Any views on Jerry Springer the Opera? Coming to BBC2 on Sat...

[Pert_UK]

I'm ashamed that 15,000 people have apparently complained IN ADVANCE of its screening.........For fuck's sake, next think you know people will be wrecking theatres to stop productions they don't like.

Oh, hang on........

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4154071.stm

"David Soul, star of West End hit Jerry Springer - The Opera, has defended the BBC's decision to broadcast the show.
The corporation has received more than 15,000 complaints over plans to screen the production on BBC Two on Saturday.

"It wouldn't have got where it is if it was about blasphemy and language," the former Starsky and Hutch actor told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Its detractors had a right to protest, he said, but added: "We have a right to enjoy quality entertainment."


TV clean-up campaigners Mediawatch-UK have rallied against the show because of the high level of swearing and its religious themes. "

[quispquake]

1. Is that the Starsky & Hutch David Soul???

hahahaha!

[Pert_UK]

2. Yep indeed...I had lunch next to him outside a pub in Belsize Park..

a few years ago while he was discussing work with his agent.

The pub was The Haverstock on Haverstock Hill, run by Andrew the Barman from TFI Friday. Chris Moyles drinks there too.....but I don't tend to bother any more.

Decent Sunday lunches though.

I was gutted that there wasn't a big red car with a white stripe parked outside.....

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. He's now a British citizen

he wrote a piece for The Independent on becoming one:

British citizenship does not mean that I am cutting my ties with America. My children and my ageing parents still live in the States, so I'll be visiting them, and I will be voting in the US presidential election next month (if my vote actually gets counted). God help us if George Bush is re-elected. Still, my choice is to belong here, and in that belonging, I rejoice. Finally.

http://www.davidsoul.com/myhomeiswheremyartis.html

He's one of us!

[Englander]

3. I think it was One Man Who Complained...

15,000 Times...

[moggie]

11. I suspect it was many people

But I'll bet their complaints were curiously similar in their wording, if you get my drift.

[madrchsod]

5. well you brits can see the play but we here

in the states can see him live. my daughter keeps bugging me to get tickets and since we live just a few hours away from chicago, i may just do that. jerry shows the underside of society, it`s outcasts, it`s troubled,it`s weirdo`s, and it`s heros. love or hate him jerry shows us what we sometimes don`t want to see-real life. can`t wait till the "opera" hits the usa..

[Pert_UK]

7. Jerry's shows are as staged as "pro" wrestling matches.......

Surely you don't believe that they're all genuine people in genuine situations?

Apart from anything else, if your friend or partner asked you to go on Jerry Springer you'd run a bloody mile......

"You know I said that I got you on TV to propose? Well actually I'm sleeping with your best friend's dog's sister's owner's boss, who is a transsexual dwarf with S&M tendencies and who is also your father...and mine."

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Oh, the irony - the campaign to ban it is led by The Sun

Yes, the people who bring you a couple of tits each day (and not just their columnists - oh, the old ones are the best) are now the moral guardians of the nation.

Type '"Jerry Springer" Sun' into the UK Google News search, and you'll find their piece claiming there will be 8000* swear words in the broadcast (a truly heroic effort, if it's at all true - I can't wait to see how they manage it). The Sun's articles show up under the headline "See loads more girls on our super cyber site". We couldn't make it up if we tried.

Meanwhile, the justly acclaimed opera has collected four best musical prizes including an Olivier award and has had productions in 60 cities. It is going out at 10pm, after the 9pm watershed, with plenty of warnings about its content. No one has to watch it. There are dozens of other channels, including Mr Murdoch's, though on this occasion the Sun's publicity may lure viewers from BSkyB to the BBC. There is a moral there somewhere.

Guardian leader on this

*Ah - I see the BBC explains: "a reported total of 8,000 obscenities was reached by adding every swear word sung by each member of the 27-strong chorus". Does this mean The Sun has started teaching long multiplication to its readers?

[Pert_UK]

8. It's fantastic, isn't it?

If 50,000 people all simultaneously yell "TWAT!" at Tony Blair, has he been called a twat once, or 50,000 times?

Enquiring minds need to know.......

Is it more offensive to hear the same word said simultaneously by 2 or more people?

Wasn't it The Sun (maybe Mirror) who printed a big article raging against paedophiles, and on the opposite page did a huge article about how large Charlotte Church's breasts were getting (when she had only just turned 16)?

