them several times during a program to alert those who might have started watching after the beginning of the show. It would be preferable, however, if Fox would add an hour of prime time and begin both its television movies and theatrical films at 9:00 p.m.
Perhaps in an effort to appear more like theatrical films, television movies and mini-series contain more graphic scenes of violence than television series. The topics of many television movies, such as murder, abuse or rape, lend themselves to more graphic violence. But, in addition, the producers opt to depict these crimes more graphically than they do in most series.
Five television movies featured brutal stabbings: An Unfinished Affair, Streets of Laredo Part II, Face of Evil, Beauty's Revenge and The Babysitter's Seduction. Two contained men being beaten with pool cues: A Family of Cops and Divas. Terminal had a scene with an impalement, a vicious form of violence usually reserved for theatrical films. Gun fights and bullet wounds are more graphic and gory than those found in television series as evidenced by: Hijacked: Flight 285 and Dead Man's Walk Part II. Other examples of intense violence can be found in Fugitive Nights: Danger in the Desert and Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Ice, both of which featured people getting their throats slashed, the first with a knife and the second with a straight razor.
In some instances, the entire premise of the television movie is based on an act of violence. A large percentage of the films in this genre are predicated upon some sort of criminally violent activity. The world of some television movies is a world of murderers, psychotics, rapists and abusers. Although violence can be a legitimate and frequently constructive story device when treated responsibly, we occasionally found ourselves asking why this particular violent story was chosen as the subject of a MOW. Some might argue that violent acts such as the Jim Jones' People's Temple massacre in Guyana or the Texas Cheerleader Mom are so inherently fascinating and say so much about our society that they easily justify being made into television movies. However, some of the subjects we saw featured in television movies during the 1995-96 season seemed to have no relevance or significance. They just seemed to be sensationalized stories of criminal acts.
One sometimes gets the impression that the people who make these movies are searching for the most abysmal and sordid crimes that can be found in the depths of the human experience. Seldom do these stories inspire or uplift. They are depressingly detailed accounts of the worst people in society in the worst possible situations. Examples of this include: It Was Him or Us, An Unfinished Affair, Face of Evil, Beauty's Revenge, Deadly Pursuit, The Babysitter's Seduction and A Face to Die For.
A message conveyed by some of the television movies this season is that violence can be used to finally resolve a long term, difficult problem even though the life of the person committing the act is not in immediate danger. This becomes a perverse form of "self-defense" where a character can make up for years or decades of abuse or mistreatment by illegally taking the life of the person who has tormented him or her. The final act of violent resolution not only goes unpunished, it is usually glorified and shown to be not only appropriate but also completely justified.
A good example of this issue can be found in The Deliverance of Elaine (CBS-4/10/96). This television movie stars Academy Award nominee Mare Winningham as the title character and Lloyd Bridges as her overly repressive, mentally abusive father who has been confined to a wheelchair. Elaine has given up her life to be her father's caretaker and has consequently foregone many of life's important experiences, foremost of those being love and a family. When she learns of a dark secret in her father's past, Elaine realizes she has given up her life for a man she hates and chooses to kill her father.
At the end of the television movie, Elaine does kill her father, gets away with the crime and leaves her old life behind to begin a new one. Although the town sheriff knows of Elaine's guilt, he chooses to look the other way and allow her to have the life she never could have had under her father's control. This raises important issues regarding lack of consequences and punishment for what is premeditated murder.
In this story, Elaine suffers no consequences for the killing and is rewarded with a new life. Elaine could have simply left her father rather than killing him. The act of murder is dramatically treated as self-defense even though Elaine's life is not in danger.
The issue in The Deliverance of Elaine is not the depiction of the killing. The scene is very well handled and raises absolutely no concerns by itself. The message of the movie that killing an abusive parent to get on with your life is acceptable is what raises concern.
A large number of made-for-television movies have ominous or threatening titles that imply that the show will be violent, whether or not it actually is. Anyone reading a list of this season's television movies (see appendix) will immediately see that many of the titles are filled with words such as "dangerous," "killer" or "killing," "death," "deadly" and "fatal." This raises an interesting issue about the general philosophy of those who title these movies. It seems they do not believe that they can capture viewers' attention without making the movie sound dangerous. Examples include those movies that raised concerns, and many that did not such as: Her Deadly Rival, Murderous Intent, Inflammable, Deadly Whispers, The Cold Heart of A Killer, Summer of Fear, Bloodlines: Murder in the Family, Terror in the Shadows, Eyes of Terror, Dead by Sunset, Deadly Pursuit, Deadly Web, Voice from the Grave, Terror in the Family and others.
This was one of last season's most interesting issues in television movies. While some films with violent titles were relatively non-violent, two of the most violent television movies of the 1994-95 season had seriously misleading titles promising innocent family fare. Falling for You and Gramps promised content very different from what was delivered. This was a particular problem given the fact that these shows lacked advisories. Had there been advisories, viewers would have learned that the misleadingly titled movies Falling for You and Gramps contained intense acts of violence. Starring likable celebrities Jenny Garth and Andy Griffith and lacking advisories, these stories appear to be about falling in love and a kindly old grandfather.
Happily, an examination of 198 television movies this season found that misleading titles were no longer a problem. While there are still many television movies with violent titles that do not raise concern, this year there were no television movies that did raise concern that had misleading or innocent sounding titles.
This season also witnessed a decline in violent television movies based on action television series. In many instances last season, especially the Walker, Texas Ranger movies, this became an opportunity to "turbocharge" an action show, present it as a special episode and include more scenes of heightened violence. Frequently the hero faced an even more sinister opponent than in the regular television series. This season there were no Walker television movies and two television movies based on the former action series Alien Nation did not raise concerns. This season also saw several television movies based on non-violent television series such as Project: Alf and A Walton Thanksgiving. Not surprisingly, neither movie raised any concerns.
Many television movies proudly fly the banner of "Based on a True Story." They do not mention, however, that many of these movies are, at best, loosely based on true stories. These "true" stories always seem to be about the most shockingly horrific and depraved tales of the atrocities that people commit. Very seldom are these stories of triumph over adversity or heroic deeds. For every inspiring teacher or parent, there are tens of crazed killers, sociopathic personalities or malevolent villains. (The very ugly picture of the world that emerges brings to mind George Gerbner's "mean world" scenario.)
The use of slow motion is obviously not exclusive to television movies. Its use has already been examined in television series. However, slow motion definitely finds its way into the genre of television movies where it raises the same issues as in series. Although directors would argue that it is an artistic device used to make the scene more dramatic, what it often does is just prolong and emphasize the violent act.
This was a technique commonly found in television movies last season and it was still heavily employed this season as well. It Was Him or Us, A Face to Die For, Hijacked: Flight 285, Beauty's Revenge and Terminal all used slow motion and other cinematic techniques that prolonged and accentuated scenes of violence. In A Face To Die For another special effect was used to heighten the violence. When the villain is killed in the movie's climax, the camera shows his body falling through a glass table from four different angles. This technique, combined with slow motion, served both to emphasize and prolong the violence.
While made-for-television movies were only introduced in the 1960s, theatrical films (films first released in movie theaters) have been an important and essential part of programming content since the beginning of television. Most channels could not afford enough original content to fill a 24-hour schedule. Many went off the air around midnight but others filled their schedule with old motion pictures that had been sitting in studio vaults. Until television, motion picture studios had nothing to do with their films once they finished their run at the box office. Only a few films like Gone with the Wind or the Disney animation classics could be re-released every generation or so. Today, a motion picture studio can sell its films to cable, home video, airlines or television. But back in the 1950s television represented a real opportunity for studios to further distribute their products.
Thus, theatrical films became an important part of television. They were high quality productions, the costs and risks of which had already been assumed by the studios. While a blockbuster film would be expensive to license on television, a network knew it was money well spent because the film had already proven itself with the audience. This was in direct contrast to expensive, unproven original television shows, the production costs of which were lost if they did not attract an audience. Theatrical films had already been made, represented substantially less risk and had an established reputation, making them popular with television programmers.
The situation began to change after the emergence of cable television in the 1970s. Until cable, a film would normally find its way to broadcast television about three years after it was released in theaters. The big films would go first to prime time network television, then to prime time local television and eventually to late night or afternoon on the local stations.
Starting in the 1970s, cable inserted itself between the theaters and networks in the distribution process. HBO began as a pay-cable service in 1972, dedicated to running theatrical films shortly after they were seen in theaters. Rather than having to wait several years, the pay cable audience could see films only months after they opened in theaters. Furthermore, as a pay service supported in its entirety by subscribers, HBO ran its recent films uncut and uninterrupted. All the sex, violence and language of the original could be seen on the home screen, and there were no commercial breaks to interrupt the flow of the story.
Pay cable moved down the distribution chain when home video became a significant force. Pay cable was forced to take theatrical films after they were available for rental or purchase, but still acquired and aired them before they appeared on broadcast television. Subsequently, pay-per-view pushed cable down another notch. Today, the broadcast networks only get a theatrical after it has been seen in the theaters and on airlines, pay-per-view, home video and pay cable. There are very few exceptions. In May of 1995, NBC ran Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park less than two years after it was seen in theaters. NBC, by paying a substantial premium (allegedly $60 million), was able to bypass pay cable in the distribution sequence. Recently, ABC paid a large sum for the rights to Paramount's theatrical film Mission: Impossible. Obviously, the networks cannot pay these prices for more than a handful of films.
The fact that broadcast television gets a theatrical film so late in the distribution process means that, when a big film comes to television (e.g., Terminator 2, Lethal Weapon), a substantial portion of the potential audience already has seen the film one or more times in the theater, on home video or on cable. By the time George Lucas's blockbuster Star Wars was scheduled on broadcast television, it had been seen by so many people in so many different media, that its television ratings were unimpressive. This would have been unthinkable 10 years earlier.
Theatrical films represent a real challenge for the broadcast networks that run them. Almost all other programming in their entire schedule is either created by them or by others who must work with them and adhere to their standards. With all other programs except theatrical films, the networks decide whether they get made, who makes them, how they are made and edited, and what they look like. The networks apply their own standards to language, sexual scenes and violence. Those who create programming for television know these standards and make decisions accordingly.
Theatrical film is a completely different medium with different standards and First Amendment treatment. The Miracle decision of 1952 clearly established that motion pictures are a significant medium for the communication of ideas and are therefore protected by the First Amendment. Currently the content of motion pictures is not regulated by the government. While protected by the First Amendment, television, because of its use of the scarce electromagnetic spectrum and its accessability to children, is subject to governmental regulation. There is no Federal Communication Commission for the movie industry. The film rating system is completely independent of the government and is administered by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) under the direction of Jack Valenti. Film, while in theaters or on home video, is not subject to the indecency regulations applied to broadcasting. With few exceptions, film is free to make whatever type of content it wants.
In contrast to theatrical film, broadcast television shapes its original programming to the unique world of commercial television. Theatrical films shown on television have to be retrofitted to adapt to the standards of the much stricter television world. The broadcast practices and standards of the television industry are irrelevant to the production of a motion picture. But when the motion picture is scheduled for television, those standards must be applied after the fact rather than during the production process.
Television networks buy popular films filled with sex, violence and language issues and then have to redesign them for television. As we have come to realize in our monitoring of theatrical films, changing them for broadcast without destroying their artistic integrity is a significant challenge.
While the earlier sections of this report have detailed the concerns raised by television series and made-for-television movies, we believe that modest improvement has occurred in these areas. Once again, this is the programming over which the networks have complete control. In response to political and public criticisms and pressures of the past few years, there have been important changes in this network-controlled programming.
Last year's report concluded that a large majority of the violence on broadcast television that raises concerns can be found in theatrical films. That is still true this year, but the picture is improved. Most of the gruesome, gory and truly gratuitous violence is still found in theatrical films, particularly action films. But there is considerably less of it this year on broadcast television. Last year's conclusion that theatrical films contained frequent problems was so compelling and unambiguous that broadcasters had to make some changes in what they purchase and program.
Theatrical films represent a problem that is more difficult and takes longer to correct than any other television programming. As discussed earlier, this is the only type of television programming over which the broadcasters have no control during the production process. Furthermore, motion pictures are purchased, often in packages, as much as several years ahead of the time they are aired. Many of the theatrical films shown on television this season were acquired several years ago at a cost of many millions of dollars. It is unrealistic to expect commercial broadcasters not to air such expensive films which they were contractually committed to purchase. We expected to wait several years before seeing many of the serious problems diminish in theatrical films shown on television.
Therefore, it is impressive to see some substantial improvement in the 1995-96 television season. Last season, we monitored 118 theatrical films on the broadcast networks. (We examined many more in syndication and on cable and home video, which will be compared and discussed in later sections.) Of the 118 films examined last season, 50, or 42%, were found to raise concerns about their use of violence. This season only 29% of the theatrical films were found to raise concerns about violence. While this is still a high figure, it represents substantial improvement for one television season. One might conclude that the broadcasters showed fewer problem films because they simply aired fewer films. But this is not the case. The number of theatrical films monitored this season, 113, is only a few less than the total last season. This year 33 films raised concerns compared to 50 last year. Fourteen of the 33 films raising concerns this season were repeats of films that ran last season. These are films that were already paid for and the network had licensing rights to show again. Only 19 of the films that raised concerns ran for the first time this season.
While recognizing improvement, there are still problems to be examined and corrected with regard to theatrical films. Much of the violence in series and television movies was only of concern because of the time period in which it was shown or because it was somewhat excessive. The highest concentration of violence occurs in theatrical films on television. The number of violent scenes and the highly graphic nature of the violence are unlike anything else on television. Some films, which contain several scenes of violence, can be judiciously edited to air easily on television without concern. Many films, however, have so many scenes of violence that they could not possibly be edited enough to run on broadcast television without raising concerns.
The violence on television series usually consists of fist fights, pushing, falling or, occasionally, some shooting. Theatrical films are where one sees decapitations, impalements, throats being slashed or other horrific violence.
In the remainder of this section, we will examine several theatrical films aired on the broadcast networks this past season that raised considerable concerns about violence. Then we will list the rest of the theatrical films which raised concerns and, finally, we will examine issues arising from theatrical films.
Hard Target (NBC-5/18/96)
A typical Jean-Claude Van Damme action film, Hard Target is full of the excessive and graphic scenes of violence Van Damme's fans have come to expect in his movies. The film was directed by Hong Kong's most successful director of action films, John Woo, now working in the American studio system. Set in New Orleans, the film tells the story of Chance Budrow, a merchant sailor who discovers that wealthy sportsmen are paying millions of dollars to engage in hunts in which the prey are desperate homeless people. It is a nonstop action film that builds its entire story around violent encounters and serves as little more than a showcase for Van Damme's impressive martial arts skills.
