Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Toddlers Cuss Word On Modern Family Draws Ire

First Published: January 18, 2012 10:19 AM EST Credit: ABC Caption Jesse Tyler Ferguson portraying Mitchell Pritchett, and Eric Stonestreet portraying Cameron Tucker are shown with Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, who plays their adopted daughter Lily in a scene from Modern FamilyLOS ANGELES, Calif. -- An anti-profanity crusader has asked the ABC television network to pull this weeks Modern Family episode in which a toddler appears to use a bleeped curse word. Our main goal is to stop this from happening, McKay Hatch, an 18-year-old college student who founded the No Cussing Club in 2007, said Tuesday. If we dont, at least ABC knows that people all over the world dont want to have a 2-year-old saying the F-bomb on TV. We hope they know better, said Hatch. Hes asking his clubs members, whom he said number 35,000 in the United States and about three-dozen other countries, to complain to ABC. ABC has yet to respond, he said Tuesday. The network had no comment, a spokeswoman said. In the episode titled Little Bo Bleep airing on Wednesday night, 2-year-old Lily shocks parents Mitchell and Cameron (Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet) with her first expletive. The dads, who are preparing Lily to serve as flower girl in a wedding, now have an added parenting challenge. The tot is played by Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, who says the word fudge during taping. It will be bleeped on the air and her mouth will be obscured by pixilation, and viewers will get the impression that her character used the actual F-word. Steven Levitan, creator and executive producer of the TV comedy with Christopher Lloyd, told the Television Critics Association last week that hes proud and excited about the obscenity plotline that ABC was persuaded to allow. We thought it was a very natural story since, as parents, weve all been through this, Levitan said to EW.com. We are not a sexually charged show. It has a very warm tone so people accept it more. Im sure well have some detractors. The program, which won the Emmy Award for best comedy last fall, was named best musical or comedy series at Sundays Golden Globes ceremony. Hatch, who is from South Pasadena, California, and attends Brigham Young University in Rexburg, Idaho, said he began his anti-profanity club in 2007 when he noticed how rampant cursing was at his school and how it was linked to bullying. If kids are accountable for their choices, then adults should be as well, and that includes media, he said. TV profanity was an issue before the U.S. Supreme Court last week, which heard arguments about whether regulating curse words and nudity on broadcast stations is sensible when cable and satellite services offer channels with few restrictions. A decision is expected by late June. Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Monday, January 2, 2012

12 New Year's Resolutions for 2012 Moviegoers

Just like a year for moviegoing, 2011 certainly had its irritations. Because the calendar has provided us a clean slate, you are prepared to set our resolutions to create 2012 a far greater all year long the large screen. Clearly, you want to obtain Hollywood to produce a unique resolutions (like, say, stop plundering the eighties for remake ideas that finish off trashing the flicks most of us loved as kids), but we can not improve others, only ourselves. So, as moviegoers, let's all resolve in 2012 to follow along with together with the 12 promises available below. (And you will add others inside the comments.) &bull I'll stop needing to pay a pleasant earnings to check out 3d movies that have been not shot in 3d, but merely hastily retrofitted to have the ability to boost ticket prices. (I would get the best for your 'Titanic' re-release, since James Cameron can probably be reliable not to execute a half-assed job in this particular department.) &bull I'll switch off my phone through the film. I won't annoy other patrons with my clicking thumbs, my conversations, or perhaps the competing glow of my own, personal screen. For Just Two several hours, I'll switch off my connect with the outside world and enable myself look around the story -- and enable others to accomplish the identical. &bull I'll leave youthful children in your house. I won't disturb others -- or traumatize my own, personal kids -- by enabling 'The Girl While using Dragon Tattoo' being their babysitter. &bull I'll complain for the theater manager when the projection is just too dim or too fuzzy, or when the appear isn't right. I recognize that theaters won't include a motivation to help keep high standards of presentation, even on pricey new digital projectors, unless of course obviously clients complain en masse whenever we don't get what we should are needing to purchase. &bull I'll support local movie theaters which do maintain quality presentation standards, offer good snack or dining options, and program the kind of movies and non-movie fare that we like. &bull I'll observe that might be more movies being launched this year besides 'The Hunger Games,' the best 'Twilight,' as well as the first 'Hobbit.' Yeah, I'll probably visit a number of these, however may even exceed the hype and consider other potentially interesting movies. &bull I won't believe that everyone who hates a movie I really like can be a philistine, or that everyone who likes a movie Personally, i can't stand is certainly an elitist snob. Which I won't flame people who disagree with me at night of a movie on the internet. &bull I'll uncover a film critic whose tastes generally match mine, a treadmill whose tastes rarely match mine. Either in situation, reading through using that critic's reviews will prove an even more reliable barometer for whether I'll love or hate a movie in comparison to separate-the-difference scores I have available at movie poll sites like Rotten Tomato vegetables or Flixster. Which I'll allow the outlet that employs that critic to keep them within the organization and not replace these with someone generic or syndicated. &bull I will not limit my movie diet to escapism. I'll every so often go to a film making me think, shows me something unfamiliar, challenges my anticipation instead of reassuring and comforting me, or otherwise necessitates that Someone said subtitles. &bull However, I won't believe that, should be movie created buzz at Sundance or Toronto, it's artistic merit. For every 'Martha Marcy May Marlene,' there's certain that need considering a 'happythankyoumoreplease.' Caveat emptor. &bull I'll every so often watch a movie that was made before I used to be born, especially if I will tell it in the theater. I will not dismiss a movie as quaint due to the fact it's old or possibly in black-and-white-colored. &bull I will not pretend that watching a widescreen, visually scrumptious epic by having an iPad or smartphone is any alternative for that immersive reference to watching it round the silver screen. [Photos: Getty Images (3d audience), Lionsgate ('The Hunger Games')] 5 Main Reasons Why You Aren't Going to the films See All Moviefone Galleries » Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook Follow Gary Susman on Twitter: @garysusman

