KSL Channel 5 yanked a "Saturday Night Live" special Thursday night because of three sexually suggestive skits it found in a preview DVD it had requested from NBC.
Michelle K. Torsak, program director for KSL, said the station found the material offensive and not in keeping with its decency standards, so it pre-empted the network special.
"The skits were late-night material when they first aired and are not suitable for the 8 to 10 p.m. period," Torsak said.
"We believe there still should be some standards of decency on the airwaves, and the material fell outside those parameters. We fully own the decision."
A KSL source remembered two of the three "problem" skits.
One called "Colonel Angus Comes Home" starred Christopher Walken as a returning Civil War officer. A slurring of the character's name was used to make oral sex jokes.
Another of the skits, called "Dick in a Box," was a digital short starring Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg.
Torsak said the station got dozens of complaints after airing a "Saturday Night Live" Christmas special that included the Timberlake/Samberg video, so the station decided "to be proactive this time around."
KSL has pre-empted "SNL" prime-time specials in the past, but viewers had less warning this time around.
Torsak said the station made the decision a week ago not to air the special and gave listing services several days' notice.
The update did not make it into newspaper listings, TV Guide online listings or even Comcast onscreen listings.
Prior to Thursday, KSL technical operators were advised to block network promotions for the "SNL" special that aired during tape-delayed programming, but Torsak said that, during live news and sports feeds, promos are on the screen before operators have time to react.
KSL filled the 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday air time with two syndicated crime shows produced in Canada. "DaVinci's Inquest" usually airs at 1 a.m. Sundays, and "Regenerist" is not part of the station's regular schedule.
KUWB Channel 30, Utah's CW affiliate, regularly airs the late-night "Saturday Night Live" episodes that KSL declines to run, and the station also has an option on "SNL" prime-time specials that KSL refuses.
Shara Meredith, program director for KUWB and KTVX Channel 4, said she did get notice about a week ago that the special, "Saturday Night Live in the 2000s: Time and Again," was available for prime-time run.
"On such short notice, we couldn't get the approval from the CW to pre-empt prime-time programming," Meredith said. "The CW programming was new episodes."
Meredith said NBC plans to rerun the "Saturday Night Live" special during the week of May 30, and KUWB hopes to air it during prime time if the CW agrees, or in late night if that is the only option.
"Colonel Angus Comes Home"
Click here to watch "Dick in a Box"
Comments