Prime time TV

I hardly ever watch TV, but last night I happened to catch "Cavemen" and "Carpool".

I was shocked at the amount of sexual talk, steamy scenes, and innuendo. I thought that the networks tried to limit this stuff in prime time. But these shows were full of it.

"Cavemen", for instance, featured a Neanderthal who is "dating" (read: having a sexual affair with) a human girl. Besides the scenes where she is climbing all over him, the dialog features lines like "keep your [part of male anatomy] in your genus" (it's a rhyme).

How would I begin to explain that to a child? And you know that plenty of children are up watching TV at that hour. Notice how the assumption that casual relationships include sex, and that pre- and extra-marital sex are the norm, permeates these shows. I know, of course, that such is the reality but do we have to package it up and sell it as something desirable? It's like a conscious effort is being made to erode society's morals. You don't have to be religious to see that more and more it is "anything goes".

Or what about Bratz? I've been trying to gently steer easy child 1 away from these without making a big deal about it, since making a big deal would make them even more interesting. But they really bother me. As one reviewer wrote about the movie, they send the "empowering message that you're never to young to wear too much makeup and dress like a stripper". They are everywhere, TV, toy stores, department stores, etc. (Well, the same things were said about Barbie a generation ago, I guess. Every generation thinks the next one is going to the devil.)

Am I just an old fogey? Square? Prudish? difficult child thinks so. wife agrees with me but says I sound like her dad. I replied, "Well, your dad is right."
 

busywend

Well-Known Member
:bravo: I applaud you for speaking up! :bravo:

I do agree TV has gotten out of control. It seems nobody in the network has children. They do not think it inappropriate at all.
 

Sheila

Moderator
If you're an old foggy or purdish, then so am I.

It's ridiculous what is allowed on prime time tv these days. There's no longer a safe time to allow children to watch television unsupervised.

It's strictly up to parents to set limits these days. About the only way I know of to control access 100% is to take televisions out of the home.
 
And even if we take our tv's away, there are always friends homes who will allow their kids to watch that junk.

I watched Two and a Half Men for the first time last night. Not sure if it is always like this but the entire show revolved around Charlie Sheen's character having a "dry spell" with women. My kids were already asleep, but I would have turned it in a second had they been awake.

I agree about Bratz dolls and the movie. I have successfully steered Aly away from them all these years. Thankfully she is emotionally about 2 years behind and still loves playing with baby dolls, especially with her little sis. Phew/whew!!

My kids love Disney Channel and Aly LOVES High School Musical 1 and 2. She is going to "marry" Corbin Bleu someday. He is darn cute! LOL!! At least these shows and most that are on Disney Channel are G or only a little PG. She also is totally into The Saddle Club, the books and the shows.

But I totally agree with you, there is no way we can trust the networks to put acceptable programming on primetime TV without us keeping a close eye on what they are watching.

I guess I am a super prude here, but I feel our kiddos will find out about all this stuff soon enough without watching it on TV on a daily basis!

Off my soapbox now! LOL!

Vickie
 
You know, I thought I was the only one. And I'm one of the younger moms on the board.

Bratz make me throw up a little in my mouth. Tink is DYING to get one. I just won't allow it. She has "Groovy Girls". They are taller than Barbies, plush, and flat as a pancake. If you strip them, they have a belly button showing. that is it.

Some of the kids around here are a little, erm, "faster" than I am comfortable with, and I cannot wait to move. The 7 year old twin girls watch MTV and are trying to teach Tink to "bootie-pop". The 9 year old boy has told her that he is her "papi". He told her that she has to do whatever he tells her.

Right. Over my dead body.

I'm not stupid, I know that she will be exposed eventually. She does NOT need to see this on TV at 7PM. Sponge Bob, Drake & Josh (noW Tink is marrying Drake someday), even Billy & Mandy (Billy's voice gives me an instant migraine) is better than what else is on TV.

Grrrrr
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
Bratz my left eye! They're s l * t s. It's shameful. I mean, at least Barbie was an astronaut!

I can't watch Cavemen for several reasons. First, looking at them disturbs me. They look as though they have been severely beaten. Do your remember the photos of Hedda Nussbaum? That's what they remind me of. Second, how much of a one trick pony can this be? They're Neanderthals living in the present day. OK, that's not funny to me, but I get it. I doubt it will last more than four showings.

But whatever it is that we think about some of these programs, I also feel very strongly that we as a society show our displeasure, and set examples for our children, by not watching them. We were one family that had (and have) never watched the Simpsons after the first few episodes. Why? Because Bart is really funny until your son can't distinguish Bart from reality and mimics his every move and won't stop. We also had to keep the "Calvin and Hobbs" books away from him. Calvin's cute, but not in real life. We tried to get him to knock it off, but he wouldn't, so those things were gone.

