What part of TV-MA do "concerned parents" not understand?

[RandySF]

With all of the mature, violent, sexual content filling up each episode of FX’s Sons of Anarchy, you’d think the Parents Television Council would have a direct line to series creator Kurt Sutter’s office, where each of their complaints could be addressed accordingly. (With lots of ignoring and deleting, presumably.) The PTC is breathing heavily and seductively down Sutter’s neck for last Tuesday’s episode, which kicked off with an opening montage of nearly all of the main characters engaging in sexual acts. Their advice to FX: go join all those titties and asses on HBO.

The PTC called the opening sequence the “most sexually explicit content the [organization] has ever documented on basic cable,” according to THR. To be fair, they’re pretty spot on with it being one of the most sexually forward things cable has ever shown. Not only did we see Jax having good sex, but we saw Gemma and Nero having bad sex, Marilyn Manson sorta raping Juice, Wendy getting down with a vibrator, and Tig doing…whatever he was doing…with transgender character Venus Van Dam. All before the opening credits. But was it more damaging than the endless amounts of violence on this and many other series across the TV dial? Doubtful.

And so if FX wants to show audiences such skin-tastic material, the PTC feels their audience should have to pay for it as a separate part of their cable package. Here’s how PTC president Tim Winter puts it in a press release.

For years, FX has been pursuing a path to be as explicit as HBO yet still be included in the forced-bundle of advertiser-supported networks that every cable or satellite subscriber must purchase through their monthly bill. If FX wants to be like HBO and air this kind of explicit content, then they should become a premium network.”

Of course, in the face of rational arguments that FX airs the series during the latest primetime hour along with ample warnings and TV-MA ratings, Winter then moves the argument to one involving customers only paying for the content that they want a la carte. He compares it to paying for other movies in a theater instead of solely the one he’s going to see, and says that the Sons of Anarchy footage is something of a watershed moment for cable programming.

In order to watch cable news, ESPN, Disney or the History Channel, every family in America must now also pay for pornography on FX.”

http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Why-Sons-Anarchy-Being-Hassled-By-Concerned-Parents-Again-68455.html

[MADem]

1. What part of "channel block" don't those dipsticks understand?

Sounds like a hot-breathed POUTRAGE exercise. They want something to stir up the masses and get them all pissed off.

Thing is, they'll probably drive poutraged "concerned parents" to the show--they had better put the whole thing "ON DEMAND" so those concerned parents can catch up on the plotlines!!!!

I've never watched the program, but I always say the answer to speech is more speech. And if they don't want to watch it, they should roll over on one well fed cheek, stretch out that arm and grab that remote and push that button!

I find some of these religious channels where they beg for money constantly pornographic. No one gives a shit about MY objections, and I know enough to keep moving when I come across them....

[VanillaRhapsody]

6. its not they don't want to watch it...they don't want YOU to watch it...this is always the major

malfunction for Fundies...

[stevenleser]

2. Don't all cable & satellite boxes these days have the ability to block shows by content?

So if you have cable or satellite, don't you have the ability to universally block all shows with certain content?

[d_r]

14. every television made since 2000

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-chip

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

3. I fucking hate these grifters. n/m

[csziggy]

4. Will they force cable companies to give us a la carte choices?

So I don't have to pay for Faux Noise or the religious channels or all those sports channels I never, ever watch? If they can do that, I would be very happy.

If not, they need to learn how to use the parental controls - they can set them so they never have to see any TV-MA programming at all. It's not that hard - I used it to block Faux Noise so no one can tune to that propaganda channel ever in my house.

[RandySF]

5. No kidding.

I block all the way down to TV-14 and PG-13 so I can control what the kid sees while he's still very young.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Thanks, PTC. I've got to start...

watching "Sons of Anarchy" again.

I was getting bored with it for a while.

[RandySF]

8. Only three episodes left in the series.

[csziggy]

9. Obviously they are bringing it to a stirring climax

Sorry - I couldn't resist.

[Warpy]

10. Even if subscriber TV offered a specific package tailored to fundy picklefaces

they wouldn't accept it. They want ammunition to take to Babble School so they condemn anybody who isn't them.

[Initech]

11. Ya know what - if you don't like it don't watch it. That's all.

Don't go ruining it for the rest of us.

[LynneSin]

12. So let me get this straight - these poor PTC folks have broken TVs & cable boxes stuck on FX?

I mean that's the only thing I can figure out because when I find bad stuff on TV I use that nifty invention called the remote and I change channels or better yet I turn the damn thing off.

