Law & Order with Fred Thompson to be yanked

3599 Views 41 Replies 29 Participants Last post by justapixel, Sep 9, 2007

n548gxg

Discussion Starter · Sep 6, 2007

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802174.html

Federal campaign law requires broadcasters to give all candidates equal time on the airwaves. That rule applies to entertainment programs like "Law & Order," meaning stations that run the show would be required to give other GOP candidates a like amount of prime-time exposure.

FCC equal-time rules would impact the former senator and current "Law & Order" star if he runs for president.

With as many as a dozen or more Republican candidates competing for the nomination, that would be prohibitively expensive.

"As a practical matter, [the television stations] would in all likelihood have to pull all of the Fred Thompson shows for the duration of his candidacy," said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president of the Media Access Project.

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1 - 20 of 42 Posts

Sparty99

· #2 · Sep 6, 2007

Am I the only person who thinks this is a really stupid application of the law? I can totally understand equal time, but it's not like Fred Thompson was spewing forth his political ideals on these episodes of Law & Order.

Or are we afraid that the truly stupid among us will turn on Law & Order and think that this character is running for prez?

YCantAngieRead

· #3 · Sep 6, 2007

No, you aren't. I've mentioned before how stupid I think this is.

doom1701

· #4 · Sep 6, 2007

I thought that only applied to the final 60 days of the campaign?

JETarpon

· #5 · Sep 6, 2007

No Hunt for Red October, Days of Thunder, Die Hard 2, In the Line of Fire, Racing Stripes, etc. either then.

balboa dave

· #6 · Sep 6, 2007

This only applies to broadcast channels. Cable channels are exempt.

VegasVic

· #7 · Sep 6, 2007

I guess they'll have to yank the Wiseguy episodes when he played racist Knox Pooley.

Langree

· #8 · Sep 6, 2007

VegasVic said:
I guess they'll have to yank the Wiseguy episodes when he played racist Knox Pooley.

exactly what I thought, but if cable is exempt, hdnet is safe.

JETarpon

· #9 · Sep 6, 2007

As would be A&E or USA with the L&O episodes there.

Graymalkin

· #10 · Sep 6, 2007

Did they yank all of Ronald Reagan's movies when he was running for President?

ElJay

· #11 · Sep 6, 2007

What an amazing loss.

wmcbrine

· #12 · Sep 6, 2007

Not stupid at all... the episodes can help to create a positive impression of him, and increase his name/face recognition. Let's face it, not everyone's going to base their vote just on the candidates' political platforms.

What I find interesting about all this is that Sam Waterston is also involved in '08 election in a big way, promoting Unity '08, although he disclaims any interest in being a candidate personally. (He also narrated a TV commercial for "The Nation" magazine recently, which seemed to me to put him at odds not only with Thompson, but with himself -- Unity 08 being centrist, and The Nation leftist.)

busyba

· #13 · Sep 6, 2007

serumgard said:
Am I the only person who thinks this is a really stupid application of the law? I can totally understand equal time, but it's not like Fred Thompson was spewing forth his political ideals on these episodes of Law & Order.

Or are we afraid that the truly stupid among us will turn on Law & Order and think that this character is running for prez?

Stupid people are the swing voters in most elections; they determine the results in an uncomfortably high percentage of races.

When it comes to stupid voters, name recognition alone is a large factor. L&O reruns give him that in spades.

LoadStar

· #14 · Sep 6, 2007

Graymalkin said:
Did they yank all of Ronald Reagan's movies when he was running for President?

the article in the original post said:
Stations also dropped "Bedtime for Bonzo" and other Ronald Reagan movies during his campaigns for governor of California and president.

.

Rocketslc

· #15 · Sep 6, 2007

I think they should just give ALL the candidates equal time on L&O (as the victims) Put them on in the first 10 minutes, kill them off, and be done with it.

Bulldog7

· #16 · Sep 6, 2007

Langree said:
exactly what I thought, but if cable is exempt, hdnet is safe.

He probably wouldn't oblige the FCC anyway, and just run them to thumb his nose at the powers that be. That seems to be his modus operandi, most of the time.

Redux

· #17 · Sep 6, 2007

Graymalkin said:
Did they yank all of Ronald Reagan's movies when he was running for President?

There weren't all that many of his movies running on TV as his movie career was essentially over by the early 1950s (with the notable exception of "The Killers" in 1964) and this was before AMC or TCM. However, re-runs of the TV series "Death Valley Days" from the period of time when Reagan was host and sometimes star _were_ pulled from the schedule during his first presidential campaign.

His last episode was aired, first run, about a year before his first election as governor in November 1966, and reports are contradictory about whether re-runs were shown during that campaign. It seems pretty much agreed that they were shown at least through the late Spring of 1966.

Jesda

· #18 · Sep 6, 2007

If it affected cable, TNT would have to show color bars all day.

doom1701

· #19 · Sep 6, 2007

Rocketslc said:
I think they should just give ALL the candidates equal time on L&O (as the victims) Put them on in the first 10 minutes, kill them off, and be done with it.

Best idea ever.

overthehill

· #20 · Sep 6, 2007

serumgard said:
Am I the only person who thinks this is a really stupid application of the law? I can totally understand equal time, but it's not like Fred Thompson was spewing forth his political ideals on these episodes of Law & Order.

Or are we afraid that the truly stupid among us will turn on Law & Order and think that this character is running for prez?

Oh, yes he does. His conservative ideas are indicated on every show I watched.

1 - 20 of 42 Posts

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