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anyuser

01-02-2010, 08:44 PM

Sex on TV: It's increasingly uncut — and unavoidable

If sex sells, TV programmers are adding inventory to an already humongous sale.

Viewers are about to see full-frontal male nudity, heterosexual, homosexual and group sex, and graphic scenes rarely — if ever — seen on mainstream TV. And that's just on pay-cable Starz's fornication-heavy, 13-episode Spartacus (http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Spartacus): Blood and Sand (premieres Friday, 10 ET/PT), a 300-meets-Caligula (http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Caligula) epic about the Roman Empire' (http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Roman+Empire)s notorious slave/gladiator.

MTV plans a June launch of The Hard Times of RJ Berger, a scripted comedy about a nerdy 15-year-old whose cool quotient heats up when his anatomical gift is accidentally exposed. And basic-cable network Spike's just-launched raunchy college-sports comedy Blue Mountain State (Tuesdays, 10 ET/PT) showed a masturbating school mascot on the Jan. 12 premiere, while last night's episode featured a scene suggesting oral sex between a coed and jock before the opening credits.

"You need to get eyeballs. You need to be loud," says Spike programming chief Kevin Kay, who is pairing Blue Mountain with reruns of http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Organizations/Companies/Publishers,+Media,+Music/HBOHBO's sex-centric Entourage (http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Culture/Television/Programming/Entourage). "Our viewers are experiencing content on other cable channels or the Web. Movies and video games are going after this audience, too."

TV's latest sexually charged offerings add to the current wave of attention-seeking — if less visually explicit — reality and scripted programs filled with frank themes and content, such as MTV's hookup-focused reality hit Jersey Shore.

ABC's Cougar Town — which had a memorable scene that implied Courteney Cox (http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/People/Celebrities/Actors,+Agents/Courteney+Cox)'s character administering oral sex to her date — premiered last fall. Also new in the past year: HBO's Hung, a dramedy about a well-endowed teacher moonlighting as a prostitute; National Geographic (http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/National+Geographic+Society) TV's adult-themed documentary series, Taboo; and VH1's titillating Sex Rehab With Dr. Drew.

"You can definitely see an arms race," says FX programming chief John Landgraf, (http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/John+Landgraf) whose groundbreaking series such as Rescue Me and Nip/Tuck (http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Culture/Television/Programming/Rescue+Me)set new standards for mature content on basic cable.

Established shows are amping up, too. Nip/Tuck is wrapping its sixth and final season with boundary-pushing themes centered on its often sexually compulsive plastic surgeons, and ABC's Desperate Housewives has cast former Dexter star Julie Benz (http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/People/Celebrities/Actors,+Agents/Julie+Benz) as a stripper for the series' fifth season.

Showtime's Secret Diary of a Call Girl returns Monday with hooker Belle (Billie Pipe (http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Billie+Piper)r) looking for source material for another book through new sexual experiences with clients.

Showtime's aptly titled Californication recently ended its third season with sex-addicted Hank Moody (David Duchovny (http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/People/Celebrities/Actors,+Agents/David+Duchovny)) getting more booty than ever — juggling three women while pursuing a fourth. Moody's best friend and manager (Evan Handler (http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Evan+Handler)) grappled with an ex-wife and randy boss (Kathleen Turner), while guest star Rick Springfield, (http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Rick+Springfield) playing himself, had several solo and group conquests.

A long history see original article for links to embedded links to the rest of this story @ http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2010-01-20-sexcov20_CV_N.htm?obref=obnetwork

The subject of sex has been part of the medium almost since its start. But displays of sex, intimacy and even body parts, for the most part, have been evolutionary, not revolutionary.

In the 1950s, TV couldn't show married couples sleeping in the same bed. In the '60s, exposing the bellybutton of I Dream of Jeannie's Barbara Eden was verboten. Braless jiggles on Charlie's Angels were considered daring in the '70s. But by the '90s, the expanse of adult-themed content on premium channels such as HBO and sex-infused music videos on MTV made baring the derriere of a hefty NYPD Blue cop acceptable to the masses on ABC.

