FCC Rejects 'Angel' Indecency Complaint
Says sex scene wasn't all that bad
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has been quite busy with tons and tons of complaint, and apparently the backlog has affected "Angel," which has been off the air for nearly a year now.
The FCC deemed that a sex scene involving David Boreanaz (Angel) and a female character in a November 2003 episode was not "sufficiently graphic or explicit to render the program patently offensive."
The complaint apparently came from the Parents Television Council which didn't like Angel's bucking hips. Where is Elvis?
The scene, which didn't identify the female actress, said that the woman was a vampire biting the neck of her partner. Both characters had their clothes on and were "breathing ... heavy."
Indecency laws generally disallow references to sexual or excretory functions to be aired on non-satellite and non-cable television stations between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. which children are most likely to be watching television. The "Angel" episode aired at 9 p.m. on Nov. 19, 2003.
The FCC is very loose with their interpretation of those indecency standards. For instance, last Thursday's episode of "CSI" on CBS talked about and showed semen from a dead victim. That show airs at 9 p.m. FCC officials said they take each complaint on a case-by-case basis, and that they consider the context it is used in.
In "Angel's" situation, FCC officials said that precedence didn't allow the FCC to take action against the show.
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