Language on prime-time television is saltier than ever and showing no signs of calming down.
Today, amid scenes of partial nudity and violence, viewers are hearing words that would have been unthinkable just a decade ago.
Every week, shows such as ABC’s “NYPD Blue,” CBS’ “Brooklyn South,” NBC’s “Homicide: Life on the Street” and Comedy Central’s “South Park” routinely serve up euphemisms for sexual acts, obscene references to body parts and casual profanity that would have been verboten on pre-’90s TV.
“The boundaries have been changing and continuously evolving,” said Carol Alteri, vice president of program practices for CBS. “People have been desensitized.”
There are several reasons for the increased use of blue language on TV, but the primary one, Alteri and others note, is the increasing competition from other media, especially cable TV. Cable, now in over 70 percent of the nation’s 98 million television homes, has virtually turned the envelope inside-out, led by pay services such as HBO and Showtime. The competition has led some producers to incorporate more realistic dialogue in their broadcast shows.
“I think the mass media have accelerated the evolution of how language is used,” said Syracuse professor Robert Thompson, who also heads up the school’s Center for the Study of Popular Television. “We’ve pretty much used up all of the shocking language we could imagine.
Also, because so many so-called bad words are now used unblinkingly by many people in everyday conversation, they’ve lost the impact they once had, Thompson said.
“Bad language is like a fossil fuel,” he added. “It takes centuries and centuries to build up impact, but once you start using it, it goes pretty quickly.”
And, he pointed out, “The shows pushing the envelope are classy. We don’t hear (the profanity) on cheesy dramas like `Walker, Texas Ranger.’ “
CBS’ Arteri agrees. Viewers have come to expect rougher content on the 9 p.m. cop dramas, and aren’t surprised when “NYPD Blue’s” detectives repeatedly toss gutteral epithets at their suspects. Conversely, she noted, they’re not going to hear such strong language in “Chicago Hope” or the sitcoms.
“We in no way, shape or form touch on the levels of violence or language on cable,” said ABC Entertainment chief Jamie Tarses. “I think we’re always going to monitor ourselves.”
That said, Tarses added there are now “no absolutes” in terms of language barriers.
Industry executives say the new program-content ratings, which inform viewers about the levels of language, violence or sex in a show, give networks carte blanche in using coarse words. Another factor, Arteri pointed out, is that viewers hardly ever complain about what they hear.
Advertisers, however, are a different story.
“It’s a problem for some of our clients,” said Tom DeCabia, senior vice president of Paul Schulman Co., which buys commercial time for major companies. “The language is as sensitive as the violence or a sex scene. Some clients are very offended and don’t want to be around it.”
Still, it won’t surprise many TV observers if before too long prime-time network viewers might just hear one or two more of the “seven words you cannot say on TV” comic George Carlin once joked about.
Syracuse’s Thompson, in fact, opines that the f-word — the mother of all bad words — is certain to make it onto broadcast TV.
“I don’t think we’re very far away at all,” Thompson said. “Once we see what HBO is doing, you can figure (broadcast) television won’t be far behind . . .”
Alteri, however, disagrees. Not that it will happen, but about when. An intentional f-word on broadcast TV, she believes, is at least five to 10 years down the road. “I will never say never,” she said.
