What the f?

In case you missed the news, ABC -- in honor of Veterans’ Day -- has scheduled to air the Academy Award-winning film Saving Private Ryan unedited and in its entirety. Due to incredibly realistic (read: graphic) violent images and language, ABC has been running warnings on every ad for the film and will be doing so at the few commercial breaks during the film’s airing. This is all well and good, except for the folks in Atlanta, Dallas, New Orleans, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Columbus, Milwaukee, Louisville and Austin -- among others. Their ABC affiliates have decided to pre-empt the scheduled network programming to air the TV movie Return to Mayberry. Why, you may ask? Thank the FCC. "It would clearly have been our preference to run the movie. We think it's a patriotic, artistic tribute to our fighting forces," Ray Cole, president of Citadel Communications, told AP Radio. The company owns WOI-TV in Des Moines, KCAU-TV in Sioux City and KLKN-TV in Lincoln, Neb . . . In a statement on WSB-TV's Web site, the Atlanta station's vice president and general manager, Greg Stone, cited a March ruling in which the FCC said an expletive uttered by rock star Bono during NBC's live airing of the 2003 Golden Globe Awards was both indecent and profane. The agency made it clear then that virtually any use of the F-word — which is used repeatedly in Saving Private Ryan— was inappropriate for over-the-air radio and television. The Bono case "reversed years of prior policy that the context of language matters," Stone said. He added that broadcasters could not get any clarification from the FCC on whether the movie violates the standard. ABC, which broadcast the film uncut in 2001 and 2002, issued a statement saying it is proud to broadcast it again. The network's contract with director Spielberg stipulates that the film cannot be edited. "As in the past, this broadcast will contain appropriate and clear advisories and parental guidelines," the statement said. My friend Vinnie -- who alerted me to the story -- and I were e-mailing about this. I can offer nothing better than what he said: “We have Bush and the FCC to thank for keeping filfth like Saving Private Ryan off of our television. Lord knows we don't want people to see what our soldiers went through in WWII. I'm feeling good about the future.” I am too, Vin. I am, too.