Inspired by the show:
2 Broke Girls, CBS
, Monday nights 8p.m. CST
I am amazed by the television programming on standard
network tv (excludes cable) that are on today during what I recall as the family
hour of television (7p.m-10 p.m.) Is
there such a time period anymore? If so,
has it been moved? And if so, what is
family time on television? To be fair to
this program, it can be funny at times, but I think that the talents of the two
main actresses who star in the program have more to offer. I feel that their talents along with their
co-stars are being greatly diminished by scripts that focus more on sexual body
parts, and sexual innuendos all in an effort to cast the two main characters as
in being in pursuit of their dreams as two struggling waitresses.
Why my title “Kiss Where the Sun Don’t Shine”? The title reflects the attitude of how I
perceive television entertainment during what was once considered family hour
entertainment. There was once at least 2
hours that seemed to have been dedicated to a time where parents and children
could sit down together and watch, dare I say, “wholesome” entertainment. Yes there are shows like that today, but they
appear to be the exception rather than the rule.
I am now the prude
Okay, I’ll admit it:
I have become my parents, somewhat. I am less offended however, than
surprised by what has happened to television in the last say, 20 years. What was once the epitome of family
television viewing, The Cosby Show
,
for example , seem to fall short today, in a consistent manner to provide
quality family entertainment, just for a mere 2-3 hours.
Let’s be clear, I don’t sit and watch TV every night, which
is really a good thing. I don’t believe
anyone should watch TV every night
(but that’s there choice). But, the
challenge for today’s parents to monitor what their kids watch on television is
a great one, and cannot be entrusted to television executives. Let us flip through this week’s lineup to see
what options are available (Characterized by *). It may not be fair to do so at this time as
there are a number of Christmas specials that’ll be hitting the airwaves
between 7 & 8pm., beginning tonight (12/4/2013):
Wednesday:
7p.m. 7:30p.m.
©
The Middle -ABC*
Back in the Game(?) New Show
©
Survivor-Blood vs Water-CBS Same
©
Christmas in Rockefellar-NBC* Same
©
The X Factor-FOX* Same
©
The Big Bang Theory-CBS* The Millers*
©
The Sound of Music-NBC* Same
©
Once Upon A Time in Wonderland-ABC Same*
©
The X Factor-FOX* Same*
©
Frosty The Snowman-CBS* Same
©
Dateline –NBC Same
©
Last Man Standing- ABC* Same
©
Bones-FOX Same
Parental Controls vs
Parental Guidance (My thoughts only)
Do Parental Controls really work? And just what is Parental
Guidance?
When it comes to our children, Parental Control should
always follow closely with Parental Guidance.
It is not enough to tell children what they can’t watch (Parental
Control) without at least telling them why, or suggesting something more
enlightening or age appropriate.
Parental Control in today’s technologically-laden society
has been well, technologically advanced.
But the original approach is still a good: change the channel or, turn off the TV. Or, if you wish, as parents, leave it to
programming of the remote control. But
don’t think your children aren’t smart enough to figure out how to de-code the
remote control, as soon as your back is turned.
Parental Guidance has a bit of a technological aspect added
also. But, as with Parental Control,
unless it is accompanied by an actual parent, our children can be expected to
be free to draw their own conclusions about the programming that they are watching. It is important that we, as parents, take as
much time to provide guidance and implement parental control over TV
programming as much as possible.
Why? Because the forces that
decide what goes into the shows that our children watch, whether family or
adult viewing, appear to put a lot of time into taking chances that someone is watching
our children. Should you be
concerned? Yes. Are they concerned? Equally so.
Why?
The Risk vs Reward
factor of TV Programming
This post, as I indicated earlier, was inspired by the
program 2 Broke Girls, starring Kat Demmings
and Beth Behrs
. The premise, were it not so often plagued by
sexual innuendos, as well as wanton implications of sexual trysts, or
discussions thereof, is a good one. But,
between 7p.m. and 10p.m., the formerly aforementioned Family Hour, seems as
though someone doesn’t construct their programming around the premise of the
family setting. If anything, by all
accounts, the producers, directors and sponsors risk offending families for the
greater reward of those families putting aside any semblance of family values
for the type of programming offered by such a show, or any such show of this
nature, during this time period, on any given weekday night.
