Despite internal strife and decreased funding, the Parents Television Council has released a study claiming that naughty language on primetime network television is up almost 70% over the last five years. As you can see from the chart above (full table here), that language includes dirty words like “hell,” “crap,” and “suck.” Ow, my freakin’ ears!
Most disturbing to the PTC is that the time period showing the biggest gains is not the 10 p.m. hour when more adults are watching, but the 8 p.m and 9 p.m. hours, which attract younger viewers…
“Hollywood’s creative personnel and their TV network distribution outlets have deliberately unleashed literally unparalleled levels of profanity and graphic language upon the public -– the most egregious of it in a time slot in which children are most likely to be in the audience,” the PTC said. “A 69% increase in scripted profanity on pre-planned, filmed entertainment is not equivalent to a couple slips of the tongue during live events. The statistics above demonstrate that use of such language by the networks is both deliberate and pervasive.” [LA Times]
Or maybe — just maybe — the networks are deliberately and pervasively letting TV characters use the same words used by ACTUAL PEOPLE IN EVERYDAY LIFE. Listen, I don’t think five-year-olds should talk like the characters in “Oz” (although it would be funny and kind of adorable), but it bothers me that people are making a living out of being offended by language that Bart Simpson was using twenty years ago.
Also, I’d like to see some of the detailed findings of this report. “Other genitals”? Are there genitals I don’t know about? Is there a rise in hermaphrodite-driven plots?
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Hehehe…69%
I notice that “fag” is not on the list. I assume that’s because God hates fags, and so the PTC is cool with it being on TV.
Poppycock
This looks serious.
Kids will hear worse words at home and on the school bus. Fucking amazing what some people worry about.
Well, maybe people shouldn’t be letting their damn weiner kids watch TV after 8 p.m. They should take advantage of these low kerosene prices and send them out back to weave flax on the loom.
Regarding five-year-olds talking like characters in “Oz,” just head over to the local elementary school for their production of “New Warden.” Nobody sells coke in that pen without daddy getting a taste.
Marge: You know, Fox turned into a hardcore sex channel so gradually, I
didn’t even notice.
Are there genitals I don’t know about?
Quagmire did find the elusive 4th hole. Giggity.
/Knows we’re not Family Guy fans here
These are probably the same people who vote for Bristol on DwtS and keep Leno on the air.
Why should the rest of us have to suffer because y’all suck?
PTC I’m gonna come at you like a spider monkey!
@M-Uff: Indeed it is funny and kind of adorable.
I would expect this kind of language at Denny’s.
@Upstate Underdog
The children of PTC members won’t be hearing those words on a school bus. Those like bastards are home-schooled… won’t want any science or things interfering with them thar book-learnin’
Am I to infer from this list that the C-word is no longer considered unsavory language? Because that will considerably change my agenda for this afternoon.
Speaking of offensive language, I’d like a count of how many times a character misused the word “literally”.
This list looks like a brothel earnings report. “Bastard and Bitch are down this quarter, but we’re seeing strong returns on Piss, Boobs and Other Breasts.”
@UH, good point. I’ve slipped up more than once in front of my kids and I cringe when they repeat what I say, but yes it is funny and adorable as long as there aren’t any strangers around.
OK, a) did anyone else notice that the plurality of the increase comes from F*$king BLEEPED words? A single run of Scarface on TV has more “don’t fool with me you foolish monkeys” than either year. Shoddy work, PTC, shoddy work,
b) I let my kids watch “Short Circuit” with me the other night and was surprised at the number of scatological references. And yes, I know that introducing them to Steve Guttenberg is more harmful than hearing the word shit. This is nothing new.
If you’re going to introduce your kids to Steve Guttenberg, you need to introduce them to the “Party Down” version of the man, which was awesome.
The rise of bleeped swearing is tied to the rise of reality TV shows. I’m amazingly confident there is correlation. Uff says, “the networks are deliberately and pervasively letting TV characters use the same words used by ACTUAL PEOPLE IN EVERYDAY LIFE.” It’s less the characters talking like actual people, and more actual people becoming the characters.
Choke on a mouthful of dicks, Parents Television Council.
(pushes up glasses, checks crotch)
@Dave – And they skew in the press release by claiming that the biggest gains are by actual number of profanity used rather than percentage that the “scientific” charts are designed to highlight. Fuck these people.
Frankly, I think reporting on the PTC is the equivalent to reporting on the Westboro Baptist Church. Not worthy of my time…. Shit, why am i typing? I see what you did there.
Well, bleep me in the other (non) genital.
Hollywood’s creative personnel and their TV network distribution outlets have deliberately unleashed literally unparalleled levels of profanity and graphic language upon the public
Alex, can I take “Guess Who Doesn’t Read Filmdrunk Comments?” for $1000?
“Get off my swing, n-word!”–5 year old Verne Schillinger
@iwrt – better reporting from the comment section of WG than this org. Excellent thesis, which is why they missed it.
So from now on, when I search BOOBS on WG, this will come up?
Thanks for the tag, Matt.
Well at least we know that Hell is down.
“Damn”, “Hell” and “Ass” are in the Bible, how are they bad words?
Who let’s their kids under 10 years old stay up past eight? What’s up with that?
What a waste of resources. Really. Have they read Shakespeare? What about Brave New World? Work hard enough at it and you could make cake and ice cream very, very bad words.