Apparently, you arent allowed to make gay related jokes during “Family hour”. Or make fun of the Church, for that matter. Who the fuck appointed “Family hour” anyway?
If you do plan on sitting down with your family and watching TV, You can turn on what ever you want. If you want to watch “Touched by an Angel” or “Seventh Heaven”, then watch those programmes with your family. Just dont expect every programme to conform to your Mary Whitehouse-esque view of morality.
The onus is not on the network to determine what programmes your kids can watch.
Here’s a brand new thought for you PTC morons. If you actually sat down with your kids to watch televsision instead of sticking the remote in their hands saying “This is your new babysitter”, the rest of us can watch whatever the hell we please, whenever the hell we please. I 27 years old, I have no kids, when I sit down to watch television, I don’t want to watch 7th heaven. Oh, it’s family hour? WTF? So if it’s around 8 o’clock, I have to watch 7th heaven? Good god, watch whatever the hell you want, and leave me alone, and let the networks cater everyone’s needs and desires. Except maybe goat porn.
If you like the PTC site, you should check out the ChildCare Action Project. They rate movies based on a rather bizarre system – the WISDOM scale – and list all offensive content, including counts of the “most foul of foul words.” You can even find out the “frequency of examples of ignominy per hour.”
I actually have this site bookmarked in my Humor folder because it is so bizarre. It’s fun to read some of the reviews. For the record, South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut still holds the records for the highest CAP Influence Density.
I’ve often said that I’m tired of this whole fucking country becoming “baby proofed”. I understand that we should be showing hot German Dungeon Bondage Porn at nine a.m. on Nickelodeon…I don’t think anyone is suggesting that we should…but why must every channel be safe for everybody?
Currently, I am not raising any children. I’m an adult, I like adult things. I want to see people smoking, drinking, fucking, and bitchslapping each other. And god damn it, that’s my right. Just like I worked hard to get my driver’s license, I’ve worked hard to sit down at the end of the work day and listen to a half hour of dick jokes.
When I was a kid, I went to bed at 8:00. Before that I watched WHAT MY PARENTS SAID I COULD WATCH…or, and follow me here, I READ BOOKS.
First, I don’t get the piss-offed-ness. If we can agree that parents should be policing their children’s TV-watching habits, then it seems to me that an earnest little site like PTC is probably a handy tool for a well-scrubbed well-meaning parent to find out what shows are “appropriate” for kids from other, like-minded (weak-minded?) people. I don’t see where they’re advocating network censorship (though I admit I didn’t read the site that closely) and I frankly have very little problem with the idea of airing shows with adult themes later in the evening, as opposed to earlier, which seems to me to be nothing more than common sense.
That said, I found the site to be amusing rather than offensive. I mean, their review of “Will & Grace” cited as deplorable a bit of dialogue I personally found quite humorous. My reaction was “Hmmm, that’s pretty funny; better make a point to watch that show more often.” I doubt that’s the intent behind the site, but that’s the effect it had on me.
I’m so totally with you on this one. When it was still in prime time (and what I’m about to say will definitely date me!!), my mother absolutely forbid us to watch Happy Days. She felt it was degrading to women (so she was ahead of her time…work with me, here! :D), and was inappropriate for children our age. We weren’t allowed to watch Laverne & Shirly either (which was right after Happy Days, for those of you who remember).
There is no excuse for parents blaming TV networks for what their children are “exposed” to. It is entirely the parents’ responsibility to monitor what their children watch, and if it’s deemed inappropriate, to take whatever steps they feel are necessary to prevent such exposure. If said parents choose to plonk their kids down in front of the tube with no clue about what’s on, or what they might watch, then they also, IMO, give up the right to complain about the quality of the programming.
This ranks right up there with parents who scream about their kids seeing porn on the internet. Supervise your little rug-monkeys, and it won’t be an issue, now will it??
I cant remember the last time the entertainment industry produced something as entertaining as those two sites. While I can’t say the situation enrages me, I can say that the icon with the two computers being connected by a glowing cross really cracked me up.
