Go to previous section
Go to Table of Contents
Founded as a movie channel by Time Inc. (now Time Warner) in the 1970s, HBO is the largest pay cable channel in the country. In the beginning, HBO ran almost nothing but recent theatrical films. As other pay movie channels emerged, such as Showtime, The Movie Channel and Cinemax (created by Time as a companion channel to HBO), HBO began diversifying into other types of programming. Original television series such as Dream On, Tales from the Crypt and The Larry Sanders Show became an important part of HBO programming. Sports, especially boxing, also became a regular part of the menu. HBO offered a forum to stand-up comedians in which they could showcase their talents without having to curtail their language or subject matter. However, it has been in television movies where HBO has especially excelled, last year gaining more Emmy nominations than all of the broadcast networks combined. HBO has been able to successfully tackle serious and historical subjects in such television movies as Stalin, And the Band Played On and Truman.
Theatrical films are still the main staple of HBO's programming. Seventeen films were monitored in the two-week sample and, of these, eight would raise concerns about violence if run on broadcast television. These eight are as follows:
This film provides a fascinating opportunity to study differences between pay cable and the broadcast networks because it ran on both HBO and ABC this past season and each showing was monitored separately. Earlier in the report, is a discussion explaining why the film, even with all its edits, raised concerns when it was aired by ABC. HBO ran Under Siege without any alterations and it raised even more concerns in its unedited state. This demonstrates how much editing ABC did in its ultimately unsuccessful attempt to make the film suitable for network television. One of the most significant differences between the two versions is found in a scene in which Tommy Lee Jones is stabbed in the eye by Steven Seagal. This deeply disturbing scene was cut on ABC.
Very graphic and intense, this film contains approximately 30 scenes of violence. The final scene lasts three minutes and only adds more gore to the film. This film would probably be edited substantially before it could run on broadcast television without raising concerns.
This film also contains a very large number of violent scenes (25), many of which are prolonged. This movie is about little more than violence. There are many shootings and acts of torture and brutality. This film probably would also be significantly changed to run on broadcast television.
This film focuses on the horrible acts of a serial killer. While containing fewer scenes of violence than the films above, one particular scene--in which the psychopathic villain escapes from a prison transport van after brutally murdering the guards--is extremely chilling and far more graphic than the story calls for.
This film contains many scenes of violence. An early scene graphically shows a neck being broken. The hero is the most violent character in the film.
A very violent film, Blue Tiger implies that violence for revenge is somewhat acceptable. There are many prolonged scenes of violence.
The Ambulance is used by an evil doctor who kidnaps people so that he can perform scientific experiments. This film is filled with many violent scenes and would raise concerns if it was shown on broadcast television without changes.
This film did contain many violent scenes, including the consistent repetition of a rape on a conference table, the key scene in the film.
With regard to violence, the following films would be able to air on broadcast television as they appeared on HBO:
Three original HBO television movies appeared in the two-week sample period. Of the three, only one, Deadlock, would raise concerns if aired on broadcast television. Deadlock was made several years ago and contains a great deal of violence including one scene set in a futuristic work camp where the prisoners are equipped with explosive restraining collars. During a fight, one of the men's collars is damaged causing it to explode and blow his head off. This scene is very gory, graphic and gratuitous. The other two television movies both have violent themes, but the violence is integral to the stories and handled very responsibly. Citizen X tells the tale of the worst serial killer in Russian history. There are only a few scenes of violence, but several of these are disturbing. The consequences of the crimes and the effect of these crimes on the victims' families are important elements of the story. These scenes are somewhat graphic, but not of concern. Fatherland shows what the world would be like if Germany had won World War II. It contains only three scenes of violence and they were all handled responsibly.
HBO's original series contain elements that cannot be included in the broadcast networks' programming. The Larry Sanders Show, The Dennis Miller Show and Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam all contain language that is not heard on commercial television. Dream On also contains scenes with nudity. None of them raise any issues of concern with regard to violence. The only original HBO series that could not run on a network without editing violent scenes is Tales From the Crypt. This program does air on Fox and, even after editing, it occasionally raises concerns. The show was very violent both times it ran on HBO during the sample period. Both episodes were very graphic. In one of them, a threatened woman stabs her attacker in the eye with her high heel.
A promotional program, HBO First Look: Drop Zone, is a 30-minute behind-the-scenes look at the theatrical film. While the show did provide insight into the story, many of the scenes that were chosen to accompany the narration were violent and disturbingly graphic, which is particularly troubling in light of the advisory which cautioned of only "mild violence." Like most promotions, it features what appear to be all the violent scenes from the film.
On Saturday morning HBO runs several series and theatricals. The films Six Pack and The Coneheads raise no concerns. The other shows, Stop the Smoggies, Encyclopedia, Survival and Legend of White Fang, also raise no issues. A graphic promo for Home Alone 2 ran during White Fang.
Go to next section
Go to Table of Contents