"It's funny what's considered risqué these days," says Audrey Landers, whose sexpot image, burnished by eight seasons on '80s hit Dallas, led to a Playboy pictorial in 1983. Last year, the actress, singer and fashion designer was developing a cable reality show, which was rejected for its tameness. "They suggested my mother, 18-year-old niece and I sex things up by posing for Playboy," says Landers, 53.

Critics such as the Parents Television Council decry the mushrooming sexual content. "It's become downright ubiquitous," says council president Tim Winter. "Families are under siege, teenage girls are under siege. You don't know what the cultural impact will be down the road."

Others, such as Fordham University media observer Paul Levinson, say TV merely mirrors life. "It sounds radical, but this is healthy for popular culture," Levinson says. "Mainstream TV has been frozen in a very puritanical position by Congress, the FCC and the Supreme Court — all who don't seem to understand the First Amendment. Sex is part of life. If people are offended, there's a simple remedy: Don't watch."

Taste standards and broadcast guidelines aside, sexual content — and where to push boundaries — is largely established by programmers seeking traction among fickle viewers, then benchmarked by others who want to push the envelope.

"When advertising dollars are down you have to cut through — you have to get attention," says JD Roth, producer of NBC reality hit The Biggest Loser.

ABC programming chief Steve McPherson says he has faced no pressure to edge up content but acknowledges late prime-time slots offer opportunities. "If you can get a loud broadcast-acceptable 10 p.m. show, it's a time to take chances," McPherson says.

Moreover, broadcast executives acknowledge that premium-channel and basic-cable-channel rivals are altering the TV landscape.

http://i.usatoday.net/life/_photos/2010/01/20/sex-on-tvx.jpg

"We don't want to be out of touch with the way society is going," says NBC's Angela Bromstad. "At the same time, you have to be careful what you put on air."

Says Doug Herzog, president of MTV Networks entertainment group: "The line moves every day, so you got to move with it. You can't put the genie back in the bottle."

'Spartacus': Roman hands

Initially pitched to NBC in tamer form, Spartacus: Blood and Sand oozes explicit content.

"The whole thing was pushing the boundaries on pretty much every level," says co-executive producer Robert Tapert, who is married to Spartacus star Lucy Lawless. "Once we wound up on (premium pay cable), we were able to really push the envelope."

Lawless portrays a conniving social climber who is nude in some scenes, commits adultery in others and uses sex to manipulate frenemies and family. One episode shows Lawless' character and her gladiator-camp-owner husband (John Hannah) manually stimulated by slaves before having sex. Upcoming episodes feature orgies and a gladiator whose large endowment ultimately leads to his downfall.

Noting the potentially off-putting content, the former Xena: Warrior Princess star concedes Spartacus isn't for everyone: "Pretty quickly, the audience has to realize they aren't in Kansas anymore. There will be (viewers) who are truly horrified and switch this off."

Of course, Starz executives hope for the opposite effect, and they believe Spartacus' underlying sex-and-gore themes will be provocative attention-grabbing devices to bolster viewership. They've already ordered a second season.

"People are going to stop in their tracks and say, 'Wow, that's something really different' — whether they approve of it or not," says Starz programming chief Stephan Shelanski. Starz is comfortable with content such as full-frontal male nudity because it has become more explicit in theatrical releases that eventually arrive on premium cable, such asBorat and Sex and the City , and on premium-cable originals such as HBO's Tell Me You Love Me.

Ironically, Showtime (The L Word , The Tudors , Weeds ) and FX, whose programming helped pave the way for harder-content offerings on rival networks, say they're pulling back on sexually provocative shows and stories.

"In terms of edginess, our content is less edgy today," Landgraf says. "Nip/Tuck is the edgiest show we've ever had, and we just haven't found a program to replace it with. Sons of Anarchy is less edgy than The Shield. At the end of the day, what makes a show like The Shield work is the quality from a storytelling standpoint. You watch because it's compelling, because it's good."

