CHAT WITH ROBERT
USA TODAY’s Robert Bianco chats with readers Mondays at 2 p.m. ET at facebook.com/ USATODAY. Read edited excerpts below, email questions to askbianco@usatoday.com or tweet them to @biancorobert and visit him live online.
Q It seems to me that I am hearing more “F-bombs” on TV recently than ever before. Yes, they are bleeped, but everyone knows what is being said. The increasing vulgarity is definitely disappointing to me.
A Well first, if you’re hearing those words bleeped, you’re not watching streaming, premium cable or, with increasing frequency, basic cable — as they all throw that bomb with abandon. I don’t like the lazy or excessive use of the word for shock or “look how adult we are” value alone. (Amazon’s Goliath is a prime offender, though vulgarity is just one of its offenses.) But while everyone may not talk like that, there’s no denying many people do — or that a word that was once seldom used in public is now commonly heard on the streets, in ballparks and in most places Americans gather. TV has to reflect reality, and the reality is very few people say “darn,” “heck” and “fudge” anymore, as much as some of us might wish they did. QI watched CW’s Supergirl (the Superman episode) for the very first time this week and I enjoyed it very much. Is there any chance CW is planning on a Superman spinoff ? It’s been too long since my favorite superhero appeared on television. A And it may be a long time before he reappears. Superman is DC Comics’ most valuable property — and for the moment, the company plans to use that character sparingly on TV. (You’re seeing him on Supergirl because DC and Warner Bros. wanted to give the show a boost as it shifted to CW from CBS.) In TV these days, all plans are subject to change — but for now, DC seems more interested in getting a Superman movie franchise off the ground.