The risk that 2 Broke Girls seems to suggest is that there
are Parents who are on their game and are exercising either their Parental
Control, Parental Discretion, Parental Guidance or all three. And that by putting such a program on during
the so-called family hour, that parents are doing their best to protect their
children from the effects of this and any other similarly-based program.
The risks taken by TV executives, directors, producers and
sponsors suggest that they can act with total abandonment by putting forth such
a show because the responsibility is not on them as producers or the like, but
on parents, who are, no doubt, on their jobs.
It is a tremendous risk for the program, 2 Broke Girls, to present
itself during primetime. But, after 3
seasons, the rewards must be there. So
that mean that we as parents are taking it on the chin? Is there even a connection? I submit that there is, because the one thing
that remains constant is that evening dinner still goes on in the home, and that
homework still goes on in the hours leading up to and including the hours of
7p.m.-10 p.m. I surmise, by the fact that this program is
still on the air, that the cost borne by commercial interests, is apparently minimal,
and therefore, the risks, taken by parents entrusting prime time television to
be family-oriented will bear out very few, if any, rewards for them, but a
greater reward for the advertisers, sponsors and program executives.
Prime Time and
the cost to capture your family’s attention!
Definition of Prime Time-
the peak viewing time on television, for which advertising rates are
the highest.
With an emphasis on advertising, that prime
time period may vary from 7p.m. to 10p.m in CST (Central Standard Time), or
8p.m. to 11p.m. in EST (Eastern Standard Time), and so on. It is a time period that has value to not only
local networks, but to corporate networks as well. It is a time period that has the highest
viewership of people, who represent potential income, and/or customers. During Prime Time television viewing,
everyone is fair game. It makes me
wonder if Prime Time may have once been called Family Time? Whether it is, or was family time and now,
Prime Time, it was still an important piece of time to sponsors who, for the
most part, had a captured audience. It is still an important piece of time to
family. And for theif time, family
should be respected.
Historically, as I recall family time, mothers prepared
dinner, and children did their homework.
When dinner was finished and homework completed, the family sat together
and watched television. There were
comedies, variety shows, game shows and documentaries. There were also westerns like Gunsmoke
and Bonanza
, all
constructively done with positive messages.
What changed from then? What
began to break down, and why?
That audience of families, over the years, consisted of
various demographics that appeared to have changed. And those who were looking to capture those
changes, during Family/Prime Time television, had to capture that changing
demographics quickly, regardless of who else may have been privy to, or
affected by, the marketing that was eventually implemented, even if that market
included our children, or the family as a whole. Is this to suggest that those who are marketing
during Prime Time have an obligation to families? No, that would be requiring too much of
sponsors of programs such as 2 Broke Girls.
Without naming names, many of the sponsors of 2 Broke Girls could be
just as community-minded as any other group, and therefore, can’t be said to be
trying to have an unfair advantage, or influence during Prime Time, if they are
engaged in other activities that actually benefit the family unit. But there is a cost factor, to those who
market, as well as to the family who may or may not be on guard for what is
allowed into our homes during this impressionable time period.
For 2010, for example, Adweek.com
reported that the cost of a :30 (thirty second) ad decreased by 10% during
prime time viewing. What that meant then
was that those who were marketing during prime time, spent approximately
$104,000 just to tell you in 30 seconds just how important their product or
service was, to you. If we can imagine
that on average, we see maybe, 100 commercials during prime time (estimate), at
$104,000 per 30 seconds, that means that some agencies/corporations/companies
were spending serious cash to make a very strong impression on not only us as
adults, but also on us as families. I
would guestimate that to be $10,400,000 per 3 hour period. And, I bet that I am under-guestimating (not
a word, I know) by a lot. How does that
compare to now?
According to the website, domainshane.com
,
the most recent information as of October 2012, two years later, suggests that
2 Broke Girls, for example, was bringing in $269,235, per thirty-second
ad. If, for example, there are 5
commercials for every 20 minutes of show, that means that in approximately 1
hour, approximately $5,000,000 has been spent to influence our families via
this program. So, it begs the question,
am I pointing out the money or the influence of the program on our families?
