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January 18, 2021 6:43 pm  #1


CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

I happened to catch an old episode of "The Odd Couple" on CHCH's "Retro TV" Monday. It was about a Communist Chinese wrestler, played by Barney Miller's Jack Soo, who was fighting in the U.S. Because he adopted a slight accent, CHCH decided to run a woke warning to easily offended viewers, explaining why they were airing a show that might not be politically correct today. 

I'm not sure what to make of this statement. I suppose it does no harm. But it seems we can't even watch a classic rerun without offending someone. I'm not Chinese, so I can't say if I would have been offended by his accent. However, given the character was from China and English was not his first language, I suppose it's not unreasonable to suspect he might have a slight accent.

Is this where we are now with all reruns that contain even a hint of being out of date? 

If this is the price we pay to see a great old show, OK. But I wonder how many reasonable people would really have taken offence - there were no unpleasant stereotypes displayed and the character was shown to be a decent and responsible human being.

Here's the warning, which was read out by an announcer, in addition to the text. Too far or a necessary warning? You decide. 

 

January 18, 2021 7:19 pm  #2


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

The slippery slope crowd just got little chubbies.

 

January 18, 2021 7:32 pm  #3


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

Ever catch Russell Peters stand-up?

He's an Anglo-Indian Canadian.

Is his act funny or offensive?

Too many seem to thrive on being offended.
 

Last edited by g121 (January 18, 2021 7:32 pm)

 

January 18, 2021 8:11 pm  #4


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

I think this is a way to ward off complaints to the CBSC. Apologize before anyone complains and you may be perceived to be off the hook.

     Thread Starter
 

January 18, 2021 8:13 pm  #5


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

CHCH is just doing their job of warning the viewer.
At the end of the day when all is said nd done though, what ever happened to the simple idea of
"Don't like it? Don't watch!"  
Let ratings be the end result of success or failure, warnings or not.


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

January 18, 2021 9:59 pm  #6


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

RadioActive wrote:

I think this is a way to ward off complaints to the CBSC. Apologize before anyone complains and you may be perceived to be off the hook.

Bingo!

 

January 19, 2021 3:05 am  #7


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

i've also seen that (chch) warning before a "get smart" episode... or was it "green acres"? i have no doubt they'll air that warning when the "craw" (one of my favorite kaos villains) makes an appearance.
meanwhile, the last few "beverly hillbillies" episodes appear as if someone sped up the playback (slightly). jethro sounds more like his sister jethrean while jed sounds as if he took a brief hit of helium. is the station trying to make room for another 30 second spot or is someone trying to relive the days when various top 40 stations would turn up the pitch (on the turntables) to add more "life" to the sounds of the 45's?

 

January 19, 2021 5:27 am  #8


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

the original hank wrote:

the last few "beverly hillbillies" episodes appear as if someone sped up the playback (slightly).

My wife watches CHCH's airings of "Matlock", and they too sound sped up... about a semitone higher, based on how the theme song sounds, plus the picture is a tad soft and blurry.  Almost as if the original NTSC "prints" were converted to PAL, then back to NTSC.  Never did notice this years ago when WXYZ Detroit aired Matlock reruns on weekend afternoons.

On Vision TV, however, I noticed, when my wife PVR'd their airings of "Murder, She Wrote" and "Highway To Heaven", that the pictures were very sharp, very clear, complete with some noticeable film grain on the HD feeds... I think Vision's copies of those two shows were re-scanned to HD from the film masters.

 

January 19, 2021 11:16 am  #9


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

To be honest, when CHCH went to the classic tv/retro format during the day, I wondered how long it would be before they would have to say something.   The busy body types who complain to the CBSC over everything would for sure complain about some of the shows as they do have some outdated social and race based topics.    I have a feeling this it the only way to try and stop any current and future complaints by showing they are addressing the issue.   

Myself, I feel the CBSC is getting abused by these people, and is mostly not doing what the original intent of the CBSC was.    I'm a long standing believer if you don't like the programming, you can turn it off.   Be it radio or tv, you have the control yourself to address issue... Why do we need the CBSC through a single complaint change everything to be watered down, bland, tripe?. 

 

 

January 19, 2021 12:15 pm  #10


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

Some of the shows on CHCH are indeed sped up.

