Sex, violence, drugs get the axe in Apple’s upcoming original content

Apple's original shows are reportedly going through a lot of fine-tuning to fit the company's family-friendly standards. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Apple has edited or axed some of its original programming plans because it doesn't want shows to include "gratuitous sex, profanity, or violence."

Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly killed a semi-autobiographical drama about Dr. Dre's life. Named Vital Signs, the drama had scenes that included drug use, sex, and guns. Those scenes were apparently too scandalous for Apple to feature.

The report details how picky Apple is being with regard to how shows are created and managed. The company replaced the showrunner on the series that stars Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. While Apple reportedly cited the executive producer's inexperience, people familiar with the matter claim that the company also took issue with some of the humor written into the show, and Apple wanted a more upbeat show in general.

A similar situation occurred with the revival of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories: Apple replaced the showrunner after it found the program's original premise "a little dark."

Overall, Apple's original programming choices have a family-friendly appeal to them—or that's what the company is going for, at the very least. It bought a series about poet Emily Dickinson, as well as a show about basketball player Kevin Durant that's akin to Friday Night Lights. With its $1 billion budget for original programming, Apple also signed Damien Chazelle, director of La La Land, to work on a secret project, and Oprah Winfrey will produce a bunch of content for Apple, including movies, shows, books, and more.

Apple's approach stands apart from other industry heavyweights. Competitors like Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and others have made their mark with edgier shows: Netflix has House of Cards, Amazon has The Man in the High Castle, and HBO has Game of Thrones, among others. Granted, not all of the most popular content on streaming services feature gratuitous sex or profanity (think Netflix's Stranger Things), but a good portion of it does, and a lot also features darker storylines.

Apple doesn't want to be associated with that type of content. It's possible that the company wants to avoid any controversies surrounding its original content that could provoke customers to stop buying its devices.

After all, Apple's original content ambitions are meant to push its services business forward and bolster the sales of its devices. Apple's services, including Apple Music, iCloud, iTunes, and others have been bright spots in the company's financial reports for months, and they are vital to the company's longevity. Its own streaming service could help it sell more Apple TVs as well as other Apple products, bringing more new customers into its device ecosystem.

With all the changes Apple has been making to its original programming lineup, we may have to wait longer for the reveal. The company is still scheduled to debut a host of shows and other content in March 2019, but now Apple may push the date back even further.