WWW- Janet Jackson’s breast is casting a shadow over tonight’s uncut telecast of “Saving Private Ryan” on ABC.
Fearing huge fines because of “Ryan’s” graphic images and coarse language, a handful of ABC affiliates will not air Steven Spielberg’s critically acclaimed war film.
“We regret that we are not able to broadcast a patriotic, artistic tribute to our fighting forces like ‘Saving Private Ryan’,” Raymond Cole, president of ABC’s affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa, said in a statement. He cited concerns that the film would not meet the Federal Communications Commission’s decency standards.
“Can a movie with an ‘M’ rating, however prestigious the production or poignant the subject matter, be shown before 10p.m.?” Cole asked. “With the current FCC, we just don’t know.”
Cole is not alone.
Several ABC stations around the country have expressed concern about running into trouble if they air the film, which is scheduled to start tonight at 8. In New York, WABC/Ch. 7 is airing the movie.
Station managers are concerned that the FCC, which has stepped up its indecency investigations after Janet Jackson’s breast was bared during the Feb. 1 Super Bowl, will go after “Saving Private Ryan,” as well.
The movie, which stars Tom Hanks, Matt Damon and Vin Diesel, among others, has many intense battle scenes, with images of people being shot and body parts blown off. It also has extensive profanity, including dozens of uses of the F-word.
ABC has aired the film twice, with limited viewer and affiliate problems.
Indeed, the FCC, in response to a complaint by Tim Wildmon, head of the American Family Association, found no problems with “Saving Private Ryan” in June 2002.
That, of course, was preNipplegate, when the regulatory world changed in what seemed like a matter of seconds.
An ABC source yesterday said the affiliate situation was fluid. In fact, the FCC’s 2002 decision on “Ryan” may have persuaded some stations planning not to air the film to reverse course.
The head of the Parents Television Council yesterday issued a statement saying the organization would not file a complaint over the telecast of “Ryan,” in part because the content is not gratuitous.
Still, ABC is leaving nothing to chance.
The source said the network was doubling the number of on-air warnings about the movie’s content.
A statement distributed by a network spokeswoman simply said that ABC was “proud to once again broadcast” the Academy Award-winning movie, which “depicts the harrowing and devastating realities of the men who fought” in World WarII.