Bleep the Bleepin' Bleep!

The Federal Communications Commission may have lost its "fleeting expletives" battles in court, but if Fox's bleep-laden broadcast of last night's Emmy ceremony is any indication, it's winning the war.

The Fox Network applied a (you'll pardon the expression) liberal dose of censorship to its latest awards broadcast, still smarting from indecency charges for unscripted profanities uttered on-air by Cher and Nicole Ritchie during the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards.

Sound went dead and the camera turned away from the stage during Sally Fields' acceptance speech, as the actress began to say, "If mothers ruled the world, there wouldn't be any God—" (lost are the words "-damned wars in the first place").

Fox interrupted the broadcast in a similar fashion while Ray Romano was at the mic, and he joked about former colleague Patricia Heaton "screwing" her new co-star.

Audio was even cut when Grey's Anatomy star Katherine Heigl was seen mouthing the word "sh*t!" in the audience upon hearing her name called for an award.

All this tampering with the broadcast, despite the fact that the F.C.C.'s original charges were thrown out and deemed "arbitrary and capricious" by a federal appeals court earlier this year. And despite the fact that neither Fields' nor Romano's words fit the regulatory profile of profanity, scripted or otherwise.

The courts can do what they will, but the F.C.C. has clearly spooked Fox. Now the network—not exactly known for its wholesome programming—is simply cutting out anything you couldn't put in a 'Baby Einstein' video.

by Liz Gunnison