Hard to clap and cry out 'Bravo' for this channel anymore.
Written: Jun 15 '01
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Pros: "Actor's Studio", and "St. Elsewhere"
Cons: Edits out nudity and swear words. Redundant shows.
The Bottom Line: They probably should remove their subtitle of "The Film and Arts Network" if they are going to edit, censor, and commercialize their movies.
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| grimjack2's Full Review: Bravo |
What happened to this channel? I remember first seeing it back when I was in High School around 1985 or 1986. It had no commercials, no editing that I could see, and it played extremely good films. The kinds of movies that I would be afraid to admit I watched when I was in High School. They mainly played the art films, foreign films, and the classic films. I remember seeing many of my first viewings of Akira Kurosawa during a film festival of his movies. There were a number of Hitchcock films shown. I remember seeing one or two foreign films that Siskel and Ebert reviewed that I never saw put onto Showtime or HBO back then.
Then they took the channel away from me.
Just after going to college, a number of channels were replaced with stuff like VH-1, some more pay channels like The Movie Channel, and two Home Shopping Network stations. This was back when we only got about forty channels, so it seemed like a lot of channels I couldn't, or didn't want to watch. Unfortunately Bravo was one they replaced.
I didn't get Bravo again until about two and a half years ago. I believe it was December of 1998 when my area jumped from 40 channels to around 65, and Bravo came back! I was ecstatic. That is, until I started to watch it.
The channel used to be about artistic movies. Its subtitle is actually "The Film & Arts Network". Now not only do they show films of a slightly more questionable artistic nature, they also show television re-runs and at night switch over to Infomercials. Is there a greater contradiction to a channel calling itself "The Film & Arts Network" than to run infomercials? Why not just air a few hours of The Home Shopping Network if they want to sell out so badly? I know they are just showing infomercials to earn a little money, but since they now regularly run commercials during their movies, I would think they wouldn't need to sell their airtime for 60 minute commercials in the morning.
That's right; Bravo now airs commercials during the middle of its movies, just like TBS or a network channel does. They also edit and censor their films! The first time I noticed this I had to check the channel to make sure I was still watching Bravo. I'm not sure when they started doing this, but this is another reason why they shouldn't be allowed to call themselves "The Film and Arts Network". This is almost inexcusable. I wish they would have the decency to either show the film as it was meant to be, or else not play it at all. I might understand them removing exploitation nudity or horrible language if they played movies like they do on the USA Network. But, when you play foreign films that might have nudity because it is an important part of the story, like "Damage", or when swearing is an important part of the dialogue of the film, like "Pulp Fiction", this just seems like they really don't care about the artistic nature of their film.
Even the AMC channel doesn't edit their movies, and they have nowhere near the respect that Bravo once had. When I first discovered the Sundance Channel at the same time that I started to get Bravo again, I described it to people as what Bravo used to be. I didn't really think about it at the time, but this is really sad that a channel should slip in this direction when so many other channels are working their way towards a film channel that respects the vision of the director's.
Another odd thing is that they seemed to have partnered with a channel that I do not get, the Independent Film Channel (IFC). I've read that this channel DOES NOT edit their films in any way. Yet, somehow Bravo manages to pull off IFC Fridays, where they play whatever movies IFC is showing at the same time. Only, on Bravo, they edit out the nudity and bleep the swear words. I'm not sure how they manage to air this on both channels this way.
A few weeks ago I tried to watch "Two Girls and a Guy" on IFC night, and had to stop because it got extremely frustrating. The film is certainly full of swear words, and I don't necessarily think that they are all needed, but the bleeping of them just kept me from focusing on what was going on. Last year, I remember trying to watch Burt Lancaster's 1968 film, "The Swimmer". I was annoyed watching this film because they did the odd trick with nudity where instead of editing it out or covering it up with a black bar, they instead just zoom in to the part of the image that doesn't show any skin. On this old film, it looked especially grainy. I'm sure the minor nudity of some old sunbathers would have been minor for this 1968 film. I can only imagine how badly they must have to edit out many modern European films, which often have a very casual attitude towards nudity.
