Mormon owned KSL TV refuses to air gay themed sitcom "The New Normal"

[Stainless]

Source: Salt Lake Tribune

NBC’s "The New Normal" won’t air on KSL this fall. The prospect of two gay men having a baby proved too much for the LDS Church-owned station.

"From time to time we may struggle with content that crosses the line in one area or another," said Jeff Simpson, CEO of KSL’s parent company, Bonneville International. "The dialogue might be excessively rude and crude. The scenes may be too explicit or the characterizations might seem offensive."


Read more: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/54759750-80/ksl-nbc-normal-gay.html.csp

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This is the business arm of the homophobic cult of mormonism that Mitt Romney and thousands of others contribute billions of dollars in tithing to every year. We need to send a strong message in November that this pathetic Cult and the Republican Party are on the wrong side of history. The cult also needs to lose their religious tax exemption for their past political activity.

[Submariner]

1. Poor parenting, poor schooling, faith-based learning

and we end up with these ignorant adults on our school boards, and in congress and business, making buffoon decisions like this in 2000 and fucking 12. And now one of them is running for president whose a racist f'ing birther. Beautiful.....just beautiful.

[russspeakeasy]

2. You nailed it...

[Drunken Irishman]

3. I don't even get their standards. They had no problem airing Will & Grace.

[LadyHawkAZ]

5. Romney wasn't running for President then

Caesars wife etc.

[closeupready]

33. Gay men as minstrels is fine - easier to condescend to

those you consider beneath you.

[alp227]

40. KSL has a history of censoring programs the station deems too offensive

Occasionally the station has decided not to air some network programs, such as the short-lived sitcom Coupling and the long-running Saturday Night Live (SNL). SNL is preempted for the local SportsBeat Saturday, a holdover from the station's CBS days (KUCW, a CW affiliate, currently airs SNL instead). As a CBS affiliate KSL-TV aired the drama Picket Fences at 11pm on Saturdays instead of 9pm on Fridays.[7] KSL also refused to carry much of the network's poker programming such as Poker After Dark (now all canceled due to legal complications) due to ownership, Church, and viewership objections against gambling.

On June 12, 2011, KSL-TV announced it had declined to carry the period drama The Playboy Club. The station's president stated the show was "completely inconsistent" with the station's own mission and branding.[8] The station is a sponsor of the "Out in the Light Campaign," which educates people on problems associated with viewing pornography, and the station did not want to be associated with the Playboy brand.[9] MyNetworkTV affiliate KMYU/KUTV-DT2 aired the program in the market at the original 9:00 pm Mountain Time Monday time slot,[10] while KSL-TV carried the locally-produced newsmagazine We Are Utah, which resembles WCVB in Boston's Chronicle in format.[11] However, like Coupling, The Playboy Club was both lambasted and ignored by critics and viewers alike and was the first network cancellation of its television season after only three episodes aired. KSL continued to air already filmed episodes of We Are Utah in the 9pm slot until the October 31, 2011 premiere of Rock Center with Brian Williams.[12]

Most-recently, on August 24, 2012, KSL-TV announced they would not broadcast NBC's sitcom The New Normal due to issues in regards to gay parenting that they found objectionable. Jeff Simpson, the CEO of Bonneville International, said that the show's "dialogue might be excessively rude and crude. The scenes may be too explicit or the characterizations might seem offensive... For our brand, this program feels inappropriate on several dimensions, especially during family viewing time." The show will air instead on KUCW, which plan on airing The New Normal on weekends.[13]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KSL-TV#Programming

[nolabear]

4. Remember, this was Romney's life long indoctrination.

[totodeinhere]

6. For those in the Salt Lake City area who want to catch the show.

It will be broadcast on CW 30 - KUCW Channel 30. Of course that doesn't excuse what KSL is doing. I'm just letting people know that they can watch the show in Salt Lake if they want to.

[Ken Burch]

7. 50,000 Mormon closet cases are feeling deeply conflicted about this tonight...

Not that they'll be telling their wives, of course.

[Cleita]

9. Yeah. Remember the Albee character in "Big Love"?

I think he had a couple of wives besides his boyfriend on the side.

[Ken Burch]

11. I'm also thinking of Joe Pitt in ANGELS IN AMERICA.

Last edited Sat Aug 25, 2012, 08:44 AM - Edit history (1)

n/t.

[Cleita]

12. Yes, and remember his mother who came to the side of the gays? n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

23. Character's name is Joe Pitt, he works with Roy Cohn...

nt

[Ken Burch]

24. You're right...I've corrected it now. Thanks.

n/t.