Says Showtime's Bob Greenblatt: "We're not trying to do things just to get attention and sell subscriptions. I'd say the network is a lot less sexy than it used to be. There's very little on United States of Tara, Nurse Jackie and Dexter. For me, its really just about having the freedom to go to those places if the stories and characters demand it."

'Natural evolution of things'

Californication creator Tom Kapinos says there'll be consequences for the central character's sexual rambunctiousness next season, and perhaps more of an attempt to keep his pants zipped. "I don't know how much further you can push things," Kapinos says. "But this is still a show about a single guy in L.A. There's a lot of trouble to get into."

Greenblatt notes Spartacus could raise the bar — or lower it — when it comes to both the pervasiveness and explicitness of TV sex. "I'm sure after Spartacus, there'll be more," he says. "It's the natural evolution of things."

Blue Mountain State producer Brian Robbins, whose credits include Smallville and One Tree Hill, says he's not surprised by the explicit sex on air these days.

The irony isn't lost on Robbins, perhaps best known as the long-haired lothario Eric Mardian on ABC's '80s sitcom Head of the Class. "I was the stud on that show, but I didn't get to do anything," Robbins says. These days, "anything goes."

And as far as Blue Mountain State? Says Robbins: "I'd be way too embarrassed to sit in a room with my mother watching it."

Super Bowl to show more ads with people in their underwear (http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2010-01-27-underwear27_ST_N.htm)

I see London. I see France. I see the Super Bowl's underpants.

Just six years after Janet Jackson's famous Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction" during a halftime show, it's the Super Bowl advertisers — including Dockers, CareerBuilder.com and Bud Light — that seem to be itching to show some skin, again.

MORE ADVERTISING NEWS: Go to our Media front page

Or, at least a hint of it.

The Super Bowl has always been a catalyst for cultural advertising trends from the sexy to the sophomoric. But these latest commercials are less about being sexy and more about showing everyday — very everyday in some cases — people in their undies. And that, says advertising psychologist Renee White Fraser, is brilliant marketing.

"People love to imagine other people in their underwear," she says. "It's a provocative — but safe — way to get viewer attention."

Not everyone agrees with that.

"I think people just lose their minds when it comes to advertising in or around the Super Bowl — and this is proof of that," says Barry Schwartz, professor of psychology and social theory at Swarthmore College.

Here's who's going long on briefs for the game:

•Dockers. The struggling khaki-pants maker will air a commercial that features about 30 men marching in unison in their undies while singing the song I Wear No Pants.

It's about guys who no longer wear the pants around the house. "Our culture kind of celebrates that guy," says Jennifer Sey, Dockers marketing chief. "We're encouraging men to not be that guy."

•CareerBuilder.com. The online job search specialist, partly owned by Gannett (parent of USA TODAY), still is tabulating online votes for its consumer-generated Super Bowl ad, but one of the two finalists takes place in an office where "casual Friday" attire means a workforce that's decked out in nothing but underwear.

"This is just an exaggeration of a bad work environment," says Richard Castellini, chief marketing officer at CareerBuilder. "It's a way to let people laugh at the experience of the job search."

•Bud Light. In a new spot posted on its Facebook fan page, Bud Light features an office full of folks who are only too eager to strip down to their briefs — or less — so they can donate their duds to a clothing drive in exchange for free Bud Light.

While the ad won't air during the Super Bowl, Anheuser-Busch— which will air five minutes of Super Bowl ads during the game — says its aim is to display Bud Light as playful and to get folks talking ahead of the game. "January is the time to put stuff like that out there, leading up to the big game," says Keith Levy, marketing vice president.

embedded links on source for underwear superbowl http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2010-01-27-underwear27_ST_N.htm

frase

01-02-2010, 08:50 PM

Yet America is up in arms when Janet jackson's tit pops out!!!!!!!!

thedefender

01-02-2010, 10:27 PM

Yet America is up in arms when Janet jackson's tit pops out!!!!!!!!

Its so stupid isnt it. It doesn't matter that the song was about sex and all or that the Super Bowl commercials are filled with big titted women taking clothes off in a GoDaddy.com commercial. Once the boob popped out it was mayhem. It was staged as well. Janet Jackson was wearing a fancy looking nipple ring. No reason to be wearing a luxurious nipple ring at that time. Justin Timberlake distinctivly ripped her clothing off to expose the breast.

