TV Land Should Be Tied At the Wrists and Hung From the Rafters

I watched Sybil this weekend on TV Land, which was being run as part of their tribute to Movies of the Week, and was shocked to see it had been edited! Some of the most disturbing images were removed from the film, and remember that this was a made-for-TV movie that aired in the 1970s. I find it scary to think that TV in the 1970s allowed more on the screen than is allowed now.

Of course, I feel kind of creepy complaining that there weren't more images of young Sybil being abused, but part of the power of the movie is just how shocking those moments are. In TV Land's version, Sybil's mother is still pretty crazy, but the full extent of her horrific abuse is gone, and the film suffers from those omissions.

Judging from the TV Land message boards, I'm not the only one annoyed by this, and it sounds like they also cut scenes out of some of the other TV movies they aired, including Helter Skelter. I guess the reverence they have for these films, as demonstrated on their Web site, is just a load of crap. Nice to see they were able to cram almost 90 minutes worth of commercials into the "Sybil" airing, though. Kudos!