Preceded by an advisory, the film contains 25 scenes of violence. Some of these scenes are prolonged, extremely graphic and glorified. The opening scene, featuring a man hunted down in the streets of New Orleans, lasts for well over three minutes and includes machine gun fire, an explosion and the man being shot with arrows multiple times in the back and shoulder. The network's practices and standards department heavily edited the scene to remove the worst moments of violence. However, the nature of the violence remains extremely brutal, especially considering that it occurs in the first few minutes of the film.
In another scene occurring 30 minutes later, Van Damme is assaulted by thugs while investigating a burned-out building. The thugs slip a noose around his neck and beat him with a baseball bat as they attempt to persuade him to leave town. The scene ends with one of the thugs brutally kicking Van Damme in the head. This extremely vicious attack uses slow motion and other violence-emphasizing special effects to accentuate and lengthen the scene. This scene and these techniques are characteristic of much of the violence in the film.
Hard Target is an example of the type of action film, filled with dozens of scenes of violence, that would be difficult to be made contextually appropriate for broadcast television, no matter how ambitious the effort to edit the worst moments. The disturbing and unsettling theme of hunting humans for sport necessitates violence, and the role of Van Damme as hero ensures that the violence will be nonstop and exercised without restraint.
Bram Stoker's Dracula (Fox-11/7/95)
Bram Stoker's Dracula is a rich and lavish film that adds a highly passionate and romantic twist to the horror tale made famous by the old monster movie starring Bela Lugosi. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the film stars Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves, Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins.
Essentially a dark love story, the film is filled with gore as the vampire Count Dracula tries to win the affection of Mina, the reincarnation of his true love who committed suicide hundreds of years earlier. When Mina's fiancee, Jonathan, discovers Dracula's dark secret, he and a group of men hunt down the vampire.
In the final climactic scene, the men confront Dracula in the courtyard of his mountaintop refuge. In this final battle scene Jonathan uses a dagger to slit the throat of the evil vampire. As Dracula reels from the attack, another man plunges a large blade into his heart. It is an extremely violent and graphic scene in which a close-up of the severed throat is seen on screen. Blood pours from the wounds of the mortally wounded Dracula as he retreats into his castle to die. There, Mina, who has fallen in love with Dracula and who has also been transformed into a vampire, jams the blade through his torso and, to put him out of his agony, beheads him off screen. As Mina drives the knife through his upper body, the camera zooms in on the bloody blade shooting out of his back. It is an extremely savage scene full of excessively graphic and gory images, many of which could probably never be made suitable for broadcast television.
The filmed aired on Fox at 8:00 p.m. As discussed earlier, Fox does not have a 10:00 p.m. time slot and must begin all theatricals at 8:00 p.m. Because of this, three advisories were issued. No number of advisories could mitigate the extremely brutal nature of the film and the over 30 scenes of violence. The film also raises the issues of sympathizing with the violent vampire and the glorification of brutal acts of carnage. Similar to the character in Interview with the Vampire (described later in the report), the vampire is portrayed as an unfortunate, broken- hearted victim rather than as the extremely violent killer he really is. As one might expect in such a highly stylized vampire film, some of the scenes contain a disturbing mixture of violence with sex.
The Firm (ABC-5/19/96)
Based on the highly popular thriller by lawyer and author John Grisham, The Firm stars Tom Cruise as Mitch, a top law school graduate who goes to work for a prestigious but mysterious Southern law firm. Mitch soon learns that his firm is linked with one of the biggest mafia organizations in Chicago and will kill any lawyer who takes this important information to the police.
In a particularly violent scene one hour into the film, two hitmen working for the firm confront a detective looking into the suspicious deaths of two of the firm's attorneys. When Eddie, the detective, refuses to cooperate, one of the hitmen shoots off his right ear. When he continues to resist, they shoot him again, this time in the shoulder. In a final act of defiance, Eddie manages to shoot one of the hitmen in the knee with a gun strapped to the bottom of his desk. In a blaze of gunfire, the hitmen riddle Eddie's body with bullets, killing him and splattering his blood on his secretary who was hiding under the desk through the entire scene.
Although the scene is far from one of the most graphic of the season, it is extremely long and torturous. The extreme brutality with which the hitmen play cat and mouse with Eddie is more troubling psychologically than the graphicness of the violence that is typical of action films.
Running for three hours, The Firm began at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday night. Considering the early start time, it is surprising that the film did not contain an advisory. Overall, the film contained 13 scenes of violence, a modest amount for a three-hour thriller. Though the number of scenes did not compare with the totals of other action films described in this section, the above scene was brutal and graphic enough to warrant an advisory.
Edward Scissorhands (CBS-10/31/95)
A romantic and off-beat fairly tale about a socially backward teenager with scissors for hands and his introduction into an intolerant society, Edward Scissorhands contains moralistic messages about acceptance and understanding. It stars Johnny Depp as the title character and Winona Ryder as Kim, the daughter of Edward's surrogate family who ultimately falls in love with him. The film is full of the bizarre and surreal images found in other Tim Burton films such as Batman and Ed Wood.
This film contains only four scenes of violence, two of which are accidental. It is the final scene that raises some important concerns. In that scene Kim's abusive ex-boyfriend Jim chases and attacks the peaceful Edward, angry at him for being different and for stealing his girlfriend. Jim pulls out a gun and shoots at, but misses, Edward. Just as Jim is preparing to shoot him again, this time at close range, Kim intervenes by pulling on his arm. This causes him to miss and shoot the ceiling which falls on Edward. Jim then kicks the fallen Edward repeatedly in the ribs and beats him with an iron rod. When Kim attempts to intercede again by hitting Jim with a board, he strikes her and kicks her off of him. Finally, in self-defense and to protect Kim, the normally non-violent Edward uses one of his scissor hands as a weapon, brutally stabbing Jim in the stomach and pushing him out of the window. It is a surprisingly dark and violent end to what had been thus far a nonviolent film.
The entire look, feel and story line of the film is like a fairy tale and therefore likely to attract children. Because of this, it is surprising that there was not an advisory at the start of the film. Anyone watching would not expect violence in the film and parents previewing the first few minutes with their children would find nothing to suggest the violence with which the film ends.
Throughout the film Jim taunts the sympathetic Edward and by the end of the film viewers want to see him "get it good." All of this is integral to the story. All that is needed is an advisory.
Cliffhanger (Fox-2/13/96)
This is a Sylvester Stallone action thriller about a team of murderous hijackers searching for the $100 million they lost in the Rocky Mountains during a plane crash. Stallone plays a mountain climbing ranger who rescues people in distress. Throughout the film, the villains ruthlessly kill anyone who gets in their way and they attempt to kill Stallone as he continually thwarts their efforts to recover the stolen money.
Full of explosions and scene after scene of peril, Cliffhanger aired at 8:00 p.m. and contained three advisories. There were over 30 scenes of violence in the film, many of which were glorified for the purpose of making them more exciting. These scenes run the gamut from threats at gunpoint to fist fights and impalements. In one particularly graphic scene, Stallone is held at gunpoint by one of the hijackers. In order to save himself, he attacks the man, slicing open his leg with an ice axe. The act is shown at very close range and is very explicit. In the scene that follows, the wounded villain pursues Stallone into a cavern where they engage in a fistfight. The fight is heavily edited and could not be edited any further without rendering the scene incomprehensible. Still, the fight scene ends with Stallone impaling his enemy on a stalactite. It is an extremely violent series of events.
The last half hour is filled with little else but action and violence. This is another of the action films for which network editing can only remove the worst moments of the worst scenes. There remains a context composed primarily of excessive and frequently glorified violence.
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (NBC-3/3/96)
Dragon is the story of Bruce Lee, the legendary martial arts film star whose life was tragically cut short. At its core a drama dealing with issues of racism and overcoming adversity, the film contains occasional action scenes in which Lee engages in extremely brutal fights with other martial artists. Presented as historical fiction, the film frequently strays from real events and takes on a feel that is far more reminiscent of one of Lee's karate films rather than a documentary biography.
In one of the film's opening scenes, the young Lee takes on an unruly group of obnoxious and offensive American soldiers. Although Lee's actions are committed in self-defense and to teach the thugs a much needed lesson, the violence is extremely glorified and it is apparent that Lee is enjoying thrashing the drunken soldiers. The scene lasts for over two minutes and involves a wide array of martial arts fighting techniques.
Later in the film, the brother of a man Lee has crippled in a fight seeks vengeance and attacks him on the set of one of his films. It is an extremely long fight in which many martial arts skills are employed. Just as the attacker is about to drown Lee in a deep puddle of mud, Lee shifts the balance of the fight and subdues the angry brother, almost killing him in the process. Sequences in the scene are filmed in slow motion and use sound effects that amplify and emphasize the violence.
A two and a half hour film, it aired at 8:30 p.m. There were more than 15 acts of violence in the film.
Under Siege (ABC-2/25/96)
This is a film with a violent theme and constant violent action. Starring laconic action hero Steven Seagal, Under Siege is about a group of terrorists led by Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey who take over an aircraft carrier and threaten to use its nuclear weapons unless their demands are met. Seagal plays a former CIA operative working as a cook who foils the terrorists' plot and saves the carrier and its missiles.
It is an excessively violent film. There are gruesome, detailed shootings and stabbings accompanied by other acts of mayhem, all of which are central to the plot. By the time the two bad guys meet their end the audience is delighted to see them suffer as they are brutally finished off.
The film contains over 50 scenes of violence, far more per hour than found in any series or television movie. The motion picture studio which produced Under Siege did not have to be concerned about the large number of violent acts because it was made for a theatrical audience and would be rated "R."
ABC did a noble job of trying to edit Under Siege for broadcast television. Scenes were pared down considerably, some of the worst acts were edited out and some scenes were completely cut. But there was no way they could remove enough to make it free of concerns. There were far too many scenes of violence which were central to the story. This film would not be understandable to its viewers, and many Seagal fans would be disappointed by the lack of action, if those violent scenes were cut.
We know of no way that this film could be edited sufficiently so that it could run without raising concerns about violence. It did run with an advisory at 9:00 p.m.
The Last Boy Scout (ABC-10/29/95)
Bruce Willis plays a disgraced former government agent working as a cheap detective. He teams with ex-football player Damon Wayans to investigate corruption in professional football. Basic to the story are a large number of very intense scenes of glorified violence. The very violent character Willis plays is shown to be cool and suave. This is underscored by co-star Wayans' admiration of his actions.
The Last Boy Scout, with over 30 scenes of violence, is excessive and graphic. This film, which contains football violence, raises an interesting issue. A case could be made that football is an American institution and therefore socially sanctioned. There is no question that, at its core, football is a violent game. But "real" football is televised live with no control over what will happen. A case can be made that either football should be protected from criticism or that it glorifies violence and should be condemned.
However, in a film about football all the scenes are scripted. A writer has to decide what will happen and a director has to decide how graphic it will be. These scenes are not real. Therefore, we held them to the same standard of violence to which all other scenes in a film are held. In one football scene on the field a player pulls out a gun and shoots another player. Last season's Necessary Roughness, a film primarily about football, raised fewer concerns than The Last Boy Scout.
Almost every scene in the film contains violence. Many were prolonged and ugly. This is yet another film that could not possibly be edited enough to air on television without raising concerns. The amount of violence is excessive and the glorification only exacerbates the problem. ABC ran an advisory.
The Rookie (ABC-4/21/96)
ABC extended prime time until 11:30 to run this film. This is an unusual action that incurs the anger of affiliates. This film was heavily edited in another noble effort to make it fit the standards of broadcast television. Unfortunately, the effort was unsuccessful, as it would be impossible to eliminate gratuitous scenes of violence from the film.
"Bad boy" Charlie Sheen plays a rich kid who becomes a rookie cop. He is teamed with Clint Eastwood, his hardened, cynical partner. The movie is wall-to-wall violence, containing over 40 scenes. The violence here too is glorified as the viewer cheers when Eastwood commits acts of violence.
There are obvious signs of editing. The network tried to make the film appropriate for broadcast. However, it is simply not possible to take enough of the violence out of this film. ABC aired several advisories.
Marked for Death (CBS-12/5/95)
In another Steven Seagal film, the actor this time plays an ex-drug agent taking on Jamaican drug lords who have marked him and his family for death. Many of the scenes are very long and drawn out. It is a very typical action film distinguished only by a heightened level of violence. It contained fewer scenes than many of the films described above, but two of the scenes were particularly graphic and shocking.
Five minutes into the film, Seagal is buying illegal drugs in a Mexican brothel when a fight breaks out. The gory scene is filled with knives, guns, punches, kicks and shootings and it lasts a full two minutes. Far more graphic than is warranted by the story, the scene could have been edited without damaging the plot.
The second problematic scene occurs at the end and lasts for six minutes. It is a very long and continuously graphic finale which begins with one of the characters holding the severed head of a Jamaican drug lord. (Strangely, last season we saw the decapitated head of another Jamaican drug lord in another film shown in local syndication, Predator II.) A long fight and chase ensue with Seagal chasing the bad guy, who after much intervening violence is thrown down an elevator shaft and impaled on a long piece of metal. The camera lingers on this image.
Nothing could be done to edit this film sufficiently for broadcast television. It is filled with graphic images of disturbing violence and constant action. It ran with two advisories.
Demolition Man (Fox-1/9/96)
Die Hard 2 (CBS-3/12/96)
Last Action Hero (ABC-3/17/96)
Lethal Weapon 2 (CBS-1/21/96)
Lethal Weapon 3 (ABC-4/25/96)
Nowhere to Run (ABC-11/5/95)
Out for Justice (NBC-3/25/96)
Passenger 57 (ABC-5/16/96)
Tango and Cash (CBS-3/31/96)
Terminator 2 (ABC-1/7/96)
These movies are grouped together because they continue to raise the same issues. All are big- budget Hollywood action films with big stars (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson, Bruce Willis, Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Wesley Snipes and Sylvester Stallone) in the lead roles.
They are all filled with many scenes of continuous violence. Lethal Weapon 3 contained 21 scenes, Terminator 2 29, Demolition Man 16, Tango and Cash 30, Last Action Hero 20, Nowhere to Run 28 and Out for Justice 22 scenes. Once again, a valiant effort was made so that these films might be suitable for television. Terminator 2 alone must have occupied the efforts of film editors for months. There simply was nothing that could be done. The violence is everywhere and is what these films are all about.
