Interesting Omission on Bravo

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

Bravo routinely airs two episodes of “The West Wing” back to back every morning. Curiously, with no explanation, they jumped over an episode this morning. They skipped the one entitled “Faith Based Initiative.” I wonder why. Well, let’s check the episode description:

On the same day that an anti-gay-marriage amendment is attached to the federal budget, an Internet rumor surfaces that C.J. is a lesbian. Josh and Toby attempt to kill the amendment without forcing the President to publicly take a position on this unwinnable issue.

Okay. I find that…interesting.

PAD

39 comments on “Interesting Omission on Bravo”

    1. In a face to face meeting with the Senator, the President gets him to remove the amendment. Meanwhile CJ winds up telling the press that her sexual orientation is nobody’s business.
      .
      PAD

      2. *edhopper says:
        *August 17, 2010 at 9:34 am
        *Unfortunately, it turns out Barack Obama is no Jimmy *Smits.
        .
        **Richard J. Marcej says:
        **August 17, 2010 at 10:13 am
        **That makes no sense.
        .
        Jim says
        You’re absolutely right, Richard. Ed should have said, “Unfortunately, it turns out Barack Obama is no Matt Santos.”

  3. Whats so interesting, that Bravo was scared to run the episode or that they may be in support of the theme of the episode.

    Perhaps whats more interesting is that politicians are so boring and predictable that their entire reason for being can be scripted by TV writers ten years in advance.

  4. Very interesting indeed.

    On the one hand, i find it incredulous to believe that they would skip over an episode of a show like West Wing because of this content, but on the other hand, what other reason is plausible that they WOULD skip it?

    1. To explain why they would skip it…
      .
      A television station is in the market of selling audience members to advertisers.
      .
      America has become so ridiculously politically polarized in the last few years, that any potentially controversial opinion is in danger of annoying SOME segment of your audience. Thereby reducing the number of eyes the television network can sell to advertisers.
      .
      So they avoid airing anything that might annoy people.

      2. Yes..because Bravo would have concerns about turning off advertisers with a gay-rights themed episode…..eesh.

        Frankly, it’s more likely they lost the video of the episode.

      3. Frankly, it’s more likely you don’t knopw what you’re talking about.
        .
        Nobody, especially given the tech available these days, loses a single episode of a recent, popular series.
        .
        Having spent most of my life in or around the advertising business (my mother had her own agency for years), i can promise you that the current political controversy is the reason.

      5. I suspect the likely audience for The West Wing is UNlikely to hold conservative views. So I’m not sure who they’d be afraid of offending.

      6. Wildmon and all the toher yajoos like him who go out of their way to find things on TV to be offended by.
        .
        Like Mighty Mouse snorting cocaine.

      8. Have you ever run a national business that advertises heavily to consumers and depends on consumers’ goodwill to remain profitable?
        .
        The guys who do run them have their own experience and the experience of others to draw upon.
        .
        Poker players have rules of thumb like “Never draw to an inside straight.” Businesses have rules of thumb like “Never take any avoidable risks with the stockholder’s profits.”
        .
        Breaking either can get you broke and out of the game pretty quickly.

      9. “Businesses have rules of thumb like “Never take any avoidable risks with the stockholder’s profits.””

        So the terrorists (domestic this time) win again?

        Since it was mentioned the episode is on the DVD set, it doesn’t have a less sinister excuse like why there’s an episode missing from the “Profiler” DVD set, or why the DVDs of Quantum Leap sound off, like forgetting to secure the rights to songs for the eventual DVD release…

      10. The guys who do run them have their own experience and the experience of others to draw upon.
        .
        That explains why no business decision has ever turned out to be a bad one.

  5. I started recording the daily West Wing episodes this summer because I had never watched the series except for a few episodes. They have done this on a couple other occassions, but can’t remember what they were.

    What I find fascinating is Bravo still shows the West Wing when it doesn’t fit in with any of it’s other programming. I throw up a little in my mouth everytime I’m away from the couch, don’t have teh remote and a commercial for the Real Housewives of Wherever These Deplorable People Live.

  6. There may be an interesting story behind that, or maybe not. I’ve seen other marathons that were complete up to a certain point, then skipped important episodes for what seemed like no reason.

  7. I’ve been assuming the “lost the video” is a joke, but maybe not.

    But the idea that Bravo, for god’s sake, is worried about the stunningly mild pro-gay content in a 5-year-old West Wing rerun is bizarre. I’m going with the “door #3” answer.

  8. What aired in place of the episode? Was it the next episode, or another show entirely?
    .
    I am reminded of when I first got Sci Fi and was watching the old Tom Baker Dr Who episodes. Or, around the same time, watching Soap reruns on Comedy Central.
    .
    The networks showed the episodes in order. But, if there was a movie, a marathon, a special broadcast, or anything that interrupted that pattern, they would skip episodes. So, it would go Part 1, Part 2, Movie, Part 4.
    .
    Theno

  10. Doesn’t (didn’t?) Bravo air a lot of gay-themed shows? (I know they used to have QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY.) I’d hate to think their current standard was that homosexuals are fine for entertainment, but not in any political way.

    1. Advertisers who bought “Queer Eye” knew what they were getting and wanted it.
      .
      Advertisers buying a show that was not normally-gay-themed might not.

      1. Advertisers who bought “Queer Eye” knew what they were getting and wanted it.
        .
        “Well, it’s a political show… but we just can’t abide by it mixing politics with Subject X”.
        .
        If that’s their argument, then Bravo should immediately stop airing The West Wing altogether, because they knew what they were getting into with that show, too.

  11. Is it possible that the episode in question was produced out of order from how it aired and that the programming department at Bravo is running the show in production order rather than “as-aired” order?

    1. Very doubtful, because were that the case, then it would be scheduled for subsequent airing. A fast check of IMDB indicates that subsequent episodes have slated air dates on Bravo, but not that one. No, it was skipped.
      .
      PAD

  12. Bravo aired the WW episode in question a couple of times already; the political climate must have gotten very intense very quickly since I remember watching it a few months ago.

  13. Bravo aired the WW episode in question a couple of times already. The climate of fear must have gotten very intense very quickly since I remember watching it a few months ago.

    1. There was a story posted to the Seattle Times website yesterday afternoon, regarding the Ninth Circuit’s decision to permit California to continue enforcing Prop. 8 until they can take the appeal under consideration.
      .
      By 5pm, when I next checked in, there were over 120 comments on the story, regarding a non-event in another state.
      .
      While Prop. 8 is still in the courts, there’s a powerful emotional current being stirred up by those against gay marriage. Some of them seem to be hoping to criminalize any homosexual behavior whatsoever. So yeah, pretty intense and sudden climate of fear there.

  14. If this is the only time this has happened it could have just been an error. I’ve seen stations air the wrong show on occasion.

    1. No, no error. Go check out IMDB; you’ll see later episodes of “West Wing” with their scheduled air dates on Bravo. This was planned.
      .
      PAD

Comments are closed.