Last January, PopWatchers called out certain networks for their questionable editing of feature films. Now, we’d like you to file charges against networks that are unintentionally inflicting bad editing on good TV. I’ll go first…
The Perp: Logo. I first saw all five seasons of Showtime’s Queer as Folk on YouTube, so I was looking forward to watching the late-night Logo repeats on my 26" flatscreen. That is until I saw episode 202. Spoiler alert circa 2002, that’s the one where Brian (Gale Harold) has to help Justin (Randy Harrison), who’d been bashed at his prom in the first season finale, remember the near fatal attack so he can begin to move past it. The whole point is that Justin won’t touch or allow himself to be touched, so it’s a big deal when he finally tells Brian "I want you inside me." Only Logo cut it to "I want you." Then, the network cut the entire sex scene, which angered me not as someone who’d just started the weekend with multiple mojitos and would’ve been pleased to see a nude Brian Kinney, but as someone who knew that they’d trimmed a love scene that had actual character development. It’s the first time we see Brian — who doesn’t believe in love or romance — be that tender. The first (and maybe only?) time we believe that hedonistic Brian’s primary concern in bed is his partner.
We asked Logo to explain what gives, and Marc Leonard, SVP of Multiplatform Programming, was kind enough to respond: Obviously, any show that goes from a paid cable channel such as Showtime or HBO to an ad-supported network like Logo will have to be trimmed to make room for commercials. "Of course we strongly avoid editing out the scenes that most significantly advance the story," he said in an email. "Some material is also edited for content. Audience expectations for content on ad-supported television channels are different than for paid TV channels, so basic cable and network outlets edit paid cable shows for this wider audience. Ad-supported channels edit content to exclude explicit sexual dialogue, nudity, expletives and gratuitous violence. And MTV Networks, Logo’s parent company, is proud of its long-running tradition of applying the same policies across all channels equally, and treating LGBT sexual depictions the same as heterosexual ones."
In short, I’ll need to rent the DVDs.
Your turn.
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Recently I was starting to watch “Steel Magnolias” on OXYGEN (perfect channel for it, right?) when I started noticing a LOT of missing lines. Became so upset, I changed the channel. I mean, what gives? They’ve shown this movie on TBS, TNT, etc, totally uncut, so why edit for OXYGEN? Is The Oprah tooo sensitive so such things?
IT IS worth buying the complete series box set. . .I cant watch QasF on LOGO cus i know they always edit alot of it. . .LIKE ALOT! Its not the same. . .and what gives, its a GAY network anyway…
I got the box set and have totally loved it. Unless Showtime replays the show I would not watch it on TV. That scene was one of the most Brian endearing moments in all five seasons. That and the last scene in season 2 ep. 14.
Imho, their response is crap. There is some substantial character development on QAF that occurs during the sex scenes, (207, the “I want you safe” scene, for example). I can understand them editing it during primetime but they should at least have an unedited (or very minimally edited) version available late night. There are other channels that are advertiser supported that show some pretty edgy stuff so I’m sure if LOGO really wanted to show QAF unedited (or minimally edited) they could.
You’re definitely way better off with the DVDs.
I was watching Kill Bill Vol 2 this weekend on Peachtree (TBS) and thought it was funny that they could show Uma Thurman pulling out Darryl Hannah’s eyeball and throwing it on the floor but had to edit out the “p” word for cat wagon
Dear LOGO,
Why would you buy the rights to QaF and then chop out the important parts? If you can’t show the sex scenes in a show about sexuality, why bother?
The syndicated version of SATC on TNT (or TBS or whatever it is) is completely unwatcheable. Some of the funniest lines are ridiculously cut up. Having seen each episode so many times that I can remember what they SHOULD be saying, it makes it impossible to watch the edited versions.
In “While You Were Sleeping,” USA and TNT cut the “You’re a putz” to “You’re a bum” line. I can understand the “schmeckel” line as being borderline racy, but “putz?” Seriously?
I had been thinking about upgrading to digital cable JUST so I would be able to get LOGO… until I was at a friend’s house and saw how severely they were butchering QaF. The show could be edited to exclude the sex without completely destroying it as they have done, but I don’t think this is an unintentional bad edit job. It’s an intentional massacre. It’s not just the sex being removed — many kisses, touches, gazes, and lines critical to the storylines have been hacked out. Seeing only the LOGO version would give a completely inaccurate impression of the show and its characters.
