As this year's fall TV season begins, a conservative advocacy group maintains that broadcast networks are determined to deluge families with increased graphic and unwarranted content during primetime.
The pilot episode of the CW's Emily Owens, M.D., set to debut this month, features one female character calling another character in the show an offensive term. The fall season will see a flood of shows that glamorize serial killers, including NBC's Hannibal, based off the famed cannibal in Silence of the Lambs, and Fox's The Following, which features an FBI agent who teams up with a serial killer to solve crimes.
Melissa Henson, director of communications for the Parents Television Council (PTC), says such material has become par for the course.
"What we have seen over the past several years, this progression toward more and more offensive content on the … broadcast networks during the primetime viewing hours, and I think the networks have gotten bolder and bolder in pushing the offensive content out there," she submits.
Henson relates with parents who often feel waged in a battle against popular culture.
"You've got a multi-billion dollar a year industry telling your kids that this is what cool looks like, and this is what you have to watch to fit in, and this is how you have to behave to fit in. And you have Mom and Dad constantly saying, No -- don't watch that; don't behave that way; don't dress that way," she offers. "And to the kid, who is being influenced by a multi-billion dollar media campaign, Mom and Dad seem like the bad guys."
The PTC communications director adds that parents who want to avoid such shows have an inadequate rating system to rely upon. In her group's recent study of the TV rating system, researchers found that ratings often fail to reflect the type or amount of adult-themed content within the shows; and programs were frequently underrated, exposing children to explicit content without warning.