THE makers of “Off Centre,” the new WB sitcom, have been accused of exercising questioable taste before – but never in such hilarious detail.
An internal memo to the show’s producers – not surprisingly, the two brothers behind the masterpiece of raunch, “American Pie” – reprimands them for overusing references for the male member.
The memo has been passed by fax and email around Hollywood where execs and writers have been laughing at its straight-faced tone – and the sheer overkill of the script it was attempting to tone down.
The memo, which is authentic, was written by the network’s Broadcast Standards Acceptability department and tells – in detail – what the producers, Chris and Paul Weitz, have to cut out of an episode set to air next month.
“It is essential to reduce and/or modify the significant number of uses of ‘penis,’ ‘testicles,’ ‘foreskin’ as well as euphemisms for the same, such as ‘your thingie,’ ” reads the unflinching memo.
References including “covered wagon,” “unit,” “turtleneck,” “little fella,” “anteater,” “diddy,” “cloaking device” and “my pig is still snuggly, wrapped in his doughy blanket” were also ordered tossed out or toned down.
The network standards people said that the word “penis,” for example, appears on 11 different pages of the script – for a half-hour show – a sort-of unofficial TV record apparently.
WB officials confirmed that the memo is authentic, but declined to comment further.
“Off Centre,” which airs Sundays (Ch. 11), is a buddy comedy about a sophisticated Brit and his neurotic American friend living in a New York apartment building.