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. The Daily Star, according to this blog

http://www.raygirvan.co.uk/apoth/thought6.htm

though any of the tabloids could be guilty of it. Their bread and butter is sex stories, of course - as The Guardian points out.

[Pert_UK]

10. MMmmmmm......sex butter!

:evilgrin:

[moggie]

12. I'm amused at the omission

A Guardian leader on the use of the word 'fuck' and they neglect to mention their edition of G2 which said, simply, 'fuck Cilla Black' on the cover? Generated quite a few complaints, as I recall (and some praise, too).

[non sociopath skin]

13. I always find it hilariously funny ...

...when the Sun (which you yourself call "the gutter press" in the links section of ST) or its even sleazier sister The News of the Screws aka The Sailor's Bible poses as custodian of the nation's morals.

I, for one, shall not be watching Jerry Springer - The Opera, just as I have not been moved to see the show, as it has no appeal for me. However, for reasons best known to the Great British Punter, it's been incredibly popular and I can understand any TV Company wanting a piece of the action.

As ever, I have made my own choice of viewing unimpeded by any militant religious and/or political groups who presume to dictate what should be my moral position and I would humbly recommend the same stance to other grown-ups.

The Skin

[D-Notice]

14. "Led by the Sun"

I think they'd have a different reaction if it were being shown on Sky One...

I'd like to watch it (just to see what all the fuss is about), but I've go plans & no video to tape off... Oh well!

I'm sure there'll be a repeat of it in the future...

[Briar]

15. Funny we never hear complaints

about the sleazy crap on Sky One.

[Mr Creosote]

17. To be fair

no-one actually watches Sky One. Do they?

[Briar]

18. I don't know anyone who does

but Sky is making loadsa money, isn't it?

[Mr Creosote]

22. Not sure

it lost fortunes for year after year and would have gone under but for Murdoch's deep pockets. But it started turning a profit recently - whether it's "loadsa money" I've no idea and I can't be arsed to look it up.

[Mr Creosote]

16. I'm glad they showed it

nothing but praise for the BBC for making a stand for free-speech. And I'm grateful to the christians, they showed themselves in their true colours again.
But we watched about 5 minutes of it - absolutely FUCKING awful! Put on BB instead - that Bez can do 8,000 "fucks" an hour all by himself.

[Briar]

19. The Moral Minority and the BBC

The Moral Minority and the BBC: a reality showdown close to Jerry Springer's heart

The corporation's refusal to bow to pressure to pull its screening of a West End hit has unleashed impassioned protests and shown that extremism cuts across religious boundaries
By Anthony Barnes

The BBC placed a guard on the homes of some senior staff and took legal action to shut down a Christian website that published the addresses and phone numbers of its executives, as the row escalated over last night's broadcast of Jerry Springer - The Opera.

The BBC action followed threats of "physical violence" and even "bloodshed" against staff, including Roly Keating, the head of BBC2, and their families. Personal details had been made available both on the website and in an email distributed by Christian Voice, one of the groups that has led the extraordinary backlash against the corporation for refusing to pull the broadcast. The protesters claimed its content was blasphemous.

The email from Christian Voice's national director, Stephen Green, to subscribers - obtained by The Independent on Sunday - stated: "We make no apologies for giving their home addresses and in as many cases as we can, their phone numbers ... We know normal protests are channelled in such a way as to be ignored."

The strength of the protests had taken the BBC by surprise. Last night, many in the arts and broadcasting feared a rise in aggressive campaigning to curb artistic freedom in Britain....

More at:

http://news.independent.co.uk/media/story.jsp?story=599122

[lockdown]

20. Your chimp pic reminds me of a line from the show

Talk to the stigmata! }(

Anyway, I'm grateful to concerned christians for drawing attention to this blasphemy, wouldn't have known it was on otherwise. Makes a nice change to laugh at something on tele that's actually intended to be funny.

[WritersBlock]

21. The tap-dancing Kluckers cracked me up.

Also had to laugh at the "rusty Skoda" line - never saw many of those around trailer parks. :D

[non sociopath skin]

23. Now that we've reached Day 10 of this 9 Day Wonder ...

... it only remains to be seen whether the hitherto mercifully obscure Joel Edwards of the "Evangelical Alliance" tries to use this as a springboard to greater fame ... perhaps a Parliamentary bid in April?

The Skin