Where’s the Line?
Too much?
During this week’s episode of “Slim Jackson scolds RCLS”, an event where he berates my self esteem and criticizes my work to no end, he managed to take 5 minutes out of his day to inquire about how I spent my past weekend, my TV viewing in particular:
Slim: By the way Darkness, did you catch Family Guy or The Cleveland Show this weeked?
DarknessRCLS: Nah boss, actually ordered WWE Elimination Chamber on PPV. I would have booked a few of the matches differently, but overall not a bad event. Best in a while.
Slim: Charming. Anywhoo…you should check them out on Hulu. I think they’re pretty funny and might be some good post material. Actually, I think it is post material. Do a post on it. Word. Pause.
RCLS: ::Puts his idea back on shelf:: Ok, great. Sooo, can I log in and type it myself this time, or do you want me to send it to you by overnight courier again?
Slim: Smartass.
As I arrived at the Hulu site to complete my assignment, I was drawn to an ad for a show called “The Secret Life of The American Teenager.” What really caught my attention was the big ass baby being held by one of the teenagers in the ad. Normally one would assume it was her younger brother but you could infer from the “Secret Life” portion of the title that this infant was her offspring. I indulged my curiosity and was further alarmed when I learned this show airs on ABC Family. Just as I had suspected, the show boasted a cast of teenagers involved in adult situations, largely centered around this teen mother and her friends. Within five minutes, I’d witnessed a girl admitting to her boyfriend that she slept with his best friend to get back at him, and another girl trying to figure out if she should keep giving up the goods to her baby daddy, or let someone else play step pappy. Obviously many of the themes depicted on television are not the media’s projection of society, but just a reflection. No one is naive about the fact that teenage girls get pregnant, but including these types of themes in television shows seemingly makes this acceptable as a norm as opposed to something to be discouraged. I’m not knocking teens that find themselves in this predicament, but at the same time, this is not something I would want presented to my child as the norm.
I didn’t even bother to check out the Family Guy and Cleveland Show because I could only imagine what type of slackness they came up with this week. Don’t get wrong, I’m a fan of most of the animated sitcoms like Family Guy and the Simpsons. It actually makes up a significant of my TV viewing. I almost died laughing during that one Family Guy episode when they cut away to Bobby and Whitney laying bed asking each other if they wanted to sample some crack rock at the same time. But I also find myself watching these shows saying “Can they say that?” at least once per episode. Now that many of these shows are in syndication, I find myself confronted with this question at a much earlier time during the day, which leads me to wonder how many kids are watching this program, with or without their parents permission and supervision.
I have absolutely no problem with any of those shows, and like I said I watch most of them, but I often wonder if pushing the envelope that far on network television is really necessary. You can’t raise kids in a bubble, and inevitably they may find themselves in many of these predicaments. This may be suitable content for you and I, but for the kids that (unfortunately) shape their view of the world based on the images on television, this can be potentially damaging. Or maybe I’m just salty because I know Mama Steele would never let me watch anything of the sort when I was a youth. Am I buggin’ here or is TV the devil attempting to corrupt our society? Or perhaps it’s acting as a huge mirror reflecting our piss poor behavior back to us. What do you think?
Lookin’ for my effin remote,
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I definitely think parents should think hard about what they let their children watch. When I was growing up, my parents were bizarrely strict about what we could watch on television. The A-Team, McGyver, Miami Vice were strictly forbidden in our house and to this day I’ve never seen an episode of any of them. We were however allowed to watch Dallas, Falcon Crest and that kind of stuff…is it any wonder I grew up to be the kind of girl who blogs about secks on a daily basis?
Anyway, weird though they may have been, those restrictions definitely had an effect on me as an adult. I have a sensitivity to violent imagery that many people who grew up watching violence on TV don’t have.
Ultimately it’s inevitable that we will become desensitized to the things we see regularly; so I think everyone should be at least a little cognizant of what they’re watching since it may end up affecting your outlook on life.
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Todays television is purely entertainment and drama, there’s nothing remotely educational on – sad cos I fear to think what my kids (when I do have them) would watch. I might have to resort to making my own shows or something lol. Funny enough, I just recently got hooked on mtv’s “teen mom”, which i believe secret life might be a spin off of. I still haven’t quite figured out why that show intrigues me so, but i think it might be a mixture of pure awe (on my part), throw in a healthy dose of reality and …..oh well! Its sad though because kids are going to watch that show and think its “cool” and perhaps if they get pregnant, they might end up on MTV…
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CHeeKZ Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 9:43 am
Aren’t we assuming the the overall influence on the show encourages teen mom? Couldn’t the opposite be true, in actuality a show like Teen Mom helps lower the teen pregnancy rate? I’m sure someone like Dr Drew (who seems to be an expert in every Vice known to man) would monitor all the surveys and pregger rates.
