Smut on TV

[Gringo]

Loonman has a thread on this, from this story:
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAJRPG39OD.html

What's your take?

Pesonally, I'm sick of being subjected to pornographic commercials for "Girls Gone Wild", E!'s profiles of the porn-star du jour & the like, when I only take basic cable. I personally think such lowbrow smut should be reserved for the pay channels & DVD, especially since the "V-Chip" doesn't block commercials (It isn't always successful at blocking adult shows either)

I wouldn't have guests in my house who use filthy language, and I don't need it on my TV. I'm NOT a religious person, by the way. Atheist actually.

[TLM]

1. Yeah hardcore porn on network TV...

maybe there'd be something worth watching...

[Bertha Venation]

2. I'm w/ you re: foul language

Trying to clean up my own, AAMOF. My boss, respected, leading attorney in her field, uses "f*ck" every third word. Drives me crazy.

The dialogue on "NYPD Blue" & the like doesn't bother me because one expects that kind of language in that kind of atmosphere.

[Liberal Veteran]

3. Smut is subjective....language doesn't really bother me much, but...

...I think their is far too much graphic violence on tv which I think is probably much more harmful to the spirit than a few bad words and sexuality.

[evil_orange_cat]

4. you have a choice... don't buy it don't watch it...

Capitalism... let your money speak for you. Don't like it? Don't buy a TV, don't buy cable, don't watch what you don't like. The popularity of such programs reflect humanities basic and primal desires. Maybe your problem is with humanity, not television.

You are buying a product and buying a service... it's not as if someone is forcing you to watch.

Hell, maybe you can start a "Family Cable Service" where you filter out a lot of the crap on TV and show good wholesome shows. If there's a market for it, do it and make some money. ;)

But please, we don't need the safety nazis banning and censoring TV. Censorship is unAmerican. :D

[VermontDem2004]

5. ........

They don't air Girls Gone Wild commercials on more then probaly 5 channels and if you don't want to watch E! profiles you can simply turn the channel. Plus the commercials are censored anyways. I wouldn't have guests in my house who use filthy language, and I don't need it on my TV. I am curious as to why you hang around DU because I seen pretty bad language here and it is your right to not invite guests who use "filthy" language.

[Gringo]

9. The commercials are NOT really censored

The fact that the girls have little digital blocks over their genitalia doesn't make the commercials more family-friendly, and it doesn't diguise the fact that they are going down on each other in the commercials. If nothing else, those commercials are the height of misogyny. A generation of kids growing up on this junk will no doubt be sociopathic, thinking that if such behavior is all over broadcast TV, it must be socially acceptable.

[barbaraann]

6. Kill your television.

And stab the Fox channels a few extra times.

[Loonman]

7. If guests in my house use filthy language

I smack 'em right in the @#$%@#in' mouth.

[Tempest]

8. Kill your TV

Why anyone wastes time watching network, cable or satellite TV has always escaped me.

The only time my TV gets turned on is when I plan on watching a movie on DVD.

[trogdor]

10. Why not ban it during the "family hour" only?

My ideal field-leveling plan (so that ABC stops bitching about how HBO walks away with all the Emmy's every year) - from 10PM to 4AM, you can show whatever the viewers will tolerate, from Teletubbies to hardcore. For all other hours, it's back to 1965. Same goes for cable.

Note that Norman Lear never had problems staying in bounds and winning Emmy's. Most of his shows will stack up against anything shown on HBO.

[Gringo]

11. Far-left thought is effectively censored - no free speech on TV

When was the last time a "Free Mumia" type was on tv without a right-winger to smack him down? When all kinds of political thought are given time to air their views, I might oppose censorship for bad taste, but since that's not the case, why shouldn't my notions of politeness be respected as much as corporate America & middle America's sense of what's accceptable politically?

[noonwitch]

12. Broadcasters need to be more sensitive about what times they air certain

shows and ads. Don't be showing ads for "Girls Gone Wild" during prime time.
Banning smut completely would ruin my soap opera.

[evil_orange_cat]

13. no, parents need to be more responsible...

TV can't be a babysitter, but it is for millions of kids... TV isn't a god given right... it's a privilige... a commodity and service paid for. Again, if you don't like it, don't watch it. If society doesn't watch, broadcasters lose their sponsors and will respond to public demands.

Tell people not to watch, don't tell broadcasters what to show.

[Blade]

15. Amen to that!

I totally agree, my friend! TV is a privilege, not a God give right. Don't like it, turn the station! That simple! I like the way you think, evil_orange_cat. :)

[Blade]

14. My take on this situation:

Allow tv to be no holds barred, everything goes. The way I see it, if you don't like the damn programming, turn the fucking station. It's that simple. Just like the phrase "what about the children?" You know what I say to that? Don't allow them to watch.

Look at that! Easy enough!

[WoodrowFan]

16. Smut-lyrics Tom Lehrer

I do have a cause though. It is obscenity. I'm for it. Unfortunately the civil liberties types who are fighting this issue have to fight it owing to the nature of the laws as a matter of freedom of speech and stifling of free expression and so on but we no what's really involved: dirty books are fun. That's all there is to it. But you can't get up in a court and say that I suppose. It's simply a matter of freedom of pleasure, a right which is not guaranteed by the Constitution unfortunately. Anyway, since people seem to be marching for their causes these days I have here a march for mine. It's called...

Smut!
Give me smut and nothing but!
A dirty novel I can't shut,
If it's uncut,
and unsubt- le.

I've never quibbled
If it was ribald,
I would devour where others merely nibbled.
As the judge remarked the day that he
acquitted my Aunt Hortense,
"To be smut
It must be ut-
Terly without redeeming social importance."

Por-
Nographic pictures I adore.
Indecent magazines galore,
I like them more
If they're hard core.

(Bring on the obscene movies, murals, postcards, neckties,
samplers, stained-glass windows, tattoos, anything!
More, more, I'm still not satisfied!)

Stories of tortures
Used by debauchers,
Lurid, licentious, and vile,
Make me smile.
Novels that pander
To my taste for candor
Give me a pleasure sublime.
(Let's face it, I love slime.)

All books can be indecent books
Though recent books are bolder,
For filth (I'm glad to say) is in
the mind of the beholder.
When correctly viewed,
Everything is lewd.
(I could tell you things about Peter Pan,
And the Wizard of Oz, there's a dirty old man!)

I thrill
To any book like Fanny Hill,
And I suppose I always will,
If it is swill
And really fil
thy.

Who needs a hobby like tennis or philately?
I've got a hobby: rereading Lady Chatterley.
But now they're trying to take it all
away from us unless
We take a stand, and hand in hand
we fight for freedom of the press.
In other words,

Smut! (I love it)
Ah, the adventures of a slut.
Oh, I'm a market they can't glut,
I don't know what
Compares with smut.

Hip hip hooray!
Let's hear it for the Supreme Court!
Don't let them take it away!

[THUNDER HANDS]

17. I think people who are highly offended by what's shown on tv

Shouldn't watch it at all. Stop ruining the enjoyment for the rest of us who don't want the puritans spoiling all our fun.

[Kamika]

18. Id like them to tone down the language on prime time

There's way too much foul language on prime time now

[Gringo]

19. YAY! I finally agree with you on something!

EOM

[Gringo]

20. Why is everyone so defensive of lobrow TV, but not bothered by censorship

any and all progressive programming? Even if I liked the lowbrow stuff, I'd sacrifice it in a second for truly fair & balanced news & political commentary.

There already is no free speech on TV. Cleaning up the smut wouldn't change that.