BY JOHN KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
PASADENA, Calif. -- Good news or bad news from TV Land, depending on your point of view.
TV writers and producers say the television content ratings, which stirred such a controversy a year ago, haven't changed what they do.
Not one word in TV shows was altered because of the television industry's voluntary on-screen warnings to parents and children about sex scenes (S), foul language (L), suggestive dialogue (D) or violence (V).
That's good news for writers who had hoped the S-L-V-D labels, implemented Oct. 1, would identify the program content as it was. But it's bad news for social activists who had hoped that the S-L-V-D labels would clean up the TV airwaves.
In fact, some TV programmers claimed the opposite has happened -- that more sexual innuendo, violence or crude language has seeped into the air. (Violence, sex scenes and raw language increased dramatically in theatrical films after the Motion Picture Association of America adopted similar content ratings in the 1960s.)
"If the ratings system has changed anything, it's the license to do more violence or language," said Jeff Sagansky, the former CBS Entertainment president recently named head of the family-friendly Pax Net network, which launches Aug. 31.
"Now people feel they can put that stuff on at 8 p.m., because they can say, "We warned you!' " Mr. Sagansky said after a Pax Net presentation to TV critics at the Summer Press Tour here.
Some groups had told network negotiators a year ago they hoped the new TV Parental Guidelines would lead to the demise of NYPD Blue and other broadcast series with graphic language or limited nudity.
A year ago, Law & Order executive producer Dick Wolf denounced the content designations, claiming they could be a lightning rod for do-gooders who wanted to pressure programmers into dropping S-L-V-D shows or organize sponsor boycotts. Content ratings, he said, were the first step down a slippery slope which would wipe out all daring television.
He has changed his tune.
"I don't think anybody really cares (about them)," said Mr. Wolf, whose series airs on NBC, the only broadcast network refusing to use the S-L-V-D labels.
Rosalyn Weinman, NBC vice president in charge of broadcast standards -- the censor who polices program content -- said the nation's No. 1 network has not experienced ramifications from Congress or elsewhere over not using the rating system.
"It's quiet. There's been nothing," she said.
That sentiment was echoed by writers for a wide range of prime-time series:
ABC's NYPD Blue: "No, they really haven't come up. They didn't tone it down at all last year," said Meredith Stiehm, who is beginning her third season on the TV drama with the most explicit language and nudity.
Fox's King of the Hill: "The show is not going to change in any way," said John Altschuler about the edgy animated series, which moves from 8:30 p.m. Sunday to 8 p.m. Tuesday on Sept. 8.
CBS' Diagnosis Murder: "I've never heard anybody raise the issue," said J. Larry Carroll from Dick Van Dyke's benign medical detective series.
ABC's Drew Carey Show: "I don't think they've changed anything," said Katherine Green.
"If a show is successful, and doing well, the producers in control of the show will be allowed to be in control (without network interference)," she said. How much interference will writers encounter this fall when Drew (Mr. Carey) has sex with Mimi (Kathy Kinney) this fall?
WB's Dawson's Creek: Only writers for this steamy coming-of-age drama about teens' awakening sexuality expressed any uncertainties about the tone or content, since the series moves from 9 p.m. to 8 p.m. (and 7 p.m. Central) this fall.
"We're not approaching it with a big change," said writer Darin Goldberg.
"We'll have to see what happens. There will be challenges and obstacles," admitted writer Shelley Meals.
For longtime Home Improvement producer Carmen Finestra, the content ratings have removed obstacles. Scripts for Costello, his new Boston working-class Fox comedy starring earthy comic Sue Costello, included repeated slang references to people's posteriors. It will air at 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays starting Sept. 8.
"Yes, some people may be offended," said Mr. Finestra, who also produced The Cosby Show and Dan Aykroyd's Soul Man. "But it's not gratuitous. And it will be labeled."
So that's the good and bad news from Hollywood. The content ratings do work -- if people bother to use them.
It's the same thing for peaches, peas, pop and potato chips. If you want to avoid something bad, then read the label first.
Enquirer TV critic John Kiesewetter is covering the Summer Press Tour this month.