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[rant]If Channel4 is determined to continue saying 'The Plimsons,' 'The Pigsons,' 'The Dimsons,' 'The Carltons,' the frakkin 'Stetsons' or whatever they are going to call 'The Simpsons' next time then i am going to explode. I hope they are happy with that on their conscience.

On the note of them enraging their loyal fan base(Oh no i'm not alone here!), why the hell are they cutting random segments out of their comedy shows. Scrubs, The Simpsons, How i Met Your Mother, they and others have all been victim to this senseless editing. Now fair enough, cutting swearing out and things that could be extremely upsetting, i'm all for that as long as it gets put back in after the watershed. But i have seen a few episodes before and after the watershed where i've noticed them cutting out literally two second segments that the whole story hinges on.
"Wait why is Barbie being so nice to Cox? <10 hours later> Ohhh, what a nice thing to say!"

Why are they doing this?! Please tell me this isn't all some awful joke, they've always been so witty in the past, this would be a sad day. I sincerely hope that this is a failing attempt to get the masses talking about their channels. I hope someone can put my mind at ease.[/rant]

Apologies for the badly written rant but there were multiple veins on the verge of exploding if i contained that any longer.

You only just noticed the segment cutting? I've been an avid watcher of Scrubs on E4 for 3 or so years, and they've done it for as long as I can remember.

It can ruin entire punchlines and the episode sometimes, but I think it must be to cater for the adverts, since Comedy Central did it too (no longer have cable, so can't speak for anything post-October 2011).

what

What indeed.

Yeh, my badly constructed rant didn't make it clear but the cutting is definitely getting worse than it's been in the past. What's the bet there is a new head of the editing team?

American TV shows meant for America? I can tell you that when I watch TopGear on BBCAmerica, Ive seen spots that just seem to.....end or cut STRAIT to another segment. So maybe British TV is meant for the British as well

Hmmm, it's a fair point well made. I just feel like a bit of care and attention would make all the difference. Oh and i needed to let of some steam, lol. Also, the main problem with BBC shows is that the BBC don't have ad breaks. We have a channel called Dave which shows 90% BBC comedy re-runs, all of their Top Gear episodes are cut up like a rabid dogs been at them as well!

KingCracker wrote:American TV shows meant for America? I can tell you that when I watch TopGear on BBCAmerica, Ive seen spots that just seem to.....end or cut STRAIT to another segment. So maybe British TV is meant for the British as well

They're probably the bits where they take the piss out of the Americans. Abrupt/crude editing is used for comedic effect on Top Gear, swear words are just silenced out.
Top Gear takes the piss out of Americans a lot so it wouldn't surprise me if they edited it out.
Or the bit about the Mexican ambassador...

Haha, yeh good points all of them.

Joey wrote:

KingCracker wrote:American TV shows meant for America? I can tell you that when I watch TopGear on BBCAmerica, Ive seen spots that just seem to.....end or cut STRAIT to another segment. So maybe British TV is meant for the British as well

They're probably the bits where they take the piss out of the Americans. Abrupt/crude editing is used for comedic effect on Top Gear, swear words are just silenced out.
Top Gear takes the piss out of Americans a lot so it wouldn't surprise me if they edited it out.
Or the bit about the Mexican ambassador...

This sounds like the most likely cause. From what i've seen/read/heard of American TV stations they seem to be fairly prudish on the subject of swearing and please correct me if im wrong here. I imagine half the crap on Aussie tv wouldnt get through American cencors though. Take for example The late late show w/Craig Ferguson, as anyone who has seen it would know he gets flagged everytime he curses. On Australian tv 95% of that wouldnt be an issue. Its on when you start dropping C bombs things start getting iffy.

In Britain we think C bombs are cool. Haha, .

Seriously though, it's a word that rarely gets used on TV here, if it does it gets beeped but there is rarely a fuss over that. Swearing isn't a big deal here like it is in other parts of the world. In Scotland in particular we really don't care, if anything we embrace it. There is some thought that it's because it suits the natural rhythm of our accents.

More importantly though, why are all of the channels that Channel 4 broadcasts refusing to say, 'The Simpsons.' Today i heard the voice over guy purposely pause on it, "The, ehhh, uggh, Dimsons." I was all like, "ehhh, uggh, frak you."