These films tend to present violence as acceptable because it is committed by the hero. They also tend to mitigate the seriousness of the violence by interjecting humor into it. For example, in Demolition Man when Sylvester Stallone's character smashes the villain (played by Wesley Snipes) over the head with a television, he quips, "You're on TV!" Much of the violence in these films is exciting and glamorous. All of the films should have and did contain advisories.
Home Alone (NBC-11/23/95)
Dennis the Menace (NBC-11/25/95)
Ernest Rides Again (ABC-12/30/95)
Home Alone is one of the top box-office films of all time. How can a children's film possibly raise concerns about violence? While many will argue that this is a cartoon-like kids' film filled with Christmas spirit and worthy of becoming a holiday tradition, a contextual examination of the violence tells another story.
Macauley Culkin plays a young boy, Kevin, accidentally left behind at home by his parents in their rush to prepare for a trip to Paris. Kevin lives every child's fantasy and nightmare: he is home alone. The first part of the film is indeed a kid's film as the young Kevin adapts to life on his own. We watch him use aftershave, not knowing it will burn, and try to convince a store clerk that he really is an adult and able to use a credit card.
Toward the end, the film becomes violent when two burglars try to break into Kevin's house. In order to foil the break-in, Kevin sets up elaborate schemes to stop the burglars. While these scenes are played for laughs, they are filled with extremely sadistic and mean-spirited acts of violence which never show consequences. In fact, Kevin is rewarded. Watching Kevin torture these burglars is really the appeal of the film.
Kevin's actions begin modestly as he shoots the intruders with a BB-gun. The violence progressively becomes more mean-spirited and vindictive throughout the movie. At one point he pours water on the stairs causing the burglars to slip and fall. When one of the criminals falls, a crowbar lands on his head. In another scene, an iron falls on the head of one of the burglars who then proceeds to step on a nail. The violence continues to escalate as Kevin rigs a blowtorch to burn the bad guys' heads. They continue to slip and fall throughout the movie, and in one scene, both are hit in the head with great force by paint cans. Later on, one gets stung by a tarantula and finally the old neighbor comes to the rescue and bangs the intruders on the head with a shovel.
Many will argue that this is a funny, cartoon-like film that appeals to every child's fantasy. While we understand this, we hope it is not every child's fantasy to use his or her wit and intelligence to sadistically torture fellow human beings, even if they are burglars.
This is violence intended to make people laugh. It is never intended to be realistic, but it sends the message that people getting hit in the head with a crowbar or burned by a blowtorch is funny, especially if it is the result of an ingenious booby trap. NBC ran Home Alone at 8:00 p.m. without an advisory.
Dennis the Menace raises many of the same issues as Home Alone except that most of the incidents of violence occur as a result of Dennis' mischievous nature rather than by careful, calculated planning. Dennis is almost always the unwitting assailant as he accidentally causes pain and misfortune to everyone he meets. His actions, even when they are deliberate, are never punished and are played for laughs. Children would be likely to admire Dennis the way they might admire Kevin in Home Alone.
In one scene Dennis accidentally sets a thief on fire. Although he does this by accident, the fact remains that audiences are expected to laugh at the immolation of a human being. Dennis the Menace contains more than 25 scenes of violence, most caused by Dennis' antics and designed to elicit laughter from the audience. There was no advisory.
Ernest Rides Again is also filled with comedic violence, usually at the expense of the Ernest character. Much of the violent action is irrelevant to the story and only serves to keep the targeted child audience interested and stimulated. There are dozens of gun shots, many people knocked unconscious and, in a scene that is questionable at best, Ernest's mouth is caught on a fish hook.
Ernest Rides Again is not a film that contains vicious, ugly violence. It is, however, a film filled with violent acts, the consequences of which are rarely shown. It did not contain an advisory.
Batman Returns (NBC-3/24/96)
Consenting Adults (ABC-2/29/96)
The Crush (Fox-9/6/95)
Final Analysis (NBC-12/31/95)
In the Line of Fire (Fox-3/3/96)
Mad Dog and Glory (ABC-1/25/96)
Mo' Money (Fox-9/5/95)
Patriot Games (ABC-2/1/96)
Sidekicks (NBC-12/23/95)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (ABC-2/24/96)
Violence is so central to the theme and core of some theatrical films that no matter how much they are altered, they could never be made appropriate for broadcast television. An effective edit of some of the films described earlier would require the skill and precision of a highly trained surgeon. It would also leave them very short and without adequate context or a comprehensible story line. Many of the films that fall into this category have already been described. The Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme films are predicated on violence. This is what their fans pay to see in the theaters. There are dozens of violent scenes in each film and taking them out, if not impossible, would serve no purpose. The films would be unrecognizable to those who know them and incomprehensible to those who do not.
Walker, Texas Ranger is a television series with violence. The violence is central to the theme as in the films above. However, since Walker is made for television, the violence, while still a concern, is far less intense and graphic than that of motion pictures. There is no series currently on television that raises concerns about violence to the same degree that theatrical films do. It is in theatrical films retrofitted for television that we find the most problematic violence.
Some films such as The Firm simply need advisories. Others like Patriot Games need to be edited further. But there is nothing that can be done with films such as Hard Target, Marked for Death and The Last Boy Scout to make them suitable for broadcast network television.
Although some question the effect of editing on the artistic integrity of films, we believe that it reflects a network's attempt to act responsibly. However, many of these films are in need of further editing. Some contain so much violence that they cannot be edited sufficiently to air without concerns. Silence of the Lambs is a film with a very violent theme that was edited and made appropriate for broadcast television because it contains only a few scenes of inappropriate violence that could be excised without seriously detracting from the basic storyline. The fact that a good number of violent theatrical films monitored did not raise concerns demonstrates that some very violent films can be acceptably modified for broadcast television.
The broadcast television networks recognize that some films can never be shown on their airwaves. That is why films such as A Clockwork Orange, The Wild Bunch and Reservoir Dogs have never appeared and recent films such as Pulp Fiction and Natural Born Killers probably will not appear. They know that violence is so central to these stories and the scenes so graphic and disturbing that no matter how responsibly they edited these films, they still could not be run without raising serious concerns. The violence in A Clockwork Orange is integral to the film's theme and message and is an important part of character development. The rape scene demonstrates Alex's brutal nature and why society needs to stop him. The actual rape follows more than eight minutes of attempted rape and violence. As contextually appropriate as these scenes are to the film's whole, the sheer amount and graphicness of the violence make it impossible for a network to run this film, and none has.
We would also never expect to see a pornographic film such as Deep Throat on television because of the explicit sexuality. If a network editor tried to edit Deep Throat to remove the sex we would be left with a plot so confusing and weak that no one would watch it. The same point applies to many violence laden films. These films either have too many scenes to edit or, if edited, they would be reduced to shells of their former selves.
The networks do accept the fact that they should not air some theatrical films. They have drawn a line about what does and what does not belong. In our view, the "what does not belong" side of the line should also include the action films with approximately 30-50 scenes of non-stop violence. A policy barring the airing of action films with approximately 30 or more scenes of violence would target only a relatively small percentage of films available for broadcast. Many action films do contain fewer than 30 scenes and can be effectively modified and run with an advisory.
b. Advisories need to be more regularly and effectively applied before and during theatricals
Advisories are used much more frequently for theatrical films than for made-for-television movies. Perhaps because theatrical films have MPAA ratings and are made by others, the networks are more willing to use advisories when airing them. Last year, of the 50 theatrical films we felt raised concerns, 22 or 44% did not use advisories. This year, 10 of the 33 (30%) theatrical films raising concerns did not issue advisories. This demonstrates a greater willingness to use advisories on films calling for parental caution.
As discussed previously, advisories alone would have made a difference with The Firm or The Crush. We can find no explanation for how films such as Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns and Final Analysis could run without an advisory. They are far more violent than many films that did contain advisories. Last year the film Deceived raised concerns primarily because of the lack of an advisory. This season ABC reran Deceived, this time with an advisory, and it did not raise concerns.
Fox, because of its earlier starting time for films, uses advisories much more liberally than the other networks. Advisories are used consistently on Fox and are likely to be spoken or printed three times during the course of a movie. Although Fox does freely issue advisories, it would be preferable if it added an hour of prime time and began its more violent theatrical films and television movies at 9:00 p.m. rather than at 8:00 p.m.
The three original networks have a prime time lasting three hours Monday through Saturday and four hours on Sunday. They can start a theatrical at 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. Some theatricals are longer than two hours and, unless they can be extended with commercials (or additional footage) to four hours and broken into two parts, they usually run at 8:00 p.m.
Occasionally, the three older networks will extend prime time 15 or 30 minutes beyond 11:00 p.m. so as not to have to start the film before 9:00 p.m. This raises strong objections from affiliates who want to air their own sponsors' advertising at 11:00 p.m. rather than the network- carried advertising. It is commendable when the networks extend prime time to accommodate more adult-oriented films. They did this nine times this past season. Prime time was extended for the following films:
City Slickers (ABC)
Indecent Proposal (ABC)
Jurassic Park (NBC)
Last Action Hero (ABC)
The Last of the Mohicans (ABC)
Lethal Weapon 3 (ABC)
Patriot Games (ABC)
The Rookie (ABC)
Terminator 2 (ABC)
Of the networks that extended prime time to accommodate a theatrical film, ABC was responsible for eight of the nine times. ABC is to be commended for being the network most willing to ensure that action films are shown as late as possible in their schedule. Last season CBS ran the two-and-a-half hour Silence of the Lambs at 9:00 p.m and extended prime time 30 minutes for the film. This season CBS reran the film but instead started it at 8:30 p.m. and ended it at 11:00 p.m.
The biggest time slot issue concerns the Fox network. On the one hand, Fox does routinely issue advisories. Yet on the other, it is forced to air all of its films at 8:00 p.m. Like the other networks, Fox runs theatrical films filled with violent themes and scenes. Many are of the type that cannot be sufficiently edited. Running them at 8:00 p.m. raises special concerns. If and when Fox becomes a network with a 10:00 p.m. prime time hour, this concern will diminish. Until it does, Fox is under a special obligation to use the 8:00 p.m. period appropriately.
At their core, on-air promotions, previews, recaps and teasers are all the same thing: advertisements. Unlike conventional advertisements that sell a product not associated with the show, promos are ads for the shows themselves. Aired between and during shows, these "ads" highlight upcoming shows appearing later that night or week. Although this section deals with on-air promotions, previews, recaps, teasers and advertisements, we will frequently use the term "promos" to refer to any material promoting the network's own programming. Occasionally, it will be necessary to make distinctions between types of promos. Therefore we define them as follows:
* On-air promotions are the networks' television ads for their own programming. These are to be distinguished from other promotions such as a tie-in between a network's fall schedule and a department store.
* Previews are like movie trailers. They are scenes at the end of a show previewing the highlights of next week's episode. Their purpose is to get the viewer to tune in next time.
* Recaps are scenes shown at the beginning of a program from the previous episode or episodes. They remind the viewer of what he or she has seen before or fill in the new viewer on what he or she may have missed. An example of this is: "Previously on Chicago Hope... "
* Teasers are short clips making promises about what is to be seen. They usually appear at the beginning of a show or movie and are designed to entice the undecided viewer to watch. Some shows also use teasers just before a commercial in the middle of the show to ensure that the viewer returns after the commercial.
Promos represent a high priority for the broadcast networks. The mission of the promotion department is to highlight and sell the product of the network. More than reading television guides or anything else, viewers use promotions to determine whether to watch a series and especially a television or theatrical movie. Viewers first learn of the story line, a guest star appearance on a series or the theme of a television movie from promotions. They are also used to expose viewers to programs they might not normally watch.
During the summer, the networks spend enormous amounts of money to introduce the public to their new shows for the upcoming season. In the new season, viewers will be bombarded with up to 50 new shows on all the networks, and it is the job of each promotion department to make sure viewers notice its network's shows. Frequently using a slogan or theme song, each network develops a theme to introduce its fall shows. ABC's "We're Still the One" song, slogan and campaign from several years ago is one of the best known of these themes. Similarly, NBC used "NB See Us" and currently is using the extremely successful "Must-See TV" to promote its schedule.
Blockbuster events which attract large audiences are especially desirable because promos can be used during their airing to sell the schedule. Traditionally, one of the major advantages of bidding successfully for the summer Olympics is that there are so many hours available at exactly the right time in the summer to promote the new fall schedule. This is why NBC invested close to $500 million in the summer 1996 Olympics and over $1 billion in the next several Olympic Games (not including CBS's broadcasting of the 1998 winter Olympics from Japan). NBC's audience ratings were extremely impressive for the Atlanta games, and it appears that those games served as a successful platform to launch their new shows in the fall of 1996. Promotions also tell viewers a great deal about a network's priorities, including what the networks view as special or important.
From the beginning, evaluating promotions was an important part of the monitoring process. Many television writers and producers complain that they carefully craft their shows to deal with violence responsibly and then are dismayed to see a promotion eliminate all the context and only feature the violence. We examined several thousand promotions. Last year, we made site visits to three of the four networks to meet with people involved in making promotions so that we might better understand the process.
Promotions raise serious concerns, particularly because they feature violence out of context. It is almost impossible for promotions to provide sufficient context for any violence that does occur. By definition, promotions feature only a small highlight of the upcoming program. Violence, as well as sex, is frequently featured as the highlight.
Violence is used in many ways in promos as a hook to draw viewers into the program. Viewers see violence in the promos encouraging them to watch. They then see violence in the preview at the beginning of the show. During the show, commercials often interrupt violent scenes or occur just as violence is about to erupt to ensure that viewers will continue watching. All of these promotional efforts demonstrate that networks think that rather than alienating viewers, violence attracts them to the program.
There are logical reasons why so many promotions feature scenes of violence. There is not enough time to explain the plot so viewers are presented with a series of engaging sounds and images that require little explanation. The promo becomes little more than isolated and disconnected scenes of sex and violence. With so little time, the easiest things to feature are those that require little explanation: violence and sex. Viewers may need context to know why the violence is occurring, but they need little or no context to know that a show will contain action, guns or fist fights. Even promotions for situation comedies occasionally feature what little "action" may actually be in the show. Many jokes need a longer set-up or explanation than is possible in a promo, contributing to the tendency for promos to feature a scene of comedic violence (or a sexual reference).
