This warning is given before a program that may have adult or offensive content. But it’s a bit odd. I already have discretion as a viewer: it’s called the remote. Don’t like the show, CLICK, goodbye.
Shouldn’t the warning be “Parental discretion is advised”.
It’s not like they’re going to say “You really shouldn’t watch this…”, and they’re not going to use “parental discretion” on a viewer who’s an adult.
my verbal response is
“Why do you think I’m watching this show?”
It’s a warning to keep your smelling salts handy.
Yeah, you have the remote. The show is warning you ahead of time that if you’ve decided you never want to watch something with violence and sexy situations, use the remote now. They’d get a million letters from disgusted old grandmas if they removed that warning, because they weren’t warned ahead of time that they should change the channel.
Or if you’ve got a family that gets together to watch their usual show, and this is The Very Special Episode when the dog gets hit by a car, you might want to give it a miss and tell the kids there was a ball game that pre-empted it.
I think it’s fine the way it is. Yes, I can always change the channel, but by then I’d have already seen the upsetting content.
I think the “parental discretion” bit is implied.
I really dislike gory stuff, so a warning like this or an R-rating on a movie lets me know that I should maybe look into whether the warning/rating is because of explicit gore. I’m not offended by it, but I really don’t want to see it.* Dismemberment is especially upsetting to me. (I think I may have some some sort of minor phobia.)
But what if you’re not a parent?
Seriously, enjoy the warm weather and crack open a beer. With these last couple threads it looks like you’re itching for something to be pissed off about. I do the same thing when my local grocery feels the need to rearrange their shelves approximately every 2.5 weeks, and I drive my wife crazy with my mad man ranting. While I can’t quite comprehend the reason for my grocery store to do that, other than to drive me personally nuts, the “viewer discretion” thing is quite obvious. It’s like a “NSFW” comment before a link. It lets you know ahead of time that sensitive content may be coming up and if you’re one to shy away from such things, change the channel now, rather than when that sudden image of a brain-splattered soldier appears on the TV and it’s too late to unerase the memory.
Because then you have to hunt through every shelf looking for where they put the damn blackstrap this time and then you see the almond paste which you don’t need but those dutch letters Marjorie brought to the christmas party were so good and you don’t have any plans for Saturday… and before you know it, you came in for butter, molasses and a loaf of bread and you leave with 150 dollars worth of stuff. The majority of which you’ll find buried in the back of the cupboard a month later and go, “pickled pigs foot? Was I shopping drunk?”
Or maybe that’s just me.
No, that was always my sneaking suspicion–that they’re making me go look through a bunch more crap in the hope that in my search for my usual item I come across some impulse buys. But, seriously, it quite literally is about every three months where they change the location of something I regularly buy in the store. Just yesterday they moved my celeariac/ginger/yucca/oddball root vegetable section about twenty feet east of where it’s supposed to be. Grrr…
I’m reminded of a sign I saw posted at the entrance to a clothing-optional beach, which said “Mature behavior required.”
Of course, I understood that to be a euphemism that really meant “Mature behavior prohibited.” 
A phobia is an irrational fear of something not actually dangerous, e.g. black cats. Being afraid of becoming crippled sounds like common sense, not phobia.
Watching a movie about dismemberment is, in fact, not actually dangerous, so I think that qualifies.
No, because there are adults without kids who still do not want to watch violent or sexual stuff, or salty language. May seem strange to you or me, but they are out there.