...he couldn't hear me though.

I'm kinda lost here a bit, C4 arent allowed/wont say the name of the The Simpsons show on air when announcing it?
Why on Earth not?

Ratius wrote:I'm kinda lost here a bit, C4 arent allowed/wont say the name of the The Simpsons show on air when announcing it?
Why on Earth not?

You are very much on the ball, sir. I wish i had an answer. I can't find any info online, just other people complaining. It sounds like a harmless little piece of fun but you'd be very surprised how much it gets under your skin. The announcers all seem a bit smarmy about it. It must have been happening for quite a long time, i mean, i have a lot of free time but i really don't watch as much TV as it might sound and i've already noticed it a lot.

Ah I see, gotta be an in house joke no?

I hope so. It's my first guess, my second being that they are trying to get people talking about them. Three, someone tried to take the rights away and prevent them saying it and they are doing it to take the piss out of whoever it was.

They started with the cutting on friends ages ago, anything with ass and bitch was taken out, not even in episodes past 9, it has gotten pretty ridiculous and is really annoying. The shows have been around for so long, there is nothing in them censorship worthy, It has been so long now I cant even remember the punchlines of those bits :(

I honestly thought it was bending to complaints at first, but now Im thinking it might be so they can get their sponsors advertisements in as well as full normal ad time? Just a wild thought..

I totally agree, Friends was the first place this became prominent. I'm sure its driven by advertisement time because i swear half the time they are just cutting out bare bones dialog. It seems like they are trying to cram the show in between adverts rather than the correct way round.
If only they'd join the noble ranks of the BBC and drop the ads. BBC have done all the pioneering ground work so it's not an impossible task. I think C4 has actually reached a level of props comparable to the BBC, in fact, dare i say higher? Film 4 produces some of the best films in the world for instance. C4 also, in my personal opinion, has more high quality channels than the BBC. They have a weaker radio side to the company but i'm sure they could remedy that if they had to.
It's not strange that Five is a complete non-channel, the only thing there has ever been worth watching on Five was The Matrix once or twice a year before freeview, sky, etc.
ITV has taken a dive though, they are really looking a bit old fashioned now, Keith Lemon and the Soaps won't keep them alive for ever.

Whoa... I just made this conversation geekier than it had to be. Where were we?

Snrub wrote:

Joey wrote:

KingCracker wrote:American TV shows meant for America? I can tell you that when I watch TopGear on BBCAmerica, Ive seen spots that just seem to.....end or cut STRAIT to another segment. So maybe British TV is meant for the British as well

They're probably the bits where they take the piss out of the Americans. Abrupt/crude editing is used for comedic effect on Top Gear, swear words are just silenced out.
Top Gear takes the piss out of Americans a lot so it wouldn't surprise me if they edited it out.
Or the bit about the Mexican ambassador...

This sounds like the most likely cause. From what i've seen/read/heard of American TV stations they seem to be fairly prudish on the subject of swearing and please correct me if im wrong here. I imagine half the crap on Aussie tv wouldnt get through American cencors though. Take for example The late late show w/Craig Ferguson, as anyone who has seen it would know he gets flagged everytime he curses. On Australian tv 95% of that wouldnt be an issue. Its on when you start dropping C bombs things start getting iffy.

Yea the FCC makes little sense to me TBH. I cant possibly hear the word bitch or gak, BUT I can watch people being butchered all day long. Oh and sexual scenes as well.

But on the TopGear thing, maybe the do. I can tell ya they do make cracks at us alot on BBCAmerica still, and I think its hilarious and sometimes true. My brother lived over seas for years, and said the difference in cars in Europe VS American cars is just staggering, obviously meaning yours are far better then ours for some reason I cant fathom

Top gear get around it with their unfunny done to death signs breaking in half to reveal swears though

Or maybe they would pixelate it..

LostSoulCasey'sLaw wrote:In Britain we think C bombs are cool. Haha, .

Seriously though, it's a word that rarely gets used on TV here, if it does it gets beeped but there is rarely a fuss over that. Swearing isn't a big deal here like it is in other parts of the world. In Scotland in particular we really don't care, if anything we embrace it. There is some thought that it's because it suits the natural rhythm of our accents.

