Posted on: Friday, November 23, 2001

ABC getting heat for risque special

By David Bauder
Associated Press

NEW YORK — ABC says critics of its racy Victoria's Secret fashion special should see what hit the cutting-room floor.

The network, which is taking heat for devoting a prime-time hour to supermodels strutting in underwear, said it edited out camera shots that showed more skin.

"There has certainly been racier things on television than this," said Andrea Wong, the ABC executive in charge of alternative programming.

Groups like the National Organization for Women and the Parents Television Council criticized ABC for airing the special, and a Federal Communications Commission member asked for an investigation into whether it violated indecency regulations.

The special drew 12.3 million viewers Thursday, finishing third in its time slot and doing marginally better than the show it replaced. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," which normally airs at that time, has an average audience of just under 11 million.

Michael Copps, an FCC commissioner, said he received dozens of complaints about the show and promotions for it that ran in advance.

"I would hope that television broadcasters would go the extra mile in exercising self-discipline when airing programming during the hours when children are likely to be in the audience," Copp said.

ABC pointed out that the program was clearly identified as being for mature viewers and that parents had the opportunity to tune it out.

Wong said ABC was assured that the fashion show would be no racier than the one Victoria's Secret sponsored as a Web cast last year. Still, ABC's standards division went over the show carefully before it was aired, she said.

"There are certain things that not everybody in the world is going to be happy with," she said. "It's impossible to please everyone."

ABC has pushed the standards envelope twice this month in different directions. Besides the Victoria's Secret show, it aired an uncut version of the movie, "Saving Private Ryan," with its violent opening scene of the D-Day invasion.

Broadcast standards in general have been in upheaval. The biggest broadcasters debate internally how far they can go in depicting violence, sexual content and strong language at a time cable networks have much more freedom.

Melissa Caldwell, research director of the Parents Television Council, said she doubted something like the Victoria's Secret special would have been on broadcast TV until recently.

"This year, in particular, it seems like there's been a lot more crass and vulgar content on TV than I've seen in years past," she said.

At the same time as the fashion show, CBS was airing an episode of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" that depicted a murder in a sadomasochistic sex club, and Fox was showing "Temptation Island," its titillating reality series about couples tested by swinging singles.

NOW complained about ABC's use of prime time to promote the sexual exploitation of women. NOW President Kim Gandy said ABC was making "a sad attempt to lift its ratings with Miracle Bras." ABC has been struggling mightily in the ratings this television season.

The fashion show was nothing but an infomercial for Victoria's Secret, Gandy said.

The lingerie maker, owned primarily by the Columbus, Ohio-based The Limited Inc., paid to produce the fashion show, Wong said. The company was also responsible for buying most of the commercial time on the hour, to either use itself or sell to others.

"We pass all the time on infomercials and time buys that we don't think are going to draw viewers or be entertaining," Wong said. "To us, this was pure, escapist entertainment."