NBC's cut-down, prime-time showing last week of the debut of Bravo’s Queer
Eye for the Straight Guy did not air on a handful of NBC-affiliated
stations.
It wasn't the program's gay-oriented content that was the problem, however --
it was that the series is airing on Bravo.
"We don't want to drive viewers to a cable network," said Samantha Knowlton,
spokeswoman for E.W. Scripps Co.-owned KJRH(TV) Tulsa, Okla.
Management at University of Missouri-owned KOMU-TV; Belo Corp.-owned KTVB(TV) Boise
and KTFT(TV) Twin Falls, both Idaho; and KJRH(TV) Tulsa all said they
simply did not want to air a Bravo show on their air.
A source at the Missouri station noted that it's been airing Will &
Grace for years.
KJRH might have been more predisposed to airing one of Scripps'
do-it-yourself cable shows, Knowlton acknowledged, half-seriously.
NBC noted the small number of stations objecting from among its more than 200
affiliates.
