Date: April 1, 2009
Several stations in Middle America refused to carry the first episode last night of the new OSBOURNES: RELOADED variety show from Fox starring Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne and his family.
Fox affiliates in Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and Missouri refused to carry the show, which contained bleeped obscenities and other crude material.
Many of the stations aired a rerun of THE SIMPSONS instead.
The general managers of WPGX in Florida and Cincinnati, Ohio’s Fox 19 said they felt the show was unsuitable for the time period following AMERICAN IDOL, which attracts a large family audience with children.
“We estimate that over 100,000 children between the ages of 6 and 11 just finished watching IDOL,” said Bill Lanesey of Fox 19, “and we were not comfortable with the idea of exposing those same children to some of the content contained in the Osbourne special.”
Good for him and the other stations!
– Source: Associated Press, 03/31/09, and TV Shark.com, 04/01/09.
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