Oops. Hit enter before I finished my point.
The upshot is, I will never support/get LOGO until they stop this abhorrent practice. And thus I have not upgraded to digital cable — their actions have lost business for the cable company as well.
A&E edits for language in things like “Criminal Minds”. Suddenly, stuff that passed muster at 9pm on CBS is not OK on cable at 11pm?
I paid for Showtime just to watch QaF. I bought the every one of the DVDs. I watched the Logo version and prompty turned it off. Their answer about editing is pure BS. Just recently (maybe last week?) I saw frontal nudity on Fox Movie Channel. My husband was watching one of the Porky’s movies (we do not share the same taste) and I thought he had in a DVD when I saw all the nudity. Then I saw the first commercial break and was stunned! So Logo is just playing scared. Turn on any episode of CSI and you’ll see more shocking stuff and naked parts than on LOGO. In the process, they’re ruining some great movies and TV shows and alienating those of us who they need the most – VIEWERS!
If they’re not willing to show it as originally intended, why bother show it at all?
Yeah, QaF is better off watched online or on DVD. I noticed a lot of editing for Skins on BBCAmerica. I also think Swingers on CBS would have been more interesting on Showtime or HBO.
But has anyone noticed that they show Ben and Michael having sex, (the kitchen counter scene) but then cut out Brian and Justin kissing? It is biased editing and I don’t understand it.
All channels do it fo course. TBS being the worst one in my mind. They even edited their ON Demand movies to make way for commercials! (and not just your ever more common one in teh middle, there was a break every 10 minutes, I timmed it)If I knew they were going to leave in the commercails I would have watched it in “real time” which at elast allows for me to check out the other channels while they peddle their wares.
Forget the reruns buy the DVD, or rent it. Problem solved.
The N. Before they actually had a bunch of original and Canadian cult hits on their hands, they used to air old episodes of “Daria,” which is still a very underrated show. The fact that it was spawned from “Beavis and Butthead” is still amazing to me. But apparently its just as offensive, because The N used to cut out at least a few minutes from each episode, which was ALWAYS annoying. I remember watching the episode where Quinn’s English teacher started hitting on the girls in the fashion club, got arrested and then Daria was hired to take his place. Well The N doesn’t really remember that episode since the inappropriate flirting (which was hilarious and the entire set-up of what was to follow) was cut from the episode and Daria was randomly hired to teach a class that was like a year or two below her own. Thank god they air my favorite Canadian teenage melodrama, or else I’d totally have to write The N off entirely.
BET shows reruns of A Different World. I’m such a fan of the show that I know exactly where the commercials are SUPPOSED to go. But for some reason BET has chosen to go to commercial at the most inopportune times. Case in point: during the wedding just as Dwayne jumps up to ask Whitley to marry him…COMMERCIAL BREAK. It ruins the moment! Damn BET!
I agree; LOGO butchers QAF, starting with the pilot, seemingly for time as well as content. And I agree with Amy; the editing is very biased. Do it right or don’t do it at all, LOGO!
And 202 is not the unique example of caring Brian: let’s not forget 207 (“I want you safe.”) And 212, etc. LOGO probably butchered them, too.
I could hardly believe it when the gay-friendly Bravo aired “Brokeback Mountain” and cut the kissing! No, not the one where Michelle Williams sees them, the one from earlier in the film, which is tender and romantic–lit by campfire and everything. It didn’t surprise me at all that they cut the sex…but the kissing should’ve stayed in.
At least QaF is available on DVD. I’ve been waiting forever to watch the much-buzzed-about British series “Skins” but it isn’t available on DVD in the U.S. When I heard BBC America was going to run it from the beginning, I was so excited but the censoring of language and nudity really puts a damper on this show that’s always being praised for its realism. Watching “Skins” just makes me cognizant of how up-tight and ridiculous American television is. I should be able to watch an obscure British show on basic cable at 10pm if I want to! For a country that prides itself on freedom of speech and expression, it’s sad I’ll have to LEAVE the U.S. to find it!