Promotions have an obligation to tell the viewer what the show is about. One would expect violent programs or movies to show some violence in their promotions. Many theatrical film promos do this and, on many occasions, the network includes an advisory in the promo.
Many shows that use violence minimally and in an appropriate context end up showcasing the violence decontextualized in the promos. This is a serious concern for several reasons. First, viewers get a mistaken impression of the show. They may believe there is much action and then become disappointed when they find only two or three minimal scenes of violence intermittently dispersed through the show. Sometimes a promo for a show such as Law & Order, a program which would not appeal to fans looking for fights, guns and mayhem, features what little violence there is in an effort to attract these action fans. Furthermore, violent promos frequently are run during programs geared for children or on completely non-violent shows. Even shows that are virtually free of violence are promoted utilizing the merest suggestion of violence that can be gleaned from the program. Clearly, someone is scanning these virtually non-violent shows for anything that could possibly be construed as "action."
Some of the most compressed and decontextualized violence on television appears in commercials promoting theatrical films opening in the theater. A trailer seen before a film in the theater may last up to three minutes and, while it too features many of the scenes of action and violence, it has sufficient opportunity to give viewers the gist of the story. A 30-second ad on television for a film, however, has substantially less opportunity to tell the story and has a tendency to feature only the violence. There are numerous examples of this which will be detailed below.
The section of promotions in last year's report concluded that this was probably an easy area for the networks to correct and we were right. This season there has been substantial improvement in all areas of on-air promotions, with the exception of advertisements for theatrical films which are not produced in house by the networks.
Promotions, although an essential aspect of a network's planning and strategy, are not always consciously noticed by the viewers or, even in many instances, by the network executives. Many network executives view series, specials or movies at home or in their offices on videotape sanitized of promotions or commercials. The purpose of the promotion section in last year's report was to shine a light on this important area of network programming. This is one of the most beneficial reasons to have an outside monitor who looks at network programming from a different perspective and through a different lens than the networks use to look at themselves.
Just the fact that promotion editors know that someone is examining their work and that the results of that examination will be reported publicly is likely to encourage higher standards in promotions. We felt that this was an easy area to change because the networks directly control promotions. This is an area that they can easily change through their own internal policies.
Conversations with the networks demonstrate that this is exactly what they did. All four networks convened their respective promotion staffs after the publication of last year's report. Problems with promotions were discussed in detail and at several networks new positions were added to oversee promotions. Reporting relationships within staff hierarchies were reorganized. The results of those network efforts are evident in the analysis of this year's promotions. Once again we feel this demonstrates the benefit and value in having an outside monitor examine all areas of broadcast television. The focus of our efforts is to identify problems and, in a collaborative way, suggest solutions. This process is exemplified by what occurred in the area of promotions.
It was more difficult this year to find promotions that raised any of the issues discussed in last year's report. There simply were far fewer issue-raising promotions. The on-air promotions that still raise some important concerns are found in the area of advertisements for theatrical films. These are identified and discussed in this year's report.
Still, we are impressed at the efforts that have been made over the past year. In general, this area of network programming is now under control and being dealt with effectively.
2. Issues Arising from Promotions, Previews, Recaps, Teasers and Advertisements
As has been discussed, it is very difficult to incorporate context into a promotion. The goal of a promo is to grab the potential viewer's attention. Revealing the story line takes a great deal of time and is seldom the most effective means for grabbing the attention of viewers. What grabs viewers' immediate interest are scenes of exciting action, many of which are violent: car crashes, chases, fist fights and explosions.
Whenever a promotion does tell the story of a show or movie, it has to be careful not to tell too much or give away the ending. This is difficult to accomplish. To create a promo with just the right amount of the premise and plot takes great time and precision. It is far easier and more reliable just to feature action scenes.
The constant barrage of action seen in promo after promo raises concern. A viewer watching for an entire evening is typically bombarded with many more problematic scenes of violence in the advertisements and promotions than in the programs he or she is watching. This bombardment usually contains only the violence and none of the important contextual elements such as consequences or punishment of the violence.
Some of the best examples of this problem can be found in advertisements for theatrical films about to be released. Many of the most popular and expensive theatrical films feature action and adventure. Many of them contain a large number of very graphic violent scenes that are part of the basic story. When these films appear on television at some time in the future, many of these scenes of intense violence will be edited out. The network faces the dilemma of airing advertisements for films in movie theaters that contain scenes of violence that would not be allowed in regular network programming. Advertisements for some of the most talked about films of the past year fall into this category: Assassins, Broken Arrow, Judge Dredd and Rumble in the Bronx, to name just a few.
Some advertisements and promotions illustrating lack of context:
Assassins (aired during ABC's Coach 9/26/95)
This is a violent ad for a violent film. It follows a McDonald's ad geared to young children about a young boy. Although the Assassins advertisement lasts for only 28 seconds, it is divided into 37 different clips. The ad moves at break-neck speed and only conveys that the film contains an extreme amount of violence. The only information provided by the announcer is, "In any business you have to fight to stay on top but, for an assassin, the competition can be murder." Though catchy, the narrative provides little context for the film. The advertisement features guns in 22 scenes as well as several shootings, breaking glass and at least three explosions.
It is impossible to discern from the ad anything about the film other than that it is full of violent action. Its quick-cutting style and abundance of guns and explosions only serve to numb the viewer. It is a jarring juxtaposition to the situation comedy Coach.
Under Siege (aired during ABC's A Case for Life 2/18/96)
A somewhat violent promotion for ABC's airing of this Steven Seagal theatrical film, it appeared during a television movie that was about a woman's pro-life stance. Although the promo contains many scenes of action and the use of guns, it is considerably tamer than what was seen on the four networks last season. While the promo makes an attempt to convey some of the context of a nuclear warship taken hostage, it is still filled with guns, fights and explosions.
Judge Dredd and Glass Shield (aired on ABC's NYPD Blue on 12/12/95)
An advertisement for the simultaneous release of these two films on home video, this promotion also features non-stop action from the two films. It is impossible to discern any context or story line, other than the promise of intense, graphic action and violence. All the viewer is told about Judge Dredd is, "Judgment Day has come to video. Sylvester Stallone lays down the law in this non-stop action hit." Then viewers see and hear Stallone say, "Throw down your weapons or be prepared to be judged." A man holding a large gun fires and responds, "Judge this!!" Then the announcer concludes, "In the future, justice goes by one name... Judge Dredd." In all, the viewer sees 24 clips of gun fights, explosions, fist fights and other types of action. This makes up the first 15 seconds of the double video ad.
The second half, for Glass Shield, conveys even less context or story. The announcer reveals that "Ice Cube and Lori Petty star in a no-holds-barred action thriller." Little else is apparent about Glass Shield other than that it is filled with gun play, broken glass and action.
Broken Arrow (aired during CBS's Rescue 911 on 2/15/96)
Another ad for a forthcoming theatrical film, this too is filled with explosions, guns and fighting without providing any of the film's context. The viewer learns nothing except that there will be violence. Clearly, producers of films such as this one must believe that their stories and plot lines are of little interest to the movie-going public. There is no way to distinguish this action film from others, except by the stars and the quantity of explosions. This advertisement ran during a non-violent show that appeals to children.
Lethal Weapon and Cybill (aired during CBS's A Promise for Carolyn on 1/16/96)
This was one of the most creative on-air promotions seen all season. Through an unusual juxtaposition of humor and action, the impact of the violence in this promo was diffused. This cleverly promoted both Lethal Weapon II and CBS's popular sitcom starring Cybill Shepherd, Cybill.
The promo begins as a typical action film advertisement by showing the stars of the film. The announcer says in an action-filled voice, "GIBSON, GLOVER," and then adds, "CYBILL?" juxtaposing the comedy actress with the action stars. Scenes from Cybill are intercut with scenes from Lethal Weapon to create the impression that the sitcom is actually an action film. After Gibson and Glover are shown shooting their guns, Cybill is seen in her backyard with an out-of- control hose that is a humorous counterpart to the action stars' guns.
This is an extremely effective way to showcase the action in Lethal Weapon II while at the same time poke fun at it by integrating it with Cybill. It is a highly creative, welcome change from what is usually used to promote action films.
Bell Helmets Advertisement (aired on NBC's Fresh Prince on 11/20/95)
This is a very unusual advertisement. All that is heard during this ad is a person whistling off- screen. On screen are the words, "Humans are the only species with the ability to reason. And sometimes, they even use it." These words appear around scenes of people wearing helmets in serious motorcycle, race car, bicycle and boat accidents. The first violent scene features a race car crashing off the track, flipping several times and bursting into flames. Then a motorcyclist wearing a helmet falls off his bike and bounces on the pavement. In the third clip a man on a bicycle crashes and rolls on the ground. Then another motorcyclist flies into the air and crashes on the ground. The viewers see several more violent accidents. Then the Bell Helmets name appears on the screen accompanied by a helmet-covered brain and the slogan, "Courage for your head." This ad demonstrates that violent scenes can be used to make a positive statement, here about safety and individual responsibility.
It is not uncommon to see promotions or advertisements featuring violence during shows or time periods aimed at children. These promos are run on shows that rarely contain any issue-raising scenes of violence. A family might sit together in front of the television watching such family- oriented programming as Rescue 911 or Fresh Prince and, without warning, be confronted with violent promos. These families might have carefully screened a television guide or used their own viewing experience to select a program that does not contain violence. But there is no way the viewer can protect him- or herself from promotions or advertisements containing intense scenes of violence that may occur during these programs. Happily, we saw far less of this problem this season than last. This is an area of concern that has almost disappeared.
One might expect to see more graphic or violent promos on shows that contain violence. A network could reasonably expect that the audience for these shows is more tolerant or accepting of these kinds of depictions. But a promo portraying violent scenes that is aired in the middle of a completely non-violent show raises a particular issue of concern. Some examples:
It Was Him Or Us (aired during CBS's Walton Thanksgiving Reunion on 11/17/95)
Although containing relatively few scenes of violence, this promotion seemed an ill-suited choice to air during a Walton family Thanksgiving reunion. Advertising a television movie based on a violent theme (see television movie section), the promo contained a scene of someone smashing in a car's windshield with what appears to be a baseball bat and another scene of a woman holding a gun. It is an intense, fast-paced ad that is very violent.
The Cold Heart of a Killer (aired during CBS's Can't Hurry Love on 1/8/96)
Another violent promo, this one aired during CBS's situation comedy, Can't Hurry Love. The promo for The Cold Heart of a Killer features a man on a sled hitting a tree at high speed, guns and several menacing scenes of a large knife poised for attack.
Halloween (aired during ABC's Hocus Pocus on 10/28/95)
This promotion for a very violent slasher film was not aired by the ABC television network, but rather by its locally owned station, KABC. This is a problem that was seen several times last year during ABC's Family Movie.
The promo contains several scenes of intense violence featuring knives and a terrified woman in a closet about to be attacked. This promo demonstrates some of the problems the network faces in dealing with on-air promotions. Halloween was not even shown on the ABC television network. The local station, KABC, scheduled the film after the 11:00 p.m. news. The local station, however, does get several spots in prime time which it uses to promote its purely local schedule. These promotions are inserted into prime time without the knowledge or consent of the television network. While this is done all the time by independent affiliates, it is easily controlled in this case, since ABC owns both the network and the local station. This same problem was seen several other times this season, for example, when KABC promoted Nitti the Enforcer during Encino Woman (on 4/20/96) and when it promoted Street Crimes during The Legend of the Ruby Silver (on 1/13/96).
An interesting phenomenon in the realm of promotions occurs when a non-violent show manages to produce a promotion containing violence, or at least action. Most television series contain little violence and many that do feature violent scenes do so in a contextually appropriate manner. These shows, influenced and approved by the networks' departments of practices and standards, generally make it on the air without any problems or concerns.
Someone in the promotions process reviews these shows, managing to find the one moment or instant that contains some action. In a drama, this may mean a gun that is drawn but never used. In a comedy, it usually means violence played for laughs such as someone getting punched or falling down. Inevitably, this one scene will make its way into the promo. Devoid of context, the scene usually raises issues of concern. Even the most innocent shows on network television occasionally yield promos featuring acts of violence that lack context and having a different feel than the shows themselves.
These promos are of less concern than those for theatrical films or action shows. But it is important to repeat that someone culls through the material of situation comedies and looks for the most violent scene. This area of concern also disappeared almost completely this television season. We had to look long and hard before we could find even a few examples, and those were tame and minor:
The John Larroquette Show (aired during NBC's JAG on 9/23/95)
Although not a serious concern, this promotion for the non-violent John Larroquette Show managed to find two instances of physical action to feature. The first shows Larroquette punched squarely in the face and the second shows him being kicked by an angry woman.
These scenes are not problems, but they were the only moments of physical comedy in a 30- minute program and they found their way onto this on-air promotion.
Ellen and The Drew Carey Show (aired during ABC's Champions of Magic on 5/6/96)
Once again, these are not serious scenes of violence, but someone sifted through 60 minutes of programming and found two moments of physical action to feature in this promo. The scene from Ellen warns, "It's the wedding disaster of the year," as Ellen in her bridesmaid's dress punches a man in the face and then pushes him away from her. It is played completely for laughs. The clip from Drew Carey shows a man pushing his hand into Carey's face. It too is played for laughs.
The four broadcast television networks all have promotion departments that prepare an enormous amount of material to advertise their programming. Not all of the promotional material ends up airing during network-controlled time. The network also sends promotions for its programming to its local affiliates. A network is comprised of several local stations that the network owns (in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, all of the network-affiliated stations are owned by the network) and approximately 195 independent stations that affiliate with the network.
During the time periods they control, the networks set their own practices and standards for what promos can appear at what times and on what shows. The affiliates, however, are given a small amount of prime time by the networks to advertise and promote their own shows and much more time in other parts of the day to do the same. Many times it is the affiliate that will schedule a violent promo in a non-violent time slot. When this is done it is impossible for the average viewer to discern whether it was the network or the local station that made the decision.
Networks frequently get blamed for the decisions of the affiliates. Few viewers can tell the difference and, in the larger scheme of things, to most of them it does not make a difference. It is the affiliates which schedule some of the promos just as it is the affiliates which schedule adult talk shows during after-school hours. It is much easier to control something when only four large corporations are responsible. However, when the responsibility is spread over hundreds of large and small stations, the ability to take corrective action is much more difficult.
The television networks frequently run spots talking about alternatives to violence. NBC has run its "The More You Know" for several years, and Fox has been running its "Under the Helmet" spots.