Thats not a problem though.

rodin

01-02-2010, 10:30 PM

"We don't want to be out of touch with the way society is going," says NBC's Angela Bromstad.

So many lines to read between right there

enga

01-02-2010, 10:46 PM

After 9pm it's difficult to find a SKY channel without some sex on it. I think the bar is set so low for ratings that they all try to compete and go for shock factor. It annoys me because if I wanted that I'd just rent a porn video....I'd rather watch something interesting. Between sex and reality tv there isn't much left most nights.
At least there is Caprica tomorrow and Lost 6 on friday, new shameless and V on the way.

torus

01-02-2010, 10:57 PM

this quote is now 17 years old

"Television gives the young viewer a first glimpse of the outside world. It first defines - and does so compellingly by combining the visual and audio impact - the meaning of the good life. It sets the standard of what is to be considered achievement, fulfillment, good taste, and proper conduct. It conditions desires, defines aspirations and expectations, and draws the line between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. With audiences around the world increasingly glued to television sets, there is nothing comparable, either in the era of enforced religious orthodoxy or even at the high point of totalitarian indoctrination, to the cultural and philosophical conditioning that television exercises on its viewers.

The sad fact is that television producers who are cultural pornographers have in effect a competitive advantage over those who are not. The net result is that Western television has become progressively more and more inclined to the sensual, sexual, and sensational. Even a single days test of the content of the "sitcoms" that dominate daily viewing, and much of the evening entertainment, not to speak of the advertisements themselves, conveys the foregoing with intense impact.

Moreover, to the extent that any values can be extrapolated from television programming, they clearly extol self-gratification, they normalize intense violence and brutality, they encourage sexual promiscuity through example and stimulated peer pressures (advertisements for condoms addressed to American teenagers and children describe potential customers as sexually "active" -with the obvious negative inference that the others are "inactive") and they pander to the worst public instincts.

The result is loss of control over social behavior."

Zbigniew Brzezinski, Out of Control, p.70-71

I question the "loss of control over social behavior" and am more inclined to see it as aquisition of control.

"HEY, TEACHER!! LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE!!"

yellow jacket

02-02-2010, 12:03 AM

Two shows that just came to mind are "How I Met Your Mother" and "Two and a Half Me". They are full of sexual humor and situations and they are both on pretty early. I find "Two and a Half men" particularly raunchy and I'm 25.

I feel back that kids these days don't have shows like "Family Matters" "Step by Step" "Boy Meets World" or any of the old TGIF line up.

It seems like the shows my nephews watch have little or no moral values to be learned at the end. They must have gotten rid of that sound on the laugh track.

They watch shows like "The Sweet life of Zack and Cody" and other shows that are full of just dumb humor.

The closest thing to those old TGIF shows and Carl Winslow is the sitcom George Lopez has.

thetonic

02-02-2010, 12:31 AM

This has been planned for centuries. The corruption of morality, the compromise of the family unit, the abandonment of dignity. All of this has been prepared long time ago.

We are living in the end of an age. A very dark time for humanity. Remember Sodom and Gamorrah. This is what we are moving towards. They are programming us to be immorral, depraved, disconnected from real love. They are tearing people away from the Creator, away from spirit. They need the disconnected sexual energy. They need souls.

They are getting ready to make their scalar jump and takeover the consciousness of earth

dreamweaver

02-02-2010, 12:43 AM

I agree there's too much sex on TV.

I keep falling off. :(

subl1minal

02-02-2010, 03:03 AM

Why are any of you even watching the T.V still?

*facepalms*

anyuser

02-02-2010, 03:34 AM

Why are any of you even watching the T.V still?

*facepalms*

The problem is that the children of non awake people (even awake people) watch this smut and its reflected in the youth. Tis is poisoning of the mind/corruption at a younger and younger age.

ritchs

02-02-2010, 03:54 AM

Why are any of you even watching the T.V still?

*facepalms*

TV is a former shadow of itself.

