Broadcast Blasts: “SNL’s” Big F-Bomb, “General Hospital’s” Big Casting News, David Letterman’s Big Announcement

This has been one of the strangest weeks for broadcast television in recent (or even distant) memory. It began with a spontaneous F-bomb on NBC’s Saturday Night Live and ended with an awkward admission by David Letterman that he has engaged in sexual activities with female staffers on his CBS talk show, which is currently enjoying a huge pump in popularity brought about by a recent rush of A-list guests and the deterioration of NBC’s long-held dominance in the day-part. In between these two attention-grabbing late night developments came a happier shock: The jaw-dropping announcement that popular young movie star James Franco (whose recent credits include Spider-man, Pineapple ExpressandMilk) would be joining ABC’s General Hospital for two months.

Let’s pause here to let this sink in: During the second week of what has turned out to be an extremely encouraging new season for the networks – one that has seen greater sampling and higher ratings for more new fall series than in years – the broadcast buzz has been much louder outside of primetime than in. (The exception to all this sudden love has been poor NBC, which has been hit by so-so ratings for The Jay Leno Show and disappointing performances by such adult dramas as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Trauma, Law & Order and Mercythat are clearly not effective in the early evening. As I have said in this space before, if the network had to do what it did with Jay it should have parked him at 8 o’clock as the kick-off to the night’s line-up and not at 10 p.m. when smart people want engaging scripted programs.)

Looking back over the last few days, the SNL curse word has me recalling a time when F-bombs on that show resulted in the termination of the bombers. Who can forget that cold night in February 1981 when the late Charles Rocket let one drop at the very end of the telecast? (It really was startling, even at 1 a.m., because I was a year away from cable and had never heard that word on television.) Rocket was famously fired shortly thereafter. If memory serves, Norm MacDonald had a similar experience with a quietly mumbled F-bomb of his own many years later during a Weekend Update segment.

I don’t remember if Rocket and MacDonald deliberately attempted to shake broadcast to its very core or simply became caught up in the untamed comedy of their moments, but it was clear on the September 26 show that brand new SNL cast member Jenny Slate accidentally effed. In fact, it would have been surprising if somebody hadn’t let one slip. Slate, co-star Kristen Wiig and host Megan Fox were powering through dialogue in a skit titled Biker Chick Chat in which every other sentence contained the word “frickin’” -- a term not unlike “frakkin’” that is commonly used in place of the Big F. Say it fast enough and often enough and you’ll probably F-drop, too.

I’m not in favor of foul language permeating broadcast programming. For one thing I think it gives writers of limited talent an easy way out when creating lively dialogue, and for another I am certain writers and show-runners would lose all restraint if someone didn’t at least threaten to restrain them. That said, anyone who would label as obscene a slip of the tongue within the tongue-twisting context of that SNLsketch has a screw loose. An accident is just that, and for that reason I’m glad NBC has said Slate isn’t getting the boot. We aren’t the delicate flowers that we were 30 years ago, especially those of us who are watching notoriously edgy comedy programs in the middle of the night (or later on Hulu). Let’s hope we’ve heard the last of this and that it doesn’t linger in the air like the swamp gas that is the accidental exposure of Janet Jackson’s breast during the Super Bowl XXXVIII half-time show.

As for Letterman, that footage from his Thursday show of his big admission is so bizarre as to be priceless. Tabloid journalists and bitty bloggers alike are most assuredly offering their first born in exchange for the dishy details, which may prove to be nothing more than acts of consensual sex between single adults. (There has been no word as to when the sex acts in question occurred.) Outside of the thwarted extortion scheme there wouldn’t appear to be much of a story here, unless said acts took place on CBS property. Companies take a dim view of in-house sex or sex between staffers on company time, and I think most people would be bounced for banging in the office. Whatever the details, one must admire Dave for doing what he always does when trouble looms: He goes right to the proper authorities and puts the whole mess out there in the burning light of day, egregiously compromising its news and gossip value. Lesser celebrities scamper for the shadows and succeed only in fanning the flames of their possible misfortune.

I can’t stop smiling over the week’s other F-bomb – Franco jumping into daytime drama just as the bottom is about to fall out from under that long-cherished broadcast staple. (It was only two weeks ago that Guiding Light, the all-time longest-running scripted series in broadcast history, came to its unfortunate end, and there are dismaying online rumors about the fearsome fates of two other long-running soaps.) The positive publicity here is invaluable. We haven’t seen this much fuss over a movie star dipping into daytime since Elizabeth Taylor created the role of Helena Cassadine on General Hospital in November 1981.

This casting coup would appear to be a big win for GH, which has experienced a significant creative collapse this year and seen its ratings harrowingly slide as a result. With a little luck its show-runners will seize this opportunity to right their wrongs and send the show in an exciting new direction that might appeal to the flood of new viewers that will undoubtedly be tuning in just to see what Franco is up to.

It is my understanding that Franco spends much of his time pursuing a MFA degree at Columbia University in New York City. If that’s true, I wonder why he didn’t opt to spend a few weeks working at ABC’s One Life to Live, which tapes in Manhattan, instead of the Los Angeles-based GH. OLTL is currently the most rewarding and surprising soap opera on television. There are a number of meaty, character-driven stories playing out on OLTL right now that would seem to appeal to an actor of Franco’s stature; by contrast, GH is largely a one-note mob melodrama. I also think the actors on OLTL are better equipped to hold their own opposite a performer of Franco’s proven talents. Regardless, this will be a big win for ABC Daytime if GH and Franco deliver the goods. As I type the words “I can’t wait to watch,” I find that I can’t recall that last time I said that about any soap opera. That’s the point, isn’t it?