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| THE GREAT FUTURAMA DEBATE! | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| I am a regular watcher of Futurama, the Matt Groening cartoon shown on Tuesday nights on Channel 4. I'm glad that this novel and funny comedy is available to all viewers, rather than those who pay for satellite, cable and digital subscriptions | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| However, I have noticed a disturbing trend. This show is being needlessly censored. Having been fortunate enough to catch some of the episodes on cable last year, I was able to pick out a number of times during one of tonights episodes where visual and spoken jokes were removed. In one case, this involved a jarring and very obvious cut in the middle of a sequence. In another scene, which was a deliberate parody of the live-action comedy "Married with Children" (the female lead in both shows is the same woman), the joke was ruined entirely, and the smoothness of the animation was lost. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| These were not the only incidents in the programme which were cut. The overall effect was to emasculate the programme somewhat. Even if I hadn't already seen the episode in question uncut on SKY, I would have been left wondering what I had missed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| It seemed like all the more risque and ribald humour had been removed from the episode. This seems like a double-standard for 4, considering the same slot is filled with the likes of Hollyoaks, which frequently deals with issues of a sexual nature, and Friends, which is based primarily on sexual farces of one sort of another. I wonder if it's also a double-standard, because it's a cartoon instead of live-action; I don't think Friends is censored, is it? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| It's not like it's particularly explicit humour, either. It's nowhere near as extreme as South Park, for instance. It's perhaps a little bit more grown-up than the Simpsons, but not much. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| My real complaint (hold the sarcasm) is that it does a disservice to the viewer to take this rather tame humour out. It damages the rhythm of the show. Sounds pretentious, but it's true. These cuts are irritating and unnecessary. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Futurama isn't any worse than Friends or Hollyoaks. It's an original comedy, and censoring the show (when it's well put-together) doesn't do the audience or the creators any favours. If it's going to cause a problem for the censors, then maybe it should be shown later. It seems that this has happened to other programmes that I've enjoyed, like Babylon 5, which ended up as part of 4 Later. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| I'd be interested in discussing this issue further. I'd be interested to know if I'm wrong about Friends being uncut, too. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thanks for listening (er, reading). | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Regards, Matt Craig. |
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| And the Response: Reproduced Without Permission | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hi Matthew | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| The programme was bought and is scheduled for a 6 o'clock slot. From time to time small edits have to be made in order for us to comply with the ITC code. It was bought for 6 o'clock because that is a part of the day where you get a broad family audience. The show appeals to both and younger and adult audience, however we have to ensure that it is suitable for a pre-watershed audience. |
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| However we have taken your concerns onboard and will ensure the schedulers are made aware of the issues you raised. |
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| Regards | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| John Daniels INFORMATION OFFICER |
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| AAaaaaaaaaaaaand....back. | ||||||||||||||||||||||