Mike Lobell Adds Cast To ‘Eisner,’ Plots … 
Sony Shares Rise On Report That It Will Consider … 
Next-Gen Xbox One Unveiled With Content Including … 
UPDATE: Apple CEO Challenged For Moving “Crown … 
CAA Signs ‘Robocop’ Joel Kinnaman 
Cannes: Fleming Q&A With Steven Soderbergh: … 
ESPN Layoffs Could Reach 400 As Part Of Latest Disney Cuts 
UPDATE: Broadcast Nets Expand Nightly News For Tornado … 
Cannes: Weinstein Co Acquires Keanu-Reese Sci-Fi Pic … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Up … 
Hot Trailer: ‘The Wolverine’ 
Ric Robertson Taking Paid Summer Hiatus From Movie Academy … 
‘The Big C’ Finale Airs On Showtime Tonight 
Obama Scandals Bring MSNBC 7-Year Low While Fox News Rises 
Season Finale Of CBS’ ‘Mike & Molly’ … 
Ang Lee Departs FX Pilot ‘Tyrant’ 
DreamWorks Eyes January For ‘Glimmer’ And Dylan … 
Warner Bros TV & ‘Smallville’ Co-Creators … 
How Many Times Does Seth MacFarlane Have To Say No To The … 
UPFRONTS 2013: TV Spinoffs’ Almost Perfect Year 
OSCARS: Animated Feature Rule Change 
Ellen Barkin came out swinging again against the NBC Utah affiliate that decided not to show The New Normal. “Yes, it’s an affiliate’s right to ban something but I think it is censorship,” the actress told Deadline today of the KSL-TV decision. “For our brand, this program simply feels inappropriate on several dimensions, especially during family viewing time,” announced Jeff Simpson, CEO of the station’s parent company, Bonneville International last week. Soon afterwards Barkin took to her Twitter account, calling the affiliate’s decision “blatantly homophic.” On a conference call today, Barkin, after some initial hesitation, reiterated her position and asked why KSL-TV would air a violent show like Law & Order: SVU but not a show about “a same sex couple that want to have a child.” Created by Glee boss Ryan Murphy and Ali Adler, The New Normal is about a gay couple that is having a baby through a surrogate. Andrew Rannells and Justin Bartha play the couple, Barkin plays June the bigoted 58-year old grandmother of their surrogate Goldie, played by Georgia King. Calling the series “a show full of love, sensitivity and more fun than a barrel of monkeys,” Barkin said that she thought it dealt with a “very important issue” of “what makes a family” in “a very divisive county.” The actress, who called herself “overly opinionated,” added, “controversy is a good thing.” The action last week by the Mormon Church owned station, which also doesn’t broadcast Saturday Night Live, received blunt criticism from GLAAD and other organizations. The New Normal debuts on September 11 on NBC.
Deadline's Dominic Patten - tip him here.
Loading ...
People like Ellen Barkin have free speech. Free speech has its consequences and she is see that now.
Love Ellen Barkin and can’t wait for this show!
Not watching this crap.
It is not censorship. Censorship is when it is not allowed to be shown anywhere. Barkin’s show can be on Hulu, or Netflix, or wherever. NBC can move to another local afffiliate when the contract is up. Not censorship.
She didnt say it was the literal defenition of “censorship”! She is saying that it is a form of censorship!
I’m re-posting an observation I made on the last story about this fracas — a comment that appeared about half a mile down the page, by which point the whole discussion had largely petered out . . .
“Most of the above posts on this issue are both missing and proving the central point of this story.
“The New Normal” doesn’t want or expect a devoted audience in Salt Lake City. What “The New Normal” wants is attention and the bragging rights that only censorship and Mormon condemnation can provide for a new gay-themed show. I’m sure they’re turning somersaults over there that getting the boot from a market that wouldn’t watch them anyway has now created a news story in which all conscientious liberals — and I’m both a lesbian and a liberal — will agree they’re the brave and blameless victims of small-mindedness and Hate. In this scenario the actual quality of the show they’re making is immaterial. We all have to watch it and support it if only to strike a blow for the freedom to love.
But from what I’ve seen of the show the Mormons will do well to give it a miss. It shouldn’t be watched by them or anyone who has to get through it without recourse to a strong cup of coffee.”