These spots feature some of the biggest stars on the networks and are expensive to produce. Furthermore, they displace paid advertising time. For that the networks deserve credit. It is difficult to measure whether spots change people's behavior or which type of spots are the best to run. There is evidence, however, that they are seen by many people. NBC reports that they have received as many as 3,000 phone calls after some of its "The More You Know" spots. There is absolutely no downside to these public service spots and the networks should be commended for running them.
One of the problems television faces is that children may watch any program at any hour of the day, including those programs aimed exclusively at adults. There is evidence that far more children than many people realize are watching television at 9:00 p.m. or even 10:00 p.m. Nevertheless, the broadcast networks have some right to consider the later hours primarily the province of adults. All television programming should not be sanitized because the possibility exists that some children may be watching. There are some times of the day when parents or guardians can reasonably be expected to supervise or prevent children's viewing.
This section deals with the Saturday morning television programming that is created especially for children. In the earliest days of television, a tradition began establishing Saturday morning for kids and Sunday morning for religion. Just as many kids get up early on Sunday morning, but that television time was generally reserved for religious programs.
The earliest hours of Saturday morning television belong to the youngest children. The shows that begin around 7:00 a.m. appeal to 4-6 year olds. Around 9:00 a.m., the schedule changes to accommodate older brothers and sisters when the more action-oriented shows are broadcast. Both last year and this, NBC devoted its Saturday morning schedule (after news) to live-action programming for teenagers.
Children's television has long been controversial. To combat what she felt was over- commercialized and poor children's programming, Peggy Charren formed Action for Children's Television (ACT). Her approach was never to pressure for the removal of specific programs but rather to encourage the airing of higher quality shows. Heeding the challenge, public television filled what it saw as a vacuum in the area of children's programming, particularly programming for very young children. Sesame Street, The Electric Company and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood became staples of many children's daily morning routines.
In 1990, Congress passed the Children's Television Act, which promised to ensure that there would be quality programming for children. The act's passage prompted Charren to pass her mantle to The Center for Media Education, which continues to advocate for children. Unfortunately, many in the television industry defined "educational programming" differently than the sponsors of the legislation, and today children's television is as controversial as ever. During the summer of 1996 the Federal Communications Commission announced that it would now require at least three hours of educational programming geared to children each week and that this requirement would become part of the license renewal process. Several outside organizations, including the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Policy Center under its dean, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, announced that they would help determine what they believe qualifies as educational children's television.
Saturday morning children's television is dominated by the new player, the Fox Network. Entering the children's programming arena in 1990, the ratings of the Fox Children's Network exceed that of all the other networks combined. NBC has gone out of the business of creating Saturday morning programming for young children. It airs The Today Show followed by the teen-oriented, live-action programs Saved by the Bell and California Dreams. This season the new UPN and WB networks have made their first foray into the area of children's television.
There has also been much discussion in the 1990s about the effects of Saturday morning programming on children. While the attention focuses on everything from sex and gender roles to commercialization, the most vocal concern has been about the effect of violence in children's programming. One show in particular, The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, has been singled out by some as an example of violent children's programming that kids emulate. Although Fox argues that The Power Rangers is no different than other Saturday morning programs, it has become a lightning rod for much attention and criticism.
As in the other areas of broadcast television, the 1995-96 season saw an improvement in children's television. Fewer shows raise serious concern about the way they portray action and violence. There will be a direct comparison to last season after the 1995-96 season is examined.
We monitored children's television programs exactly the same way we examined prime time television. Every show was watched a minimum of four times. Children's television, far more easily than prime time fare, fits into a formula. Many prime time shows are more variable in their content, sometimes interweaving comedy, drama and violence. These shows have to be monitored a large number of times to get a handle on them. Children's programs, on the other hand, tend to repeat the same themes and patterns each week. Children seem to be more comfortable with and desirous of repetition, familiarity and predictability. Indeed many parents report that their children can watch the same animated movie on video tape over and over again.
After examining the networks' Saturday morning schedule, we developed categories for the various types of violence in the shows. A reminder: NBC does not broadcast for kids on Saturday morning and its teenage programming raises no concerns in the area of violence. Our three classifications of violence in Saturday morning programming are slapstick, tame combat violence and sinister combat violence.
This is the slapstick comedic violence that has been watched by children on television and in movies for generations. Typified by the classic Warner Bros. cartoons such as Bugs Bunny or Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner, this type of violence is lighthearted and hyperbolic with comedy as the main theme and purpose. The slapstick cartoons of 1996 are tamer than those of the 1950s and 1960s. The slapstick is never realistic with regard to the violent actions themselves or the consequences. This genre of violence, while occasionally mean-spirited, is not designed to be taken seriously by viewers, no matter what age.
Little of the "lethal if it were real" type violence which appeared in the 1950s and 1960s is found in today's slapstick cartoons. Instead, tamer fare such as tripping, bumping into things, pinching, and the occasional overdone punch are far more the norm. There are no shotguns or pistols as one used to see in the hands of Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam. There is very little of characters being hit over the head with umbrellas or anvils as Granny used to do to Sylvester or the Roadrunner to Wile E. Coyote. There are almost no instances of explosives being used. All in all, it is a much gentler cartoon universe. However, the one exception to this trend can be found in the new cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animaniacs, The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, and to a lesser degree Freakazoid! and Earthworm Jim (which are discussed in the following section on the emerging broadcast networks), all continue to feature the harsher, more destructive types of slapstick violence. However, they too do not feature such destructive weapons as shotguns or pistols. In large part, those have been eliminated from the cartoon world.
Examples of cartoons that feature slapstick violence are:
Winnie the Pooh (ABC)
Not surprisingly, this newest incarnation of Winnie the Pooh is a virtually non-violent cartoon. The small amount of violence that is present is always slapstick, typically accidental and never mean-spirited. The most serious instance of violence monitored in this program occurred when Pooh and his friends, frightened by a horror movie, imagine themselves to be pursued by a vicious "slusher." In a paranoid panic, they set a trap for the "slusher" to which their unfortunate friend Eeyore falls victim, resulting in a piano falling on him. This act is heard but not seen. Only the aftermath is shown (Eeyore beneath the rubble of a smashed piano). This is frequently the way in which more extreme violence is portrayed in the show. More typical of the type of violence in this show is Pooh bumping into trees and Tigger pouncing on his friends.
Dumb and Dumber (ABC)
Dumb and Dumber is an example of a cartoon version of a popular movie. Each episode features the two main characters, Harry and Lloyd, accompanied by their pet beaver, in some new sticky situation. Many times they are pursued by someone who wants to do them harm. Inevitably Harry's and Lloyd's stupidity proves to be their greatest asset as it generally leads to the resolution of the very problem it got them into. Like the movie, the cartoon contains slapstick violence. It is typically accidental and never causes harm. For example, in an episode aired on 12/2/95, both Harry and Lloyd dream that they are "sumo gladiators." In the dream, Harry knocks Lloyd down with a pugil stick, reminiscent of the program American Gladiators. Lloyd is not hurt and complains, "I've fallen and I can't get up."
Bump in the Night (ABC)
Not a cartoon, Bump in the Night is a claymation production. It features the adventures of Mr. Bumpy (a loud-mouthed but good-spirited monster who lives under the bed) and his friends Molly Coddle (a rag comfort doll) and Squishington (a blue thing you put in the toilet). The obnoxious and oftentimes gross Mr. Bumpy is accompanied by the level-headed Molly and mild- mannered Squishington as each episode finds them facing some sort of minor dilemma. For example, in an episode on 11/11/95, Mr. Bumpy's rotting teeth come out of his mouth and try to bite him and the others, only to be stopped when Mr. Bumpy takes a toothbrush to them. The show is completely comedic, principally features slapstick and a smattering of tame combat violence and raises no issues. Occasionally, the program also features some educational aspects. In an episode on 12/2/95, Mr. Bumpy explains gravity and provides a brief profile of life in Japan.
The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show (ABC)
This program is an hour-long showcase featuring the classic Warner Bros. cartoons. It is obviously slapstick violence and raises all of the same old issues that cartoon violence is famous for. What is interesting is that watching these older cartoons demonstrates how slapstick violence in cartoons has changed in recent history (see discussion in the introduction to the slapstick category). In the cartoons featured in The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, characters are frequently bombarded with what would be, in real life, extremely harmful, even lethal, violence. Examples are Porky Pig being hit in the head with the dull end of an axe blade, Sylvester the cat falling off a building and into an open manhole, Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam shooting hunting rifles and pistols at Bugs Bunny, and Bugs Bunny shooting an arrow into the rear end of another rabbit.
What-a-mess (ABC)
One of the least violent programs in the ABC Saturday morning line up, What-a-mess is a cartoon about a dog named "What-a-mess." The show features only very small doses of violence, all of which are slapstick in nature. Such incidents as What-a-mess tripping on a roller skate or another dog grabbing him by the scruff of the neck is as serious as the violence ever gets on this show.
Adventures of Hyperman (CBS)
Aired in the network's earliest time slot, Hyperman is a lighthearted, comedic cartoon about a dimwitted, but good-natured, super hero from outer space and his dog sidekick, Studpuppy. In each episode, Hyperman protects Earth from some silly threat, usually an evil plan concocted by one of his several enemies. The show always contains some educational aspect delivered in the form of Hyperman's far more intelligent friend Emma giving him a lesson about Earth. For example, in an episode on 12/9/95, Hyperman learns a lesson about the dangers of ultraviolet rays and also about meteorology. The violence contained in the program is clearly slapstick with occasional elements of tame combat violence (to be discussed below). The slapstick usually takes the form of Hyperman running into something or an object falling on him or one of the villains. It does not usually pose any sort of issue. However, some of the slapstick does reach a more moderate level of intensity. For example, in an episode that aired on 11/25/95 the evil villain Introbe's sidekick, Kid Chaos, is hit in the face with an iron and repeatedly smashed over the head with an oversized mallet. While this is obviously played for laughs and Chaos is not seriously hurt by the assaults, the violent act is more severe than is typical in slapstick programming.
The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa (CBS)
Based on two of the most popular characters from Disney's motion picture The Lion King, Timon and Pumbaa is a comedic cartoon that lacks the action elements that are typical of Disney's animated films. The show chronicles the adventures of the two title characters as they wander through the plains of Africa. Timon, the meerkat, is the wild and crazy scatterbrained leader of the duo while Pumbaa, the warthog, is his more level-headed and thoughtful supporter. The violence in the show is nothing but slapstick and does not raise any issues. It is never mean- spirited and is typically accidental. Also, to the program's credit, it often contains some pro-social theme about helping others.
Santo Bugito (CBS)
Santo Bugito is one of the least violent cartoons in the CBS Saturday morning lineup, if not all of Saturday morning. A comedic cartoon, the story revolves around the inhabitants of an insect colony in Texas called Santo Bugito. In each episode the group of bugs deals with some kind of minor dilemma such as when a crooked mosquito attorney cons everyone into suing one another, or when the colony fears that a family of killer bees will move into their peaceful town. Each dilemma is dealt with in a peaceful manner and any violence that does occur is slapstick in nature and raises no issues at all.
The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat (CBS)
This is a new rendition of the classic cartoon Felix the Cat. Similar to the old cartoon, the show chronicles Felix's various adventures, but with a surreal twist. It is indeed, as the title indicates, more "twisted" than its predecessor. Most of Felix's adventures include a more sinister, threatening villain than is typical of comedy/adventure cartoons. This is largely due to the more demented edge now present. It also contains a degree of violence, usually slapstick in nature. Sometimes mild fighting does occur. However, even this combat is generally composed of slapstick. No issues are raised by this program.
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (CBS)
Another one of the cartoon versions of a Jim Carrey film, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is a comedic show, employing a healthy dose of bodily function humor and very little violence. All of the violence that does exist is slapstick and none of it presents any issues of concern.
Beakman's World (CBS)
This is an educational program featuring Beakman, a wacky scientist who answers questions mailed in by viewers and explains why things work the way they do. Beakman is assisted by his two friends, a woman and an overgrown rat. Beakman's World contains a strong element of slapstick humor, some of which is mildly violent but of no concern.
Garfield and Friends (CBS)
This show features the adventures of Garfield the cat and his friends. It contains minimal violence that is exclusively slapstick and poses no problems.
Casper the Friendly Ghost (Fox)
This new incarnation of the classic cartoon is very much like the original with regard to violence. It contains only small amounts of minor slapstick violence. Typical fare includes ghosts pinching and stretching one another abusively but in a way that does not appear to harm or hurt.
Bobby's World (Fox)
An animated program based on a character from comedian Howie Mandell's stand-up routine, Bobby's World follows the escapades of an imaginative little boy named Bobby. The program seldom contains any violence. When it does, it is always slapstick. The program raises no issues of concern.
Eekstravaganza! (Fox)
A comedic program about a hair-brained cat named Eek, this program also features two other cartoons. One is about dinosaurs, and the other is about a mysterious life form made up of dirty clothes named Klutter. All of the programs showcase only slapstick violence, none of which presents any issues of concern.
This is a necessarily broad category that contains the types of violence that are typical of adventure/comedy cartoons in which the violence usually stems from a battle between the forces of good and evil. It is generally used to establish the conflict in the story and then again in the climax to wrap up the show. Examples of tame combat violence include somewhat threatening chase scenes that result in little, if no harm; fight scenes in which the emphasis is placed on evading attacks; and any other relatively innocuous conflict in which good battles evil. Though some scenes may be prolonged in order to achieve a degree of excitement, the action or comedic aspect, not the violence, is the crux of the program. Unlike in sinister combat violence, characters in this category do not fight eagerly without considering alternatives, and the shows do not have a dark, malevolent look or feel.
Examples of these shows are:
Free Willy (ABC)
Based on the popular film and its sequel, Free Willy centers around young Jesse and his whale companion, Willy. Jesse and Willy are part of a conservationist group that sails around the world protecting the environment and saving animals threatened by civilization. There is very little violence and that which does occur would be classified as tame combat violence. There is also an educational aspect to this program, which always contains pro-environmental messages.
Reboot (ABC)
This is the most action-oriented cartoon in the ABC Saturday morning line-up. Created with computer animation, Reboot is visually fascinating and possesses some of the highest production values in all of Saturday morning children's programming. The setting for Reboot is Mainframe, a fictional world that exists within a computer that is inhabited by various programs and bytes of information. In each episode, the main character Bob, a "guardian program," and his friends Dot Matrix and Enzo, work to protect Mainframe from the evil plans of the two principal villains Megabyte and Hexidecimal. Both Megabyte and Hexidecimal are extremely sinister villains who wish to destroy Mainframe and recreate it in their own images. Although some may argue that Reboot contains educational elements in its use of technical computer jargon, it is, at its core, an action/adventure program that only uses the jargon to interest children and promote the futuristic feel of the show.