Shows like "Cougar" that are obsessed with sex. Nothing wrong with sex mind you, but the all out obsession is very unhealthy and unbalanced.

Twenty to twenty five years ago, it was entertaining

Shows like Nova, National Geographic, Lots of good quality nature shows, "Upstairs Downstairs" Masterpiece theater, "I, Claudius", and game shows that were fun to play along with for viewers.
There hasn't been a new game show in years I think, like Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy, just some re-runs.

Now just back stabbing and double crossing low life characters on reality shows which show human nature at its basest and lowest.

TV when it first came out in the early fifties had variety shows, sitcoms and talk and discussion shows like "Firing Line" "Meet the Press" where political topics were debated in real time.

Now we have Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and others where if someone voices a contrary view to those guys, they shout and scream the person down till the veins in their necks are visible. So much for alternate viewpoints.

We've hit bottom. There's nowhere to go but up.

motleyhoo

02-02-2010, 03:57 AM

iwant_tobreak_free

02-02-2010, 11:41 AM

What TV presents is merely a reflection of a corporistic materialstic society. If the people didn't like it they wouldn't watch it. The TV stations are giving them what they want, and if they don't they won't make any ad revenue. The bottom line is, it's the fault of both the consumers and the producers who are a reflection of how morally decayed our materialistic societies are. It's no wonder the govt and Wall Street have gone to shit, because the whole country has. Everyone is out to make a dollar with the least work possible, and it's gotten to the point that our society's heroes are the ones who make the most while doing the least.

Rant over.

.

No TV channels give it to you and tell you that you want it. That's how it works. They really do have a masslve influence on children, look at Power Rangers or Captain Planet. Kids copy.

Now I love Lost and am so glad its back. But it isn't THAT lntelligent. In fact I have nothing to compare it to. I suppose I could say that its an example of smut free TV, with added hidden symbolism and long running mysteries.

The elephant in the room here is that nobody wants to sit down to watch a movie with their family and see ANY sex. But its almost unavoidable. Who watches secret diary of a call girl? Its a british show and I'm british and I don't know a soul who does.

Kids TV, retarded in the UK since SKY appeared. It killed the BBC and ITV cos it showed
"edgy" kids shows where black people drank orange soda and grunted at one another.

before then we had "going live" "out of this world" "Timmy Towers" and a non PC "Thomas the Tank Engine" Shows before 1995 had a soul, a different energy. Then the Americanization began.

dawnismygoddess

02-02-2010, 11:54 AM

Kill your t.v. already.......who the hell watches it anymore?

I have NEVER watched it. Grew up without it.

iwant_tobreak_free

02-02-2010, 11:58 AM

Kill your t.v. already.......who the hell watches it anymore?

I have NEVER watched it. Grew up without it.

there was a time when tv was educational, was a force for good..and it really wasnt that long ago..20 years..tv got cancer around 15 years ago and its still fighting..

i cant understand personally why people would completely avoid something that really isnt that bad..its not bad, its how its used that is..

there is still some great stuff on there

dawnismygoddess

02-02-2010, 12:02 PM

there was a time when tv was educational, was a force for good..and it really wasnt that long ago..20 years..tv got cancer around 15 years ago and its still fighting..

i cant understand personally why people would completely avoid something that really isnt that bad..its not bad, its how its used that is..

there is still some great stuff on there

This is were YouTube comes in.....

iwant_tobreak_free

02-02-2010, 12:13 PM

This is were YouTube comes in.....

true, BUTTTT if u wanna watch it live and potentially uncut..then tv is still there.

btw i always use torrent sites =] unless its on british tv

cluas

02-02-2010, 12:23 PM

sex on tv: It's increasingly uncut — and unavoidable

where is the pictures ????

dawnismygoddess

02-02-2010, 12:24 PM

true, BUTTTT if u wanna watch it live and potentially uncut..then tv is still there.

btw i always use torrent sites =] unless its on british tv

I suppose.

However, I would rather not watch the ads, and not support the corporate media moguls who run t.v. programming.