As a liberal I believe that showing kids the truth or reality helps them from making mistakes. That WASP attitude of shielding our children was been proven to be uneffective.
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I don’t know how I feel about TV. After watching it loyally for a few years in HS, I get to college and I’m not so attracted to it
unless it’s to catch Bad Girls Club. I actually hate that show but I dunno.. can’t get away.The messages from TV are getting worse and worse. My girls and I were really discussing how Family Guy had the episode where they made fun of Sarah Palin’s mentally retarded daughter and just how much
bullshitstuff Family Guy gets away with. Then it led to the discussion of what SOUTH PARK gets away with. Now any show that can make Cripples fight, make fun of Jews (CONSTANTLY) and Jesus Jokes, takes it wayyyyy too far. But sadly I find myself giggling at this shit.I dunno how I feel about exposing my [future] kids to the television.. And the internet is SOO off limits. No you will not be able to catch a repeat of the show online. I’ll put my kids out with the public first before they see these TV shows. But the time I’m ready to pop these bad boys out, I don’t know what America will have on the idiot box. I’m not trying to take risks.
No I don’t wanna shelter my kids,
Sue
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nyhoop Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 11:12 am
I LOVE South Park! I enjoy comedy that is satire, and culturally relevant. Sure, some is risque; however, every episode I catch is usually a parody of what is going on in the world today, unlike Family Guy, which just seems like empty humor…
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Kinda random, but has anyone seen the Jesus account on Twitter? Some of the most blasphemous stuff every written…but also the funniest.
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max Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 7:15 am
I keep hearing about it but I’m scared to look at it. I feel like I’ll be struck down the minute the page loads.
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The Honorable Award Winning RightCoastLexSteele, Destined for Greatness Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 9:46 am
SVR1225 is Jesus’ BB pin. Hit him up.
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Seattle Washington Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 11:12 am
People I follow RT him often. I chuckle and then look to the sky to see if death is near.
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Sue Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 11:41 am
I think it’s SOO sad
I SHAN’T follow that person or I’m going to hell..first class. Did you see the background?? “Fuck your sins. I’m getting the hell outta here!” and his picture is “JESUS the Freshmaker”?!? OMG… Someone is going to hell for that :’(
And it sucks cuz the person is so funny.
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CHeeKZ Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
I’m not on twitter.
Which Jesus are you guys talking about?
There is @Jesus and @Jesus_Christ.
I think there might be more. You know I think its funny..
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Sue Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Nah it’s @Jesus_M_Christ… =’(
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RightCoastLex Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
No Jesus H. Christ? What’s the world coming to?
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Sue Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
It’s crazy… I feel like crying.. lol well not really. but have you seen his formspring? http://www.formspring.me/jesusmchrist
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Darkness,
It’s nice to know that I am not the only one taking aim at your self esteem.
However, I do think that TV is doing too much these days. I don’t think ABC Family was a network when we were growing up, but it damn sure wouldn’t have had anything about pregnant pimple faced girls on there. What happened to TGIF-type shows about family values? Now kids are exposed to sex, preggers teens, same-sex action, and violence in ways that we had to stay up after dark to see (that’s if we had cable). Even on the shows that had teenagers on them, it was just different…I know times have changed but, why fix what wasn’t broke?
I miss Family Matters, Full House, Fresh Prince, Boy Meets World, The Wonder Years…there are almost no shows in production like these. http://www.retrojunk.com/tv/list/1990/2/pop/0/1/
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CHeeKZ Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 10:09 am
“I don’t think ABC Family was a network when we were growing up ”
Funny you say that:
It use to be the Family Channel. They were strictly a Christian TV station ran by Pat Robertson (the same guy who said Haiti made a deal with the devil). I think they still run the CBN (the Christian Broadcasting News) in the mornings. But the channel was bought by Disney and they jipped it up to service the teens they were losing…
See Viacom owned Nickelodean and MTV. So when you get too old for one.. you pass to the other. This was Disney’s answer to that.