I noticed this when they started airing "The Prisoner".  I was curious how much they would remove for commercials, so I grabbed one of the episodes, removed the spots and compared it to the ShoutFactory version.  Sure enough, CHCH came in about 5 minutes shorter.  Then I started noticing the theme music seemed a bit more up tempo and higher in pitch.  When I played them both simultaneously, it became very apparent that CHCH was sped up about 10%.

Of course, once I was exposed to that, I can't "unhear it" and the CHCH version became unwatchable.  
On the other hand, it might be better than having pieces of it ripped out, which is what was done with Hogan's Heroes and Mission Impossible.  I still wish I could buy the laugh track free episodes of Hogan's Heroes somewhere.
 

Last edited by Peter the K (January 19, 2021 12:17 pm)

 

January 19, 2021 1:08 pm  #11


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

despite being sped up (and filmed using 1960's technology), i'm amazed at the clarity of some of the (technically) re-formatted beverly hillbilly's episodes on today's HD TV's. it's so good, you at times can easily see some of the makeup enhancements on various male actors.

 

January 19, 2021 1:59 pm  #12


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

I never would have noticed the shows being slightly sped up. But now that it has been pointed out I do see it in at least part of the show.  Watched both Green Acres and Beverly Hillbillies today and the picture quality was excellent. Slightly speeding up the program wouldn't impact me watching or not since I don't really notice much difference at least so far.

Last edited by paterson1 (January 19, 2021 2:00 pm)

 

January 19, 2021 4:32 pm  #13


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

I'm guessing that the film has been rescanned to a higher resolution than the old TV 480 line standard.  It looks quite decent.

One thing that some shows have done.  (specifically, Mission Impossible and Hogan's Heroes) is severely speed up the end credits with the original music in the background at normal speed and just fade the music out at the end.  For those of us who actually read the credits, we can live with that thanks the pause button on our remotes.  I can live with that as a trade off. 

Am I the only one who will deliberately watch a broadcast version of a program, commercials and all, knowing I have a clean copy of the same show within reach?  There's still something magical about watching a broadcast.
 

 

January 19, 2021 4:42 pm  #14


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

Ever notice CHFI slows down the music of each track being played?  I started noticing it when they would play an uptempo top40 track that other stations would play.  Almost reminds me of turning down the pitch speed control on a turntable.  Hard to notice, but its there.   

 

January 19, 2021 5:24 pm  #15


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

This isn't really new - in the 1970s old Bugs Bunny and Loony Toons cartoons were redacated to remove racial jokes and other offensive material. If anything, that's more radical than just sticking a content warning at the beginning. 

Last edited by Hansa (January 19, 2021 6:12 pm)

 

January 19, 2021 5:28 pm  #16


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

I'm just happy we actually get to see these old shows. Cancel Culture would normally mean they could no longer be shown because someone (and I do mean just one) somewhere might take offence. If the warning means I get to watch what I want, I'll take it.  

     Thread Starter
 

January 20, 2021 2:29 am  #17


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

Peter the K wrote:

Some of the shows on CHCH are indeed sped up.

I noticed this when they started airing "The Prisoner".  I was curious how much they would remove for commercials, so I grabbed one of the episodes, removed the spots and compared it to the ShoutFactory version.  Sure enough, CHCH came in about 5 minutes shorter.  Then I started noticing the theme music seemed a bit more up tempo and higher in pitch.  When I played them both simultaneously, it became very apparent that CHCH was sped up about 10%.

Of course, once I was exposed to that, I can't "unhear it" and the CHCH version became unwatchable.  
On the other hand, it might be better than having pieces of it ripped out, which is what was done with Hogan's Heroes and Mission Impossible.  I still wish I could buy the laugh track free episodes of Hogan's Heroes somewhere.
 

I'd bet they come from a supplier who sped them up.  I'm guessing it's to make the shows more attractive to stations that would otherwise play more recent shows because of the extra revenue generated by a 22 or 19 minute show as opposed to a 26 minute show. 

 

January 28, 2021 12:09 pm  #18


Re: CHCH's Politically Correct Announcement

I just watched a PVR'd copy of CHCH's early 30s late movie "The Front Page" This comedy was shockingly loaded with sexist, racist,and red-baiting dialogue and situations ....and there was no disclaimer either in front or during the show. I know for the era,it was common to air these things,...but in this "woke" day and age, they took a real chance by not fronting a disclaimer.