In terms of violence, classifying Reboot is difficult because it features some fairly intense scenes of combat between good and darkly evil characters, thereby making it like a sinister combat violence program. However, more in the fashion of tame combat violence, these battle scenes are not characterized by non-stop, prolonged fighting. In some instances, violence is avoided altogether by working things out verbally as was done in an episode aired on 3/2/96. Sometimes violence occurs within the context of a computer game in which Bob will compete. However, the heroes do not exhibit any zeal for combat nor is the violence prolonged or lethal.
Beyond the fight scenes, Reboot features interesting story lines and characters, as well as some comedic aspects. There are not any real issues in this program other than that violence always does occur within the story, usually once in the middle of the program and again at the end; and that the extremely evil villains, particularly Hexidecimal, could be scary enough to frighten very young children.
Hypernauts (ABC)
This is one of the most interesting programs in the Saturday morning line-up. Rather than featuring animation, it consists of exclusively live action and would be best characterized as "Star Trek for kids." Appearing in ABC's last Saturday morning time slot, it clearly targets older children as is evidenced by the more sophisticated story lines and developed characters. The program chronicles the adventures of a group of teenage astronauts from the future called Hypernauts as they travel through space with their alien compatriot Kulai. Together, the Hypernauts attempt to warn the rest of the universe of the Triad Armada, an imperial armada bent on conquering the universe. While violence does exist in some episodes, the show does not rely on it.
The program often uses fast-paced chase scenes instead of violence in order to achieve a high degree of action. The occasional violence that does occur is usually similar to that found in "Star Wars," involving spacecrafts exchanging laser fire in a dogfight. Because a few episodes of the program do involve somewhat intense scenes of violence, which can become slightly prolonged, it cannot be labeled non-violent. The violence is relevant to the story and is not "violence for the sake of violence." In one episode, aired on 3/2/96, the wise Kulai, who serves as an advisor to the other Hypernauts, delivers an anti-violence message. After one character expresses delight at the awesome power of a new weapon, Kulai declares that "weapons are the weakest defense of all."
Aladdin (CBS)
Although violence is not used throughout each episode, Aladdin usually features a violent conflict in the middle of the episode and always ends with a climactic battle scene. The cartoon is slightly darker than other Disney cartoons such as The Little Mermaid (no longer on network television) and The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa. In each episode, some sort of evil threatens the kingdom of Agraba and it is up to Aladdin and his friends to stop it. Some conventional forms of violence do occasionally occur such as sword fights and fist fights. However, more often the violence is comprised of the genie and other magic beings "zapping" one another with non-lethal force. The slightly darker tone of the program, as well as the heavier emphasis on conflict, seems designed to appeal to the older children entering the audience as the morning progresses.
The Mask (CBS)
The Mask is one of the three cartoons this season based on a Jim Carrey movie. Little more than a cartoon version of the film, the story is about Stanley Ipkus, a shy, mild-mannered bank employee who, when he wears a magical mask, is transformed into a wild and crazy, clownish "superhero" called "The Mask." As "The Mask," Stanley wards off evildoers with an array of bizarre objects. Hand-to-hand combat and conventional weapons are never used. The conflict always contains heavy elements of slapstick. "The Mask" always employs goofball tactics that embarrass and subdue rather than injure his foes. The only issue that arises here is that the violent behavior of "The Mask," albeit outlandish, is glorified, whereas the mild-mannered, non-violent disposition of Stanley is frequently mocked and characterized as wimpish.
Spiderman (Fox)
Based on one of Marvel Comics' most popular comic books, Spiderman became a part of the Fox Kids line-up midway through last season and has quickly become one of Saturday morning's most popular cartoons. Chronicling the adventures of the web-spinning superhero, the program features story lines which span several episodes.
The program is full of wall-to-wall action. Most of the violence is committed by Spiderman's enemies as they try to stop the superhero. Spiderman always stays one step ahead of the villains, dodging blows and spinning webs to stay out of harm's way. Ultimately, the hero prevails, wrapping up his foes in a bundle of webbing and leaving them to the proper authorities.
True to its action/adventure genre, Spiderman is oftentimes fast paced, with the battle and chase scenes comprising a very large portion of the show. However, uncharacteristically for its genre, the characters are surprisingly human. Peter Parker, Spiderman's true identity, is a college student who struggles with the real-life problems of romantic relationships, caring for his elderly Aunt May, getting good grades, and paying the bills, all the while being a superhero. He is an extremely likable character with a good disposition who does what he does to help society, not because he likes to fight.
The violence itself is not like that of other action-oriented cartoons either. There is far less emphasis on punching, kicking or other forms of hand-to-hand combat. Instead, there is far more laser gun fire and explosions, which Spiderman is usually evading. Seldom the aggressor, Spiderman never tries to severely injure or kill his opponents, only tie them up and subdue them. It is also commendable that Spiderman never tries to take the law into his own hands and always leaves his captured enemies to the proper authorities.
All in all, Spiderman demonstrates how an action-packed cartoon can be entertaining and popular while not raising serious issues of concern. The one time in which the program did venture into the realm of sinister combat violence was on 10/7/95, when the X-Men were guest stars.
The Tick (Fox)
This show combines elements of fighting typical of superhero programs with a comedic, satirical twist, creating a spoof of the genre. The Tick is a seven-foot tall, 400-pound, blowhard crime fighter whose small brain is in stark contrast to his huge muscles. With the help of a moth-suited former accountant turned sidekick named Arthur, the Tick battles offbeat super villains such as Chairface, Mother of Invention and Proto Clown. For example, Proto Clown is an enormous monster clown designed to be the funniest clown in the world, but with one small problem: he hates to be laughed at. The program is comedic and it only uses the combat to make audiences laugh. The satire is hard to miss and the violence is never very threatening.
Goosebumps (Fox)
Originally only an occasional member of the Fox Kids line-up, Goosebumps has moved into a permanent time slot on Saturday morning. A live-action program based on the popular children's books by author R.L. Stine, the show is best described as "X-Files for kids." It combines creepy stories with high production values to create a very scary children's show. Preceded by a special Goosebumps advisory which reads "Goosebumps is rated GB-7 because it may be too spooky for children under 7," each episode tells a new story about young teens and the mysterious and eerie predicaments in which they find themselves. In the end, no one is ever hurt but, in the style of such shows as The Twilight Zone, the program typically ends with some sort of bizarre twist, designed to leave the viewer at least mildly unsettled.
Currently the most popular children's show on television, Goosebumps is a well done show that lives up to its name by giving viewers the promised goosebumps. It is dark, thrilling and a little bit disturbing without ever showing anything more violent than someone grabbing another person. Instead, because of the show's intensity, one often has the impression of pending violence or danger without any violence actually occurring.
These are the programs that raise the greatest concerns with regard to the treatment of violence. This form of cartoon violence is characteristic of action-oriented programs that are combat driven. Fighting is the main attraction or purpose of the program and the plot only provides justification for the combat. While this is not a new genre in Saturday morning programming, the dark overtones and unrelenting combat in these shows constitute a fairly recent trend. This is where mean, vindictive violence occurs with little to counter the message that violence is an appropriate solution to a problem. The warriors are often portrayed heroically and their actions glorified.
Sinister combat violence shows are similar to tame combat violence shows in that they always contain a battle scene between the forces of good and evil. Nevertheless, sinister combat violence shows are far more mean-spirited and typically have a considerably more exciting feel to them provided by, among other things, a driving, rock music background. The heroes or "good guys" in these programs are valued for their toughness rather than their virtues, such as sense of humor or kindness, and are made "cool" by their warrior status and ability to destroy enemies. Violent behavior is always the defining element of these characters. These shows also draw out the violent scenes much longer than necessary and feature much more hand-to-hand combat and more lethal forms of violence than the tame combat shows. In these programs, the focus is on the battle scenes which make up a large portion of the show.
While concerns may be raised in the other two categories of cartoon violence, depending on the particular program and the age of the child, it is our contention that sinister combat violence raises the most serious and immediate concerns. It is violence for the sake of violence. It rarely couches the violent acts in any suitable context. The message is: fight.
We found four Saturday morning programs that fell into the category of sinister combat violence. They are as follows:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (CBS)
This is the most problematic program in the CBS Saturday morning lineup. It contains much hand-to-hand combat, usually combining punching and kicking with a wide array of weapons including numchuks, swords, staffs and laser guns. Without the fight scenes, this program would be considerably shorter in length and probably of little interest to its current audience. The turtles always solve their problems with fighting and always seem to enjoy it, sometimes egging on their opponents. It is clearly violence for the sake of violence.
Masked Rider (Fox)
A new live action program from the makers of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Masked Rider chronicles the adventures of Dex, an alien prince sent forth to protect Earth from the evil forces of Count Dregon. On Earth, Dex is taken in by a kindly suburban family and in each episode learns more about Earth's culture and customs. Whenever Dregon unleashes one of his evil "insectivores," Dex transforms into the Masked Rider, a bug-like, sword-wielding warrior proficient in martial arts, and does battle with the creature.
Very similar in style and premise to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Masked Rider possesses some subtle differences which make it less problematic. Fight scenes between the show's hero and the monster are considerably shorter than those found in Power Rangers and also rarely show the impact of blows. Consequently, battles in Masked Rider consist of a lot of jumping around. Also, during the fights lasers are typically fired and many explosions occur sending characters flying backwards through the air. Although at first glance, these shows might seem remarkably similar, there are distinct differences that make one a much greater concern. While the fight scenes in Masked Rider are definitely an integral part of the show's appeal to children, the program places less emphasis on the violence and does not illustrate it as graphically. However, it is still a program built around violent conflicts. Although Masked Rider is definitely a sinister combat violence show, it is the tamest show in the category.
X-Men (Fox)
Another cartoon based on an enormously popular Marvel Comic book, X-Men is a cornerstone of the Fox Kids Saturday morning line up. The series revolves around a renegade team of mutant superheroes, each one possessing some super-human ability which allows them to be proficient warriors. The stories span several episodes and in large part are derived from the actual comic book.
The heroes are extremely dark and brooding. The only apparent joy in their lives comes from the frequent battles they engage in against some supernatural enemy. The quintessential example of this can be found in the character of Wolverine, the most popular and glorified individual on the team. He is a brutal warrior, equipped with razor-sharp claws with which he zealously attacks and tries to tear apart his foes. Frequently, he expresses his extreme enthusiasm for engaging in combat.
Episode after episode, the X-Men engage in prolonged, fast-paced battles featuring laser guns, power beams, explosions, punching and kicking, swords and other bladed weapons. Few physical consequences are ever explored as both heroes and villains alike attempt to destroy rather than merely defeat one another. The characters and the violence are very threatening with a strong malevolent undercurrent running throughout the show.
Although the violence within the program is extremely fantastic, with lots of laser beams and futuristic technology, the sentiment which surrounds the conflict condones and celebrates the viciousness of the characters and their violent behaviors.
The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Power Rangers Zeo (Fox)
Possibly the most famous children's program on the air, The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers has spawned a number of other live action children's programs featuring martial arts. However, Power Rangers has managed to remain on the top of the hill, continuing to be a very successful show. Much of the initial fervor that surrounded the program has subsided. In an attempt to recapture some of the excitement that once was, the program reinvented itself midway through this season as Power Rangers Zeo.
Featuring new cast members with different costumes and greater strength and fighting abilities, the new and improved Rangers face a new, more powerful enemy, the Machine King and his mechanical minions. As was the case in each episode of the program's previous incarnation, the villain sends assorted monsters and his humanoid henchmen to Earth in an attempt to destroy the Rangers, thereby clearing the way for him to take over the world. Without fail, the Rangers are initially overwhelmed by the monster and are forced to regroup and form a new strategy. When they meet again, in a final confrontation, the Rangers defeat the monster who is then, through the technology of the Machine King, enlarged and reinvigorated. It is at this point that the Power Rangers call upon their "Zords," enormous fighting robots which they then pilot to do battle with the larger, more powerful creature. The super-sized beings then clash and the Power Rangers inevitably emerge victorious.
Although there are some differences in the actual production of the programs--for example, improved production values in Power Rangers Zeo, an occasional different style of filming fight scenes and a greater comedic influence in the new rendition--the two versions of the program raise the same issues in terms of violence. Namely, the violent activity is the crux of the show. This is evidenced by the lengthy scenes of combat that showcase heavy amounts of punching and kicking accompanied by invigorating and exciting music. The violence is extremely glorified and is always shown without consequences. The Rangers never appear to take physical conflict very seriously and, while not necessarily inviting it, never seem to try to avoid it.
Despite the fact that Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Power Rangers Zeo are classified as sinister combat violence, we realize that calling these programs "sinister" seems to be a misnomer. The bright colors and extremely good-natured dispositions of the heroes make this program appear to be anything but sinister. However, this is indeed the best classification for these programs because they are little more than vehicles designed to showcase martial arts combat and are thus "violence for the sake of violence." Peppered with moralistic messages about such topics as gender roles, teamwork and cooperation, the program attempts to teach young viewers important pro-social lessons about being good people. But it does so in a format that almost ensures that the lessons will be overshadowed by exciting violent interactions.
Also of issue is the fact that the program is live action rather than animation. This, coupled with the multi-ethnic composition of the team, makes it all the more likely for children to view the Power Rangers as role models worthy of being emulated. While this may be good in terms of social attitudes, it may also be detrimental in terms of dealing with conflict, for in each episode the heroes solve their problems with violence.
The problem is that these shows, which appeal to so many young children, are totally driven by combat. When we asked children what they like about The Mighty Morphin Power Ranger and Power Rangers Zeo, they did not respond that they appreciate the lessons about teamwork and cooperation. They inevitably said that they like the fighting.
It is only fair that several shows be singled out for their constructive messages and lack of violence. The programs that contain no violence are:
Fudge (ABC)
This program is a live-action adaptation of the popular series of children's books written by Judy Bloom. It features no violence at all and always contains some pro-social message for kids.
Really Wild Animals (CBS)
This program is a documentary-style nature show tailored for younger audiences. It features scenes of various types of animals in their habitats around the world. The only violence in this program is that which occurs in nature. None of the scenes, which typically consist of predators pursuing and eating other animals as part of the food chain, are particularly graphic or excessive. The program raises no issues.