“Here, here” to all the people who said that parents should pay attention to what their kids watch. I can see how my parents probably would have used a site like CAP when I was younger.
If I ever were a parent (god forbid) I don’t know if I would rely on the opinions expressed in these sites, mostly because they seem rather extream.
As a child, I wasn’t allowed to watch The Dukes of Hazzard. Maybe my mom didn’t want me to see rednecks in action?
Can I tell you how much I never want to hear the phrase “Family Values” ever ever ever again? Is your family unit is so fragile that one “jazz hands” sighting on Will & Grace can send the lot of you into divorce, drug abuse, and years of therapy?
PTC - obviously a group for people with no real problems.
Obscene is a matter of opinion. Raunchy? I can’t argue with that. Violent? Its a fucking wrestling show. The difference is the way the violence is portrayed. It isn’t shown in the same vein as someone being attacked in an alleyway, it is shown as almost light-hearted.
Pimp - Godfather (gimmick now gone)
Sex addict - I can’t work this one out, anyone got any ideas?
Porn Star - Val Venis (gimmick now gone)
The characters are gone, so why is the description still up?
They weren’t topless, they just looked it. :rolleyes:
The innuendo is in good humour, and if the children are as innocent as the PTC assumes they are, then they won’t “get” the jokes.
Drug references? I haven’t seen any, so I can’t comment.
I should be able to come up with 1000 wisecracks. But I can’t
Again, its the way they are portrayed. If I was hit over the head with a sledgehammer, I would probably die. It is FICTIONAL, people.
And I suppose kids learned to swear from wrestling, and never said or heard any of these words before, and will never encounter them again?
That’s not the point. If you want to monitor what your children watch on television (and you should), do the monitoring yourself. Going to a website for “tools” doesn’t make you a caring and well-meaning parent, it makes you a lame and lazy parent who cannot think for yourself.
I love the one where they diss action for showing the “underworld” of Hollywood. They then list “homosexuality” ad one of these dark sides of the movie inustry.
:rolleyes:
I have actually always found American TV too timid and boring untill I found that site. Suddenly all those lame shows seem risqué! Thanks PTC!
Whilst I agree 100% with the idea that parents should be monitoring their child’s watching habits and am generally opposed to all forms of censorship*, I will point out to folks that these days many children have TVs in their bedrooms. It’s not always that easy for parents to check their viewing habits.
In the UK we have what is known as the “watershed” at 9pm, before which many things cannot be shown on TV. Generally, the later it gets after that, the more you can show. I 'preciate that time zones being what they are, this would be a bit tougher for y’all in the US though.
The PTC’s choice of “harmful” shows seems laughable though. Many of those programs are shown quite happily at 6pm or 7pm over here with barely a whisper of discontent.
pan
[sub]*Within limits. Non-harmful activities. I’m certainly not advocating the legalisation of child porn or anything here[/sub]
They could take the TV out of the child’s bedroom. If you don’t want your kids watching stuff they aren’t allowed to, don’t buy them a television and put it where they can watch it while you can’t.
Of course Phil - but it’s not always as easy as that, is it? Especially when the child has got used to having a TV in his or her room. In that case, removing the TV will be interpreted, rightly, as a lack of trust and that is a dangerous road.
Furthermore many children will want (need?) a TV in their room in order to play on their Sega or Nintendo.
It is with trepidation that I accuse you of being overly simplistic. But I’m accusing ya nonetheless.
Aw, baloney. Since when does a parent have the obligation to sit through every TV show/movie/CD/video game in order to make a responsible determination of whether that particular example of media is appropriate for his or her kids? Every “caring and well-meaning” parent is (I hope) reading movie reviews, checking TV shows on the Web, discussing with other like-minded parents, and basically collecting information with which to make an informed judgment. Should this include viewing the item first-hand? Ideally, yes. But who has time to watch every single show and go to every single movie, especially people who have kids, especially people who have little kids? Turning to other sources for information doesn’t make you “lame and lazy;” parking your kids on the couch without knowing or caring what they’re watching makes you “lame and lazy.”