Now that M is out of the house, I wouldn't miss an episode of Southpark. Some of it is way over the top and too much potty jokes, but I love most of it. We could not have watched it while he lived with us, though.

Not to say that limiting his television viewing to PBS seemed to do us much good, though...
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I have vowed I will not allow a Bratz doll to be bought for Keyana!

I am not as uptight about tv shows but normally at night on tv Im watching Law and Order or CSI...lol. Maybe she will grow up to be a lawyer. Of course, right now she only pays attention to the commercials.

She also loves sports and music on tv and we let her watch the cartoons in the afternoons. I like the disney ones and the wiggles and there is some strange show that has regular folks as heros. I like that idea. LOL. I must really love her because I really hate cartoons...lmao. I didnt even watch cartoons when my boys were young.
 

bby31288

Active Member
My kids are 13, 15 and 17 and are huge Hannah Montana Fans. They love the Disney Channel. Other than that, we watch a lot of Law and Order, Cold Case, etc. Not much into MTV, thankfully. They kind of skipped over the bratz doll generation!

______________________
Beth
 
Disney channel and Nickelodeon have pretty good programming. Cartoon Network I don't much care for (watch out for "Adult Swim"!)

easy child 1 is big into High School Musical. She had HSM-themed birthday party when she turned 6. We like Hannah Montana too. I personally am kind of a fan of Hannah's (Miley Cyrus) real-life dad Billy Ray Cyrus.
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
Most of what is on the major networks is complete drivel. I remember banning many shows as my girls were growing up and I'm glad I did. If you accept one bit of crap, the rest will follow.

Good for you for standing up and saying something about it. The next step is to let the network know what we think of their programming...and perhaps a boycott of anything advertised during that time slot.
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
Ya know, honestly, even daytime tv...not the content on the shows but the commercials! How do I explain Cialis to my kid while watching Rachel Ray????

Bratz....don't even get me started! I had my daughter hating those things when she was two and she never got into them. If someone bought them as a gift, we took it right to the store and got something else. My neighbor's daughter(also 7) is into them....she wears clothing that I wouldn't let my daughter wear if she was 20! Can anyone say pimp my barbie? :devil: Disgusting!

My kids don't watch much primetime tv. I dvr everything and watch it after they go to bed. The majority of it is completely inappropriate for kids and the commercials are just insane! Most of the time, they are watching something that I've recorded for them or Spongebob or Bob the Builder.

I heard about Cavemen on the radio and they said it was horrible.
 
F

flutterbee

Guest
Ugh. I hate Bratz, or as I call them, Streetwalker Barbie. I was shopping for toys with my mom around the holiday's once and said out loud that I was not getting my child Streetwalker Barbie when she said that difficult child wanted a Bratz doll. The other moms that were grabbing them up looked at me like I had just grown another head. :rofl:

I've been fortunate that I haven't had to make a fuss over banning certain shows. difficult child prefers to not see that kind of stuff. She mainly watches Disney and Discovery. She watches some Nickelodeon, but some of the shows on that channel are too precocious, I think. I thought I was just nuts until her therapist made the same comment. I thought I was the only one!
 

blb

New Member
Let the bombing begin in five minutes...

My name is blb, I am a card-carrying feminazi, and I allow my daughters to have Bratz dolls :devil:

Here's my reasoning. I only allow them to have Bratz dolls that are fully clothed without belly shirts (the sports series and the winter wonderland series) They are not allowed to watch the cartoons, or see the movie. They do not have any of the paraphernalia that I would considered inappropriate, such as but not limited to the juice bar or the high school mini Bratz.

Why?

Because they like the dolls and the clothing, it's actually nicer than a lot of the Barbie Myscene stuff that was put out as a response to the Bratz line. Some of it is hard to put on because of the stitching, but all in all the stuff they have(my girls that is) is pretty neat. They also have Myscene dolls and the Wee Three Friends series--they play with them all together and mix and match.

My kids, without my pushing them in that direction (and I am about as granola-eating, Birk-ripoff wearing and non make-up wearing a chick as you'll ever meet who despises bubble headed bimbo chicks who use sex as a power source) love pretty girly-girl stuff.
This is me :coffee: and :princess: This is them :princess:

Makeup (they aren't allowed to wear it, but they luuuuvvv to look at it) , nail polish, pink and purple, you name it. Who'd a thunk it?

Not a jock among them :slap: :faint:

So I deal, and use the other Bratz dolls (the ones they are not allowed) as an education tool as to why you don't want attention from boys based upon what you are wearing or not wearing. That it's not the kind of attention they would want, and that if they truly want men to respect them, they need to be respected for who they are, not what they look like.