That's just me tho, everyone has their own thing.

keithm

02-02-2010, 12:49 PM

keeps the stupid sheep amused and diverts them away from real matters of importance.

whiterain

02-02-2010, 01:00 PM

thats odd. i havent even seen this spartacus, just seen pics, but i had a dream about it last night, then the first thing i click on is this.

its not the sex on telly i have a problem with, its how it is always portrayed in a negative light.

its more the waking up on a sunday morning putting the telly on for a minute and seeing someone get shot through the stomach that i have a problem with. sickeningly twisted double standards. apparently a vagina is more harmful than a gun...

ritchs

03-02-2010, 01:54 AM

The fast buck mentality is very much a part of TV show production.

No hiring of writers, proper directors, and all that.

Just some person with a camera that wings it and adlibs the whole thing on the fly.

Like we really need to go inside prison walls every day, and learn how to craft and conceal a shank.

Like we really need to see people who are romantically involved on a reality show, betray each other at the first chance they get.

High speed chases and beat downs of people on drugs or drunk out of their minds.

And the police, always always present and in your face. Everyone's a potential suspect, a "perp" to be questioned.

I don't believe that people really want this. It more like something they are almost forced to watch, often that's all they have the energy to do after a backbreaking day slaving at a substandard wage, is flip on the TV

And what do they see, just some other person who's struggling to survive having their car repossessed. Real nice huh?

No, this is about cheapness in producing a content, substandard as it is, and passing it off as entertainment.

I do believe this is absolutely done with an agenda too. To demoralize and bring out the worst in people, to brainwash them into thinking that this is all you can reasonably expect out of life, the best you can expect from your fellow man. That police are needed round the clock. because your neighbors and community are perverted and the streets unsafe.

Bullshit! We are so much better than this drivel being broadcast through the world like some sickly diarrhea.

motleyhoo

03-02-2010, 04:03 AM

Who watches secret diary of a call girl? Its a british show and I'm british and I don't know a soul who does.

Somebody is watching it or they wouldn't air it. Trust me, the people who are in charge of what gets shown when are under pressure from their bosses to show financial results, and those bosses are under pressure from their executives to show financial results. The advertiser's themselves know more about who is watching than anyone because they have the bottom line costs to make up, and if no one is watching when they're advertising they'll pull their ads and there goes the revenue for the TV producers.

Yeah, TV is full of crap telling you what to like and not like, but you have your own brain and your own free will. Unless of course you are a sheeple, in which case you need/want that kind of hand-holding thru life as you do your best stay within the herd.

.

ritchs

03-02-2010, 04:57 AM

I believe it has passed the normal conventions of profitability. It is beyond that now as a propaganda machine, the main function is no longer commerce. The people working within do not know this necessarily, and go through the infighting and struggling to turn profits, but I believe it has transcended that. Not because profits are normally obsolete, but we because of where we are now historically. This is only my opinion, but we are at EndGame now. Profits are small potatoes compared to what's happening. Obviously nobody wants the shit that's being shoveled at us through the tube. I find that way too hard to believe. If that was true, then, haha, God help us. I think the outcome of all this is something can go either way. We can only watch this play out.

mmac900

03-02-2010, 05:34 AM

Why are any of you even watching the T.V still?

*facepalms*

I like lost that's about it. I think I watch maybe 2-3 hours tv a week, where as most people watch 2-3 hours of tv a day. I also think all this sex in tv and movies is getting out of control, and im a young guy in my twenties.

1776

03-02-2010, 05:39 AM

thetonic

03-02-2010, 07:16 AM

Yeah, TV is full of crap telling you what to like and not like, but you have your own brain and your own free will. Unless of course you are a sheeple, in which case you need/want that kind of hand-holding thru life as you do your best stay within the herd.

.

Sorry but this is such a bullshit and contradictory attitude to have and incredibly naive I might add.

Stop pretending like you are above others because you are 'awake'. Stop referring to yourself as 'awake'. Its pathetic. You are no better and no worse than those people watching the shows... Maybe their spirit and intuition isnt as active as yours, that still doesnt change a thing. You should be trying to help these people shed their programming , break their bonds...

