They Don’t Want Stars to Show All

After the breast-baring finale of the Super Bowl halftime show, the NBA and broadcast partner TNT are considering implementing a delay system to avoid televising any unexpected incidents at the league’s All-Star game on Feb. 15 at Staples Center.

“TNT and the NBA are going to continue to take every precaution that we can to assure that all aspects of our broadcast meet the standards of the league and the fans and the people watching around the world,” said Jeff Behnke, senior vice president and coordinating producer for Turner Sports. “We’ve huddled with the NBA and we are contemplating a seven-second delay for the live entertainment only.”

Beyonce is scheduled to sing at halftime. Christina Aguilera and Nelly Furtado will sing the U.S. and Canadian national anthems, and Outkast will perform during the pregame introductions.

The Super Bowl halftime show featured rapper Nelly repeatedly grabbing his crotch while performing with P. Diddy, Kid Rock’s wearing a poncho made out of the American flag and Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake rubbing against one another before Timberlake reached over and tore off a piece of Jackson’s top as he sang, “Gonna have you naked by the end of this song.”

The Timberlake-Jackson incident prompted a series of condemning and blame-avoiding press releases from the NFL, CBS and MTV, plus the threat of an investigation from the Federal Communications Commission.

CBS has announced it would use a yet-to-be-determined video delay system for its broadcast of the Grammy Awards on Sunday. The NFL dropped JC Chasez, a member of ‘N Sync with Timberlake, from its halftime show at the Pro Bowl.

CBS and the NFL felt blindsided by the Super Bowl show, which was produced by MTV (like CBS, a part of Viacom).

That shouldn’t be a problem for the NBA, which oversees the pregame and halftime shows through its production arm, NBA Entertainment.

“The NBA books the entertainment, then we work very closely together,” Behnke said. “[The broadcast] will come out of our truck, out of the TNT truck. There will be an NBA director, but it will be our camera crews and our production crew. We’re working very closely with the NBA.”

Beyonce has managed to stay sexy yet inoffensive in her music videos and award-show performances. Aguilera was an oft-forgotten participant in the kiss-fest on the MTV Video Music Awards last fall; after Madonna kissed Britney Spears, the television director cut to a reaction shot of Timberlake, Spears’ former boyfriend, and missed Madonna locking lips with Aguilera. Outkast’s Big Boi and Andre 3000 have both a clean and an explicit-lyrics version of their chart-topping double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.

“All of the entertainment that the NBA has booked, it’s our job and our pleasure, our honor to put those acts on the air,” Behnke said. “We work with them very closely every year once we know who they’ve booked, go through all the rehearsals. It’s an honor for us to put these entertainers on the air. But really, our focus is the game on Sunday and the All-Star weekend.”

There are millions of future advertising dollars dependent on a controversy-free show.

“I think the NBA will go to great lengths to assure that there won’t be another scenario in their broadcast,” said Bob Williams, president of Burns Sports and Celebrities, a consulting firm in Evanston, Ill.

“I think that [the Grammy Awards show] is the next big event, the next big sporting event will be the All-Star game. I think the two events will go smoothly. They’ll make sure. That should take care of a lot of the potential problems that might come up for advertisers. I think advertisers will be comfortable.

“Advertising dollars make the world go around for these networks. At the end of the day, [cable stations] can be edgy and trendy, but you still have to appease the people who pay the bills. You can be too controversial. What happened was well across the line of being too controversial.”

After the NFL began ramping up its halftime acts in reaction to counterprogramming in 1993, the NBA soon followed suit. It honored the 50 greatest players in league history at halftime of the 1997 All-Star game, with 47 of the 50 in attendance. The 1998 game in New York featured performers from Broadway shows. There was no game in the lockout-shortened 1999 season, but LL Cool J, Mary J. Blige, Montell Jordan, 98 Degrees and Martina McBride performed at the 2000 game in Oakland.

The 2001 All-Star game featured Harry Connick Jr., and Elton John sang in 2002 -- not exactly cutting-edge acts.

“You’re always trying to appeal to a wide audience,” said Mike Bass, NBA vice president of public relations. “But halftime is one entertainment portion of a very long weekend and week of events that the NBA throws around our All-Star festivities. You’ll see other performers at Club NBA at the Jam Session that may not be the most mainstream. You’ll have others that might perform at our NBA All-Star Read to Achieve celebration event Saturday morning.”

That event, for Los Angeles-area students who participated in reading programs, will include performances by Ashanti and Usher and appearances by Will Smith, Hillary Duff and NBA stars LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Baron Davis and Mike Dunleavy Jr.

Last year in Atlanta, Mariah Carey performed a tribute to Michael Jordan for his final All-Star game. It was what she wore, not what she took off, that had people talking. She first came out in a short throwback jersey/skirt from Jordan’s rookie year in Chicago, then she changed into a curve-hugging dress modeled on Jordan’s Washington Wizard uniform.

TNT’s greatest risk this year might be the unpredictable mouth of analyst Charles Barkley. He’s always quick to voice his opinions, as evidenced by his take on the Jackson controversy.

“They’ve got so much trash on TV and they’ve got to go crazy over this thing? “ Barkley said “There’s nothing but trash on TV anyway. I just think they’re overreacting. They’re going overboard. The FCC’s going to investigate? They should investigate that [Iraq] war without any evidence.”

When the All-Star broadcast comes about, there probably will be a technological safety net, some crossed fingers by the league and network executives and some wishful thinking by Barkley: “I hope we can get Janet Jackson.”