Yes! Parents TV Council targets CW's "Supernatural"

[Dorian Thompson]

Good look on the Petrellicest. The damned Heroes' writers seemed determined to keep Nathan and Peter apart. Have they learned nothing from last year? They've got a major boner for Peter and they ignore the far hotter Nathan.

Cracky, Spiff? That's a new one. Sam shot the nice lady in the head after they had sex and the Parents Television Council didn't even notice. No fair.

 

[Othello]

I don't see why anyone has a problem with their review.
Their objective was to classify television programs and inform parents about shows that are appropriate/inappropriate for children.
I kind of agree that young children shouldn't watch the show.

They aren't saying that adults should be ashamed of loving the show.
As far as I can see, they haven't launched any campaigns against Supernatural.

What's the issue here?

I don't have a problem with the reviews generally. What I do have a problem is they have been guilty of lying about programs, and trying to get them thrown off the air. Give parents all the guidelines you want but don't try and get stuff thrown off the air. Instead I would liketo se tem in how to educate parent in uing blocking tools and such.

 

[Sheep]

^Meh, I still think broadcast television should serve the public interest, but then I'm British.

How does Top Gear or Coupling serve the public interest?

As for the PTC, they have about as much influence as a grain of sand in an ocean of water.

 

[Hermiod]

^Meh, I still think broadcast television should serve the public interest, but then I'm British.

How does Top Gear or Coupling serve the public interest?

Entertainment is in the public interest. Entertainment, that is, for everyone, not just young women which is what the CW is going for.

That said, I acknowledge that our ITV and Channel 4 aren't much better. They pander to young women and ignore everyone else too.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Entertainment is not in the public interest! I don't want MY tax dollars being spent "entertaining" anyone. People can spend their own damn money on fun!!! It's not like they have any difficulty doing that, or figuring out what they think is fun enough to be worth their money.

If the gumbint wants to spend my tax dollars on educating or enlightening the unwashed philistines with ballet and fractal geometry documentaries, then I can see the rationale there, even tho it's elitist certain things are more enlightening than others, so I don't want a lot of my money going towards that, mainly due to the very low probability that Wincest and Petrellicest will ever be deemed uplifting enough to merit public subsidies, so what's in it for me?

 

[theenglish]

I hate to say it (truly) but in their defense, at least they only seemed to take issue with how graphically the act was portrayed, and not the actual act itself.

That would mean they might actually have to watch something that they criticize.

 

[zenophite]

christians, if you don't want your kids watching it either lock out all stations aside from TBN or just throw away the tv. There are far more detrimental factors affecting society than some fantasy program that happens to be about demons.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Demons and dicks. The council should have watched this week. The boys were trying to figure out what three victims of the ghost sickness had in common, and Sam's theory was that they were all dicks. Then his brother, who also got sick, got offended that Sam thought he was a dick. References to male genitalia abounded.

 

[TEH BABA]

We need to get bsg on the watchlist funny..

 

[The Wormhole]

Though I don't watch Supernatural, I have to wonder, why is the Parents TV Council bothering to condemn it? It's not actually aimed at children, and where I live anyway, it's on at a time of night when children should be in bed.

And though I didn't read the whole thing, I did catch the end of their review for the Clone Wars movie, where they say it's not recommended for children 10 and younger. Huh? I'm pretty sure I would have had to be 10 or younger in order to enjoy that movie.

 

[sidious618]

While I think Gossip Girl is an insanely stupid show I do have to admit that using the PTVC remarks as advertising is fucking brilliant.

 

[John Picard]

Though I don't watch Supernatural, I have to wonder, why is the Parents TV Council bothering to condemn it? It's not actually aimed at children, and where I live anyway, it's on at a time of night when children should be in bed.

And though I didn't read the whole thing, I did catch the end of their review for the Clone Wars movie, where they say it's not recommended for children 10 and younger. Huh? I'm pretty sure I would have had to be 10 or younger in order to enjoy that movie.

Because Fundamentalist Busy-Bodies have been telling people how to live their lives for centuries. The Puritans are a prime example as is the Catholic Government.

 

[Neroon]

Chill a bit.

We're supposed to be talking about this in the context of "Supernatural" or at least sff types of programming. Going beyond that means you need to tkae it to Misc or TNZ.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

They're not saying to boycott the TV show and stop watching it. They're simply saying, after reading the article, that if you don't like violence, you should avoid the show.

They are NOT telling people how to live their lives. It's sad how some (not all) people are jumping on this as such a negative thing.

I personally hate slasher films. Hate them hate them hate them. BUT I'm glad they're made, because they make money and I know many people that are really entertained by them. When my friends who enjoy these tell me "Oh, you wouldn't like that particular show or movie because...", they're not telling me what to do. They're just helping me out, especially if they know what I generally like or don't like. And it doesn't mean I won't watch it. But it means I'll take their opinions seriously because I know where they're coming from and they know my interests.

This site seems to be doing the exact same thing. And it doesn't hurt a soul.

 

[Solariabsg25]

We need to get bsg on the watchlist funny..

Yeah, no Battlestar Galactica?