I am pointing out that a program such as 2 Broke Girls, has
a tremendous amount of financial influence because of the amount of money
poured into sponsoring it. The language,
the innuendos, and the continued references to sexuality, during a time of
supposed family viewing, is a tremendous investment by entrepreneurs. We are not talking chump change during this
time period, and we are not talking unimpressionable minds when we have our
children watching any programming during the hours of 7p.m. to 10p.m. CST, or
whatever other time periods/zones there are considered to be prime time,
formerly, family viewing time. By the
way, in 2012, NBC’s Monday Night Football brought in an average of $545,000 per
thirty-second ad
. Look at the ads during this time period and
determine if the viewing is worth the influence without Parental Control,
Parental Guidance, or even, Parental Discretion.
Kiss Where the Sun
Don’t Shine
Perhaps, the subject matter and the title is out there. It may have caught your attention, or it may
have offended someone. I don’t make any
apologies. There is a war going on, and
it involves how to minimize the importance of family viewing. The war is also going on in our various
homes, around the television. Actually,
there are a lot of wars going on, and many of them focus on how to affect
families, by any means necessary. My
small attempt, be it a blip against the millions of dollars that are invested
in advertising, is a small attempt to say, don’t trust that all is well in
front of the television when we leave our children to watch during prime time. Advertising, by way of television, can be
used, practically and with greater voracity over time, to change the dynamics
of our families. The odds appear to be
that, for advertisers/sponsors, and programmers, that a net-like approach in
their messaging is in constant play, where regardless of who is in the
audience, “kiss where the sun don’t shine!”
And that in lieu of “excuse me”, regardless of who is in the audience,
we (advertisers/tv executives) don’t care who is impacted. The message seems to be from TV executives,
sponsors and the like, that the timing couldn’t be better (prime time), and
that the program (2 Broke Girls) couldn’t better serve the purpose, regardless
of the content, or regardless of the audience.
Parental Defense
Earlier, I referred to myself as a prude. Reasonably so, I might add. When we talk about the things that affect
and/or influence our families, we can’t assume that anyone will take a more
proactive stance to protect our children than we as parents. If I haven’t said it yet, let me say
this: Nothing here should be considered
as an attack on any of the programs that are pitched, shown, or viewed during
prime time. Everyone has the right to
make money, and to make a living. But as
parents, we can’t assume that others are going to be as concerned about what
they put on the TV screen that affects our children. We, as parents, have to be on guard. We have to be ready. Parental Defense. That means Parental Discretion, Parental
Guidance, Parental Involvement, Parental Controls, and/or, Parental Love.
I don’t condone the program 2 Broke Girls, nor do I ask that
you catch it when you can. Actually, I am
surprised that it’s still on. But the
program, like several other programs of its nature, that focus more incessantly
on sexuality than the dreams of the characters suggest that talent is not a
requirement to be on television, even though the two lead actresses are indeed
skilled beyond this program.
If you click on this link (
http://voices.yahoo.com/the-40-top-family-tv-shows-wholesome-family-programing-1042457.html),
I believe these were some of the best programs that parents could go to the
store and leave their children alone with, or go to bed and feel that there
were going to be lessons learned, because they were truly entertaining. Today, it doesn’t appear as though parents
can go to the bathroom, while leaving these types of programs on, especially during
prime time.
Let’s be honest. What parents have to do today, is no
different than what my parents did when I was coming up. I remember channels being changed, and the
television being turned off when my parents didn’t like a particular program
that I was watching. While that is still
the solution today, it comes at the risk of saying, maybe, television has
outlived its usefulness for family viewing, overall. Unless one has cable television with a
designated children’s channel, or, unless a parent can babysit their children
every hour of the prime time moment, the option would seem to be to set the old
remote control for parental control, and see how the choices are becoming fewer
and fewer as it relates to supposedly, good family viewing.
Defensively, as parents, the millions of dollars that are
invested in advertising to us as families, whether during prime time, or during
children’s television hour (another message for another time), the role of
parenting is that of a defender, even against technology. That includes television, computers, the
internet, video games, cell phones, and who knows what else technologically
speaking. Defensively, as parents, we
have to be as much on guard during prime time, as we have to be on guard at the
bus stop, at the fast food restaurant, at school, or on the highways. There is hardly ever an opportunity not to be
on guard on behalf of our children, even during what was once more aptly called,
family time viewing, that is now more commercially referred to as, Prime Time.
Disclaimer: Information provided is an opinion and
subject to your feedback. Please feel
free to add your comments. Information here should not be considered
professional advise. Please consult with
your respective professional regarding any personal matters that you maybe
having.
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