|
So You Think You Can Rate a TV Show?
Brought to you by the Parents Television
Council
WARNING: Graphic
Content!!!
Do NOT push play if you don't want to see the explicit video!!! |
By Katherine
Kuhn
The Hills on MTV (10:00 p.m. ET)
Rating: TV-PG
Imagine going to
the hardware store and purchasing an item that promises to make your home safer
for children. Now imagine that the item you just purchased was defective. What
would you do? Any responsible parent would return that item and demand their
money back. But millions of parents are being forced to purchase an item that
has consistently failed them—cable channels with inaccurate ratings.
The entertainment
industry would have consumers believe that the TV ratings system is adequately
applied and protects children from unsuitable material; but time and time again
children are subjected to material that parents could not have stopped even if
the V-Chip was properly used.
Take the September
3rd episode of The Hills. MTV rated this show TV-PG, meaning
that parental guidance is suggested. There is no indication of what is to
come—a barrage of foul language that was merely muted. The words were clearly
discernable. They weren’t even bleeped nor were the speaker’s lips blurred:
Justin: "Who [muted ‘fucking’] cares? Why do they [muted ‘fucking’] care? It
actually pisses me off. Because when something's working you don't [muted
‘fuck’] it up by throwing labels or doing stupid [muted ‘shit’] like throwing a
ring on your finger. Because society or friends said so. So you know what?
[Muted ‘Fuck’] them. Literally. I don't give a [muted ‘shit’]."
Wow. In mere
seconds, viewers are subjected to four muted “f” words, two muted “s” words, one
“piss” -- and the ratings never reflected that. The entertainment industry
wants consumers to believe that the ratings system works, but clearly there was
nothing correct about the rating for this episode of The Hills.
What’s even worse
is that cable consumers are not only forced to pay for shows featuring foul
language like this, but families must also pay for shows that are consistently
misrated.
If you agree that
this program was inadequately rated, please write to the TV ratings advisory
board at
tvomb@usa.net and let them know that the TV
ratings once again failed to adequately warn parents about inappropriate
content.
For more
information about the TV ratings, please visit
http://www.tvguidelines.org/contact.asp.
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