Where on Earth is Carmen San Diego? (Fox)
Featured in the network's earliest Saturday morning time slot, Where on Earth is Carmen San Diego? is based on a popular educational computer game that is frequently used in schools to teach geography. An action/adventure cartoon, the story revolves around Zak and Ivy, a brother and sister team of junior detectives who are in constant pursuit of the world's greatest thief, Carmen San Diego.
In each episode, the junior super sleuths chase Carmen around the world trying to thwart her plans and arrest her. Carmen is a non-violent character who seems to enjoy the game of cat and mouse between her and the duo. For the most part, fighting is virtually non-existent. However, in an episode that ran on 3/23/96, when challenged by two of Carmen's henchmen, Ivy suggests to Zak that they act like their "favorite TV action stars" and then delivers a flying kick to one of the thugs. But this is the most violent the program ever gets and, compared to most other programs, it is negligible.
Life With Louie (Fox)
Based on the comedy of stand-up comedian and author Louie Anderson, Life With Louie is an animated depiction of the trials and tribulations of Anderson's middle class suburban childhood. Typically focusing on the interactions between Louie and his father, a U.S. Army veteran determined to run his house with the same order that he ran his platoon, the program takes a dry, comedic look at life. There is virtually no violence in this show. The program relies more on dialogue and the quirks of life as its source of comedy than on what little slapstick violence it might contain. The show always incorporates some small kernel of wisdom, a little moral life lesson.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (Fox)
Loosely based on the 1970s camp classic film of the same name, this cartoon is virtually non- violent. The only weapons used in the show are flying tomatoes. The basic plot of the program is that Chad and Tara, with the help of Chad's Uncle Wilbur, try to stop the mad scientist Doc Gangreen from taking over the world with his armies of killer tomatoes. The only thing which might be called violent is the act of killer tomatoes throwing themselves at people.
The number of children's television programs featuring sinister combat violence on the four networks has dropped from seven to four. Of the seven sinister combat shows from last year, four are no longer part of the Saturday morning lineup. Three shows on this year's list are holdovers from last year and one of them has evidenced slight improvement. In no way is the Saturday morning situation getting worse. In fact there are some promising signs and developments that encourage us to believe that next season the picture may be even brighter. As mentioned earlier, the broadcasters have agreed to a minimum of three hours of educational programming per week, and it is very likely that some, if not most, of that programming will end up on Saturday morning.
Sinister combat violence shows make up a smaller part of Saturday morning than last year. Shows with no violence and those featuring slapstick make up an increasingly large part of children's programming. On the whole this is a positive development.
We also noticed that cartoons are getting smarter. A larger percentage of them have incorporated some educational or cultural elements into the programs. Possibly the result of the success of Fox's The Tick, cartoons have attempted to become more sophisticated and have developed a smarter, drier sense of humor. This has the effect of entertaining on multiple levels of sophistication and of appealing to a wider array of age groups. It is a positive development that younger children can be entertained by non-violent or tame television along with their older brothers and sisters and, possibly, even their parents.
For many years television was dominated by the three television networks, ABC, CBS and NBC, which divided the national viewing audience among themselves. Although there was talk of a fourth network for many years, it remained just talk until the emergence of the Fox network in the mid 1980s. Rupert Murdoch's purchase of half and then all of Twentieth Century Fox and then Metromedia (which had stations in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, as well as other markets) gave the Australian businessman the production and distribution platform to launch a new network.
Although there was a fear that the new Fox network might only purchase programs produced by its own Twentieth Century Fox production arm, the new network sought out the best programs it could find, regardless of where they originated, even if they came from rival studios. With a much smaller network of affiliates, at first Fox was unable to compete head-to-head with the more established television networks. However, Fox distinguished itself in at least two ways. First it used a higher concentration of "reality" programs which were filmed in video and much cheaper to produce than most of the scripted comedy or drama found on its competitors. Some of the early Fox shows such as America's Most Wanted or Totally Hidden Video could use the same sets each week and others such as COPS did not require a large staff of writers. The second way that Fox distinguished itself was with an irreverent attitude and with programming that was much more "on the edge" than that of ABC, CBS or NBC. Fox was doing what had proved successful for the motion picture business, i.e., focusing on a young audience. While the traditional networks tried to create programming that appealed to all age groups, Fox concentrated on young audiences, and particularly urban and, in many cases, African American audiences.
Fox knew that comedies such as Married With Children were unlikely to appeal to older audiences. The new network was willing to create programming that appealed almost exclusively to younger audiences. Fox also created more programs featuring African Americans than any of the other networks. Shows such as In Living Color, Martin and Living Single became important elements of the Fox lineup and were partially responsible for its success. Fox also benefited from the disastrous 1988 writers' strike. The strike lasted so long that the other networks were forced to air reruns as many as three times. While Fox was also airing reruns, the initial audience numbers for those shows were so low that, as the strike continued, the audience turned to the Fox reruns in order to view original entertainment. Many of the people who sampled Fox programming for the first time in 1988 liked the attitude and style of the Fox network.
In the 1990s Fox programming such as The Simpsons, Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place continued to attract the young, urban audiences that advertisers value. Fox was already a viable competitor with the other networks by the time it added NFL football and secured the stations owned by New World as affiliates (causing chaos for the other networks as they scrambled to find new affiliate homes for their programming and ended up, in several cases, on UHF.) In 1996 the Fox network is able to charge advertisers a premium for its young audiences. Even though it still runs only 15 hours of programming a week (unlike the 22 hours a week on the other networks), Fox proved its critics wrong and did establish a successful fourth network.
As Fox became successful with its network, other important events unfolded, causing concern in the entertainment industry. Fox's network was already owned by one of the most prominent motion picture and television studios, Twentieth Century Fox. In the summer of 1995 another large studio, Walt Disney, purchased Capital Cities which owned the ABC television network. At the time CBS was also apparently for sale (it was eventually purchased by Westinghouse) and many large companies were looking at NBC. There was concern at Warner Bros., MCA/Universal, Sony and Paramount that their competitors were acquiring television networks, one of the best forms of television program distribution, while they were not. There was also concern that ABC and Fox, which bought their networks' programs from any production source, might favor programming from the production arms owned by the parent company. This would represent a substantial problem by leaving the studios with fewer places to sell their products. Moreover, after a ban of about 20 years, repeal of the financial interest and syndication rules meant that networks could begin to own their own programming and share in the enormous profits of those shows that stay on long enough to enter the syndication system. Networks had clear financial reasons to favor their own programming over that of their production competitors. The studios that did not own networks began to realize that they needed a guaranteed distribution system.
These studios also saw, through the example of Fox, that it was possible to build small networks that primarily appealed to niche markets. It took the Fox network several years to be able to program all seven days of the week and, as mentioned above, it still does not program as many hours as the older networks.
Recognizing the important changes in the market, Paramount (now owned by Viacom) and Warner Bros. (owned by Time Warner) felt the need to create their own television networks. This represented potential problems for the established networks. Theoretically, Warner Bros. could argue that two of its biggest hits, Friends and E.R., would be better placed on the WB network rather than on NBC. Though those programs would forego the enormous exposure found on the larger, better known NBC, undoubtedly some, if not much, of those show's audiences would follow them to Warner's WB and help establish the new network. So far this has not happened, probably because Warner does not want to forsake the immense syndication profits those shows will receive by becoming hits on a traditional network. Nevertheless, the fact that it could happen causes concern for those established networks.
In January of 1995 Viacom and Chris-Craft Television (a large multiple station owner) established UPN (the United-Paramount Network) and Warner Bros. created the WB (Warner Bros.) Network. Ironically, Viacom had been initially created when, because of the financial interest and syndication rules, CBS was required to spin off its successful syndication arm. UPN began broadcasting on two nights a week. While most of its original programming was canceled, UPN's network was anchored around the extraordinarily successful Star Trek franchise controlled by Paramount. Star Trek Voyager immediately attracted great interest and attention to the UPN network and viewers learned where it was on the dial. WB began with one night of programming, mostly comedies.
The original lineups for the two networks were largely unsuccessful. This season WB expanded to two nights per week and UPN to three nights. Like the Fox network in its early days, both networks tried to attract younger audiences. This season UPN created some action programming that was somewhat more intense than what is found on the other networks. Next season both UPN and WB will focus more on comedy and, as Fox did in its early days, produce more programming starring and created for African Americans. In 1996 it still is not clear whether the two newest networks will survive and become successful. Many analysts believe that the two will eventually merge. What is clear is that, with the enormous clout and financial resources of Viacom and Time Warner behind them, the two networks will have every opportunity to establish themselves. Viacom already owns MTV, Nickelodeon, TV Land and Showtime, while Warner, which already owned HBO and Cinemax, now owns CNN, TBS, The Cartoon Network and TNT after its new merger with Turner.
As mentioned earlier, WB runs comedy almost exclusively. Although some of those comedies feature physical action, there were no issues of concern in the WB network comedy series. WB also airs a drama, Savannah, that was monitored 11 times, raising concerns only once.
Unlike WB, UPN runs a considerable number of dramatic series. Some of these series did raise concerns. It is not surprising that as a new network trying to get noticed, UPN's dramas have a harder edge than those found on the other broadcast networks. This is something of which UPN is well aware. In fact, UPN's promotions tout the back-to-back programming of The Sentinel and Swift Justice on Wednesday night as "Lethal Wednesday." Using the same methodology that was applied to the broadcast networks, we found that four UPN television series raised frequent concerns. They are:
Debuting in March in the 8:00 p.m. time slot, The Sentinel is the first hour of UPN's self- described "Lethal Wednesday." An action-oriented cop show, it chronicles the exploits of police detective Jim Ellison, a former U.S. Army captain whose sensory perceptions have been honed to perfection while living in isolation in a jungle in South America. Back in the city, with the assistance of an anthropology student/sidekick, Detective Ellison uses his amazing abilities to catch dangerous criminals and uphold the law.
Characteristic of its genre, The Sentinel is full of action and violence. Typically containing about eight scenes of prolonged and glorified violence in each episode, the show is very intense for its early time slot. Heavy gun play and multiple fist fights occur throughout the program so that the pace and feeling of danger never diminish. In the opening scene of the 4/10/96 episode, two characters drive into a gang's drug lab, pull out machine guns and shoot everyone there. The first victim is shown convulsing backwards as bullets riddle his body. It was one of the most graphic shootings seen in a television series all season. The problem is compounded by the fact that it occurred just after 8:00 p.m. After gunning everyone down, the two men proceed to dowse the drug lab with gasoline and blow it up. While the scene had important and dramatic relevance to the story, the explicitness and graphic detail added little.
The Sentinel appears to follow a standard formula using several violent encounters to set up and maintain an increasingly dangerous situation, culminating in one intense, long fight scene between Ellison and the villain. Many of these scenes could be minimized or in some cases eliminated without damaging the story. To do so, however, would alter the program's raison d'etre, which is based on these violent interactions. Of the eight times The Sentinel was monitored, it raised concerns seven times.
The second hour of UPN's "Lethal Wednesday" line-up, Swift Justice is an action drama. The program follows the exploits of Mac Swift, a discharged cop who becomes a private investigator, taking on cases that the police cannot handle. With the use of his old police connections and some strong-arm tactics, the daring and dapper Swift helps to get desperate people out of desperate situations.
One of the more violent series on television, Swift Justice contains a great amount of gunfire and fighting. In the debut show (3/13/96), the opening scene features a team of police raiding a drug operation. An extremely long gun fight breaks out, lasting four and a half minutes. In this lengthy scene, 11 people are shot and there are also 11 explosions. Many of the explosions were filmed in slow motion, accentuating the violence. All of this occurs before the opening credits. The scene has nothing to do with the rest of the episode. It only serves as an introduction to Swift, a no-nonsense ex-cop who is quick to take on and dispose of bad guys. This episode was preceded by an advisory warning of violent content.
Another episode on 3/20/96--which carried an advisory simply warning, "Viewer discretion advised"--opened with Swift preparing a wide assortment of guns for battle, breaking into a building, throwing a guard down a flight of stairs, slipping a noose over another guard's neck, and punching and choking a third guard into unconsciousness. He then ties up and threatens the three men, Russian roulette-style, until they divulge the information he needs. The scene finally ends when Swift puts his gun to the guard's head and pulls the trigger, finally revealing that his gun is unloaded. This scene, more than almost any other this season, advocated and glorified vigilante justice.
Although the stories that surround the violence of Swift Justice are frequently engaging and well done, the extremely glorified, very prolonged and often excessively brutal acts of violence raise as many concerns about violence as any series on television. The promotions for the show call Swift, "A hero so different, only one rule applies. No rules." It is clear that the violent and lawless actions of this glorified hero, quite willing to take justice into his own hands and to dispense punishment as he sees fit, raise some special concerns. Sometimes the program carries an advisory warning of violent content and sometimes it cautions viewer discretion. Most of the time, however, the program carries no advisory. The program was monitored nine times and raised concerns six times.
This program also airs at 8:00 p.m. Another action/adventure program, Deadly Games raises issues for different reasons than most other series. Appealing largely to children, the show tells the story of Gus, a young scientist who accidentally releases villains from a video game into the real world. With the help of his ex-wife, Gus tries to destroy a different bad guy each week until he finally reaches the main villain, Jackal. The format is similar to that of a video game in which players do battle against increasingly powerful enemies until they win by defeating the leader of the evil forces.
Outlandish in its premise and its portrayal of violence, Deadly Games is surprisingly comedic despite its ominous title. Because of this, the show would not be construed as serious or very threatening. What is of concern about the show is the violence of the premise and the lack of any consequences.
The theme of the program calls for violent interaction in each episode as Gus and his ex-wife try to destroy the lethal computer villains. Although the opponents are, in fact, video game creatures come to life, they look and act like human beings, albeit ones with strange, evil powers. In keeping with the video game theme of the show, each creature must be destroyed by some unique means ranging from being sprayed with brake fluid to being shot with a bit from a dentist's drill. Many of these methods of eradication are not terribly menacing and are sometimes amusing. However, in a two-part episode that began on 10/3/95, the villain could be defeated only by being shot in the chest with an arrow, a very real form of violence. Despite the extremely violent nature of this act, it was treated with the same lighthearted tone with which all the other, less brutal methods of execution were handled. In one scene the bad guy is shot directly in the chest with an arrow, which is seen protruding from his torso. The villain, though perturbed, is not hurt and continues with his actions. The unrealistic and nonchalant portrayal of what happens when one is shot by an arrow is troubling, particularly for a young audience. From a child's perspective, there is nothing unrealistic about that arrow to the chest. It is no different than if it had happened to a real person in a real act of violence.
