On Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 1:44 PM Joe Hass <hassgoc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Before I begin to try to unpack this, I will note that, just like with HBO > Max and "GWTW" (and I will caveat that I am very much behind on that > thread, so if this was raised there, apologies), the fundamental point of > the stories, the actual press release, is repeatedly quoted without being > ever linked to or printed in its entirety in stories about it. This > continues to infuriate me from a journalistic perspective. The web is not a > piece of paper: you have as many pixels as you need to republish the item > in question. If organizations (WarnerMedia and the BBC) refuse to publicly > release the statement (my quick look couldn't find either), then I expect > journalists and outlets writing about the item to share it. > > (Adam, please keep me honest here.) > > Since no one from the BBC will actually identify the specific problematic > item(s) beyond "racial slurs", let's assume, as Adam says, that it's not > about the variations on the "Don't mention the war" jokes (since the third > act becomes unwatchable without them) and instead refers to the Major's > conversation with Basil about halfway through act one. In the middle of > telling a story about a woman, he diverges into a back-and-forth between > them. It's a 19-second clip. You could excise it easily enough and have no > clue it wasn't there unless you knew about it. And it sounds as though John > Cleese (through his management company) approved of a version > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Germans#Production> that removed this > clip in 2013. To take a blind stab at this: I'm guessing that people > guessed it was the "don't mention the war" jokes because Cleese had > previously blessed removing the clearly-offensive-then-and-now jokes. > > It appears that Gold has two parts to it: the channel and the on-demand > library. On the channel, it sounds to me like both versions of the episode > aired, with the version depending on the time of day. It reads as though > the unedited version was in the on-demand library, and that was removed. > > To keep to the item at hand: this *still* seems absolutely stupid. How > hard would it be to just replace the unedited version with the authorized > edited one and put an intertitle of "This episode has been slightly edited > for content." at the start? To pull the entire episode in a knee > jerk reaction is the Clear Channel memorandum > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_Channel_memorandum> all over again. > > This is easily solvable to me by asking Cleese to confirm in 2013 he > approved removing the jokes. If he did, then the BBC are morons. If he > didn't, then ask him if it's okay now. If he says yes, then put it back; if > they won't, then the BBC are morons. If he says no, then Cleese is the > moron. > > Idiots keep pissing me off. One of these days I'll start to get over it. > Today ain't it. > You picked the wrong year to allow idiots to piss you off > On Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 10:35 AM Adam Bowie <a...@adambowie.co.uk> wrote: > >> I think it gets a bit more complicated than has been portrayed. The >> original reports suggested that it was about Basil saying, "Don't mention >> the war!" to some German guests at his hotel. This episode has become so >> famous in British culture for this scene that it trumps everything else. >> The major does use offensive racist language that today simply wouldn't be >> allowed to be broadcast pre-watershed (pre-9pm) in the UK. And that >> episode, which is in pretty solid rotation on channels like Gold in the UK, >> is regularly edited to remove that language. So this is nothing really new. >> >> I do think that leaving it in situ on streaming platforms seems more >> sensible. But language does change, as does our reactions to what that >> language conveys. We've also seen a number of other comedies like Little >> Britain (something I've never liked) and Bo' Selecta being withdrawn from >> iPlayer, Netflix and All4 since characters appear in blackface. Last night >> on Newsnight, a talkshow presenter who was mimicked on Bo' Selecta by the >> white impressionist Leigh Francis, explained how her kids were bullied at >> school over the portrayal. Both of those series aired in the early 2000s. >> Not exactly an age ago. >> >> Sadly, I'm not sure that Cleese would be my go-to for the last word on >> this sort of thing today. >> >> On Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 3:28 PM 'Bob Jersey' via TVorNotTV < >> tvornottv@googlegroups.com> wrote: >> >>> >>> Joe Hass, to moi, today (6/12): >>>> >>>> This is literally on par with saying "We're never showing Blazing >>>> Saddles again because they say the n-word". >>>> >>>> I know there's a stronger word than "stupid", but this has pissed me >>>> off so much I can't think of it. >>>> >>> >>> That, and Cleese already used that. >>> >>> >>> https://variety.com/2020/tv/global/john-cleese-fawlty-towers-uktv-1234632743/ >>> (link) >>> >>> B >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "TVorNotTV" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/e9bf78d2-0a28-4624-9768-537b9abeecfco%40googlegroups.com >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/e9bf78d2-0a28-4624-9768-537b9abeecfco%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAD_sJGBNLavHtzo0JxLe9tULXimLDxPmeH6fxq8QTHUS-T4m-Q%40mail.gmail.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAD_sJGBNLavHtzo0JxLe9tULXimLDxPmeH6fxq8QTHUS-T4m-Q%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CABru7%2Bczu6wHGv5e_3LAN_w%3DA-yGOmZuZXMptPpN7vdxnj30jQ%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CABru7%2Bczu6wHGv5e_3LAN_w%3DA-yGOmZuZXMptPpN7vdxnj30jQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Kevin M. 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