Apple spikes Dr. Dre's 'graphic' new show, wants original content without 'gratuitous sex, profanity, or violence'
As Apple looks to enter the video-streaming era, the content offered by the tech giant is likely to look a lot different from that of Netflix or Amazon. CEO Tim Cook reportedly wants to be ultraconservative with Apple’s original content, in hopes of appealing to a broad audience.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple has made it clear to those in the entertainment industry it wants high-quality shows with no “gratuitous sex, profanity or violence.” A casualty of the recent mandate is Dr. Dre’s semi-autobiographical series, Vital Signs. When Cook sat down to watch Apple’s first scripted drama, he was troubled by its graphic nature, with “characters doing lines of cocaine, an extended orgy in a mansion and drawn guns.”
“It’s too violent, Mr. Cook told Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine,” said people familiar with Apple’s entertainment plans. “Apple can’t show this,” he reportedly said, per the Wall Street Journal. (Apple declined to comment for the story.)
The report also details other series in production that are having to adjust to Cook’s vision, like a psychological thriller from the director of The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan. The show is about a couple who lose a young child, and Apple executives purportedly requested that crucifixes in the characters’ home be eliminated, because they don’t want shows “that venture into religious subjects or politics,” according to sources working in the project. Apple also reportedly replaced showrunners for a reboot of Steven Spielberg’s anthology Amazing Stories, “finding the original team’s vision a little dark,” according people familiar with that project.
One show Apple is excited about landing is the upcoming Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon project about a morning news show, but even that hasn’t been without a bit of drama. Apple apparently replaced the showrunner before filming, partly due to inexperience, and also because those making the decision wanted “a more upbeat show and took exception to some of the humor proposed,” according to people working on the project. The untitled project is now delayed, due to scheduling issues with Witherspoon.
It’s not known when Apple will eventually debut the first slate of its shows, as the launch has been postponed twice. When it is unveiled, there will be plenty of family-friendly content, like a series about poet Emily Dickinson and a Friday Night Lights-style drama about basketball star Kevin Durant. (Friday Night Lights is apparently one of Cook’s favorite TV shows.) Whether that’s enough to compete with some of the critically acclaimed series on other streaming platforms that include profanity, nudity, and violence, remains to be seen.
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