You have questions. I have some answers.
I love the series on Netflix called “The Night Agent” and “The Diplomat,” but some of the language is so foul and blasphemous that it’s hard to watch. Doing without it would not detract from the entertainment. How can we get producers to realize that this type of language is totally uncalled for?
As I have mentioned here before, language standards in television — and movies, and politics, and what kids say on the street — have changed dramatically over the years. I remember more than 30 years ago, when a colleague was outraged that an early-evening sitcom had a character saying, “You suck!” About five years ago, I wrote in this column about cable shows such as “Yellowstone” embracing raw words with growing frequency. While broadcast programs are bound by standards, premium services such as HBO, cable channels and streamers have looser rules — and sometimes no rules at all.
For example, “Succession’s” series finale exploded with crudeness that felt beyond what it had had before. But on “Succession,” the language made sense for the characters, as it has in other productions over the years. Rather than outright reject language as “uncalled for,” I try to see if it suits the characters and situation. And that is where I — slightly — agree with you. Both “The Night Agent” and “The Diplomat” used some language that sounded out of place in the context of the show, awkward as spoken — as if words were being used just because they could, not because they fit the moment.
It’s extremely aggravating to find that a recorded episode doesn’t fit into its scheduled time. For example, a recorded episode of “East New York” may start somewhere within the last part of “The Equalizer” which I may also record,or not. So the recording ends eight to 38 minutes before the show ends. Surely the networks and cable companies working together or separately could resolve this issue.