And last time I checked Parents should be parenting their kids, not letting the TV be the baby sitters. If parents are too fucking lazy to monitor what their kids are watching and use the parental controls available to block channels that have non-kid friendly stuff on it like FX, then top blaming the rest of the world for your own damn laziness. These people support the same party who do not want the government to interfere with their guns but want the government to dictate what is on TV. Which is it - do we want MORE government regulations or do we want LESS government regulations because we can't fricking pick and choose here.

[Blue_Tires]

20. It's one of the backdoor ways to get publicity for themselves

by publicly going after popular shows...

When I worked at a newspaper, the PTC, Focus on the Family, and the like used to blow up our fax machine every morning with a press release stating their opposition to this TV show or that commercial or this music video...(This was back when "Will and Grace" was really big, and we heard their complaints constantly)

[Orrex]

23. Please edit your post.

The PTC formally objects to the phrase "backdoor ways."

[rudolph the red]

15. In the case of SOA it means that they have run out of ideas,

and are just going for the shock/gross-out factor. It used to be a good show, but it really has become a horrible mess the last couple seasons. As for the complaints; It's a cable channel, it airs late at night, and there are more than adequate warnings for the parents of young children.

* and from the OP, "Marilyn Manson sorta raping Juice", there really wasn't any "sorta" about it.

[Warren DeMontague]

19. On second thought

I don't need to see Marilyn Manson naked.

[Behind the Aegis]

16. What I really don't get...

...is why people get so fucking worked up over sexuality, but rampant, horrific violence merits a "meh"! When we were younger, my mother would let us watch rated "R" movies if the "R" was for sex (as long as it wasn't rape), but if it was "R" because of excessive violence, we weren't allowed to see it. In her opinion, sex and sexuality is natural, violence is not. Though, of course, violence is natural, she felt it sent a positive reinforcement that violence was some how acceptable.

[Arkansas Granny]

17. I had a similar attitude when my kids were growing up.

While I didn't allow R rated movies, I didn't get too upset if they happened to catch a sexy scene. Violence, however, was a deal breaker. There was a 10 year gap between my oldest and youngest child so all TV shows had to be suitable for the youngest. Of course, what was shown on TV back then (70's and 80's) was pretty mild by today's standards.

[alp227]

18. PTC: The grown-ups who like the FX late night shows pay for YOUR Disney Channel/Nickelodeon too! nt

[Archae]

21. This group was sued by pro wrestling for libel, and settled out of court.

The Parents Television Council (PTC) is a United States-based censorship advocacy group founded by conservative Catholic activist L. Brent Bozell III in 1995.

World Wrestling Federation campaign and lawsuit[edit]

In 1999, the PTC launched a campaign against the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), now World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), complaining that their SmackDown! program contained levels of sexuality and violence unbecoming prime time programming.[54] In the campaign, Bozell said that four children had been killed by peers emulating professional wrestling moves learned from the program.[55][56][57] With these allegations, Bozell and various PTC members began meeting with representatives of the advertising departments of various companies that advertised on SmackDown! to persuade them to withdraw sponsorship. The PTC also suggested that between 30 and 40 advertisers had pulled their commercials from WWF programming, an assertion that was not true.[57][58]

On November 9, 2000, the WWF filed a lawsuit against the PTC in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, claiming that the PTC's statements were false and constituted defamation.[59][60] The WWF also filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the PTC for using clips from WWF programs in their promotional videos.[58] The PTC filed for dismissal of the suit, but on May 24, 2001, U.S. district court Judge Denny Chin denied the PTC's motion on the basis that the WWF's lawsuit had merit.[58] The PTC and the WWF settled out of court and, as part of the settlement agreement, the PTC paid the WWF $3.5 million USD and Bozell issued a public apology,[61] stating that it was wrong to blame the World Wrestling Federation or any of its programs for the deaths of children and that the original statements had been based on what was later found to be false information designed by people close to the Lionel Tate case to blame the death of Tiffany Eunick on the WWF.[62]

During the conflict the WWF created the Right to Censor (RTC) stable, a group of wrestlers that parodied the PTC by portraying them as self-righteous moral crusaders.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parents_Television_Council

[alarimer]

22. Hmm. Maybe I should start watching?

This group doesn't seem to realize that their efforts may result in MORE people watching the show, not fewer.

[dilby]

24. The only issue I have with the Sex in Sons of Anarchy...

is because they show bare asses of men and sometimes a woman it plays after 10 PM when all the kids are supposed to be in bed anyways. I would prefer to be able to watch it a couple hours earlier so I did not have to stay up till 11 on a work night, but I know it's for the kids so I will suffer.