Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2008 November 11

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

November 11

Vanguard Championship Wrestling

I would like to know if you could find the Title Histories for Vanguard Championship Wrestling. THey have 3 titles: Heavyweight, Tag Team, US Liberty. They're website is VCW-Wrestling.com. Could you please help me. Thank You —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.174.118.191 (talk) 06:59, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

Do small united states TV stations engage in wiping?

Hey, I was just reading the facinating article on wiping. However, it mostly talks about Network Television. What I'd like to know, is whether any small TV stations across the United States are still wiping tapes of programs. I mean, 3 news broadcasts a day times 7 days a week, that's over 1000 tapes a year. Have any small TV stations been proved to of wiped such programming during the last 5 years? Retro Agnostic (talk) 17:59, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

Your phrasing seems to imply that TV stations are under some obligation to preserve their newscasts? Why would that be so? Also, I suspect that MANY if not most television outlets are moving towards digital storage. I know I can view old news broadcasts from many local TV stations on the internet; it would make videotape, which is pretty much a dead technology anyways, obsolete... --Jayron32.talk.contribs 19:49, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for answering my question /sarcasm Retro Agnostic (talk) 10:15, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Yes. Many do. The very small stations still use Beta tapes - and by "use", I mean "re-use" the tapes over and over. It wasn't very long ago that I did a three-year contract repairing and tuning up hundreds of beta recorders and players in the southeast U.S. -- kainaw™ 15:15, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

RoboCop 3

Why RoboCop 3 was rated PG-13 instead of R unlike the two previous films? David Pro (talk) 19:46, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

The MPAA, which rates movies, does so by throwing a dart at a board while blindfolded. Ok, its not exactly that random, but certainly not MUCH more. The MPAA gets a dozen random people, screens the movie for them, and askes THEM what they would rate it. Thats about it... --Jayron32.talk.contribs 19:52, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

That's not what Motion_Picture_Association_of_America_film_rating_system#MPAA_Ratings_Board says. The panel (and appeals panel) seems to be a fixed group. While you may or may not agree with their judgement there theoretically should be consistency if the same group reviews all movies. Exxolon (talk) 20:00, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

From RoboCop 3: "Another pre-production problem with the film was pressure from media watchdog organizations for the film to be rated PG-13". This is marked as citation needed though. You might go through the article history and see who added it. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 20:26, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

Don't forget that people's sensibilities also change as time moves on. For example, in the UK - The Exorcist was refused a release around 1984, but in 1998 was rated 18 and is now considered (at least anecdotally) to be less scary/gory/sexual than many current 15 films. -- WORMMЯOW  08:32, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

In the U.S., films that were given an X rating in the late 60's/early 70's (ie: Midnight Cowboy) were rerated as R for video/DVD release. So, another example of rating system changing over time. -- kainaw™ 18:02, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Actually, Midnight Cowboy was given an R-rating by the MPAA, but the co-chairmen of the distributing company, United Artists, insisted on getting an X-rating at the advice of some psychiatrist who (ironically enough) later became an official MPAA ratings board consultant. --Crackthewhip775 (talk) 20:53, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

It is also worth noting that many studios go to great lengths to achieve a lower MPAA certification in order to get the movie to appeal to a wider demographic - the 14-25 "young adults" who some fools believe will pay $15 plus another $15 on popcorn and will not be too bothered by the quality of the movie they're watching. Couple that with many US multiplexes refusing to show higher rated movies for fear of a moral backlash over movie violence (and therefore reduced popcorn sales). It leaves us more discerning adult moviegoers with many crappy sequels to avoid. Astronaut (talk) 17:23, 17 November 2008 (UTC)