So… it’s not censorship. It’s just a “form” of censorship.
… Do you ever think before you type?
Sorry, but after what she tweeted the other day about the RNC and the hurricane, I have an even greater desire for her new show to tank. Not that it wasn’t going to anyway with those godawful promos that ran all during the Olympics. (There’s seriously a Real Housewife on this show? Seriously? But that’s another issue altogether.)
Yes, she can say what she wants, but considering the hatefulness she seems to be spouting, she’ll be headed back to obscurity quite soon.
For what it’s worth, I do agree with her that there’s simply no reason the Utah station shouldn’t air the show, so she’s right about that.
The production company and the actors had the ‘right’ to create the show, fair enough. Can’t the local affiliate have the ‘right’ to refuse the offering? That is the ‘reason’.
Sure there’s a reason for the station not to air the program. It doesn’t meet their high standards and I for one am grateful there are still stations with high standards.
What’s your list of high standards? No gay themed shows, but violence is okay?
No reason except that much of Utah is Mormon, a group which specifically and energetically opposes gay families. They wouldn’t do it if they didn’t think they’d lose viewers due to the content. The same affiliate did the same thing with Playboy Club and no one thought that was “censorship” – I’m not saying it’s right, but it’s dumb to ignore the business thinking behind the move.
I agree with her also. They should air it. There is a new contraption called a remote, maybe Utah has them too
NO ONE should air that filth. The show isn’t simply “a show with a bunch of gays in it,” as some of you apologists like to pretend. Kudos to the station for having the guts to say “no” to you degenerates.
Your personal feelings aside, you can’t admit that its fair that they think shows that feature rape and sexual abuse are “safe” to watch but a show about a same sex couple starting a family is an issue?!
And thats real mature of you to spout off negative energy towards somethings you’ve never seen.
It’s a purposeful promotion of degeneracy. They even call it “The New Normal,” for crying out loud. It shouldn’t be aired anywhere, and if all the other stations had half the moral clout of the one in Utah, it wouldn’t be.
Whatever happened to people choosing for themselves what they want to watch? The affiliate has taken it upon themselves to determine what their viewers wish to see without asking them or even giving them the opportunity to choose for themselves. That is, in fact, a form of censorship.
I think what you are speaking of is distribution, not censorship. Every distributor takes it upon themselves to decide what they think their viewers wish to see. This station “passed.” If there is an audience, another distributor/station will pick the show up. You might not like that there is a political tinge to their decisions for passing, but that doesn’t make it censorship.
Theres also this thing called a right to decide what products you want your business to be affiliated with.
This would actually mean something if the state of Utah decided that no station could air it, but one station decided it doesn’t't want the product, that is well within their rights. If its successful another station will pick it up like they did with SNL etc, and the 5 people who will watch it can rejoice.
I don’t agree with their politics or beliefs, but I do believe they have a right to decide for themselves what they want to air on their privately owned network, especially since they aren’t stopping anyone else from airing it.
they should just air the show.
Simple truth is that the pilot isn’t very strong and definitely takes a ‘we’re here’ attitude with how characters and relationships are showcased. No matter which way you lean on the issues at hand, they are presenting the content in such a progressive manner that is only magnified in a point in time where this is a heated debate topic that puts this show front and center. You’ll have supporters who will watch for social leanings and you’ll have plenty who don’t for their own beliefs. But from a content standpoint the show, based on the first ep, isn’t strong enough to hold it’s own against the other 2 comedies it’s competing with. And that ultimately is why it will be canceled or moved during or after the first season.
Hate their decision, but they have the right not to air it. It is, I will admit however, the first time I thought that being a Mormon could ever get in the way of one’s ability to govern for ‘all the people.’ The real question for me though… why does a Religion own a part of the public airwaves. Seems incongruous.
There’s no special “Mormon” standard here. It’s a Christian standard, and moreover it’s a general MORAL standard. It shouldn’t be aired anywhere, and if all the other stations had half the moral clout of the one in Utah, regardless of their managers’ religion or lack thereof, it wouldn’t be.
