Thursday, September 16, 1999
'Action' funny but might offend
BY JOHN KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
If you were offended by Fox's Get Real, when the 16-year-old slept with his girlfriend at home, I can't wait for your reaction to Action, which premieres today with two episodes (9 and 9:30 p.m., Channels 19, 45).
You might be “bleeping” mad.
Jay Mohr (Jerry Maguire) stars as slimy Hollywood movie producer Peter Dragon, whose crude vocabulary is barely “bleeped” out by Fox censors, leaving little to the imagination.
Both episodes are rated TV-MA D-L-S (for mature audiences and unsuitable for children under 17, with mature themes, profane language, explicit sexual content and sexually suggestive dialogue).
It's on your public airwaves at 9 p.m. — or 8 p.m. Central time — when many children under 17 are watching television.
Now here's the real kicker: It's also the funniest comedy of the fall. (Yes, the others are that bad!) It's laugh-out-loud funny for adults, a hilarious spoof of the Bruce Willis-Arnold Schwarzenegger mega-million movie business.
I just wish it were on HBO, for which it was written. It belongs with The Sopranos, Arli$$ or Garry Shandling's old Larry Sanders Show. On HBO, parents have more control over their children's exposure to it. Creator Chris Thompson (Larry Sanders, The Naked Truth, Laverne & Shirley) couldn't reach a deal with HBO, so Fox snapped it up.
The bleeping foul language is merely one way Fox pushes the envelope — or pushes your buttons — on Action:
• Dragon's best friend and confidant is a Hollywood prostitute (Illeana Douglas)whom he nearly kills with his limo.She has a hilarious line about how her profession is similar to writers paid big bucks by studios that abuse their scripts.
• Dragon's ex-wife is married to a well-endowed gay attorney, who finances Dragonfire films. When Peter Dragon discusses Dragonfire's latest box-office bomb with him, it's as the naked attorney steps out of the shower in his beachfront condo. (If Action lasts the entire season, the 22 shows will track the making of a movie, from finding a script to opening in theaters.)
• The 9 p.m. pilot includes jokes about lesbians, vibrators, masturbation and urinating in food. I can't tell you what's in the 9:30 p.m. show, because Fox wouldn't let critics preview it.
• Despite the repeated bleeping, Fox censors didn't eliminate the words “ass,” “whore” and “bastard.”
What the bleep is going on here?
“Frankly, we're in a profane world,” said Mr. Thompson about the decision not to use euphemisms.
“I don't know anybody who I have ever sat with my office ... who says "frickin',” or "kicked in the hiney' or "that guy is a real doodie-head. Those things aren't said in my world,” Mr. Thompson said.
“I think we're actually overcautious, and we're really going out of our way to make sure we don't rock the boat too much, and try to appease as many people as possible,” said Mr. Mohr, a Saturday Night Live regular in 1993.
“I don't think there's anything wrong with what we're doing, and I think we made an incredibly funny show,” Mohr says.
Mr. Thompson, the father of three (ages 6, 8 and 13), refused to accept any social responsibility for Action.
“I'm not an advocate of the coarsening of the culture,” Mr. Thompson said. “I'm not an advocate of any of the behavior that's displayed in this show. I am an observer of it. I am a chronicler of it. And I believe that it can be made to be entertaining.
“(We're) not trying to make the most shocking show on television. We're simply trying to make the funniest show on television,” Mr. Thompson said.
His boss, Fox Entertainment President Doug Herzog, says his network is simply giving you “something a little different,” what you want and expect from Fox.
“I think we need to push the envelope,” says Mr. Herzog, the former Comedy Central (South Park) executive who took over Fox in January. “That's what the audience demands in general right now from network television.”
Mr. Herzog, too, declined to take any responsibility for airing a TV-MA show at 9 p.m.
“I know Action is going to offend some people. There's no question about it. Much of the best comedy does,” Mr. Herzog said in July.
“So if you're going to be offended — and some people are, there's no question about it — please don't watch,” he said. “Watch somebody else's network for that half hour.”
Here's another idea: Watch (and tape) Action, and then write Mr. Herzog and tell him what you think of the show.
His address is: Doug Herzog, Fox Entertainment President, 10201 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035.
And send a copy to Jon Lawhead, WXIX-TV General Manager, 635 W. Seventh St., Cincinnati OH 45203. He holds Channel 19's license to put Action on your public airwaves.
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