Jeeze these guys would have kittens, especially if they saw Pegasus and the New Caprica arc!!

We had a similar thing here in the UK with Mary Whitehouse, who's organisation complained about shows constantly. They even wrote a letter of complaint with a detailed list of not only the curse-words used, but how often, meaning someone had to watch the show all the way through and count them!

Sorry, but if I'm offended by a show I turn over, even if it peeved me off so much I had to complain I wouldn't sit all the way through it just so I could count how many times they said "crap"!!

 

[Dorian Thompson]

They might want to boycott it after this week. The show's added a second angel as a semi regular character. (Robert Wisdom from "The Wire") Uriel is an even more sinsiter angel than Castiel. Uriel is pretty anxious to begin smiting people--a town in this case--and refers to humans as "mud monkeys" and "plumbing on two legs." Some would consider any angels that aren't of the Michael Landon/Roma Downey variety rather blasphemous. I think Erick Kripke's dream is to have Bill O'Reilly rant about his show on the air since Bill-O is so concerned with the war on Christmas and Christianity. Killer angels might not be Bill's cup of tea. SPN takes "other books" of the bible as source material for their angels.

Uriel the snotty angel

Then there's the homoerotic tension between Dean Winchester and Castiel. It's a pity this isn't on a real network. Bill-O would be sure to spot it and the PTC would be all over it all the time. Controversy equals ratings.

Castiel the holy tax accountant

 

[opali]

They're not saying to boycott the TV show and stop watching it.
They are NOT telling people how to live their lives.
This site seems to be doing the exact same thing. And it doesn't hurt a soul.

M'rk,
While I appreciate and respect your view, you need to understand how these groups work. They are grassroots and powerful and their absolute mission and desire is to stop shows, to curb things on TV that offends them, and telling people that changing the channel is NOT enough. In effect, they are telling people how to live their lives. Read below.

Does the PTC organize or advocate boycotts? No. The PTC aims to work with corporations and believes most of them have a sense of social responsibility. They need to advertise to sell their products, and we understand that. The PTC instead tries to appeal to that sense of social responsibility and corporations' own standards by making a well-documented case that certain shows are unsuitable at certain times and in venues where children are presumed to have unrestricted access.
Our members, however, are free to tell advertisers what their own response to sponsorship of offensive programs will be.

Do my letters and phone calls to corporations make a difference? Yes! The PTC has seen corporations stop advertising on offensive programming, and has effected changes in some of the worst programming, primarily because of the phone calls, e-mails, and letters from our members. Keep up the good work! Corporations do listen to you, and the networks listen to the corporations they depend on for advertising dollars. The networks produce programming primarily with a view to what will bring in the most ad dollars. So, please contact those corporations we list as sponsors of offensive programming and let them know of your dissatisfaction with their advertising practices.

This next statement is one of the more worrisome. It is based out of fear and appeals to their members' fears and phobias. Notice the mention of the Columbine massacre. This immediately brings fearful and sad images and feelings to hearts and minds, just as much as talking about September 11th.
​

Why is the PTC worried about the make-believe sex and violence on prime time, since it has no influence on real-life behavior or attitudes?
There are numerous instances where the media clearly does influence behavior. Another way is through desensitization. A person who regularly views positive portrayals of adultery and fornication or heroes using violence is less apt to view those behaviors as undesirable or abnormal. Finally, television can influence through its focus on extreme and dangerous behavior, both in news and entertainment. The Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, for instance, were apparently motivated, at least in part, by the prospect of being the subjects of a television movie.

If you don't like something on television, why don't you just change the channel? "You can put your TV in the garage, avoid movies altogether, and use earplugs to spare your hearing from the sounds of hip-hop or heavy metal, but these forms of entertainment will still change your life through their influence on everyone else in society. Though you may struggle to protect your own kids from music that encourages violence or drugs or irresponsible sex, you can't possibly protect them from all the other kids in your community who have received full exposure." - Michael Medved taken from The Rock & Roll Rebellion by Mark Joseph.

​

The PTC is an organization of over a million private citizens who have organized to exercise our right to speak out about what we view as a significant problem. We wish to raise the issue of the potential abuse of broadcasting privileges, hold advertisers accountable for the programming they sponsor, and point out the dramatic changes in television content. We address issues through providing information and educating viewers, sponsors, and networks, not through law or force, and have the right to express the opinions shared by our members. By the same token, advertisers also have the right to place their ads as they see fit, with the knowledge that they may be offending a significant number of viewers.

On the lighter side, I love how they conduct the research they do to find all this offensive stuff.....

How does the PTC conduct its research? Each evening, the PTC records every prime-time program on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, ITV, UPN, and the WB, as well as original programming on expanded basic cable. The following day, the PTC's team of entertainment analysts watch and transcribe every offensive word, sexual innuendo, and describe sexual activity and violence in detail.

I mean, really, aren't they worried about this team of analysts who watch every single bit of these offensive shows becoming desensitized and going postal and shooting up a mall or going around and fornicating or something?
​

 

[nx1701g]

We need to get bsg on the watchlist funny..

I think since it's on a cable network they ignore it.