Standards & Practices

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In the United States, Standards and Practices is the name traditionally given to the department at a television network which is responsible for the "moral", ethical, and legal implications of the program that network airs—in the vernacular, "the censors".

1 Incidents
2 Parodies
3 Notes and references
4 External links

[edit] Incidents

Episode 97 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) has yet to be shown in the United States due to pressures from Fox Broadcast & Standards. On the official TMNT website Lloyd Goldfine states:

“

The final edited and mixed version of the notorious 'Insane in the Membrane' was deemed unsuitable for air by Fox Broadcast Standards and Practices. Apparently, in between the time the episode was written, storyboarded, animated and edited (all stages approved by Fox BS&P), and the time the show was mixed for air, there was a change of personnel in the Fox BS&P offices, and no one involved in the original approvals was still employed at Fox. Upon seeing the episode, they were said to be 'horrified' and that there was no way they could air the episode. I'm not sure I disagree with them—had there been BS&P comments earlier in the process, we certainly would have handled the show differently. But as it was approved at every stage, we went full steam ahead. In the end, I was told it was bad judgment on my part... so there you have it.

I believe this episode will eventually be available, but plans have not been finalized.^[1]

”

The final three episodes of the first season of Moral Orel were held back for various amounts of time by Standards and Practices, the episode entitled "God's Chef" being delayed for months before the Adult Swim network was able to show it.

X-Men: The Animated Series was very heavily influenced by BS&P. Unlike the comic book, characters were rarely ever in any danger and characters almost never hit each other directly. A few excerpts from BS&P on the show:

“

Page 4: It will not be acceptable for Mojo to call anyone 'numb nuts.' Also, he should not pick Spiral up by the head.

Page 11: Please substitute for Longshot's two uses of the word 'killed.' Something like 'destroyed' or 'take their lives' would be acceptable.

Page 23: It will not be acceptable for Jubilee to blast January in the face. Please revise.

Page 25: Please substitute for the boulder Rogue hurls at the two hunters, since this would injure them severely. Please incapacitate them with something less harmful.

Page 29: Caution that Slagg not backhand Wolverine in the face.

Page 32: Please show that the bounty hunters are alive after the facade falls on them.^[2]

”

[edit] Parodies

Many television programs (especially cartoons) have parodied the existence of Standards and Practices departments.

One episode of the Beetlejuice cartoon featured the cast being harassed by Goody Two-Shoes, a fairy godmother-like media watchdog from the "Bureau of Sweetness and Prissiness" (BS&P, a knock at ABC's Broadcast Standards and Practices) who wanted them to clean up their act.

The television show ReBoot also featured several jabs at ABC's Broadcast Standards & Practices department. In "The Quick & The Fed", Bob uses a command called "BS&P" to teleport through a window (according to the producers, Standards had nixed the idea of Bob breaking the window with a rock). "In the Belly of the Beast" featured Enzo firing a gun with the words "BS&P approved" on it that shoots rubber life rafts. "Talent Night" featured a "prog censor" named Emma Fee who kept complaining about objectionable content in the acts Dot wanted, and a group called "The Small Town Binomes" singing a song called "BS'n'P".

In the Ed, Edd n Eddy episode "Ed Overboard", Eddy is sworn in as a temporary member of Rolf's "Urban Rangers", and quips "I'd swear, but Standards won't let me."

In one episode of the anime Fushigi Yūgi, part of a test to see if main character Miaka is worthy of receiving a magical artifact requires her to take her clothes off. She strips down to a one-piece undergarment, and explains she cannot take it off because "This is the limit of what the broadcast code allows."

In the Cartoon Network series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, during the episode "Gee Whiz", the show makes reference to CN's Standards & Practices department, referring to it as "A vital link in keeping good and funny ideas away from you, the television viewer." It then demonstrates its purpose with a series of otherwise offensive material and places it into context against humorously inoffensive material (for example, showing a nun being decapitated with blood gushing out as unacceptable, but that same nun being decapitated with a rainbow coming out as acceptable). They are also not allowed say Jesus, but are to use "Gee Whiz" instead.

In the South Park episode "It Hits the Fan", the frozen knights enlisted to prevent the uttering of the "words of Curse" are called the Knights of Standards and Practices.

In Sealab 2021, one fourth-wall breaking episode has the characters all engaging in incredibly dangerous or deplorable activities. In one scene, a character flashes a series of helicopters, causing another helicopter to appear, claiming that it is from Turner Standards and Practices. It tells her to "put your breasts back in your shirt, you dirty whore!" even though her breasts are blurred out.