Tonight on prime time TV, "The Biggest Loser" producers let the unspeakable occur when contestant Tara of the green team dropped the F-Bomb loud and clear during the first few minutes.
"The Biggest Loser," like most reality shows, is typically full of bleeps accompanied by the more recent addition of a blurred mouth so as not to offend even lip readers. Trainer Bob's much aired profanity-laced tirade a few weeks back prove the producers know how to recognize and delete the offending language. But somehow, when Tara looked at the wall of keys they must not have noticed that that she said "I don't f***ing know."
So, will the Federal Communications Commission be forgiving or fine NBC for the apparent mistake? While the FCC hasn't typically fined broadcasters for incidents on television in which a person, usually on a live broadcast, utters a single word that that isn't generally permitted on network television, the infamous Janet Jackson incident at the 2004 Super Bowl and Bono's use of the F-word at the 2003 Golden Globes lead to a crack down on so-called "fleeting expletives."
The court's last substantial decision on profanity in broadcast came in 1978, when justices in FCC vs. Pacifica Foundation ruled against the broadcast of George Carlin's monologue about words that he said could not be spoken on the airwaves. The ruling said the federal government has the authority to police over-the-air radio and television broadcasts for "patently offensive" material from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., when children are most likely to be in the audience. "The Biggest Loser" airs at 8 p.m.