Big football finale for NBC

NBC wrapped up its regular season ''Sunday Night Football'' schedule with a doozy of a matchup, and the game between the NY Giants and Dallas Cowboys delivered predictably strong ratings for the net. According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, the game to decide the NFC East division of the NFL averaged an 8.7 rating/21 share in adults 18-49 and 24.6 million viewers overall on NBC's stations from 8:30 to 11 p.m., with the game's final demo average expected to rise by more than 10%. In metered-market overnights, the game did a big 17.1 household rating/27 share , a 36% improvement over last week's final ''SNF'' game between the Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams (12.6/19), which decided the NFC West champion. The 17.1 is a smidge better than the 16.9 rating that the Cowboys-NY Jets game did on the opening Sunday of the season (translating to a 10.7 rating in 18-49 and 25.8 million viewers in the nationals). The only NBC primetime, regular-season football telecasts to rate higher overnight scores were the Thursday season openers of the last two years: a 17.7 for Minnesota-New Orleans in 2010 and a 17.2 for Green Bay-New Orleans. Sunday's game earned a 37.1/55 in Dallas and a 25.3/38 in NY. Elsewhere, the other nets were scrambling for crumbs on a repeat-riddled night. CBS, which had a sizable NFL overrun to start the night, aired an original episode of ''60 Minutes'' (roughly 3.0/8 in 18-49, 14.2 million viewers overall from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.) followed by repeats of ''Unforgettable'' (1.3/3 in 18-49, 7.2 million viewers overall), ''The Good Wife'' (1.1/3 in 18-49, 6.2 million viewers overall) and ''CSI: Miami'' (1.1/3 in 18-49, 5.8 million viewers overall). Fox followed its football overrun with postgame show ''The OT'' (2.1/6 in 18-49, 5.8 million viewers overall) and then encores of animated comedies ''The Simpsons'' (1.5/4 in 18-49, 3.6 million viewers overall), ''The Cleveland Show'' (1.3/3 in 18-49, 2.8 million viewers overall), ''Family Guy'' (1.7/4 in 18-49, 3.5 million viewers overall) and ''American Dad'' (1.4/3 in 18-49, 3.0 million viewers overall). ABC went with four repeats of Sunday rookie drama ''Once Upon a Time,'' starting with a 0.8/2 in 18-49 and 3.4 million viewers overall in the 7 o'clock hour and concluding with a 1.2/3 in the demo and 3.8 million viewers overall at 10 o'clock. Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: NBC, 7.0/18; CBS, 2.3/6; Fox, 1.6/4; ABC, 1.1/3; Univision, 0.9/2. In total viewers: NBC, 20.2 million; CBS, 10.8 million; Fox, 3.9 million; ABC, 3.8 million; Univision, 2.7 million. Contact Rick Kissell at rick.kissell@variety.com