Mark's Everything Blog of Goodness: The PTC if Full of $#*!

Ah, the PTC (Parents Television Council) has flexed their mighty arms yet again. This time they plan on creating a boycott of a new show airing this fall. The show in reference is titled “$#*! My Dad Says” and features William Shatner in the lead role. They argue that the title of the show is indecent and that advertisers should not go anywhere near this show.

Little Bobby is in shock at the latest episode of “$#*! My Dad Says”. He says, “compared to that, my daddy is #*&!@^# nuts!” The PTC quickly removes all adds from blogs with the keyword “Hillbilly” and “married my cousin”.

The PTC always tries to create a stir when they’ve been out of the news for awhile. But I have to say, the title of this show is nothing compared to half the stuff that’s already airing out there. And I do have to thank the PTC, because without their fuss, I wouldn’t have known this show existed. Frankly, I think this show sounds great just off of the name and lead actor alone. So thanks PTC!

I remember distinctly when the PTC was going after the WWE (then the WWF) in the late 90’s for their violence and sex and yadda yadda. And did they win their fight? Not at all. However, they did cause the network some temporary financial losses as a few key advertisers bowed to the pressure. Most of them eventually jumped back on board, but others were more than willing to pick up the spots that were abandoned. It certainly, at the time, did not affect viewership at all and may have even helped increase wrestling’s popularity in the 90’s.

I don’t mind the idea of using your voice and saying you disagree with something. People often vote with their feet and in TV that’s the remote and they can turn it to whatever they want. And honestly, when this show airs, should your child be watching TV or maybe working on homework instead or doing something else? How about instead of attacking the advertisers, they attack the parents who let their kids watch it or watch TV non-stop. Are they doing that? Hell no they aren’t. Instead they would rather cause a network to lose a few advertisers for a particular time slot.

Advertisers face PTC’s followers boycotting their product. The networks then face losing a little profit if those advertisers bow to the pressure. However, I think this can backfire huge, because if they do lose an advertiser, they can probably quickly pick up a new one. And now they can charge more because the ratings will be higher because people want to see what all the fuss is about. And the PTC suddenly increased the profits of the network and any advertisers who abandoned the show now feel like fools for doing it. So who wins in the end? The network!

The PTC claims moral authority in television. And for some reason they even endorse movies. Their lists of approval reads like a “Who’s Who of Disney Shows”. Hmmm… and their going after a new CBS show. The PTC shouldn’t be in the drivers seat here, the Parents themselves should be. They should watch shows to see if their appropriate first or research the show. The PTC should be nothing more than a website you can go to and get information on what is “decent” on TV and what is not.

The PTC is still going after Family Guy. Most of their FCC complaint campaigns are based on that show alone. Face it, if you let your kids watch Family Guy, nobody is going to put you up for a “Parent-of-the-Year” award. That’s your responsibility. There are tons of channels and shows out there, so vote with the remote. Change the channel. The PTC could have suggested a change to the title of the show, but of course they don’t. Instead they continue to do the ridiculous. Take for instance a recent article on their site, “Verizon Wireless Shoves Teen Sex “Threesome” at Kids”. What a totally bogus title as they aren’t shoving anything at anyone. Completely insane!

Let’s start a campaign to boycott the supported of the PTC, because their pushing article titles with the words Threesome and Sex down my throat. If my kids visited the PTC site they would find quick links to tons of indecent items (albeit mostly from Family Guy) and have instant video access to the spots in question. Does anything there seem a tad hypocritical to you? In my view, if you want your kids to watch indecent crap, that’s on you. Me, I’ll do things my way and vote with my remote. Thank you very much PTC.

My main problem with the PTC though is really this: they make claims that aren’t even accurate most of the time. They tell us that Verizon is shoving teen sex at us, when really its the show that is doing it. You can say, Verizon advertises for a show with these things in it, but come on. They shove it at kids? I don’t think so. If you’re watching that show, you could care less about Verizon being an advertiser. They also go after the NAME of a show, but not after the content? Well, since they haven’t seen it, they don’t know if it’s offensive. I could simply call the show, “Crap my Dad Says” and get the same point across, but the name comes from a Twitter stream that was popular.

The PTC should be an advisory board. Instead they seem to be more of a witch hunt board. They want to censor things and they obviously don’t think parents can decide what their kids watch. Their methods are ineffective and I’ve disliked them ever since their 1990’s witch hunt of pro-wrestling. They aren’t the censors, they should be there to provide me with nothing more than a list of shows that are decent versus ones that aren’t. Everything else will then just solve itself. But then if they did that, their VP’s and such wouldn’t get in the news, which is really what they want.

The PTC wins my Hobo Shame Award of the Week!