Posted on 03/04/2013 8:22:32 AM PST by SeekAndFind
If you stopped watching network television awhile ago because it had gotten so bad, you made the correct decision. It has continued to get worse. A few years ago, network television became dominated by cheaply made reality TV shows and talent contests, sitcoms with hyperactive manic characters, and socially liberal themes. Television has always pushed the edge when it comes to socially progressive themes. But at what point does it go too far? Perhaps when there are no other options left during prime time network TV.
The top ten most popular TV shows last fall contained few choices for traditional conservatives, unless they enjoy watching football. The first, fourth and tenth most popular shows were Sunday Night Football, Sunday Night Pre-Kick and The OT (NFL wrap-up) respectively.
The second most popular TV show last fall was Modern Family, which features the lives of three families, including two gay men and their daughter. There is profanity and one episode implied that teenage sex was appropriate. The Big Bang Theory was the third most popular show last fall. The plot is based on the lives of some nerdy guys and a beautiful woman who tries to teach them social skills. It features frequent discussions about sex including masturbation, and is sprinkled with profanity.
The fourth and ninth most popular show was a pseudo-reality voice talent show, The Voice. It features various musical artists as judges, some who are quite trashy. The sixth most popular program, the medical show Grey's Anatomy, features a lesbian character, profanity and plenty of extramarital sex.
NCIS, which stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Service, was the seventh most popular show. It is a drama about investigating crime, and at first glance would seem to be an educational show for those considering a profession in law enforcement. Unfortunately, it contains profanity, plenty of sexual hookups and frequent discussion of kinky sexual fetishes. The Family Guy is an animated show that ranked as eighth most popular. It contains plenty of profanity. One of the children has an ambiguous sexual orientation, and a family neighbor is a sex-crazed bachelor.
The Parents Television Council (PTV) gives The Family Guy, The Big Bang Theory, NCIS, and Gray's Anatomy their most serious rating of red, completely unsuitable for children. Modern Family is rated yellow, which may be inappropriate for children. These are just the current crop of popular TV shows; and likely not even the worst within the last 20 or so years. The profane words have become harsher in recent years, and the greatest increase in the use of them has been during the 8 p.m. Eastern “family hour” slot. PTV found that profanity on broadcast television increased 69 percent between 2005 and 2010.
Whether one has a problem with gay sexual orientation or not, why does sex and profanity need to be a theme in so many shows? TV shows with adult themes used to be accessible only on cable television or outside of primetime hours. Now, with the exception of sports shows, it is impossible to sit down with children and watch one of the top ten television shows on network TV without exposing them to sex and profanity. Many adults find the prevalence of sex and profanity offensive. Polls repeatedly show that more than half the population would like stricter controls over the profanity and sex in broadcast television. A significant segment of the population does not want to watch shows laden with gratuitous sex and profanity every evening. As a result, network viewership continues to drop every year. Last fall, ABC, Fox, CBS and NBC combined for a 9 percent drop in viewers in the coveted 18-to-49 age bracket.
The reason there is a disconnect between what people want to watch, and what gets shown, is because wealthy liberal Hollywood elites who produce the shows get to call the shots. The viewers never get an honest choice, because the money is all dumped into the elites' ideal shows, giving them a huge advantage through advertising, prime time slots, top actors and extra bells and whistles. Most television viewers have never heard of the relatively new show Flashpoint, for example, because it was only carried by limited stations in the late evening. Featuring the members of a highly skilled law enforcement team, it portrayed serious drama that touched upon politically incorrect subjects such as mothers kidnapping their children and Islamic terrorism.
There needs to be more shows during primetime like Flashpoint and V, the science fiction series, which was good, clean, scary alien fun. Or shows like Seinfeld, which poked fun at controversial or taboo subjects instead of taking a position on them. While the influx of musical talent competitions has brought with it some cleaner material, there is no trained acting, it is merely a step above cheaply produced reality shows. Viewers are finally tiring of American Idol.
Until network TV starts reflecting a broader diversity of content, people are going to continue migrating to Facebook and Netflix instead, where they can choose their content. Add in the constant commercials on network TV, and it's a no-brainer for viewers to make the move away from network TV. If wealthy TV producers want to remain wealthy, they had better start creating shows for those of us who don't enjoy gratuitous sex and profanity in our living rooms every evening.
Try Last Man Standing starring Tim Allen. We watch it on Hulu as we haven’t owned an actual television in 20 years.
We also watch Falling Skies and Revolution with our teens. Falling Skies is pretty darn good, Revolution is just barely an also ran. Once Upon A Time is also okay.
Castle is by far and away our family fave and he is smart loving Dad.
EXACTLY what I told my wife...either that or the producer's niece.
I turn the same sex couples off immediately!
Mainly I only turn on the tv when I go to bed at night—and seldom stay awake for one show—LOL!
We did watch a couple of very interesting series we found on Netflex, tho. They were : “Broyles War” and “Downton Abbey”. I highly recommend them.
“Broyles War” was my favorite. It’s about the Superintendent of the London Police Force when the war broke out. Very realistic, with outstanding photography.
“Downton Abbey” is beautifully filmed in England, and it’s about a very wealthy family with all their trials and tribulations, in the era of the 1850’s.
There’s another one we found to be really funny, although we had to get it on a disc, and that is “Bernie” with Shirley McClain and a guy I never had heard of by the name of Jack Black.
It was filmed in my part of the Piney Woods in East Texas. Some very good acting, plus it is just darned funny!
I turn the same sex couples off immediately!
Mainly I only turn on the tv when I go to bed at night—and seldom stay awake for one show—LOL!
We did watch a couple of very interesting series we found on Netflex, tho. They were : “Broyles War” and “Downton Abbey”. I highly recommend them.