...he couldn't hear me though.

The Thick of it contained several c-words.
IIRC Ianucci said that they were ordered to have a ratio of f-words to c-words though, so it was "controlled" in a way.

I'm not sure why Scrubs is cut in some places...
It seems like some of the stuff is cut to completly avoid anything that isn't PG...

I never watched the thick of it but now you mention it, some of the grittier dramas are less apologetic. I was thinking more along the lines of panel and chat shows.

I'm glad you've seen it too, purple. A lot of the cut's serve no purpose other than to fit in more ads. I swear, in one episode of Scrubs, they cut out a few sentences that the whole story hinged upon, as one of the few i hadn't seen i was very confused as to what was going on for the remaining 20mins.

After the Watershed they broadcast uneditted versions of the episodes of Scrubs that were shown during the day. Admitedly for some reason they still cut the scene where all the gino girls are having a pillow fight, but I haven't noticed much other than that. Oddly I can still remember when they were showing the full episodes though, but I guess that the world;s just became more politically correct (obtuself so of course) than a couple of years ago.

....And yes, everyone hates the Simpsons gag. ...I'm questioning why I'm still watching that triffle though. Racist drivel. =P

I can still remember when they showed Friends in full. Ahh, good times.

Racist drivel, how so?

....You have seen any episode when they visit another country right?

The China one was a real jem for it. =P

Course that it comes across as just a recruitment video in any eposide handling the military isn't a real point in its favour either.

Channel 4 is crap anyway.
I mean big brothers been done to death, so who watches it now ?

The pointless editing has been going on over 10 years, it annoys the hell out of me.

It wasn't until I was watching the "My name is Earl" dvds I remembered how good it was. Because Channel 4 cut out 15-20 minutes of each episode to show it in the early evening, and totally ruin the humor and flow of the show.

For me channel 4 died when Big Brother was first broadcast, the live late night coverage of muppets sleeping replaced 4 later. 4 later was the last bastion of originality and quirkiness on 4. The decline of the Channel is quite startling, once the edgy outlaw of British TV now its packed with mind numbing tat.

cpt_fishcakes wrote:The pointless editing has been going on over 10 years, it annoys the hell out of me.

It wasn't until I was watching the "My name is Earl" dvds I remembered how good it was. Because Channel 4 cut out 15-20 minutes of each episode to show it in the early evening, and totally ruin the humor and flow of the show.

For me channel 4 died when Big Brother was first broadcast, the live late night coverage of muppets sleeping replaced 4 later. 4 later was the last bastion of originality and quirkiness on 4. The decline of the Channel is quite startling, once the edgy outlaw of British TV now its packed with mind numbing tat.

Whilst I agree with you for the most part you're exaggerating with the amount they cut from MNIE as then each episode would be about 10 minutes long... Channel 4 has had loads of good shows post Big Brother that pushed the boundaries of decency. Peep Show for example, cringe comedy at its finest. Brass Eye too, which came before BB, but ran past its inception.

Admittedly the aforementioned show was what sparked the decline of Channel 4, as the moral guardians were up in arms over the "Paedophiles" episode of Brass Eye, coupled with the "Shaun Ryder incident" on TFI Friday, which REALLY got the censor's knickers in a twist.

Ahhhh, that racism!

To be fair Big Brother is a great concept badly executed because the law sucks for this sort of stuff. Also when we talk about C4 we are talking about all of their channels. In that respect, C4 is by no means dead.

As for mind numbing tat. Peep Show, The Inbetweeners, Fresh Meat, the first two series of Skins, 8 Out of Ten Cats, The IT Crowd, Man to Man with Dean Learner, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Spaced, Black Books, Shameless, Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film4_Productions ... Yah know, just to start us off.

Ironic then that Channel 4 were originally meant to be all about pushing the boundries of what's allowable on television. I guess that they're just as commercialised as the rest of them now though. =/

....Banzai! ^^

Brass Eye's Paedophiles episode was beautifully disturbing. It was a complete mind frak that made me gag on multiple occasions but it totally made it's point and really succeeded in pushing the boundaries.

As for Peep Show, it's my favourite thing on TV.