Right then, and sorry if I sound like a git, but I have some questions regarding a show that I have lately started to watch via the internet called Skins. Love it, BTW. (yeah, I know, day late and a dollar short) Not looking for plot breakdown, who's who, what's what or any of that. My question is more basic and goes like this: Did this show air on regular TV in the UK? If yes, then is the language level representative of what one can expect to hear in UK TV? If the answers are yes, then: What is the general consensus in the UK concerning the use of heavy language in non-premium channel broadcasts? Is it a non-subject? Is it a cause for debate? Is there conversation about the conversation? I ask because most American network programming is devoid of this kind verbiage and I can still remember being shocked when I started to hear words like ass and dick and no one was talking about a donkey or a fellah named Richard. School me. I am an empty cup.
It's not that typical, I'd say. Insofar as my experience of TV goes, it's probably the strongest language I've heard on a regular basis, but then again it is pretty typical of the demographic it's meant to be representing. One of the things to bear in mind when watching programmes like Skins is the time they go out at, and also the channel they were originally made for. Skins premiered on E4, a channel aimed at a teenage and young adult audience, and was generally broadcast at 10 or 11 in the evening, after the 9 o'clock watershed (after which language, violence and sex not suitable for a family audience are broadcast). Later, they were broadcast on E4's parent channel, Channel 4, which is generally more eclectic in its audience, but broadcast at the same time. With the watershed in place, stronger language is perhaps more commonplace in UK TV than elsewhere. I remember that Rome used to go out at 9, and it had language as strong, strong violence, and explicit sex, but because it went out after the watershed it wasn't really complained about and wasn't that controversial. The series was given an 18 certificate when it came out on DVD, which shows how strong those things were. The issue is still more violence in games, though. TV seems to get away with violence, language, etc, so long as it's after the watershed.
On Chanel four in the U.K (a free channel everyone gets) we’ve done spoofs about paedophiles, child sex, used the C word, etc. Admittedly, the paedophile stuff (on a spoof news show called Brass Eye) was controversial. But most people I know don’t seem to care about the swearing. Heck—Gordon Ramsay’s show is called the “F Word” because he says the f word so much. I’m sure I’ve heard words such as ass and dick during the daytime broadcasts. Don't forget, we have a daily newspaper with topless women in it each day. Anyone can buy that, too. On Big Brother (again a free show on network tv) we had a girl pleasuring herself with a bottle. On a radio show over here I even heard a journalist talking about a female who’d pleasured herself with a frozen number two. Yuck. We’re pretty liberal I’d say. Violence though is more frowned upon.
Okay, my teacher was telling me about this. (Brit here). Basically, because it aired late in the evening, it's okay. Also, there is actually a programme which goes through people's complaints about the word use on tv and contacts the people who made each show in question and asks them if they think it is appropriate, but I can't remember what it is called. I personally think Skins is a great show, and perfectly represents the uk. At least, Bristol is kinda similar to where I live. lol I saw the first and heard about the second. Both are disgusting.
I'll just say that if it wasn't an entertaining an well written show, ten the language would be getting a lot more attention. As long as it's good then people don't generally care. It is also on around 10:00 P.M. Over here by that time it's basically, " you've been warned!"
I think it is interesting to get other points of view on these kinds of things. The rather puritanical nature of network TV over this side of the pond makes for some shocking revelations when when one goes out into the big world and sees what else there is up for offer. We have become inured in the states, I would say, given that channels like HBO have gotten into the market of making shows and not just showing movies, so it's not as if we don't get much the same with a bit of a cable or satellite upgrade. But network television (NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX) remains very much under an antiquated standard that is not given any leeway no matter what time of day or night the programming might air.