[Cleita]

8. Why are churches allowed to own TV stations?

It seems there should be a law about it considering the air waves are supposed to belong to the people as a commons. No churches and no corporations whose major business is something else like GE should own them.

[dimbear]

10. It goes nicely with their newspaper and their shopping malls.

Should a church be allowed to own a state? Hard to say.

[Cleita]

13. Well, they certainly own Utah.

Every time we traveled there, I felt like I had stepped into an LDS land of OZ.

[defacto7]

15. They own EVERYTHING!

They probably own the grocery store where you buy your food. Really.

You can't not be paying Mormons in one way or another even if you don't live in Utah!

Do I sound paranoid?

I'm not!

[Cleita]

16. Somehow them owning the local Marriott isn't as nefarious as them owning

the local TV station. The Marriott is a private enterprise and I can choose not to use their services. The TV station is part of the commons, which we the people own, and they have no business there.

[defacto7]

18. I think you are absolutely right... no non-profit religious group should

own the public air waves or cable or internet services that has the power to censer the whole public for ANY reason. But they do, and they own a lot more then KSL. Some of their holdings are under the table so to speak as well. But they get away with it because they are hugely wealthy. They are the wealthiest church on the planet you know (Bloomburg Buisness yesterday).

But I think they sold Marriott a few years ago unless they bought it again. They used to own the entire Marriott company.

Private enterprise or not, they are supposed to be a non-profit organization, right? They are Tax-free!!!

[Cleita]

19. Yes, I think it's time to end the tax-free status for churches that are run like

fat, rich corporations. Sure I support the little store-front church in the hood getting a tax break, but not those Croesuses.

[alp227]

38. The 1st amendment protects us enough, doesn't it?

I consider censorship to be something like the FCC banning hate speech or a court order restraining the broadcast of a show like New Normal. Not a private TV station's broadcast decisions.

[defacto7]

14. Seeeee... I told ya... I told ya....

The Mormons will make your life hell if you're not one of them!!!!

I live here!

If Romney is elected, this is what we have to look forward to!!!

Remember, he has a magic hat and magic glasses... and super duper undies! Oh... I shouldn't say undies... bad, bad, me....

[defacto7]

17. I can't help beating this dead horse but it's stranger than...

well, nothing is stranger or maybe more dangerous than the Mormon church.

I live here in Utah... but you probably know that by now...

Did you know they own approximately 1/5 of the Hawaiian Islands?

Did you know they sold the Mount of Olives in Israel for an undisclosed amount?

Did you know they have been caught and sued 3 times for baptising the WWII Jewish Holocaust victims into the Mormon faith secretly in their temples? And they still do it! It was leaked that they had baptised Anne Frank a few months ago.

Did you know they keep a massive hoard of gold and other metals in the centre of Salt Lake City underground beneath their own personal bank? No one knows how much but it's massive... whole country size massive.

Did you know they have the worlds largest genealogical archive? They have the records of every person that exists on the planet. If it exists, they have it too... Look it up.

I won't bore you with more details and you probably think I'm crazy by now... but I swear it's the fact and that's not the half of it.

[mojo2012]

22. Utah isn't a state of the U.S., it's a country all it's own

There is NO separation of church and state. Build and own a huge mall and pay no taxes? Yup...

The church is allowed to weigh in on all the issues in the state legislature. It's welcomed by its members and many of the "laws" lean heavily in favor of the church.

So don't be naive and think the church won't have a voice (albeit behind the scenes) if Romney gets elected. Romney may be a nice guy, but unfortunately, he is easily swayed by whoever promises he and the 1% will benefit. He will be a figure head and the government will be run by Ryan, the Mormon church, big oil companies, big finance companies, big tycoons, the extreme far right.

[defacto7]

35. That's the way it was planned from the start.

All the way back to Joe Smith, the plan has always been to take over the US and make it a Mormon theocracy. I believe he even made some prophecy to that effect????

BTW, they actually OWN some of the main thoroughfares in downtown SLC. They can open or close downtown at their leisure and censer whoever uses those streets.

[Stainless]

25. I too live in Utah

Born, raised, educated, worked and now retired here. I'm doing what little I can do to expose how evil Mormons in general and Mitt Romney in particular truly are. Please America, do not vote for Mitt Romney. KSL TV censoring a program about gays is just a tiny glimpse into how the Mormon church will control your life if you elect one of them.

[defacto7]

31. Thanks, Stainless

for backing up the statements I've been making. People need to know about the "crazy" especially when it comes to the future of America.

