Following a heartbreaking and tragic Season 6 opening episode of Sons of Anarchy this Tuesday, the vocal Parents Television Council is using its disgust toward the series to explain why people should be allowed to purchase ala cart cable packages. Creator Kurt Sutter took to YouTube to address the issue and to explain his feelings on the PTC’s attempts to censor his show.
If you’ve ever caught an episode of Sons of Anarchy, you already know that FX’s late night drama is harrowing and often violent. People die all the time in the series, and the characters themselves are reprehensible, complicated, and going nowhere fast. Sutter’s drama isn’t for everyone, and it airs in a late night timeslot at 10 p.m. ET, a timeslot in which some of cable, subscription cable and even network TV’s edgiest programs air. Tuesday’s episode followed a school shooting and was meant to correlate with the Sons’ decision to involve the gang in gun trafficking.
Sutter spoke out via his “WTFSutter” account to discuss his feelings on being singled out by the PTC, an organization that is basically using an episode of his program as an agenda to demand different plans from the cable companies.
“I would imagine these are not evil people. But they are just not very intuitive or intelligent individuals. It’s such a small and simple view of process. The fact that people want to be monitoring what my children watch is terrifying. There is no awareness of what is the bigger objective of that episodes, the bigger point of the narrative. And to me that’s a really simplistic, dangerous view of anything, never mind the creative process.”
Despite a la carte packages being unlikely to work for a good chunk of the population, the PTC certainly has made a statement by pinpointing a particular episode of a particular TV series to rally their cause. It’s also easy to see why this would annoy a creative talent like Sutter, who says he is trying to tell stories rather than being a rallying cry for a cause.
I’m a storyteller. I’m not a social guru, I’m not a guy with an agenda politically, socially or morally. I’m a f—ing storyteller. My job is to engage, entertain and perhaps make you think. That’s what I do on a daily basis. I’m blessed that I have a God-given gift to do so, and to bring you along for the ride. When anybody tries to take that away from me, or impede that, I get defensive. I take that to heart.”
As happens with other PTC complaints, this one will likely be water under the bridge extremely soon. Still, it’s always interesting to hear what Sutter has to say—especially about an episode of Sons of Anarchy that has inspired as much open dialogue as it has inspired complaints.
You can catch Sons of Anarchy on FX on Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. ET.
