Friday, October 21, 2005
Return to "assland": TV, garbage and hypocricy
By Russell King
Here's a news item that caught this American Dad's eye this past week. It has to do with what's going into our kids' brains (or not).
First, take a look at this (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9752995/): Four Fox Network programs, led by the comedies "The War at Home," "The Family Guy" and "American Dad," topped a parents group’s annual listing of the worst prime-time shows for family viewing. In fact, 6 of the top 10 on the worst list are Fox programs. This is the same network, of course, who so regularly and sanctimoniously lectures the rest of us on our bad morals. Anyone else see some irony here?
(The irony thickens, of course, when you consider that the most vocal of the Fox self-righteous was recently caught on tape making obscene phone calls to an employee -- unwanted advances that caused her to file a complaint and caused him to cough up a ton of dough to make the complaint go away. Still, there he is, every day, telling the rest of us how to live.)
The network news brand that makes the most money off the outrage over the loosening of American morals is also the network most responsible for creating that outrage. They are making money on both ends. Nice work.
But here's the kicker: L. Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council, which conducted the "study" and created the list, said first that "Families should not be deceived (by the family friendly marketing). The top three worst shows all contain crude and raunchy dialogue with sex-themed jokes and foul language," then added "Even worse is the fact that Hollywood is peddling its filth to families with cartoons."
Ah, Brent, hate to break it to you, buddy, but "Hollywood" doesn't produce any TV shows, it's just the city where the studios are. Fox produces (pays for, writes, directs, acts, films, edits, airs and sells) those shows, not Hollywood. And the smut peddler who owns Fox is Rupert Murdoch -- godfather to oh so many of those politicians who are oh so concerned about our morals (or, at least, what we're doing in our bedrooms).
Then again, I'll bet I'm not breaking anything to you. I'll bet you already know, since I know and I don't even watch Fox (and we don't allow cable TV in our home, precisely because of the smut it sells to kids). OK, I'll just say it: You lied, Brent. And since we all know that "Hollywood" is Fox Network code talk for "liberal," and in Fox talk all things liberal are evil, I'll leave it to the reader's judgment just what purpose you were serving when you lied.
How many layers of irony can one story have? First, those who attack our morals are responsible for helping to undermine our morals -- and get richer at both efforts. Then we have those who pretend to protect our morals lying to protect those same double-dealing villains.
Feel safe turning on the TV with kids around? Me neither. Kids are like computers in this regard: garbage in, garbage out. And TV -- in particular the Fox Network -- seems to be the biggest garbage dumb of them all.
By Russell King
Here's a news item that caught this American Dad's eye this past week. It has to do with what's going into our kids' brains (or not).
First, take a look at this (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9752995/): Four Fox Network programs, led by the comedies "The War at Home," "The Family Guy" and "American Dad," topped a parents group’s annual listing of the worst prime-time shows for family viewing. In fact, 6 of the top 10 on the worst list are Fox programs. This is the same network, of course, who so regularly and sanctimoniously lectures the rest of us on our bad morals. Anyone else see some irony here?
(The irony thickens, of course, when you consider that the most vocal of the Fox self-righteous was recently caught on tape making obscene phone calls to an employee -- unwanted advances that caused her to file a complaint and caused him to cough up a ton of dough to make the complaint go away. Still, there he is, every day, telling the rest of us how to live.)
The network news brand that makes the most money off the outrage over the loosening of American morals is also the network most responsible for creating that outrage. They are making money on both ends. Nice work.
But here's the kicker: L. Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council, which conducted the "study" and created the list, said first that "Families should not be deceived (by the family friendly marketing). The top three worst shows all contain crude and raunchy dialogue with sex-themed jokes and foul language," then added "Even worse is the fact that Hollywood is peddling its filth to families with cartoons."
Ah, Brent, hate to break it to you, buddy, but "Hollywood" doesn't produce any TV shows, it's just the city where the studios are. Fox produces (pays for, writes, directs, acts, films, edits, airs and sells) those shows, not Hollywood. And the smut peddler who owns Fox is Rupert Murdoch -- godfather to oh so many of those politicians who are oh so concerned about our morals (or, at least, what we're doing in our bedrooms).
Then again, I'll bet I'm not breaking anything to you. I'll bet you already know, since I know and I don't even watch Fox (and we don't allow cable TV in our home, precisely because of the smut it sells to kids). OK, I'll just say it: You lied, Brent. And since we all know that "Hollywood" is Fox Network code talk for "liberal," and in Fox talk all things liberal are evil, I'll leave it to the reader's judgment just what purpose you were serving when you lied.
How many layers of irony can one story have? First, those who attack our morals are responsible for helping to undermine our morals -- and get richer at both efforts. Then we have those who pretend to protect our morals lying to protect those same double-dealing villains.
Feel safe turning on the TV with kids around? Me neither. Kids are like computers in this regard: garbage in, garbage out. And TV -- in particular the Fox Network -- seems to be the biggest garbage dumb of them all.
