John “On The Spot”: Response to Cape May Herald “Smutty Network TV Getting Worse”

Ten years ago, the Parent’s Television Council published a top 10 best and worst list of TV programs.
“We had to discontinue that publication because we couldn’t find 10 shows that we felt 100 percent comfortable recommending to parents for family viewing,” said Henson.

The Parent’s Television Council, the one group in American that is leading an anti-porn movement, hates free speech, and has help levy a record amount of FCC fines against networks for what they consider “lewd content”. Meanwhile, I don’t remember anyone voting that association to be the official police of what we can and can not watch on television. You know what they are working on now? They want to make it so websites like Youtube are censored! Why?  It’s already pretty much without any kind of good boobage, but now they want to censor lyrics in songs that are featured on the popular site.  These people should live in Iran or Russia for a couple of years and see how much the people there LOVE to be censored every day.

I researched what was on prime time network television in 1986, in particular for family-friendly shows. I found the “Disney Sunday Movie,” “ALF,” “Newhart,” “Growing Pains,” “Matlock,” “Highway to Heaven,” “The Cosby Show,” “Family Ties,” “Webster,” “Mr. Belvedere,” “Life with Lucy,” “The A Team” and “Amen.”
In 1990, programming was becoming more adult with “Married With Children,” “In Living Color,” “Murphy Brown,” “Roseanne,” “LA Law,” “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Dallas” yet the schedule was rounded out with “Full House,” “Family Matters,” the “Cosby Show,” “Growing Pains,” “Father Dowling Mysteries,” “Head of the Class,” the “Wonder Years,” “Major Dad,” “America’s Funniest People” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”
By 1996, the network schedules included the more adult-themed “3rd Rock From the Sun,” “Cybil,” “NYPD Blue,” “Frasier,” “Men Behaving Badly” and “Ellen” but the schedule was tempered by family friendly shows such as “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Family Matters,” “Star Trek Voyager,” “The Nanny,” “Home Improvement,” “Touched by an Angel,” and “Cosby.”
Fast forward to the 2012 network schedules. What’s adult themed? How about “Big Bang Theory,” “Two and Half Men,” “30 Rock,” “Cougar Town,” “Rule of Engagement,” “Grimm,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Family Guy,” “American Dad,” the “Cleveland Show,” “Bachelor,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “2 Broke Girls,” “Glee,” “Body of Proof,” “NCIS,” “Parenthood,” “Happy Endings,” “Person of Interest,” “Vampire Diaries,” “Whitney,” “New Girl,” “The Office,” “Are You There Chelsea,” “Gray’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice.” What family friend programs are balancing that line up: “The Middle,” “Who Do You Think You Are,” “America’s Got Talent,” “Undercover Boss” and “America’s Funniest Videos.”

This guy must have had a TIME with all these apostrophes and commas….oh dear lord. Ohhh man, In Living Color was an AWESOME show!