The program is constructed around glorified violent interactions between Gus and the villains. Frequently, the villains kill innocent people as they carry out their evil plans. No psychological effects are ever explored. The average episode contains about ten acts of violence. Although many of the scenes are cartoonish and unrealistic, some are surprisingly intense. Very accessible household items are often used as weapons, in a program that appeals to young people. Deadly Games was examined 11 times and raised concerns on five occasions.
An occasional series, Cop Files ran three times this season, twice at 9:00 p.m. and once at 9:30 p.m. Hosted by Shaft's Richard Roundtree, the program uses re-enactments of dramatic encounters between police and criminals. The show's look, style of narration and interviews with involved officers make it seem like a reality program such as Real Stories of the Highway Patrol or America's Most Wanted. However, the message at the beginning of the program advises: "The following stories are inspired by actual cases. In some instances, events have been changed for dramatic purposes." This program uses the style and techniques of reality programing but combines them with fictional elements. Obviously, Cop Files uses re-creations rather than actual film or tape.
Each monitored episode contained scenes of violence that raised concerns. Often prolonged and set to tense music, some scenes of the police apprehending criminals had the dramatic feel of a Walker, Texas Ranger episode. In an episode on 1/30/96, officers from the sheriff's department conduct a drug bust on a group of cowboy drug dealers. The bust contains several fight scenes which include diving tackles, kicks to the face and powerful punches.
Some of the depicted violent acts were quite graphic. Also on 1/30/96 criminals open fire on two police officers who had been pursuing them. After one cop is shot twice, the criminals are gunned down. Both criminals convulse as bullets pierce their bodies. Although the scene was relatively brief, it was one of the most graphic shootings in a series this season.
While it is clear that some violence is necessary to illustrate the danger the police often face, Cop Files is far more excessive and graphic than is called for by that dramatic need. Once again, it is important to realize that these are embellished re-creations of "real events." The producers have many options about how to alter the story and how graphic to make the violence. Of the three times the show was monitored, it raised concerns all three times.
There were no programs on UPN that raised occasional concerns.
There were no movies shown on the WB network. UPN ran five movies of various origin and four raised concerns about violence. They are:
Body Bags (10/31/95)
Broadcast on UPN on Halloween, Body Bags is a movie originally made in 1993 for the Showtime cable channel. An anthology of three horror stories that are introduced by a ghoulish mortician, the film aired at 8:00 p.m. and was preceded by an advisory that warned: "The following program contains scenes which some viewers may find objectionable. Discretion is advised." Some of the scenes in Body Bags were extremely violent and graphic.
Similar in feel and theme (including the ghoulish host) to Tales From the Crypt, the gruesome Body Bags was even more grotesquely violent. The film contained over 40 graphic images and violent scenes.
The first vignette tells the story of a female gas station attendant's battle to the death with a satanic, machete-wielding serial killer. She saves herself when she crushes the killer by lowering a car on him with a hydraulic jack. The second narrative is about a man who undergoes hair transplants to remedy baldness. Unfortunately for him, the implants turn out to be alien larvae which grow out of control and attack the man. In a graphic scene a doctor cuts open the arm of a patient revealing a mass of worms growing inside him. The third and final story relates the tale of a baseball player who undergoes an eye transplant after a car crash. He receives the eye of a serial killer, causing him to see the awful crimes committed by the killer. This brings him to the brink of insanity and he ultimately tries to resolve his dilemma by gouging out the eye with a pair of scissors. Although the scissor's impact is edited out, it is still a horrific, disturbing scene of violence.
UPN purchased this cable movie just as other networks purchase theatrical films. It is the broadcaster's responsibility to edit very violent movies (or those filled with sex and mature language) created for another medium. Body Bags, like some action theatrical films, would be difficult to edit sufficiently for broadcast television.
Rainbow Drive (1/16/96)
Another made-for-cable movie, Rainbow Drive is a film noire set in Los Angeles. It stars Peter Weller as a homicide detective who uncovers a police conspiracy while investigating a murder. In over his head, Weller's character becomes a target and must expose the villains before they kill him.
Airing at 8:00 p.m., Rainbow Drive was preceded by an advisory calling for parental discretion. There were two issues that raised concerns in this movie. The first concern was raised by a graphic photograph of a woman whose throat was slashed. An extremely graphic and vivid image, it could have been shown briefly. Instead, the camera lingers on the picture, emphasizing its violent nature.
Of greater concern was the brutality and viciousness of a fight scene that occurred about 90 minutes into the story. While the character Gallagher is watching a video, a man wielding a club attacks him from behind. The ensuing conflict is excessively brutal, featuring several ferocious punches and a kick to the groin. The scene concludes when Gallagher uses the assailant's own knife to stab him in the gut.
The movie ends with a very prolonged (over four minutes) chase and fight scene between Gallagher and the villains, ending with Gallagher killing everyone. All three of the scenes are contextually necessary, but they are handled in way that makes them excessively lengthy and gory.
Harrison: Cry of the City (2/27/96)
A made-for-television movie, Harrison: Cry of the City is a crime drama about a retired British inspector who reluctantly decides to go to work for a high-powered lawyer. The lawyer is defending a drug dealer accused of murdering a revered narcotics officer. Running at 8:00 p.m. without an advisory, the film contained one scene of violence that raises concerns. The scene occurs one hour into the movie and features two men who get involved in a bar fight. After several punches are exchanged, one of the men is restrained by the other patrons of the bar. While he is being held, the other man severely beats him. The scene is unnecessarily long and brutal. Even when the point of the scene had been well made, the violence continued without contributing anything more to the story. Harrison: Cry of the City is an example of a film that would not have raised concerns if this single scene had been better edited.
Star Command (3/11/96)
Another made-for-television movie on UPN, Star Command is a science fiction, space adventure that tells the story of a group of ensigns who recently graduated from a military academy. They are called into duty to combat five alien ships sent to destroy the inhabitants of an Earth colony on the planet Meraz. Airing at 8:00 p.m. without an advisory, Star Command contained many typical sci-fi space war scenes. There are some scenes of violence, however, that go too far. Some of these scenes feature hand-to-hand combat. One includes a man hanged in a torture scene that occurs in virtual reality.
In another scene, one of the ensigns is discovered to be a traitor when he attempts to initiate an unauthorized missile launch sequence. Three of the other officers try to stop him. What follows is a fairly prolonged, glorified fight scene that includes some vicious punches and kicks as well as brutal chokings and electrocutions. Although the overall tone of the violence is unrealistic and not very ominous, much of the violence was very exciting. The show should have been prefaced with an advisory. This program is likely to appeal to a young audience due to its time slot and science fiction fantasy theme. Much of the story relied on the heavy use of violence.
At the moment UPN does not schedule children's television on Saturday morning but instead has become the first network to air programs on Sunday morning. WB, like the other networks, does run children's programming on Saturday morning. We applied the same system of classification as was described in the preceding section on Saturday morning programming to the UPN and WB cartoons. Of the seven programs monitored, three featured slapstick violence, three contained tame combat violence and only one featured sinister combat violence.
Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries (WB)
This new Warner Bros. cartoon features Sylvester and Tweety Bird, along with Hector (a brutish bulldog and protector of Tweety), as both pets and members of Granny's team of private investigators. The group of super sleuths travel around the world, solving mysteries and thwarting bad guys and their nefarious plans. Less about the mystery and more about the hijinks which befall the characters, the show features a great amount of slapstick comedy, almost always at the expense of Sylvester. These unfortunate events typically happen to Sylvester as a result of his attempts to eat the adorable little Tweety Bird. Such assaults as being smashed over the head with objects like umbrellas, signs and jumbo hammers are typical punishments which befall Sylvester. He is also frequently blown up, run over by vehicles, punched by Hector and, in general, pummeled, never suffering any sort of real consequence.
In one episode, which aired on 1/20/96, Sylvester is repeatedly bashed with meat tenderizing hammers by several Japanese cooks who mistake him for a large fish. In the same episode, Granny heartily whacks Hector, Sylvester, Tweety and the villain with the base of a microphone stand in an effort to break up a fight and subdue the villain. All of the violence is clearly played for laughs. As seems to be the case in all of the Warner Bros. cartoons which feature the classic characters, it is more destructive and violent than other slapstick cartoons, which tend to feature tamer forms of slapstick such as bumping into things and tripping.
Animaniacs (WB)
One of the first of the new breed of Warner Bros. cartoons, Animaniacs has become the cornerstone of Warner Bros.'s animated programming. The program appears in the form of a showcase of vignettes featuring an array of characters. The central figures are the Warner brothers, Yacko and Wacko, and their sister Dot, all of whom live in the water tower on the Warner Bros. studio lot. In every episode, the threesome escape the confines of the tower to wreak comedic havoc and goof around on the lot. Other recurring characters are Skippy and Slappy (a cranky squirrel with a bad attitude and her sweet-hearted nephew) and Mindy and Buttons (a sweet but troublesome little girl and the dog that minds her).
Slapstick violence abounds throughout the program but it is also coupled with a very strong sense of wit, satire, and intelligence. The program is interesting and humorous on multiple levels and this appeals to a wider range of ages than most other cartoons. As appears to be the case with most Warner Bros. animated programs, the slapstick violence is more severe than is to be found in other slapstick cartoons. In an episode monitored on 2/3/96, the Animaniacs smash a piano and an anvil over the head of an enraged Attila the Hun. When neither seem to phase him, they finally blast him in the face with a cannon. As an example of the self-awareness exhibited by the program, two fuddy duddy network censors surface to condemn and reprimand the Animaniacs for their extremely violent behavior, claiming that it is too violent for children to watch. Instead they offer up a cloyingly cute cartoon as an example of what is suitable for young viewers. The smart aleck Animaniacs are obviously bored with the warm fuzzy programming and the censors ultimately turn on each other, pummeling one another in order to demonstrate what is inappropriate for children. This skit effectively mocks and belittles the issue of violence in children's programs and proffers the message that the debate that surrounds the matter is propagated by stuffy buffoons who are making a big deal out of nothing.
Pinky and the Brain (WB)
Pinky and the Brain combines a wry wit with elements of slapstick comedy, resulting in a product that entertains on multiple levels and appeals to older audiences as well as children. The program features the adventures of two lab mice, one a power hungry genius bent on world domination (the Brain) and the other an unwitting idiot (Pinky), who attempt each night to enact one of Brain's sinister but ill-fated plans to conquer the world.
Virtually all of the violence, both accidental and intentional, is slapstick in nature. Accidents often befall Brain as some part of his master plan goes amiss. Just as often, violence occurs when Brain physically punishes Pinky for his stupidity, hitting him on the head or tripping him, none of which Pinky seems to mind. In one episode Pinky even goes so far as to claim to actually enjoy the abuse, furthering his character as being stupid. Again, the slapstick violence found in this Warner Bros. cartoon is more severe than that found in cartoons on other networks. In an episode on 2/3/96 a carnival showman throws knives at Pinky and Brain. This example is offered in support of the assertion that WB's slapstick cartoons contain more violence than the slapstick cartoons carried on other networks.
Freakazoid! (WB)
This cartoon chronicles the comedic adventures of Dexter, a teenage computer geek who, while surfing the Internet, was transformed into a wacky, wild, goofball superhero named Freakazoid. Whenever one of Freakazoid's multitude of not-so-menacing villains threatens to wreak havoc on society, Freakazoid comes to the rescue. The ensuing battles are lighthearted and extremely comedic, satirizing the superhero genre of programming. The program is funny in an offbeat, sophisticated and self-conscious way. For example, in an episode aired on 1/20/96, Freakazoid takes on a sidekick, Handman, to help him do battle with his enemy, the Lobe. In one scene, Handman saves Freakazoid from imminent peril and dispenses with the Lobe with several punches. The joke is that Handman is just Freakazoid's own hand with a face drawn on it.
Although the program contains violent conflict, its focus is comedy and therefore it is best classified as tame combat violence. The slapstick violence of the program is more extreme than that found in slapstick programming on other networks. Violence such as tanks firing, missiles being launched, and heavy objects falling on people do appear in the show. For example, in an episode aired on 10/21/95, a network censor appears on screen to assure viewers that no one was injured in the preceding scene. As soon as those words leave her mouth, an anvil falls from the sky and lands on her head. This scene is repeated two more times within the episode.
Earthworm Jim (WB)
Based on a popular video game of the same name, Earthworm Jim is a cartoon about an ordinary earthworm who, by some stroke of luck, has a super-spacesuit fall on him, thereby giving him super-strength and fighting abilities, not to mention arms and legs. With his new abilities and appendages, Jim defends the universe from a variety of arch-enemies, such as Bob the Fish, Evil the Cat, Psycrow and Professor Monkey-for-a-Head. There are fight scenes in which the hero is glorified and weapons are used (usually Jim's phaser gun), but those scenes are always deliberately overblown and slapstick. The villains are never killed, only stopped from committing their evil deeds, and no serious physical consequences are ever shown.
Space Strikers (UPN)
This program is about an intergalactic battle set in the future. The struggle is between the evil minions of a half-man-half-machine villain named Master Phantom and the crew of the military space cruiser, the S.S. Nautilus, piloted by the heroic Captain Nemo. Virtually all of the violence that occurs in the program is in the form of laser fire exchanged between spaceships, none of which raise issues. The heroes are all virtuous characters who frequently exhibit compassion and utilize quick thinking in order to avoid violent conflict. However, in a few instances this season, the program featured more extensive and threatening violence that would best be classified as sinister combat violence due to its darker and more lethal nature. Nevertheless, these instances were the exception rather than the rule and, consequently, Space Strikers is best described as a tame combat violence program that occasionally pushes the envelope and raises some issues.
Teknoman (UPN)
A serial cartoon set in the future, Teknoman tells the story of the battle between Earth and invading alien spider crabs. Earth's only hope of fending off the hostile alien onslaught lies in a young man named Slade who possesses the ability to transform himself into the superhero called Teknoman. Teknoman is an armor clad warrior armed with heavy artillery and a futuristic spear-like weapon. Originally a Japanese "anime" cartoon that was edited and broadcast on American television, this program features very complex story lines and characters, all of which revolve around violence. The program is about violent conflict and, despite being edited for American television, is still full of violence. Chaotic space battles and scenes of hand-to-hand combat abound in this show. Because of the cartoon's dark theme, battle scene after battle scene and characters whose sole purpose is to fight and destroy, this cartoon fits into the category of sinister combat violence.
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