From the But We’re Doing It For The Children! files:
Venezuela has forced U.S. cartoon “The Simpsons” off its airwaves, calling the show a potentially bad influence on children, and filled its morning slot with reruns of the beach-and-bikini show “Baywatch.”
“The Simpsons” satirical take on a dysfunctional American family had been shown, dubbed into Spanish, on the Televen network at an 11 am slot.
“Today I believe they started broadcasting something else,” said a spokesman at Venezuela’s broadcasting regulator Conatel. “They were infringing many things in the television and radio social responsibility law.”
Conatel said it started proceedings against the morning airing of the show after complaints from viewers.
Televen has replaced the long-running and popular cartoon with “Baywatch Hawaii,” late seasons of the “Baywatch” series that made actress Pamela Anderson a household name.
Please hold the jokes about Pam’s silicone udders somehow being more wholesome children’s entertainment than The Simpsons. (Which, I agree, is not a kiddie show; you need an adult brain and sense of humor to appreciate it fully. But at least it’s not built around a massive, hoo-honkin’ pair of fake titties.)
What’s really ridiculous here is that Televen’s action is somehow being shoved off onto all of Venezuela, or else CONATEL or the government, I’m not sure which. (You’re probably not sure either, eh?)
What I am sure of, is that this apparent confusion is not an accident. After all, the petulant actions of one anti-Chavez channel must not be held accountable in the lamestream media up here, no matter how patently ridiculous they are. Especially since all this petulance and immature fake-boob fetishism came in response to the complaints of actual, TV-aware Venezuelan parents.
D’oh.