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You know how if you hold up two mirrors together they keep reflecting and reflecting and reflecting….? I think that’s what going on with a lot of TV shows… a reflection of a reflection.
My parents weren’t that strict when it came to tv, however, what we watched was supervised though. The only televisions in the house were in my parents’ bedroom (and you knew better than to go in there) and in the living room. I was watching R Rated movies with my dad at 7 and I can distinctly remember him telling me what the movie was about and what I would see in the movie before I watched it with him asking a bajillion questions about what so and so meant and why they did what they did, and was what just happened “really for real, daddy?”
Most tv is boring to me now and you’ll either catch me watching cartoons or re-runs of Bones on TNT or DVD. Everything else is either too loud or too “what the hell?!” and I just end up changing the channel anyway.
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My parents never really restricted what we watched but more interested in reading at that age. I think ultimately it’s up to parents to guard their children. Like after 10 ABC family turns raunchy and hopefully kids that are allowed to be up watching TV at 10 are old enough to understand the material and the manner of tv
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The difference between Tv today and the TV of yesteryear was that the good wholesome shows came on regular TV back in the day. Nickelodeon and the regular Disney Channel show some good, wholesome television but that’s about it. Nothing was off limit (save for pron or horror flicks – I used to have ridiculous nightmares) in my house. However, everything was a teaching moment. We knew the difference between fantasy and reality and my parents dared one of us to step over that line.
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Seattle Washington Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Nickelodeon had some wholesome TV shows, but do you remember Ren & Stimpy?! That joint shouldn’t have been on Nick. That show alone explains a lot about our generation.
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nyhoop Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 11:21 am
We knew the difference between fantasy and reality and my parents dared one of us to step over that line.
Same in my house. My mom also never censored the music that my sister and I listened to either (RIP BIG) because she knew that we would not emulate what we saw if it was negative…
I guess it’s twofold -
1. You have to know your kids
2. Becasue everyone doesn’t know their kids, there needs be more of a balance of positive programming
Finally, the explosion of reality tv needs to come to an end. That blurs the line of fantasy/reality and gives kids a false sense of invincibility
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I think the big slant toward reality shows is another reflection of where we’re headed with television programming. Swearing is bleeped out, but some of the stuff is still pretty reckless.
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I think kids have alwways been exposed to slack tv. It’s just more available as technology improves. As always, it’s on the parents to explain certain things to their kids and control that.
These shows do push the envelope HEAVY! Great entertainment…don’t think it’s for kids though, but its on the parents to decide!
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Sue Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 11:42 am
Lionheart? -__-
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The Honorable Award Winning RightCoastLexSteele, Destined for Greatness Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 11:46 am
Jericho? o_O
He owes HBK lunch or something…
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I kind of love “secret life”..its completely ridiculous with the amount time these teens talk about sex on the show…I was definitely talking to my girl about it wondering whether this is what’s really happening in high school. What’s sad is i’m inclined to think that it is especially after hearing my 15 year old cousin talking about “loosing it” (v-card) this year real non chalant like. Teen mom and 16 and Pregnant on MTV I think aren’t that bad, I hope that some kids watching the havoc that’s wreaked on the teen’s lives will stop some of them from wanting to follow in their footsteps. I also kind of like those shows because they put the white folk bidness on blast..black girls aren’t the only ones getting pregnant..and in fact none of the girls on 16 and pregnant are of the minority persuasion. Between teen mom, 16 and pregnant and jersey shore..MTV is airing all white folks bidness..but I digress.
Family Guy and Sout Park I think cross the line daily..but that’s the point isn’t it. And I often wonder if we aren’t better for them crossing the line. I’m tired of people being so damn offended by every little thing..maybe we need the line crossing shows to move us past getting upset at any little slight.
Lastly, My (future) kids will be watching nickelodeon, disney channel (phineaus and ferb is hilarious), noggin and all that until they can afford to pay comcast.
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My parents had a no-holds barred way of teaching me. They exposed me to everything. I was watching rated R movies with them when I wasn’t old enough to understand why that man was laying on top of that woman for so long. And why it game me a tingling in my pants. …I sure figured it out pretty quick after watching those movies though.
I turned out OK. I think. I hope. I don’t think I’ll do that to my kids, I could’ve gone without seeing a few horror movies in my childhood. Kids don’t need to know certain things. Innocence goes a long way.
