Blue pencil on the box
American television’s rush to self-censorship will only encourage viewers to look for their entertainment elsewhere
THE odd mass-protest against America invading Iraq aside, people are used to considering all of western culture, particularly television, to be much the same beast. The Americans might be better at doing tense, densely scripted, 24-episode dramas such as “ER”, while the Europeans might have the edge when it comes to documentaries and, in the case of the British, sit-coms. But in general the aims are the same when it comes to slumping in front of the box. People like talent contests, reality TV, re-runs of classic sit-coms and desperate housewives.
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