By Charles Jay
The new mixed martial arts series on CBS seems to have gotten off to a rocky start. The ending may be unceremonious indeed. Can you say, “Four strikes…or less, and you’re out?”
And to think these guys haven’t even seen any ratings points yet.
Sumner Redstone, the executive chairman of CBS Corporation, has basically dressed down one of his underlings - no less an underling than Les Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Network and one of the most powerful men in television, regarding Moonves’ decision to place four shows from Elite XC on CBS, starting with a main event featuring Kimbo Slice on May 31. Obviously someone must have whispered in Redstone’s ear, because he took Moonves, whom he hand-picked to be a “twin head” of CBS, to task in public for making the decision without consulting him.
“Les usually asks my opinion,” said Redstone, implying, obviously, that Moonves had not in this case.
According to the recounting of these statements in the Hollywood Reporter:
“Redstone said the deal, struck with Elite Xtreme Combat, probably was a mistake, not because CBS won’t turn a profit from it but because it is not ’socially responsible’ to air the typically bloody bouts on free, broadcast TV.”
This is a little alarming in the respect that it demonstrates that there is still a lack of understanding on the part of the neophyte when it comes to the sport of mixed martial arts. And you’re really in bad shape when executives from the company that’s supposed to be promoting it are throwing it under the bus.
It doesn’t have to do with any phony fights that might be on the show, or the tawdry way it might be presented. No, all that is important about the sport, as it appears to some of the powers-that-be, is what it produces in the way of blood.
Of course, no blood ever spills from a football player in an NFL game, right? And weren’t CBS executives oh so apoplectic when they lost out on the contract to televise the NFL to upstart Fox in 1994, to the extent that they contemplated starting a new football league, so that additional players could take part, presumably without clashing heads, suffering permanent injury or, heaven forbid, bleeding (they finally got back into action with the NFL in 1998).
But let’s get back to “social responsibility” for a moment.
Redstone’s comments were made as part of an panel discussion at the Milken Institute Global Conference, held in Los Angeles at the end of April.
The institute was named for Michael Milken - yes, THAT Michael Milken, the junk bond king who was indicted on 98 counts of racketeering and fraud related to insider trading in 1989, then wound up pleading guilty to six of them, subsequently serving two years in prison after paying $200 million in fines.
“I’m a lover, not a fighter,” Redstone was quoted as saying. “I don’t like the sport.”
Well, if you don’t mind, I’d like to take an excerpt out of Redstone’s Wikipedia entry (which is considerably longer than mine):
“Redstone also owns over eighty-nine percent of Midway Games, both individually and through National Amusements. However, the Midway holdings has drawn the ire of the National Football League, as Midway’s “Blitz: The League”, a game using a fictional league (previous versions had an NFL license), featured GRATUITOUS VIOLENCE and other material which the NFL would have rejected, all while CBS has NFL rights.”
You see, when there’s enough money, GRATUITOUS VIOLENCE really DOES work, doesn’t it?
Hey, lover.
This just goes to show you how far MMA still has to go.
It’s about to die a quick death on the CBS airwaves. And it could have been even quicker.
Can you imagine if Sumner Redstone had ever met Kimbo?
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