CRTC ban angers Ren and Stimpy fans
By J.K. Radomski
MONTREAL — A government agency’s decision to force a popular cartoon show off Canadian television has prompted howls of protest from fans.
The Ren and Stimpy Show, which aired nationally on MuchMusic (7:30 p.m. Thursdays, CF cable channel 26), was pulled from the airwaves this month by decision of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the agency which regulates broadcasting.
“MuchMusic is an all-music station. The conditions of their license clearly state that,” said Lise Plouffe, a CRTC spokesman. “They can only air programming that fits that definition. Videos, concerts, entertainment news and interviews are OK. But not cartoons.”
The cartoon, produced in Vancouver for a U.S. pay-TV service, deals with the adventures of Ren Hoek, a Chihuahua, and his pal Stimpson J. Cat.
According to the CRTC, some of the complaints came from the Toronto-based Alliance for Children and Television, a national advocacy group for children’s programming.
The Alliance complained that the cartoon was aimed at pre-teens and that beer advertising aired during the program was adult- oriented. When the license issue was raised, MuchMusic pulled the series off the air.
As a goodwill gesture, the CRTC allowed the network to hold a “Ren-and-Stimpathon” last Saturday, airing the series’ 13 original episodes for 24 hours, and giving MuchMusic a chance to tell the program’s fans what had happened.
Starting then, MuchMusic officials say, the outlet has been flooded with more than 200 phone calls and 300 unsolicited fax messages from all over the country demanding that the show be brought back.
Letters scrawled in crayon, some neatly typed, and others made to resemble cliched kidnapping notes - with individual letters clipped from newspapers and glued together to make words - have flooded MuchMusic’s Toronto offices.
“If you do not continue to let MuchMusic play Ren and Stimpy, we will be forced to make underleg noises at you,” reads one fax, from Eve Harris and Robert Kennedy in Toronto.
Gordon Buchan, a technical writer in Montreal, also faxed the network a letter: “I find it frustrating that the CRTC tries to dictate how culture is disseminated,” Buchan wrote. “The CRTC should be used to allocate precious bandwidths on public frequencies. That’s it. You are not serving the Canadian public interest by pursuing this issue.”
Asked why he sent the network and the CRTC a fax, Buchan said the show made him do it: “Ren and Stimpy is an important show because it is shocking and pokes fun at the ’60s,” Buchan, 27, said. “It’s a show that everyone, especially adults, can find funny. It’s very appealing.”
David Feland, a 35-year-old Edmonton security guard, also wants to see the cartoon back on TV.
“Cancelling this show amounts to censorship from the CRTC,” he said. “People have to realize that some cartoons have a wider range of appeal. They are not made for children any more. And the show’s controversial content is probably the real reason it got cancelled.”
The Ren and Stimpy Show is produced for Nickelodeon, an American network that specializes in children’s programming. The cartoon is often surprisingly gross, featuring the animals in misadventures that range from having some disgustingly filthy teeth pulled, to Stimpy the cat adopting his own stinky fart, which then interacts with the characters.
But MuchMusic says that despite the fact they voluntarily pulled the show off the air, it may come back after their license renewal this fall, if the terms of the outlet’s mandate can be renegotiated.
“We were overwhelmed by the support the show’s fans have showed us over the past few days,” said Jay Switzer, MuchMusic’s vice-president.
“Unfortunately it seems that other people in the industry didn’t like the positive response we were getting with the show nationally. It was the most highly watched show from all the programs we regularly air.”
MuchMusic has transferred all its remaining episodes to its sister station CITY-TV, which will air the cartoon in the Toronto area.
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