Calling people names in the derogatory fashion that we all call them will never win them over to our side. This is a programmed response to the general populaces shortfalls, and a reflection of our inability to extend patience and the helpful hands that are needed to break these dark spells.

These reactions have been programmed into us to continue and promote a division amongst brothers and sisters. We have to be the light for our brethren , not some kind of demagoguery that chastises and humiliates them

zhenshanren

03-02-2010, 07:39 AM

Amazing information...
Twas my life until I stopped watching TV...took another 10 years to untie all the knots...in fact still working on it. So sad.

this quote is now 17 years old

"Television gives the young viewer a first glimpse of the outside world. It first defines - and does so compellingly by combining the visual and audio impact - the meaning of the good life. It sets the standard of what is to be considered achievement, fulfillment, good taste, and proper conduct. It conditions desires, defines aspirations and expectations, and draws the line between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. With audiences around the world increasingly glued to television sets, there is nothing comparable, either in the era of enforced religious orthodoxy or even at the high point of totalitarian indoctrination, to the cultural and philosophical conditioning that television exercises on its viewers.

The sad fact is that television producers who are cultural pornographers have in effect a competitive advantage over those who are not. The net result is that Western television has become progressively more and more inclined to the sensual, sexual, and sensational. Even a single days test of the content of the "sitcoms" that dominate daily viewing, and much of the evening entertainment, not to speak of the advertisements themselves, conveys the foregoing with intense impact.

Moreover, to the extent that any values can be extrapolated from television programming, they clearly extol self-gratification, they normalize intense violence and brutality, they encourage sexual promiscuity through example and stimulated peer pressures (advertisements for condoms addressed to American teenagers and children describe potential customers as sexually "active" -with the obvious negative inference that the others are "inactive") and they pander to the worst public instincts.

The result is loss of control over social behavior."

Zbigniew Brzezinski, Out of Control, p.70-71

I question the "loss of control over social behavior" and am more inclined to see it as aquisition of control.

"HEY, TEACHER!! LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE!!"

o_rourke

03-02-2010, 07:54 AM

Thanks for the information. It is indeed a concern for young people who are already practically brainwashed with so much of this already. TV, films, mags, music and also the gaming industry. It seems that there isn't any area where it's been untouched.

Anyone else remember the days when Mary Whitehouse was given a hard time for sensoring UK TV? People were outraged that they weren't given the option to switch over or turn Off. We've come a long way from then and it seems that the button was never switched Off.

torus

03-02-2010, 04:25 PM

"This indictment is especially applicable to the widely viewed global exports of American televsion and of the American film industry. "Dallas" and "Dynasty" have been shown in more than one hundred countries, and the image that they present of American values is not likely to reinforce America's global standing. On the contrary, while the distorted picture of American wealth may be envied, the overriding vulgarity and spiritual emptiness which these images of America project reinforce skepticism that America has a deeper message to offer to the contemporary world.

American movies in recent years have also come to be dominated by brutish violence and physical and sexual savagery, with growing box-office rewards for each surpassing dose of abominations. It is no exaggeration that Hollywood movie and TV producers have become cultural subverters who - cynically exploiting the shield offered by the First Ammendment - have been propagating a self-destructive social ethic.

The foregoing is directly relevant to the definition of the essence of the good life. Increasingly it is defined by television - the prevailing purveyor of mass culture - as the acquisition of goods and instant self-gratification more generally. The utopian fanatic is in this fashion replaced by the insatiable consumer. In the age of awareness of massive human inequity and deprivation, it is politically and morally disturbing to calculate how much of Western consumption is unnecessary: that is, driven by artificially stimulated desires for the latest fads, fashions, gimmicks, and toys."

-Zbigniew Brzezinski, Out of Control, p. 71-72

The meme that will not die. Hitler on the ipad.

Hitler's angry reaction to the iPad - YouTube

realy

03-02-2010, 04:48 PM

im all for brothels :p

jakeee 2008

03-02-2010, 05:13 PM

Why are any of you even watching the T.V still?

*facepalms*

for some the penny still has not dropped