Monday, June 2, 2008

How violent is too violent?

This past Saturday night on CBS, a mixed martial arts fight event was shown during prime time. The main event featured YouTube star Kimbo Slice against a guy named James Thompson who had a cauliflower ear that looked like a balloon.

The main event ended in the third round when Kimbo punched Thompson in the ear and his ear gushed blood. As reported on some sports talk shows, 7 of Kimbo's last nine punches landed on Thompson's head.

CBS has contracted to show three more MMA type events. Early numbers show Saturday's fight card did well viewer-wise.

Are we at the point where this is acceptable Saturday night entertainment for a broadcast network? USA Today had a great editorial tying the MMA fights to the recent death of Harvey Korman. Harvey once starred on the Carol Burnett/Tim Conway comedy shows on.........Saturday night. My, how times have changed.

The FCC regulates sexual content and language on tv but not violent content. My question is: what will be the 'tipping point' for violent content to be regulated on tv? Someone dying in the ring?

Much like Janet Jackson's breast sent shockwaves throughout the broadcast media in terms of sexual content, what will happen for violence to be regulated?

1 comment:

dons_mind said...

so are you for or against that type of violence on prime time tv? personally - it's not for me - so i use my personal choice option and don't watch it. haven't watched wrestling since the albano brothers and wahoo mcdaniels wrestled! :)