“Broyles War” was my favorite. It’s about the Superintendent of the London Police Force when the war broke out. Very realistic, with outstanding photography.
“Downton Abbey” is beautifully filmed in England, and it’s about a very wealthy family with all their trials and tribulations, in the era of the 1850’s.
There’s another one we found to be really funny, although we had to get it on a disc, and that is “Bernie” with Shirley McClain and a guy I never had heard of by the name of Jack Black.
It was filmed in my part of the Piney Woods in East Texas. Some very good acting, plus it is just darned funny!
Just saw a commercial for a “reality” show called “Preachers’ Daughters.” It appeared to be about pastors with daughters who act like whores. Just what America needs.
Every now and then, ABC has a good concept for a new series. But gAyBC is now turning nearly every show into a homo-promo. I refuse to watch them.
RE: Just saw a commercial for a “reality” show called “Preachers’ Daughters.” It appeared to be about pastors with daughters who act like whores. Just what America needs.
If you saw the old movie — ELMER GANTRY ( which won Burt Lancaster the Oscar for playing a hypocritical, boozing preacher ), Shirley Jones ( who used to be clean and wholesome as a whistle until then ) played a similar role.
Thrones starts Mar 31st. Do you know when Empire comes back?
Even though its been 60-odd years ago, “I Love Lucy” is still one of the best shows ever to grace the small screen. The cast were all genuinely funny, the writing was great, and they didn’t feek the need for the cheap laugh so prevelant in today’s cesspool of what passes for tv. There may have been a handfull of instances where a sexually suggestive line was used but that was the exception rather than the rule. That show couldn’t be made today unless the totally screwed it up. The “Dick van Dyke” show is another example. Truly funny characters that had no need for the cheap joke. There are others from that era that is far more watchable than any of today’s drek. Today, it’s a grave yard of unwatchable tv. There are some good ones but you have to wade through the trash to get to them. I’ve not seen “Blue Bloods” but I feel it’s a good show. Personally, I don’t have the time to waste on stuff like “Two Broke Girls”, :The Big Bang Theory”, and “How I Met Your Mother”. That’s time you never get back. give me a good “Twilight Zone” or “Star Trek” any day.
paraphrasing... There’s a tribe in Papua New Guinea where if a hunter flaunts his prowess, they kill him and make a drum out of his skin to drive away evil spirits. Superstitious nonsense of course, but one can see their point.
1. Top Gear (UK version only)
2. Deadliest Catch
3. The Mentalist
4. Sports
Otherwise, it’s Netflix or my DVD player.
I agree.
Or at least a heavy drinker. I've gotten the impression he was more a stereotypical Texas redneck than anything else. And while he is deceased, it appears it was only shortly before the show began, since Sheldon's sister visited with legal paperwork to do with his estate. So he died when Sheldon was an adult, which is nothing unusual for any family.
Sheldon's mother is a Christian, and despite her occasional eccentricities, she is portrayed as a voice of reason—she's the "nuclear option" that Sheldon's friends will fly in to talk him out of something really stupid. In other words, Sheldon's family is not dysfunctional. He's the odd one.
Leonard’s father has been mentioned, as a plotline in an earlier season was his mother telling him that they were getting divorced.
Leonard's family are all highly motivated academics; their dysfunction is played up for laughs.
I always got the impression Howard’s dad was deceased and Penny’s dad was on a couple episodes, and he’s portrayed as a common sense country boy.
Howard's dad actually left. Apart from that, his mother is an over-the-top stereotypical Jewish mother; again, their relationship is played for laughs. And, as you point out, Penny's dad is a regular good ol' boy, and Penny is just a girl from the Corn Belt trying to make it in California.
I find it hard to maintain an argument that The Big Bang Theory is part of a broader agenda to normalize non-traditional families. It's a program about socially awkward nerds. Everyone's an exaggerated oddball.
I can honestly say that I haven’t watched any of those, except for an episode of Grey’s Anatomy (because my wife liked it...).
I watch Househunter International and couple of cooking shows. Mostly I read books.
Television is very bad these days, but it has never been all that great.
Nope. It's a guilty pleasure.
There are times when Parker and Stone are so offensive that it's embarrassing to be watching the show even in private. (I'm thinking, for example, of that Virgin Mary episode from a few years back—and I'm no Roman Catholic, either.) Other times they'll aim some stupid modern folly, and hit it right out of the park.
I am proud to state that, other than the football game, I have never watched any of the other 29 shows...
...your post caused me to look back at the list, and I’m equally proud to say I’ve never tuned in to them either...
...though I will say that the female lead in New Girl, (her name escapes me) is stunningly beautiful...
Newton Minnow ( FCC Chairman) was right when he called TV “ a vast wasteland! that was back in 1961!
...how’d you like to go through life with a name like Newt Minnow...
I immediately got hooked with the John Bates character and I only finished the first season. I guess they say that if you can get viewers to care about your characters, you have a winner...:)
Agreed. Funny you mention “I Love Lucy”...I watched an old episode online last month, and it was titled “Lucy Tells The Truth” where they all bet her she can’t go a day without telling a fib.
She is outraged and immediately accepts the bet, but when she learns the day will span her bridge club meeting, she says (Because there is no way she could sit with those three women and speak her mind) “I’ll just tell them I can’t make it because I’m not feeling well...”
Brilliant stuff!
Don’t get the attraction of Two Broke Girls. Absolutely terrible. Well, okay, there are two attractions and they are both on the brunette’s chest. Can’t sit through 2 minutes of it...at all!
Other than Gold Rush, Bering Sea Gold, reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond and King of Queens and The Amazing Race. PLUS: The Big Bang Theory, The Middle, Modern Family and Suburgatory. That’s all I watch.
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