Sex (and violence, not to mention "vulgarity") is only too ready for prime time this year, says a watchdog group which keeps an eye on Hollywood in general and television in particular.
The Parents Television Council has issued a new report, "The Family Hour: Worse Than Ever And Headed For New Lows," which says that even shows on the air in the earliest parts of what's considered family viewing time are going further down the road of sex, violence, and vulgarity.
And it calls for "family-friendly advertisers" to pressure other advertisers against buying time on these shows, particularly Fox Television's Thursday night lineup, NBC's long-running hit Friends, and UPN's coming WWF Smackdown. But it stopped just short of calling for outright boycotts of the offending programs, calling instead for advertisers and parents to simply keep pressing broadcasters to live up to their public trusts.
Analysing 45 hours of programming, "The Family Hour" says there were an average 166 sexual references per 3.69 hours of programming; 65 incidents of vulgarity per 1.44 hours of programming, and 73 violent acts per 1.62 hours of programming.
The report says that shows references to sex or sexual acts during "the family hour" jumped by about 77 percent in the past year and a half, with the Fox network's shows leading the way (an average 6.8 sex references per hour, says PTC) and NBC close behind (with 6.38 sex references).
The report covered the May television sweeps period, mostly, and hammered Fox in particular for carrying the lion's share of the council's estimated 75 percent rise in "objectionable" content. The PTC report says NBC was second, CBS third, among the major networks.
And "The Family Hour" says this fall's "family hour" (8-9 p.m. Eastern time; 7-8 p.m. Mountain and Pacific time) could get even raunchier, citing such shows as Spin City, Just Shoot Me, and Felicity offering considerable sexual content and moving to the 8-9 p.m. time periods. The report also tweaks three new shows - ABC's Then Came You, UPN's Shasta McNasty, and CBS's Ladies' Man - due to take places in that time period, for being laden with sexual content.
On the other hand, for all that it slams Thursday night television in particular, the PTC found one reported bright light - nothing this summer, however "vulgar" or "violent," could knock down ABC's surprise game hit, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - which is reported in the works for a permanent comeback beginning in November. The show gave ABC its first Thursday night ratings win since 1994, to PTC's approval.