I should give the channel some credit where it is due. I'm impressed with the fact that they aired "The Last Temptation of Christ" not long ago. I don't know if this has ever been shown on a network before, but even most cable channels have been afraid to air it for the last decade. They do show many films that wouldn't be found on anything other than public broadcasting or channels like Sundance. A recent acquisition was "The Opposite of Sex", which was one of the funniest films I've seen in the last five years, and it is about some very controversial subject matters. They've also aired "Star 80" and "Mississippi Burning", which are both considered great films now, but when they were released, were both considered to be very controversial.
Bravo also has some regular programming of its own. By now everyone is familiar with Inside the Actor's Studio. This is as good as everyone says it is. James Lipton hosts the show, which is a very simple table with two chairs forum between the host, and an actor of high caliber discussing his craft. Lipton is very prepared, usually to the point of unnerving the guests. He has had many famous guests, who are usually not the type who do interviews or talk shows. Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, and Val Kilmer have all appeared. Even the occasional director like Steven Spielberg or Norman Jewison has made an appearance. This is a show for people interested in the art of acting. This is not a forum for promoting your most recent work, like almost every other talk show is about. And, the spoof of Lipton done periodically on Saturday Night Live is not that far off the mark.
Bravo has also shown some television series in the past. They were showing "Moonlighting" for a while every day. I believe I remember "Twin Peaks" having its complete run shown, although I never caught it. Currently they are showing a British comedy called "Cold Feet" each night, but I also haven't made it through an entire episode of that yet either.
One show that I did watch regularly, which unfortunately they don't seem to show any more is "Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends". This is a BBC production that involves an odd British fellow, very unlike most interviewers, travelling the globe seeking out weird things. Most of the shows were done in America, and his view of America from the point of view of a British person is very enlightening to me. He explored the Rap scene, the militant Black movement, and even back country Militias. A highly entertaining show that I easily recommend if they bring it back!
They also showed, but have since stopped, Michael Moore's "The Awful Truth". I'm not sure if this was a completely new show, or repeats from one of his other shows on Fox and the Comedy Channel. It was pretty traditional Michael Moore stuff. If you are familiar with his work, he did more of the same here, and very well.
My new favorite show to watch on Bravo is the incredible, and revolutionary, "St. Elsewhere". I really love this show. I considered it my favorite show for a while back during High School. I watched the first three seasons, and then went to college and missed it completely for the last three years.
This show was so ahead of its time, and had so many famous people appear before they were famous that I cannot begin to name them. What the show really deserves credit for is a lot of what "E.R." gets credit for today. Many of the producers of "E.R." worked on St. Elsewhere a decade earlier, and sometimes give it the credit it deserves. If you are a fan of "Northern Exposure", the same people did that one, and it shows with the 'fantasy' elements that are often in both shows. This show took chances, and fought the network censors every chance they could. I found it disturbing that Bruce Paltrow mentioned that this was the first show to ever show a female breast on TV. On an episode involving breast cancer, they briefly played a video in the background where a woman gave herself a self-examination. He mentioned this during a little 30 second interview piece before the episode aired on Bravo. However, on Bravo, they edited the visible breast scene out, and it was obvious where they did it.
Before each show they have a 30 second interview with someone involved in the production who talks about some aspect they remember. One that amazed me was that the show never broke the top 40, and this was back when there were just three networks, and only about 55 shows total on the air.
The reason it stayed on the air with such low ratings is because back in the early 80's, NBC was willing to take a chance and support the producers of shows that never reached a wide audience, but were critically acclaimed, and obviously trying to talk about important subject matters.
Sort of like Bravo used to be.
Recommended:
Yes
Average Program Rating: TV PG -- parental guidance suggested
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Epinions.com ID:
grimjack2
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Location: San Rafael, CA, Marin County
Reviews written: 181
Trusted by: 124 members
About Me:
Film is my favorite art form. I live a life of constant amelioration.
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