It’s an interesting point I think. The NBC affiliate uses public airwaves per the F.C.C. If you’re a resident in that area, and you wish to watch this show in the same form as other people in other cities watch this show, you won’t be able to. This takes and makes one person’s rights within the realm of the public airwaves (within that affiliate’s signal) less than another person’s. As for the Hulu/computer analogy…if let’s say a local library bans “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” or “Death in Venice” from their shelves…imagine the censorship outcry…the argument would never be you can get it from another library or have it shipped from Canada. And it’s not a matter of…we aired it and got a lot of calls and therefore we’re dropping it…they just refuse to air it on what is supposed to be public airwaves. If you wish to watch the program in its original incarnation, (this would include timely not restrictive Hulu-timely or some other website analogy,) which is what the public airwaves are intended to provide you, you can’t.
And this would be because of content. Content that has been deemed suitable on other public airwaves throughout the country. If you’re stripped of the exposure to the content available everywhere else, on the basis OF that content, that decision is being made for you…on what is is supposed to be considered public and collective property which is enjoyed by other Americans in all the other NBC affiliate areas. In theory, this is one of the reasons there is an F.C.C. in the first place. To protect your rights and interests as they relate to the public airwaves as they are enjoyed by everybody.
This show is not on basic or pay cable.
They don’t show S.N.L? I think that’s outrageous literally commingling church with a SPECIFIC state. I know that Mormons are the majority but there are other religions in the state and everybody knows it. If you consider the facts of intended exhibition vis a vis public airwaves, as they are, I think you can definitely make the case that non-Mormons or Mormons interested in seeing this series, if not censored, are definitely being discriminated against through a sin of omission that could indeed be construed as censorship in effect.
You have to have a computer in order to watch those shows because you are denied the right to watch the series on the public airwaves.
You have to have “The Catcher in the Rye” shipped to you from Canada because it’s not available to you through normal distribution channels per the censorship dictated by a specific set of religious beliefs and therefore it is not available in local bookstores or at the library.
Something tells me a lot of young Mormons could use some exposure to shows like these. Another argument I think that supports the allegation of censorship. Whether or not there is demand on the public airwaves is irrelevant it has been decreed in that viewing area.
You aren’t guaranteed access to broadcast signals, you only have the right to access them free of charge if you do receive them, on the same token, you aren’t guaranteed the right to television shows that are aired in other parts of the country, you only have the right to watch them free of charge if you can access the signal.
Just because they use public airwaves to broadcast the content in other parts of the country doesn’t mean you are guaranteed the right to watch that content. They paid a lot of money to license their signal from the FCC, that gives them the right to decide what they want to broadcast over that signal, so long as the content falls within the FCC regulations.
It being a free market, if there’s demand for the show, another network will pick it up and air it just like they do with SNL.
You also don’t have a right to read Lady Chatterly’s Lover, To Kill A Mockingbird or Huck Finn in your local library. Let’s burn them.
The books To Kill a Mockingbird and Huck Finn shouldn’t be burned they are excellent books and people should have the right to read them if they want to.
Maybe we can boil this down for people to understand:
In this scenario, “The New Normal” is the equivalent of Chick-fil-A in which they have a viewpoint that some people don’t agree with.
The NBC affiliate is the equivalent of all those evil liberal mayors who said they wouldn’t allow Chick-fil-A in their towns and as we know, conservatives went a little crazy over that thing.
But when the reverse happens, it is perfectly fair and reasonable?
This is reason they gave for not airing the show.
“For our brand, this program simply feels inappropriate on several dimensions, especially during family viewing time,” announced Jeff Simpson, CEO of the station’s parent company, Bonneville International last week.
Yes it is censorship, but it’s really discrimination.
NBC should be ashamed of itself for casting a reality show idiot when there are hundreds of black actresses who can’t even get an audition. If there are black executives at NBC, rub the backs of your hands and see it it comes off.
To be fair, this show is a big middle finger to most of the people who are watching TV in Utah, so the affiliate would be foolish to air it, they’d only be attacking their viewers. That’s not a good way to get ratings. If the grandmother was presented as a positive character with a valid perspective of her own then it would be different. But the show’s message, even the title itself, is basically telling most people in Utah “you are a bunch of bigots and you’re wrong”, what would be the point of the affiliate airing that?
That’s just an incredibly hateful and inarticulate way to state your opinion. Name calling folks just because they created a comedy show about a lifestyle you don’t personally agree with says absolutely nothing about your views. It just sounds dumb.