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i just want to say that episode of family was hilarious. yeah the push the envelope every episode and go in on everybody. i can’t even get mad because they don’t discriminate. everyone can get it. blacks, whites, jews, handicapped, celebrities, muslims, etc.
this particular episode they went in on the girl pictured above. she had down syndrome. after the stewie’s song i thought surely their show would get cancelled. of course next week they’ll be back with a more offensive show. *shrug*
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I am a fan of Family Guy/The Cleveland Show because of how far they go. And they do it in a hilarious way, which is key. They’re equal opportunity roasting and I love ‘em for it. Oh, and in terms of the Down Syndrome episode (I didn’t get to see it yet) did ya’ll see the response to Sarah Palin’s criticism from the actress that played the character? (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/18/family-guy-actress-respon_n_468331.html) It was…effing AWESOME.
As far as kids watching these types of shows, I must admit, I DO get a little tense when my little cousin (who is
watches it. Sometimes, my sister and I are in the room watching Family Guy and we start bustin’ up laughin’ at some joke and then SHE starts bustin’ up laughin’ (cuz we’re laughin’) and then my sister and my laughter turns into more nervous laughter. We tell her, “Girl you should not be watchin’ this…you have no idea what they’re talmbout, but you should not be watchin’! I’mma get yo Mama”. It’s such a weird dynamic because it IS animation (though I don’t believe it is a medium just for kids), kids associate any animation as THEIR show. They like the colors and sh*t. Too bad the material is much too “colorful” for their innocent little heads. lol
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Tunde Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
“did ya’ll see the response to Sarah Palin’s criticism from the actress that played the character? (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/18/family-guy-actress-respon_n_468331.html) It was…effing AWESOME.”
yes it was. lol
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RightCoastLex Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
That was a good burn…
Keep suckin’ it Sarah P.!
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/264042/february-08-2010/sarah-palin-uses-a-hand-o-prompter
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There is no longer any line, hence why my kids will not be allowed to watch tv until myself or my future wife is home. All TV does is PROGRAM the society in which they BROADCAST to, hence those w/a higher attention span are more likely to absorb their bs. Think about it like this: most shows are called TV Programs or Broadcast correct; now what is a program?
PROGRAM = a planned, coordinated group of activities, procedures, etc., often for a specific purpose, or a facility offering such a series of activities: a drug rehabilitation program; a television program.
BROADCAST = to cast or scatter abroad over an area, as seed in sowing.
So I now ask you, what has TV done to you and what will it do to your future children? Well for one, the shows you watch were most likely planned for a specific purpose (make you live,react certain ways in certain situations, etc.) and scattered abroad over an area which was sewed in your brains (planted) and all the millions and millions of Rock fans across the world (lol, had to throw that reference in)
But hey, I could be wrong about all of the above but that’s just my 2 cents.
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And to add on to the f*ckery…
http://www.aolnews.com/entertainment/article/bristol-palin-to-appear-as-herself-on-abc-family-drama/19370574?icid=main|aim|dl4|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fentertainment%2Farticle%2Fbristol-palin-to-appear-as-herself-on-abc-family-drama%2F19370574
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I was talking to my daughter’s father the other day, and he was telling me that he was going through his other daughter’s text messages and she was telling some young man how “sexy” she was looking that day… she is 14. He then took a good look at what she was wearing, and what was on the TV and on her computer, and was shocked that the show she was watching at the moment had the exact same themes going on that you mention. He said one show had two young guys kissing and some other things that he was not ready to deal with and discuss. The “reality shows” and all the other scripted shows today are way out of control. It always has been and always will be parent’s job to filter the BS that is fed to their children and set and make clear their expectations regardless of what those other folks on TV are doing.
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I like most of the shows everyone has mentioned. I think they’re hilarious. But I’m grown and also miss wholsome tv from way back when. When I was growing up my tv watching was censored. I couldn’t watch Martin, in living color, 90210, arsenio hall or any o that stuff. I remember I used to sneak to watch them so I could talk abt them with friends in the lunchroom.
My future kids won’t watch half the junk on tv. I think they’ll be watching the DVDs of the Cosby show, family matters, a diff world, the electric company etc… I know u can’t censor them forever but at least until they get to jhs
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RightCoastLex Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Oddly enough, if Martin and In Living Color were offered up today as new programming, parents like the ones we grew up with would be fine w/ it as opposed to shows like Family Guy and Chapelle Show.
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My kids watch only DVD, however I know I can’t control that forever. I wish the TV shows now would be the same as we were kids.
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