The bleep that never was.

[AlecWest]

I watch a lot of films on the AMC (American Movie Classics) channel. And of course, whenever a naughty word appears in dialogue, they try very hard to bleep it out. Earlier today, I watched the "Blues Brothers" and boy, did they bleep and edit the language (grin). But right after that film was "Goonies." And, in one scene, I clearly heard one kid call another kid (ahem) a turd ... which, of course, is the word that comedian George Carlin said was so bad it was in its own category beyond the "seven words you can't say on television."

In any case, I found it funny that they caught every "shit" in the "Blues Brothers" but didn't catch the "turd" in "Goonies." Maybe they figured it was an innocent kids' movie and didn't bother checking too closely, hehe.

And, I was also curious about words you've heard on TV that SHOULD have been bleeped out but were missed by the censor. That way, I can watch for them to see if the censors screw up again.

FWIW, my favorite unbleeped TV phrase came on 9/11 (2001). Dan Rather was covering the attack on the World Trade Center when he was informed an amateur videotape was acquired. It showed one of the planes hitting one of the towers. Immediately, the tape popped up on CBS screens around the country and, immediately after the jet hit, a woman closeby exclaimed, in a loud voice, "JESUS F***ING CHRIST!" And, when they went back to Rather, he had his head bowed ... wincing a bit ... and said, "That was obviously an unedited tape you just watched."

Later on in the same day, CBS showed the same video ... but their audio gurus managed to edit out the comment while appearing to keep all the other background sounds ... and I've always wondered how they did that.

[jimmalenko]

And, I was also curious about words you've heard on TV that SHOULD have been bleeped out but were missed by the censor. That way, I can watch for them to see if the censors screw up again.

IMHO that's called "having waaaaay too much time on your hands"

[AlecWest]

IMHO that's called "having waaaaay too much time on your hands"

You're probably right, Jim, hehe. But, I've been out of the forum area for at least 3 weeks ... doing other things with my time (the last week being on vacation). Still, it would be interesting to see the things our morality minders miss on TV.

[thecoalman]

Along the same lines many of the lyrics of the modern songs are sanitized for air play on the radios yet when the local classic rock station plays The Who's "Who are You" they never bleep the F word at the end.... I always find that amusing...

-------

Slightly off-topic... I'm watching "Dirty Jobs" the other day and the guy is working in a dog grooming place... they were blurring out the dog's anatomy... Are they afraid they are going to offend some other dog?

[adam]

I wouldn't expect turd to be bleeped out. I don't see anything offensive about it. For me it ranks right up there with telling someone they have cooties.

I can't think of any funny phrases that should have been bleeped out but I saw a funny prank that got pulled while watching some sitcom. Someone used the emergency notification thing to interrupt and across the bottom of the screen it said something to the effect of, "giant killer earthquake heading this way, everybody run for your lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[yoda313]

but their audio gurus managed to edit out the comment while appearing to keep all the other background sounds ... and I've always wondered how they did that.
_________________

Well obviously news studios have access to a lot more powerful equipment then us home users have.

One example I can give is the 80's tv show SLEDGE HAMMER. The show had a pathetic LAUGH TRACK that was really out of place. When the creator Alan Spencer was able to release it on DVD he had a company completely REMOVE the laugh track. I don't know how he did it but they removed the laugh track from the broadcast tapes. You can't hear em at all. And I have a few on video tape from reruns way back when and they're clearly there but perfectly clean on the DVD. Amazing process. I wish they could have shown them doing that. They must have been able to have super analyzers looking at the sound wave in great detail to split the dialogue out perfectly.

[Supreme2k]

Many times the studios or DVD producers have access to the unmixed tracks, so you don't get the sound drop when naughty words are dubbed over. Same with the laugh track.

[adam]

I saw a behind the scenes extra on some DVD, I can't remember which one, where they showed some of the amazing things audio editors can remove. The shot in question was simple....just a guy who slammed the car door too loudly making his lines inaudible. The audio tech isoloated which sounds made which frequencies and just neutralized the frequencies of the door and then added his own softer canned door slam sound. The actor's dialogue was made perfectly clear whereas before you could not hear it at all.

[tgpo]

Like like how only Green Day's song Brain Stew is never bleeped out. I guess they figure no one can understand him anyway.

[TooLFooL]

Alice In Chains' "Over Now" is seldom 'bleeped' either...

[MackemX]

Why on earth is that Pussycat Dolls song bleeped to death?