ABC Puts a Peep Show Next to a Playground

Like millions of others, were you watching It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown with your family last Thursday night? If so, ABC had a rude and unexpected surprise waiting for you immediately after the end of the show: graphic sex in the very next scene. PTC President Tim Winter put in well in our statement today: “In less than 26 seconds we were taken from the Peanuts pumpkin patch to a steamy Scandal sex scene. Twenty-six seconds, boom. Unless parents had the remote control in their hand, thumb on the button and aimed directly at the TV screen, they didn’t have a chance. Such a transition is grossly irresponsible by the network and entirely unfair for parents. ABC owes families an apology.” Why would ABC make such a poor decision about its own audience flow? They know how important that is to overall viewership, so it makes very little sense to shock the audient with such a juxtaposition. The PTC calls on ABC to apologize for this decision and to ensure not to make such a bizarre and unfortunate programming choice again. To view a clip of the segment in question below: