Cleavers to Lohans: The Downhill Slide of the American TV Family

Pajamas Media ^ | June 2, 2008 | Katherine Berry

[am452]

later read.

[RexBeach]

I was watching the tube last night around 6:30PM when a commercial came on featuring Playtex bras.

One very well-endowed black woman appeared in the first shot wearing just the bra and exclaims “I’ve always thought of myself as ‘stacked!’”. Holy cow. 6:30 PM!

Whatever happened to the so-called “family hour” on network TV?

Dead and gone, it appears.

[netmilsmom]

This is why we don’t watch locals. Period.

DVDs after 8:00.

[Malacoda]

After reading this, I think I can see why so many of my students and peers think I am a dinosaur.

No wonder our culture is in the sewer.

[Darren McCarty]

What's on TV isn't normal. What's on TV is out of the ordinary. That's why it is on TV and not our daily lives. We're too boring for TV, and that's fine by me.

Shows like this which I have no intention of watching, are popular with some people who can laugh at them and tell themselves - at least we aren't these people. I call it the Jerry Springer and Maury Povich effect. Shock Value.

I'll skip them all and stick to sports.

[fwdude]

With the upcoming switch to digital airwaves (I use aerial, won't pay for trash), I've been considering ditching the t.v. altogether, as I cannot find ONE show worth watching, and news can be had from other sources. Don't think I will miss it one bit, and the time I'll save will be well worth the "sacrifice."

I know people who are absolutely addicted to television - it is truly scary the hold it has on so many people.

[captjanaway]

It was Shirley Partridge, not Susan - just a minor uh-oh.

Reality TV is absolutely pathetic. While flipping channels (500 of them and nothing to watch), I came across Gene Simmons Family Jewels. It was everything you’d expect from Simmons and I turned the channel never to return.

Most of those who get “reality” shows are washed up celebs who wouldn’t get face time otherewise. Do we REALLY care what Denise Richards is doing? Do most of us even KNOW who she is? And the Lohans? May as well give a reality show to the Spears family......

[captjanaway]

The only “reality” show worth watching is Cops......

[MinuteGal]

I was surfing last night in prime time. I got to A & E right as a sex scene was in full play. Two clothed unmarried individuals in bed, he on top, simulating full-blown intercourse just as blatantly and openly as you please. When they were done, he adjusted the nether region of his pants and sprawled on the bed while she made the obligatory trip to the washroom.

All that was missing were the cigarettes.

Leni

[Rummyfan]

With parents like Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen, those kids have a strike against them already. At least they won’t suffer materially.

[4yearlurker]

Yesterday,my wife and I were watching the boob tube flipping the channels and came across a show with hairdressers. One guy was talking and introduced his HUSBAND! We looked at each other and made a dour face. We turned the TV off right then and there.

[NavyCanDo]

I hate what TV has turned into. I will never watch a reality TV show. I will not lower myself or my family to the level of reality TV show junkies. These shows are what I would call the modern day freak shows. Its all about getting your kicks off of watching someone else's humiliation.
This downfall began with cable, slowly at first, but it really started to sink fast in the mid 1990’s with Bill Clinton's V-Chip. The thought around that chip was to give parents a means of blocking out undesirable programing, BUT like with any Government Idea, it has a bad flip-side, soooooo with that channel blocking ability the green light was given to flood TV with more smut, sleaze, and garbage.
And how many parents know who to use the V-Chip? Or they have got caught up in some of the garbage, so are not blocking channels.

We have satellite, with a multitude of channels, but I swear there was more to watch back when we had on 6 or 7 channels, and every house had a TV aerial on the roof.
Thank God that more and more of the TV shows from the 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s are showing up on DVD in series sets. Several of my favorite series now line my walls of my media storage room.

[Little Ray]

One of the more annoying things about TV is the “Smart Kids, Stupid Adults” genre shows. My daughters (ages 6 and *) occasionally get the wrong idea about who is smarter and who is in charge... This is one of the reasons that, until recently, they didn’t get to watch very much TV.

Disney is one of the worst offenders here.

[ravingnutter]

I was shocked to see the commercials for the new sitcom coming out called “Swingtown”. On CBS no less. Are they trying to normalize swinging now? Yikes!

[IYAS9YAS]

Holy cow. 6:30 PM!

Whatever happened to the so-called “family hour” on network TV?

I called one of the local channels in Albuquerque one day because for the 5:00 PM news slot, they had an entirely inappropriate add for a nightclub, complete with bumping, grinding, and skimpy outfits... My four-year-old son asked why the girl was shaking her boobs.

I called to tell them the add would be more appropriate for their 10:00 PM slot, and that we'd be seeking a different channel from which to get our news. Message must have gotten through, they stopped abruptly.

Of course, when the ABQ news alls starts with the murder/shooting/drug bust/sexual predator/drunk driver/corrupt local politician of the day (and it is daily here), maybe the news is now considered adult programming...

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

We grew up thinking of June Cleaver, and later Carol Brady, as substitute mothers: women like our own moms, but just a bit more patient, a bit more understanding.

We did?

Sorry, some of us lived on planet Reality rather then TV land.

Neither June nor Carol could touch my mom and if you grew up thinking actresses were better then yours there was something severely wrong in your home.

[Rev. MC Hatchet]

I wish I could find enjoyment in sports the way I used to. These days, athletes are a bunch of pampered, drug using thugs who cover their bodies with tattoos and will all but tell you it’s not cheating if you don’t get caught. How I long for the days of Larry Bird, Dr. J, Reggie White, Dale Murphy, and the like.

[gjones77]

I didn’t even know all that trash was on TV, then again I usually watch The History Channel or The Golf Channel.

And as for the athletes, again, get your kids into golf, they’re not perfect, but they are far better role models.

Who would you rather your kid admire, Tiger Woods or Ray Lewiss?