Billy Elliot the Forum

Extreme censorship of the language and gestures ruined this presentation on PBS for me. These are the words and gestures that add the gritty reality of the time and place. Silly, purtitanical rules should not be applied to art.

accessmenj wrote:Extreme censorship of the language and gestures ruined this presentation on PBS for me. These are the words and gestures that add the gritty reality of the time and place. Silly, purtitanical rules should not be applied to art.

There were many 'silent' moments that, if anything, created greater interest in the omitted language which was easily detected by the viewer. Also, some words were bleeped, but were allowed through elsewhere.

The funniest thing was Elliott's 'two fingers' gesture, done twice, which were pixilated.

I do not mind a production with the authentic language. Or without it (Lee Hall wrote a persuasive article on this very subject). But I do not like to see such brutal censorship of an otherwise honest and amazing performance.

I'm sure that was done because PBS said do it (PBS might have done it themselves). I haven't watched it thru yet, did the f**ny line get silenced? If not then why the hell did they mess with the 2 finger salute, You over estimate how many Americans know what that means, about as many that know what f**ny means in the UK. It's just blindingly funny that where both of those are knowen for being VERY rude it can be shown.

It wasn't shown on our local PBS station here in Kansas City, which makes you wonder if they felt like the language issue made it too risky to broadcast.

f**ny wasn't bleeped...laughing my butt off. Some PBS stations don't show some programs at the same times. Here In SoCal it was carried on a local non HD PBS station ($&@"), another HD PBS station did not carry it, sigh.

Neither was "w*nker" or "d**khead." They seemed to concentrate on three things: the F-word, sh*t/sh*te, and the one or two finger salute. It really was a bit odd. However, the show is not just about language, after all, so it was still great to see it, and the quality of the video and sound were topnotch (far superior to what is on my DVD that I ordered from Amazon UK).

ERinVA wrote:...the show is not just about language, after all, so it was still great to see it, and the quality of the video and sound were topnotch (far superior to what is on my DVD that I ordered from Amazon UK).

I agree! The video and audio quality on the broadcast very impressive. The censorship is annoying, but a minor issue. Let's be happy this show we all love was introduced to many Americans who had never before experienced it.

Showing again today (Sunday) at 2 (central time) on my local PBS station here in Dallas.

CJ-Rochester wrote:

ERinVA wrote:...the show is not just about language, after all, so it was still great to see it, and the quality of the video and sound were topnotch (far superior to what is on my DVD that I ordered from Amazon UK).

I agree! The video and audio quality on the broadcast very impressive. The censorship is annoying, but a minor issue. Let's be happy this show we all love was introduced to many Americans who had never before experienced it.

It looked very low-res on my TV, much worse than the blu-ray. So either my local PBS station has issues different from yours, or my TV didn't work well with their presentation.

A long time friend of mine from Dallas in Texas saw the TV broadcast of Billy Live at the weekend and I thought I would share her comments with you all.

From the very first, I loved the actors and knew that the casting was GREAT!
With the first group song, I wanted to jump up and sing and march! (I'm always been partial to anthems!)
And.....it just kept getting better, and better, and better!!!!
The singing and the dancing were FABULOUS!
However, the biggest impact that the musical had on me was EMOTIONALLY!!!
When the "scab" came to give money to Billy, I couldn't hold back the tears! There were other times too.

There are so many WONDERFUL and INCREDIBLE things to say about the Musical, that I just can't think of them all.
As you mentioned there was a lot of dead air where curse words would go, but that's fine with me, I don't much care for cursing.

I thought the musical was even better than the movie. The movie did have an ending that I liked when it showed a grown Billy leaping in the air, and Michael in the audience. But at the end of the Musical, it wasn't the end. There was a whole other show at the end, and then even MORE. I did not delete the recording because I plan to look at it over and over again! I understand now why you love it so much!!!!

I regret not getting a ticket when it was LIVE in DALLAS! Maybe next time!

Pat