TV: More Rude, Crude, Lewd

Major U.S. television networks are broadcasting more sex, violence and adult language during the "family hour" of weeknight TV programming, and viewers must dissuade them from doing so, a watchdog group said Wednesday.

"The content of the family hour (8-9 p.m.) overall is becoming more lewd and crude than ever," said the report by the Los Angeles-based Parents Television Council.

Brent Bozell of the PTC says it's going to get worse this season with new shows like WWF Smackdown on UPN. He called that one of the most violent wrestling shows ever on broadcast television. It premiered last week at an hour when lots of kids were watching, reports CBS News Correspondent Howard Arenstein.

To force networks ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS, UPN and WB to provide suitable programs for all age groups in that time slot, American families must complain, the PTC said.

"Families should insist that networks clean up their act, or they will no longer watch their shows, and will encourage others not to watch their shows," said the PTC report.

According to the PTC's Web site, "The PTC offers private sector solutions to restore television to its roots as an independent and socially responsible entertainment medium."

"This is not censorship - this is freedom of speech in its purest form," PTC officials said.

The "family-hour" convention was adopted by the networks in 1975 after Washington lawmakers objected to what they saw as too many adult-themed programs broadcast during the early evening, when most children were still awake, said Ron Simon, a curator at the Museum of Radio and Television in New York.

As a result, situation comedies such as Happy Days and The Cosby Show - which dealt with frivolous subjects like prom dates and acne as well as more serious themes like bigotry, alcohol and drug use - were developed and became hits among families in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Today, as the networks try to recapture audiences from the Internet, cable television, video rentals and pay-per-view movies, American families only able to afford free broadcast programs are being forced to watch bloody shootouts and images of young adults engaging in or talking about sex, and listen to crude language, said PTC executive director Mark Honig.

"They're appealing to the lowest common denominator," he said. "It's much easier to write a cheap joke with sexual innuendo than address weighty family issues."

A review of programming during last May's TV "sweeps" showed only 24 percent of the 37 programs broadcast during the 8-9 p.m. time slot promoted "responsible themes and traditional values," while 41 percent were "unsuitable for children," the PTC said.

To read the full-text of the Parents Television Council report, click here.