Worst TV Show of the Week Brought to you by the Parents Television Council WARNING: Graphic Content!!! Do NOT push play if you don't want to see the explicit video!!!

Big Brother 10 on CBS

The message boards were a-twitter after the August 5th episode of Big Brother, which left many viewers wondering if they actually heard what they thought they had heard.  Amid a seemingly endless stream of muted expletives, CBS let one slip through the cracks.  For airing an uncensored F-bomb, Big Brother 10 (9:00 p.m. ET) has been named Worst TV Show of the Week.

The moment happened about halfway into the episode during a prolonged, heated argument between … well, basically everyone in the house.  But the actual word was said by Libra in the middle of a screaming match with Jesse.  The he-said-she-said, verbal spat included the following line:  “Memphis was in the f***ing room!”   

According to some of the cyber-chatter, many viewers did not see what the big deal was.  Some even took a sympathetic stance for the poor, over-worked CBS editors who must mute and blur the copious amount of profanity in every episode.  Surely, they said, this slip was accidental.

Yet, seen in the larger context, one can only conclude that this was a deliberate attempt by CBS to test the extent of recent court rulings.  The crux of the issue hinges upon the definition of another F-word: fleeting.  In June of this year, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled in favor of Fox and the other broadcast networks when they challenged the FCC’s indecency fines against “fleeting expletives.”  The violations cited in that case involved live broadcasts and scripted dramas.  In the past, the FCC has actually ruled in favor of allowing expletives during network broadcasts when, as in the case of Saving Private Ryan, censoring the film “would have altered the nature of the artistic work and diminished the power, realism and immediacy of the film experience for viewers.”  Does CBS believe that the same criteria extend to inane reality shows like Big Brother 10?

If the court refuses to uphold the power of the FCC to define “fleeting expletives,” then are the networks allowed to define the term?  Clearly, judging by the briefs the industry has filed within the past year, the broadcast and cable networks do not want to adhere to any indecency standards whatsoever.  If they have their way, one might use another F-word to describe the number of uncensored “fleeting expletives” on television: frequent.

For crude and coarse language the August 5th episode of Big Brother 10 deserves the Worst TV Show of the Week.