[mojo2012]

41. The Country will be controlled

You can be assured that behind the scenes, many things will be discreetly controlled by the church through Mitt Romney (if he is elected) as president. Non-LDS business owners have a difficult time securing customers because it is strongly suggested that if you are LDS, you should give your business to one that is owned by a Mormon. There are many things that go on that the general population does not see that would give them pause if they knew

[sarahcypper]

20. Great

Its a good breaking neews ! wow !

[Occulus]

36. And just what in the blue FUCK is that supposed to mean?

[davidpdx]

21. I'd love to see someone in Utah file a suit against the station and Mormon Church

This sets a very bad precedent for churches to buy stations and then decide what people can or can't watch.

[mwooldri]

28. Sorry... 1st Amendment gets in the way.

It is sucky that a network affiliated terrestrial tv broadcaster can choose to pre-empt programming that the owners of that station don't want to broadcast... but it is their constitutional and contractual right to do just that. Non religious affiliated stations have pre-empted programming from the network with something else in the past, and I am sure some other programming will come up that some station somewhere will not broadcast.

However... there is nothing stopping CBS/NBC/ABC/Fox/Etc. from setting up a cable-only version of their channel, call it NBC Primetime - and have only the networked programming on the channel, repeating the programming in the spots that would normally be filled in by the affiliate.

[alp227]

39. +1. I say the networks should just not contract with religious-owned broadcast companies.

The religious companies should produce their OWN programming on their OWN airspace if they find the secular programs of NBC, etc. too offensive.

[davidpdx]

42. That would be the better option

But I don't think the networks can stop someone from buying a station affiliate.

[davidpdx]

43. The problem with cable networks setting up their own version of the channel

is that costs money. Simply put, they won't do it. I like the response below about networks not allowing affiliates to be bought be religious organizations. If it's a 1st amendment right, then what stops them from putting a religious program on at 8pm every night and preempting all programs from say 8-9pm Monday-Friday? That would effectively kill the first hour of prime time for each weekday night.

[defacto7]

32. The only problem....

the lawyers here are all Mormon. (a little overstated but not by much) The Mormons make up a huge portion of Lawyers in America, especially at the corporate level. That's all tied up and they monopolize that industry in a powerful way.

[sofa king]

26. Man, I wish I were more evil.

Writing faith-based sit-coms is probably the easiest job in the world. Blah blah blah, step on a rake HA HA. Blah blah Jesus, pie in the face HA HA! Moral of the story: don't trust minorities AWWWW CLAP CLAP the end.

The above script is for sale, should any religious organization wish me to flesh it out with conversations overheard at the church singles meetings.

[mwooldri]

27. There is a solution.

Comcast owns NBC Universal. Comcast can theoretically create a cable-only NBC channel and discontinue carriage of that NBC affiliate, substituting its own. They can contract with a competing station to supply local news, and since they sell advertising that runs in place of others on the cable-only channels... they have a vehicle for selling advertising on the new cable-only NBC channel.

[JPK]

29. Perhaps.....

....They have invested in the wrong business. Censorship is an ugly thing. Rather than owning a television station with a national network affiliation they should turn it into a 24hr church channel. But then I guess they wouldn't get as much money from the advertisers. God moves when the money moves.

[OverBurn]

30. The show looks like a low class Modern Family rip off, but I think I'll watch

it just to piss of the homophobes, Mormons and Repukes.

[defacto7]

34. Just for the record

The Morons also own the 2 major newspapers in Utah as well.

SLC Utah = 60% Mormon, 35% Catholic, 4% Other, 1% scared as hell

Provo Utah, 99% Mormon, 1% survivors

Utah in general = about 95% Moron

[trailmonkee]

37. somewhere between 10-20% of mormons in salt lake will be really bummed out by this...

[pink-o]

44. Question to all progressives who live in SLC...

You guys had a really progressive mayor a few years ago, one who allowed for open protests against Bush and the Iraq war, he is a believer in climate change, and stood with Occupy. How did such a reactionary place elect this guy for 2 terms? And is there hope for SLC yet?

Rocky Anderson...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Anderson

[defacto7]

45. SLC is the only place in Utah that has a few progressive thinkers...

That can add up at the polls if you throw in the Mormons who are closet thinkers and the Catholics. If you don't rub those groups wrong, you have a shot. This is not one of those times.

Salt Lake County mayor Peter Corroon is/was a bit farther to the left as well and a Dem, but also a Catholic. It makes a difference here.