Proud on the Peacock?

The good news about NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly officially announcing that Madonna will get Her very own concert special on the network in November is clear: Madonna on broadcast network TV!!

The bad news?

Madonna's concert special will be televised on broadcast network TV.

I don't care that NBC reportedly dangled $15 million in front of Madonna and guarantees that potentially tens of millions of viewers will tune in to see the show (to be taped in London in two weeks), dwarfing ratings cabler HBO might deliver. How the heck will the Confessions Tour translate to a two-hour network TV special?

Not very easily, what with several Madonna-less interstitials and many set pieces that will need to be trimmed and/or cut altogether to make it past the net's Standards & Practices.

Can you imagine NBC allowing Forbidden Love, with four shirtless male dancers simulating the pas de deux of closeted gay relationships, to make the cut? What about the Sorry interlude, rife with images of war and, worst of all in this ultra conservative-pathetic American climate, insinuations that our administration is akin to Mussolini's and Hitler's? And would NBC be thrilled to air Madonna straddling a guy with a ball-gag in his mouth, one of Future Lovers' many crowd-pleasing highlights? And can you say "Eff off" on primetime yet?

Not to mention the crucifix. Oh, lawdy, the crucifix! The right-leaning American Family Association is probably already gearing up the boycotts and drafting letters of complaint.

How Madonna and NBC pull this off will be curious. Let's see how far the mighty buck takes Madge's willingness to compromise artistic integrity.