PTC Names First-to-Worst of Kids’ Primetime Favorites
ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Gets Top Rating; Fox's Family Guy Gets Bottom Rating
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/29/2007 11:59:00 AM
The Parents Television Council released its annual rating of the suitability for children of the top-20 TV-network shows watched by kids 2-17, ranked from first to worst.
First, for the second year in a row, went to ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, followed by NBC’s Sunday Night Football. In fact, all of the eight shows that got "green lights" as OK for kids were unscripted, with six of the seven shows given “red lights” for unsuitable scripted shows.
Worst went to Fox's Family Guy, followed by one of its companion Sunday-night animated shows, American Dad.
Fox tied with NBC for the most green-lighted shows with three, and it had the most red-lighted, as well, also with three.
The PTC -- which has been a driving force behind content complaints to the Federal Communications Commission that resulted in fines against CBS for the Super Bowl and Without a Trace, and behind the crackdown on language -- does a content analysis of the top 20 network-TV primetime shows with kids (according to Nielsen Media Research) based on "explicitness of foul language, sexual content and violence present" and taking into account "time slot, target audience, themes and plot lines."
The seven shows given a green light for suitability for children were, in order: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Sunday Night Football, NBC's Deal or No Deal, Fox's Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader, NBC's The Singing Bee, Fox's Don't Forget the Lyrics, Fox’s American Idol and ABC's Supernanny.
Shows getting yellow caution lights (a "questionably suitable" designation) were ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos, ABC's Dancing with the Stars, Fox's So You Think You Can Dance, CBS' Amazing Race, CBS' Survivor and Fox’s The Simpsons.
Occupying the red-light district were Fox's House, ABC's Grey's Anatomy, NBC's Heroes, CBS' CSI, American Dad and Family Guy.
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Hey sick of dirty TV, four kids were gunned down here in Chicago over the last two weeks and that's all you're worried about? I take it you don't live in the inner-city like I do, where you have a hell of a lot to be worried about than some kids watching TV. You and the PTC should get in the real world.
T Dog - 10/30/2007 10:27:00 PM EDT -
This is for all the uninformed autistics that wrote in about this article....
You complain about the ratings, because you don't have children. Even though we block our tv's, almost every commercial and show now-a-days has adult innuendo or theme to it. Also, during G rated shows, the moronic broadcasters present unsuitable and unrated snippets of shows that are for mature audiences. One good example is Noggin or the_n channel. They constantly bombard us with their truly inappropriate show trailers during children hour... It makes no sense. Why is it that my 11 year old has to watch commercials about a show like Degrassi or About a Girl? It seems a moronic solution to turn the tv on and off at every commercial, since the commercial are unrated
Sick of dirty tv - 10/30/2007 8:04:00 PM EDT -
What's great is that all the "red" shows are programs aimed at adults that all air at 8pm or later. Who the hell is letting small children stay up that late to watch a show that is targeted to an adult audience. Man am I glad I'm a pagan who doesn't listen to a damn thing the PTC comes out with. Although, this article did give me the giggle I was hoping for.
Mindyour Ownbusiness - 10/30/2007 7:53:00 PM EDT -
Do everyone a favor and kill yourselves. Why can't you stop telling everyone what TV should be like, you don't like it don't watch it.
go away - 10/30/2007 7:28:00 PM EDT -
This entire article is totally useless. Check the upper corner of your tv sometime. See that Y7, TV 14, or MA rating? Would you take your kid to see an R rated movie? Then don't let them watch MA rated shows. Simple as that.
But wait! If you don't have a tv from 1980, you can set parental controls! So you don't even have to know the ratings of each show, you can just block out all TV-MA ratings.
So, in short, quit posting crap.
Kaye Esdarke - 10/30/2007 5:21:00 PM EDT
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