Take, for example, tonight's episode of "Will & Grace," which will air on Ch. 5 at 8 p.m. It's arguably more inappropriate for prime-time network television than the two episodes of "Coupling" I've seen. Like the show KSL rejected, this episode is all about sex. And it contains a condom joke that's cruder than anything on last week's rejected episode of "Coupling."

And no more crude than the worst of the content on "Saturday Night Live," another show KSL won't air.

It's not like Ch. 5 has drawn a line in the sand over the years. There are umpteen current NBC shows more "adult" than things KSL has dropped or moved in the past. If we were to go back a few years and look at episodes of "Doctor, Doctor" or "Picket Fences" that offended sensibilities at the local station, the content would be mild compared to "Friends," "Whoopi," "Happy Family," "Law & Order: SVU," "Las Vegas," "Fear Factor," "Scrubs," "Good Morning, Miami," "ER" and "Boomtown."

I'm all for sending a strong message. But that's hard to do when your message is so mixed.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com