Question for USA TV viewers

[gandalf26]

In the UK we have a TV "watershed" from 9pm every night after which nudity/swearing/graphic violence etc is allowed until whatever time in the morning.

I've been to Florida a couple of times in last few years and have been a little surprised to see movies and TV shows that I like being heavily edited to remove swearing/nudity/graphic violence etc, even late into the night.

Was totally off putting watching Die Hard with a Vengence with all the swearing dubbed out.

So my question is do you have a "watershed" in the US at all?

Is it a different situation in every state?

What are the reasons for all the good stuff being edited out late at night? Religion?

Does it frustrate you?

Do you like nudity/swearing/violence removed from your TV viewing?

[teeter_g]

On certain channels after 11 or 12 they stop beeping stuff out, but nudity and such is pretty much a no go

[Yoda]

Don't think we have anything like that, though restrictions are looser later at night.

Mainly, it's segregated by channel: broadcast television is subject to decency rules, but cable isn't, or not as much. And premium cable can do whatever. So it varies more by channel than by time.

[gandalf26]

Don't think we have anything like that, though restrictions are looser later at night.

Mainly, it's segregated by channel: broadcast television is subject to decency rules, but cable isn't, or not as much. And premium cable can do whatever. So it varies more by channel than by time.

So if you pay for it you can watch the way it was intended. That sucks.

[CelluloidChild]

The US is far more puritanical in this respect than Europe. (Some of us discussed this matter in terms of films and the MPAA in another thread).

There's of course a big difference between the major networks and cable TV (HBO, Showtime, etc).

Cinemax has a late-night watershed, after which D-movie quasi-porn is the norm.

[The Gunslinger45]

In the UK we have a TV "watershed" from 9pm every night after which nudity/swearing/graphic violence etc is allowed until whatever time in the morning.

I've been to Florida a couple of times in last few years and have been a little surprised to see movies and TV shows that I like being heavily edited to remove swearing/nudity/graphic violence etc, even late into the night.

Was totally off putting watching Die Hard with a Vengence with all the swearing dubbed out.

So my question is do you have a "watershed" in the US at all?

Is it a different situation in every state?

What are the reasons for all the good stuff being edited out late at night? Religion?

Does it frustrate you?

Do you like nudity/swearing/violence removed from your TV viewing?

The only real "watershed" I can think of was some of the anime from Adult Swim, but even those were edited. All I can say is the TV censors here in the US are lame. See if you can't get HBO while you are in the US. Uncut EVERYTHING. But that and Cinimax and such are premium channels. No free watersheds.

[mark f]

Fhere's no reason to watch a movie on commercial TV unless it's a beloved classic, but I won't watch it then because of the commercials. I love TCM because it's always uncut and commercial-free.

[Austruck]

I will tolerate watching movies on broadcast TV (paid for by commercials) when I'm upstairs in my office, since we have the main cable box (with the premium/movie channels) only in the living room. I get what's called "extended basic cable" upstairs in my office -- all the channels except the premium/movie channels. So, while I'm working, I'll make background-TV decisions based on what's on, not necessarily whether it's going to be edited or have commercials.

I did, though, put my Roku up in my office so I can stream Netflix and Amazon Prime and HBO GO through the TV too -- that gives me a lot more options.

As Yoda said, the restrictions are based on whether the channel is free over the airwaves (broadcast) or paid for in some fashion through one's TV provider (basic cable, extended basic cable, and then premium channels -- with the word "cable" being used loosely since there are also satellite providers too).

[earlsmoviepicks]

Depends on the channel. Some channels have the sex and violence aggressively edited out.