I’ll never forget the night ABC edited the original “Heartbreak Kid” and made its suggestiveness WORSE. Remember the cabin scene where Cybill Shepherd says to Charles Grodin, “Well, first we take off all our clothes…”? They then are seen standing opposite each other, nude (and we don’t see anything), and then it cuts to next morning, and Cybill says “I’ll sleep with you tomorrow night.” On the edited-for-television version, it goes from “First we take off all our clothes…” then cuts to the next morning, and Cybill is redubbed — “I’ll SEE you tomorrow night”!!! So in trying to spare the scandalized public from a scene in which we see two pairs of bare shoulders and NO sex (Cybill’s game is about trust), the message is clear — they had sex all night!
Ayesha, OMG! I was watching that episode of Different World this weekend. How could they cut the action before Dwayne’s big moment. I jumped off of my couch when the commercial came—totally messed up that moment for me. “Please, baby, please!!!”
Although I loved CBS for airing Dexter season one, the words they used to replace…other words were just…a little strange. Mother lover? Really?
The worst case of editing has to be The Breakfast Club on ABC Family. The dubbed over voices sound so incredibly fake. And there’s a point where someone is screaming some non-ABC family words, and they put in a normal sounding voice with a horrible replacement word. It IS possible to just bleep it out. There’s no need to get some strange sounding person to re-dub more appropriate words…
Logo’s QAF edits have been known to cut away from KISSES. If your memory is long enough (and mine is), at Logo’s inception they specifically promised the public to have no programming like “Queer as Folk” (and yes, they named it). They then proceeded to air a low-budget (and in my opinion, bad) clone of it with an all-black cast. Now they have the real thing, but they add injury to insult with editing that punishes gay characters for straight prejudices. Lest too many surfing heterosexals say “yuck,” they edit the show out of all recognition. I hope at least that the editing is so conspicuously heavy-handed that it sends people flying to the DVD’s. You cannot watch QAF on Logo without noticing that it now has more holes than a Google search in China.
I think it is creatively criminal to cut scenes that are integral to the advancement to the story – which Logo is apparently against doing, and yet – they do! I’m glad QAF is on a channel that can allow the show to reach a wider audience. However the stories become so poorly represented that it doesn’t do justice to the programme at all. I think QAF should have a more public place, but it’s a rock and a hard place situation – have it shown, but so edited it’s missing elements inherent to the story, OR, go for full eps, but risk offending the Mary Whitehouse lot so much it gets stricken from the air (which would be a heinous backwards step).
I say, go full on with the eps, show them the way they were meant to be shown. Such sex scenes are not offensive, they run the gamut from touching, tender and beautiful to exciting&even educational.Justin’s school teacher in one ep said not all parents were as understanding as Justin’s mom, but the fact is, such people need educating.This show can.
I watch it on logo, and some of the things that are cut are ridiculous. I can tstand it sometimes, like last night, it was the one where Brian finds out he has cancer, there is the scene where Justin is feeding him chinese and they read their fortunes to each other (though Justin makes his up, and its a long steamy fortune) and they kiss and brian makes up the excuse, before things go too far, that he is tired, because in reality, he doesnt want Justin touching is ‘cancer ball’ lol. but they cut the whole conversation out and go straight to the kissing, so a 2 minute scene is cut to 30 seconds or so. They cut alot of the Brian and Justin scenes out, and it makes me mad, not just because they are hot, but because then sometimes it makes no sense. a really butchered one is the one where Ted takes viagra and gets has a problem ‘getting it down’ (episode 209 aka season 2 episode 9) it is annoying though, espescially after seeing the real show, to see it butchered like that
LOGO butchered QAF. All five seasons. Thank the powers that be, I was able to watch it all uncut so to speak. Shame on you LOGO!!!
I had no idea that they had cut things. I have been watching QAF on LOGO –thinking it was a gay network and assuming they were showing it all. I have fallen in love with the whole cast. I have always supported gay rights — but never really understood men with men very well. After watching this so far –I have a different feeling about gay male sexuality. I think I will end up buying the DVD set. They shouldn’t cut anything! Also, I tuned ion the other night and it wasn’t on until 3 am! pffft!