FK 4

CONTENT
RATINGS


FK4

The original Forever Knight series was a PG rated show.

But then, back then most shows were.   The world of television has changed a lot in the past ten years or so.   Today, most cop shows are routinely aimed at an older audience.   In an attempt to simulate realism, series like Law and Order, NYPD Blue, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation require a level of coarse language, violence, and mature subject matter that demands a higher rating.   In Canada, such shows are normally considered to be 14+:   that is to say, suitable only for viewers who are at least fourteen years old.   Similar ratings systems exist in other countries, though the precise name for this level of rating varies.
        As for vampire shows:   subsequent to Forever Knight there have been the popular series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff Angel.   Although both of these were generally rated PG, there were many episodes, especially in their later seasons, which required the 14+ rating; and, in the final season of Angel one episode that was even rated 18+.

A modern Forever Knight would not necessarily be a PG show.

Having said this, though, a version of Forever Knight that maintained the level of coarse language common on even NYPD Blue, let alone a recent 18+ rated cop show like The Shield (a regular on-air network show in Canada), would certainly not seem authentic to fans familiar with the original series.

FK4   Ratings

To maintain authenticity, most episodes of FK4 will continue to be written to PG standards.

However, when circumstances call for it, specific episodes will require a higher rating.   This will never be gratuitous.   It will only occur when the plot or characters of a particular episode need the higher rating in order to be handled appropriately.   I will not, in other words, engage in self-censorship in order to force a story to remain in compliance with an artificially imposed PG rating.
        Essentially, this is the same policy that was followed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.   There is, however, a difference:   here, on the whole, when a higher rating is needed, it is because of the cop-show aspects of Forever Knight, rather than because of scenes of a personal nature.   In other words, it is less likely to be because of nudity and sexuality, than because of violence and coarse language - though this will, of course, depend on the details of the actual episode involved.

In order to give people forewarning, the ratings for each episode will be given in the Episode Guide.   However, to increase the verisimilitude of the experience, I have done something further.

Each episode is preceded by a ratings page.

This will be familiar practice to Canadians.   It is the custom in this country (and, remember, this is the country in which Forever Knight is set) for shows with higher than a G rating to be preceded by a full-screen announcement, presented both in print and verbally.   Only then is the show aired.   This is in addition to the small ratings label that appears in the upper left hand corner of the screen during the first scene.   Such a label, differing only slightly in appearance in Canada and the States, will be familiar to many people reading this webpage.   However, not all countries have the additional preceding full-screen on-air announcement of the rating of the episode.

In order to "watch" an episode of FK4, you have to go through the ratings page.

In accordance with the usual policy on fan sites, I ask that people who are not considered old enough to watch 14+ television series please refrain from doing so here.


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