Localizing American TV Series on Moroccan Television

Censorship and Dubbing

Abstract

American television series have aired in Morocco since the late eighties. The first two were Santa Barbara (1984, NBC) and The Bold and the Beautiful (1987, CBS) shown in 1989 on the second Moroccan television station, known as 2M. My research focuses on the localization process of recently produced American TV serials, particularly Desperate Housewives (2004-2012, ABC) and Ugly Betty (2006-2010, ABC) that have also aired on 2M. I investigate the process by which these imported TV series have been adapted to fit Morocco’s cultural context.  The element of censorship is very significant as well, given that all scenes that are perceived as culturally offensive are strictly removed to the extent that not even a kiss would be put on air. Accordingly, my research is related to the way global television is adapted by media professionals to fit the context of the target culture as well as the occasional drawbacks of the cultural adaptation of these global media. I content that the intensive editing of imported American series on 2M has led to problematic results. In fact, the mediocre public reception of several American TV serials aired on 2M might be strongly attributed to the rigorous censorship that deprives the shows of their most appealing features. In this respect, I analyze the problems associated with dubbing and censorship by providing textual examples that illustrate the limitations of the localization process. My findings are also based on in-person interviews conducted with 2M’s head of programming and my visit to the first Moroccan dubbing company, Plug-in.