Hulu Censors "The Office"

The Office UK is now available for viewing on Hulu, the infamous US hub for streaming television. On its first day on Hulu, it held the top popular spot (determined by views) every time I was visiting and remained on first page of most popular shows for several days.

It's great that even the most relentless of culture idiots are now aware of the series, but unfortunate that Hulu is choosing to broadcast a censored version. I have contacted Hulu via email and tweet, but have received no clear answer on why/how a censored version was chosen. I cannot find any other articles on the net explaining the deal. Next, I will email BBC America if I don't soon get a reply from Hulu as Hulu lists BBCAmerica as the source for the show, but I really would rather hear from Hulu.

There are several threads addressing the censorship on the show's Hulu forum but I have only posted in the one titled "Censored?". Someone has recently pointed all that not all eps have been censored in a thread "re:the whole censorhsip thing" but I have not confirmed what that user says, and I find the inconsistency to be even further annoying.

At first I was quite outraged, posting to a very naive user who thought the censoring was part of the gag: "no it's censored because Hulu is CHOOSING TO AIR A CENSORED VERSION BECAUSE HULU THINKS THEY MUST CONFORM TO TYPICAL AMERICAN BROADCASTING PRUDENESS. This is not some intentional censor or the producers' cleverly working with censors; this is just out and out censored BY HULU FOR MORAL REASONS ABOUT WHAT IS ACCEPTABLE FOR ADULTS TO VIEW." That's just how pissed I was.

I'm still proper pissed, but I've cooled to the point of regaining my senses and being properly argumentative: "There is plenty of "uncensored" content on here, but everything has to be viewed on an individual basis. Whether Hulu bought a pre-censored version or censored it themselves, they still MADE A DECISION to go with a censored version over an uncensored version of The Office. Whenever you pick censored over uncensored, that indicates what your company deems acceptable, regardless of any uncensored content you also boast. In this case, Hulu is saying "a censored version of one of the greatest modern works of video art is just as good as the original untainted version". That's a position I don't take lightly, and I find it offensive that Hulu even considered acquiring a censored version ESPECIALLY given the fact that they have many other shows that are not censored."

Here's a copy of what I sent to media@hulu.com with a recent postscript addition:

Heya,
Was wondering what influenced the decision to distribute a censored version of The Office (2001, UK)? Was the content bought pre-censored from BBC America? Was a uncensored version of "The Office" ever considered for distribution on Hulu?
As someone passionately dedicated to the preservation of "art as originally intended", especially for works of greater literary and cultural importance such as "The Office", I am interested in the story here. I'm one more of the throng of ravenous independent bloggers and I have been studying and writing on censored iterations of "The Office" for the past three years as one of my pet subjects. Many viewers are interested in understanding why and who is censoring this show, as best evidenced by the discussions on Hulu's own message board for the show.
Thank you for taking your time to review my queries. I appreciate any information you can give me.

cheers,
_kelly.King

P.S.: Please advise if I am sending this to the wrong department and would receive a more thorough answer by emailing another department.

I have sent this email twice, first time without the postscript. I will email Hulu every day for two weeks before inquiring of BBC America as I believe it tugs at the greater issue of Hulu's responsibility to account for this inconsistency in their censored broadcasting. As always, any genuine information on this topic is appreciated.

TEH RAVINGST IMP _kelly.KING