And guess what, so far, they get it. They even point out to me in the stores the kind of Bratz that they wouldn't want~ those brazen hussy types :lipstick: , and also give me the lowdown on who in school wore a belly shirt lol.

Re the shows, well personally I think for kids Disney is okay until the evening, then on a lot of the shows, the characters become very rude (Suite Life, That's so Raven, Hannah Montana) Nickelodeon same deal so we don't watch them. In general though, most of the television that I allow the girls to watch is handpicked (some of our faves include the Discovery channel, or Noggin). They aren't allow to watch any show without asking me first, actually they aren't even allowed to turn the tv on without asking me first.

I agree prime time has become much more racy than 10 years ago; I guess they don't have network sponsored censors anymore :frown:


 
LOL @ Streetwalker Barbie. OK, I'm not too far off, I call them Ho-bag barbies.

Loth, I know what you mean about the commercials. Seen the one where the maxi-pad is a roller coaster?

What's that, mom?

Oh, just a Kotex, honey.

 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I must obviously be way out of it because I never notice these commercials...lol.

A maxi pad riding a roller coaster? I also dont think my kid would notice it...lmao.

Though..I do have to tell you a funny story about Cory. He was really quiet one day while sitting on the royal throne. All of a sudden I hear him screaming for me in a panic. I rush into the bathroom thinking something had to be awfully wrong with him involving loss of limb or blood spurting. Nope. He is sitting on the throne holding the insert from a box of tampons reading it intently. He looks up at me and in all seriousness asks me....

Do you think I might have toxic shock syndrome?

I almost died laughing.

He was 10.
 

AllStressedOut

New Member
I caught a glimpse of the Bratz cartoon on "The Soup" on E. I couldn't believe the story line, so I DVRed it and it is rediculous!

As for the dolls, well, Barbie included on this one, they all have too much makeup and emphasize way too much on outer beauty. If my daughter wants to play with them, I'll decide then what is okay. Sure as the sun comes up each day, she will not be watching the movie or the cartoons though.

My kids are allowed to watch Nick, Nick Jr. and Disney.

I have made the mistake of renting PG13 movies without watching it ahead of time and been completely caught off guard at how inappropriate a PG13 movie was.

As for tv, well, husband and I DVR everything! I don't watch real time TV unless I'm catching Nick Jr. with my daughter. So all the stuff I love that is totally raunchy, I watch when I'm alone during the day or at night when they go to bed. It is all way too sexual for my kids. Heck, The Bachelor had a streaker on Monday night.

I'm often amazed at how innocent (when it comes to the opposite sex) my kids are compared to some of their classmates. I kissed a boy at 10 years old and my almost 13 year old has never kissed a girl and tells me he's not quite ready either. That was shocking to me. When I talk to my kids about what goes on with other kids their age, I'm amazed at how much they know, but really would prefer to not be part of quite yet. They're okay with just being kids right now. Well, I think my 10 year old easy child would like a little kissy/kissy action, but fortunately he isn't getting it yet. LOL

Now, of course, my almost 13 year old is interested in girls, he just is uncomfortable with it all still. Fine by me!

I'll keep them watching Disney and Nickelodian as long as I can for now!
 

mrscatinthehat

Seussical
See I too it a step farther. Bratz never entered my house. No fight with easy child about it because she knew better. As for tv I don't have cable/dish haven't had since 2001. When husband and I got together we just had movies. We rationed them. Now we do have an antanna but it is only attatched to his and my tv. The kids rooms have tvs and are allowed movies again rationed.

My kids are a bit older but I tell you I am still careful. easy child loves horror movies and is allowed some of them as long as no sex content. She is just a sci fi buff and loves to watch how they do the movies and such.

Beth
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
My sister never allowed her son to have guns as a little boy, not even water pistols or super soakers. Guess what? He's now a neo-nazi lunatic. Go figure.
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
Jannet....OMG that is so funny! toxic Shock syndrome Bafaaawaw :rofl:

Jo... neonazi...Lovely! I always said I wouldn't allow toy guns either and then Mighty Mouse had a pirate birthday party. Guess what some of the favors were? Toy Pirate guns! Duh! I should have shot myself with it. I do allow water pistols in the summer.

BBK, no I haven't seen the roller coaster maxi commercial. Oh for goodness sake! How ridiculous?

Missy is already boy crazy. Over the summer, all she talked about were the boy counselors. I wanted to castrate the boys...(not literally) :future:. She is watching Drake and Josh as I type this very moment. I like the TV crushes a heck of a lot better than the ones at summer camp. :sword:
 
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