Uncoupling NBC's 'Coupling'

I got a call last week from a staffer at the Fox News Channel's "O'Reilly Report" asking me to go on that show and talk about KSL's decision to pull "Coupling" off its schedule.

It's not something I probably would have done under any circumstances, given my antipathy for Bill O'Reilly and his brand of pseudo-news and commentary. But I didn't even consider it, given that they wanted me to go on and argue KSL's case. (Ch. 5 execs were smart enough to have declined an interview request at that point.)

Despite the fact that the Deseret Morning News and KSL share ownership, I'm not going to act as the station's spokesman. Given the disagreements I've had at times over the years with station management, that's probably also the last thing they would want.

I have always defended KSL's right to make programming choices like this. I wish more local stations would stand up to their networks and maybe we'd see a change in the tenor of network programming.

Almost all of the large number of e-mails I got supported KSL's decision. But I do find the reasoning of some of those who opposed it — as well as some local print and radio commentators — somewhat strange.

Ch. 5 executives are being criticized for deciding what to broadcast into the homes of area viewers. The obvious insinuation is that the local TV executives have no right to make such decisions and that there's some ominous, Big Brother-like pall that hangs over a decision like this.

Let's ignore the fact that KSL owns not only the station but the broadcast license. And that, like any other business, it can decide what it wants to sell.

The fact is that there is a Big Brother-like aspect to network programming decisions. A bunch of NBC executives sitting in New York and Los Angeles decide what they're going to beam into your homes.

This frightens you less?

Quite a number of e-mailers took umbrage at comments NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker made to TV critics about "Coupling" — that "America is ready for it" and, "If there's outrage over 'Coupling' . . . that is good for us." That's the type of bottom-line cynicism that pervades network programming decisions.

This frightens you less?

I'm not exactly jumping on KSL's bandwagon, however. In the case of "Coupling," I have no problem with the decision. My problem is with the station's inconsistency.

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."