Parents Television Council: ‘Family’ shows not friendly

Gathering around the TV for “family” shows is still a crapshoot, according to a new report from a watchdog group.

In a review of 21 broadcast family-centric shows in 2013, the Parents Television Council (PTC) found that even episodes rated TV-PG or TV-14 were laced with profanity, sexual and adult content.

In fact, 99 percent of these television shows had some form of adult content, the PTC said in its Dec. 10 report, “Remembering Family.”

Objectionable words included “bitch,” “penis,” “son-of-a-bitch,” “dick,” “screw,” “vagina,” “slut,” “ass,” “banging,” “hell,” “douche,” “bone,” “piss” and “whore,” in addition to words that were bleeped-out because they cannot be said on public airways.

Some “adult” content was even delivered by child characters, PTC said.

NBC’s “The Michael J. Fox Show,” for instance, had a scene where a young son was shown naked, with his groin pixilated.

When the father (played by Mr. Fox) spotted the son, he told him he couldn’t walk around the house naked. But the son said it was OK since he saw his aunt walking around naked earlier in the day.

In another show, CBS’ “The Millers,” a news reporter asked a boy about the sign he was wearing that said he had a foul mouth. The boy replied, “Shut up, ass [bleep]. Before I wrap your [bleep] around your [bleep] and shove my [bleep] in your [bleep].”

Both of these family-centric shows have since been cancelled — as have another eight of the shows PTC reviewed.

“Parents often assume that TV shows about families are ’safe’ viewing choices,” said PTC President Tim Winter.

But PTC’s report shows that “families who watch TV shows about families will be barraged by sex and profanity — even on TV-PG-rated shows,” said Mr. Winter.

He urged the broadcast entertainment industry to “remember families” and create shows that families can watch together “without having adult content shoved in their faces.”

PTC’s report did not go into detail about the programs it reviewed in the fall season in 2013; however, it offers descriptive ratings of the shows on its website.

According TV By The Numbers, which is owned by Tribune Digital Ventures, many of the shows reviewed by PTC are popular: “Modern Family” (ABC), “The Goldbergs” (ABC), “Mom” (CBS), “Blue Bloods” (CBS), “The Simpsons” (FOX) and “Family Guy” (Fox) have all been highly ranked for viewers in recent weeks, the website reported.