PTC: Family Hour Turns Sour

That's what the Parents Television Council wants to know. The conservative watchdog group, who strive to keep the tube clean for children, released a report Wednesday indicating the incidents of swearing, sexual content and violence during TV's family hour are on the rise.

The group examined more than six weeks and 200 hours of broadcast television programming airing between the supposedly family-friendly times of 8-9 p.m. ET/PT and 7-8 p.m. CT/MT. The results weren't pretty.

"Despite the ratings system and in spite of the V-chip technology, TV is actually getting worse. We've been pointing out for years that the Family Hour is disintegrating," says Mark Honig, executive director of the Parents Television Council.

The study, the fifth such review on the content of broadcast television by the council, found the use of cuss words during the 2000-01 television season up by a dramatic 78 percent since the PTC's last report covering the 1998-99 season. Violence was up by 70 percent, according to the study.

Topping the the group's list of most common offenses was "ass," which reared an average of more than once an hour. (The PTC also noted that the foul-language meter would have doubled had words like "hell," "damn" and "crap" been included in the study.)

One of the more surprising findings was that "sexual material" during the family hour declined by about 17 percent to a per-hour average of 3.1 instances. But, says Honig, "while sexual material is down, shows have actually gotten more raunchy." He says issues like oral sex and pornography are becoming part of many family hour shows and points to the salacious storylines of Fox's Boston Public as the most egregious example.

When it comes to cussing, UPN topped the PTC's list of worst offenders, averaging 5.6 instances of potty mouth per hour. Fox was second with 3.5.

UPN also ranked first when it came to violence, averaging about 9 incidents per hour thanks primarily to WWF Smackdown. That's triple the score of rival WB, which came in second place with such shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (of course, Buffy's moved to UPN).

"No one should be surprised UPN leads the pack," says Honig. "They are the only major network not to have an in-house standards and practices [committee]."

In response to its dubious ranking, UPN issued a statement saying it does everything it can to inform viewers as to the content of its shows before they actually air.

"At UPN we strongly believe in the viewer's right to make an informed choice about what they watch, which is why we voluntarily and clearly label every UPN program with a content rating," the network says in a statement.

For his part, Honig believes such fare shouldn't air in the family hour at all, and also decries the TV ratings system. "The ratings are a band-aid solution," he says. "The fact is there are nearly 10 million children tuning in to that first hour of prime-time."

The network with the best report card was CBS, which was judged by the PTC to be the least offensive broadcaster. (But even the former Tiffany Network didn't escape unscathed--the PTC slammed the net for airing Big Brother during the summer when kids are home from school.)

The council, whose stated goal is to "restore television to its roots as an independent and socially responsible entertainment medium," is also asking supporters to boycott advertisers and networks on the group's, um, shit list who consistently cross the line and degrade America's standards of decency.

The PTC's latest target is Comedy Central's South Park, which drew the group's ire when it dared to have characters utter "shit" 162 times during its season premiere and even kept a meter tallying the offense at the bottom corner of the screen.

Yup, TV's definitely going to crap.