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The fall season of network television introduces
a deeper level of explicit sexual content, gross and vulgar displays
of violence and a deluge of profanity.
• The
Brotherhood of Poland, NH H P22 S • TV14L
CBS, 10/15 — This new
drama centers on three brothers and their families in a small New
Hampshire town. When their minister announces to the brothers that
he is homosexual the show becomes the most one-sided piece of pro-homosexual
propaganda AFA Journal has
ever reviewed on network TV. The series is written and produced
by self-proclaimed homosexual David Kelley. God’s name was
taken in vain 12 times in this episode.
Advertisers: P&G,
Toys R Us
• CSI:
Miami P2 S V • TV14L
CBS, 10/6 — This episode
opens with a young man strolling across his bedroom in his briefs,
unwrapping a porn magazine. His erection is very evident as he turns
and crawls into bed, then leers at the magazine and reaches one
hand under the covers. The light fixture above his bed falls, releasing
thousands of maggots which had been feeding on a body in a room
above.
Advertisers: Burger
King, General Motors, P&G
• Cold
Case H P8 S V • TV14L-DVL
CBS, 9/28 — This debut
episode opens at a teen pool party while parents are away. In the
cold case under investigation, a teenager had killed a girl while
his brother watched. There are many explicit references to illicit
sexual relationships and to masturbation.
Advertisers: General
Motors, Yum! Brands
• Ed
P7 S • TVPG
NBC, 10/1 — In the season
premiere of this drama series — which has been fairly harmless
in the past — Carol, the series heroine, persuades Ed, the
hero, to let her move in with him. The episode ends with a bed scene
featuring the new live-in lovers.
Advertisers: Gap,
P&G
• Las
Vegas P11 S • TV14
NBC, 9/22 — This new drama
focuses on a casino, and shows plenty of bikinis, barely-clad breasts,
hookers and gyrating dancers. The opening of this debut episode
shows an explicit sex scene. A brief but clear shot of the woman’s
naked breasts are shown in the darkened window. There is plenty
of profanity and sex talk throughout, including euphemisms for a
man’s genitals.
Advertisers: Burger
King, P&G
• NYPD
Blue H P12 S • TV14-DLSV
ABC, 10/21 — In the teaser,
John, a detective in the series, lies naked in bed as his girlfriend
enters, disrobes and climbs atop him. Partial nudity occurs. In
a later scene, the girlfriend gets mad and leaves when John won’t
let her videotape them having sex.
Advertiser: General Motors
• The
O.C. P7 S • TV14DS
Fox, 9/9 — When teenager
Seth’s grandfather comes to visit with a sexy, younger woman
(Gabrielle), who is first seen in a bikini, Seth and his pal Ryan
obviously lust after her. Later Gabrielle tries to seduce Ryan by
jumping atop him in bed. Ryan and Marissa, the teenage girl next
door, are shown in bed doing explicit pre-sex stuff, even though
Marissa’s friend has been encouraging her to have sex with
her boyfriend.
Advertisers: Burger
King, General Motors,
Yum! Brands
• The
Practice P1 V • TV14
ABC, 10/19 — This is one
of a three-part sequence in which wacky attorney Sheila joins the
series firm temporarily. She causes problems for them because of
her bizarre behavior, her quoting of Scripture and her insistence
that God (a woman) speaks directly to her. Sheila mounts the stuffed
head of a dead woman on an office wall, declaring that it’s
St. Catherine.
Advertisers: Burger
King,Toys R Us
• Skin
P12 S V • TV14-DLSV
Fox, 10/20 — This debut
promises to make the series one of the sleaziest on prime-time.
Larry Goldman, a main character, owns a porn empire. Predictably,
producers take every opportunity to show shadowy clips from porn
movies and explicit strip club scenes. Goldman also takes his strippers
to dance on tables at a city council meeting. It’s his idea
of marketing a new porn channel to the local cable company.
Advertisers: General
Motors, Yum! Brands
Sitcoms major on sex, alcohol
abuse jokes
As the following reviews reveal, sex and drunk jokes
are staples for family time sitcoms. All of the major networks appear
to be making every effort to out-sleaze the competition.
•
According to Jim H P2 SA• TVPG-D
ABC, 10/21 — Jim and Cheryl
go overboard to make their little girls’ lemonade stand better
than that of the neighbors’ son. One feature is a "gay
porn car wash." In another scene, a female police officer comes
to ticket Jim for not having a permit, and Cheryl’s friend
Dana tries to seduce the woman with lesbian innuendo.
Advertisers: General
Motors, P&G,Toys R Us
• Becker
H P4 S • TVPG-D
CBS, 10/22 — The entire
episode focuses on sex — lesbianism, adultery, casual sex,
masturbation and promiscuity. Incidentally, promiscuity is highly
recommended for senior citizens at a nursing home.
Advertiser: P&G
• Coupling
H P5 S • TV14
NBC, 9/25 — Six shallow
singles form the core of this raunchy new sitcom which boasts talk
about bisexuality, oral sex, nudity, sexual techniques, pornography
and masturbation. The characters’ casual attitudes toward non-marital
sex are capsulized by Susan, who tells a friend that her relationship
with Patrick is "nothing serious. It’s really just sex
— with occasional breaks for conversation." Viewers are
treated to such double entendres for sex as "full in and out
privileges," or "solo flights" as a reference to
masturbation. In a restaurant scene, Susan flashes her breasts.
Advertiser: Gap
•
Frasier
H P6 S • TVPG
NBC, 9/30 — Humor about
homosexuality drives this episode when a local celebrity thinks
Frasier is "gay" and pursues sex with him. There are several
disgusting double entendres for anal sex, all played up for the
benefit of the applauding audience.
Advertisers: Burger
King, General Motors, Yum!
Brands
• George
H P11 S • TVPG-DL
ABC, 9/26 — In this hour-long
season premiere, there are at least 20 sex jokes. Max, George’s
son, about 9, says his teacher, Mr. Hawkins, is married to a man.
In another story line, George steals the president’s manuscript
and then lies about it. Later, he rationalizes his actions to his
children. George’s geriatric mother is proud of her new boyfriend
(30 years younger then she).
Advertisers: Burger
King, Gap, Yum! Brands
• Hope
and Faith P2 S • TVPG-DV
ABC, 9/26 — The title
characters are sisters. Faith, an out-of-work soap actress, comes
to live with Hope, her husband and young children. There are at
least a dozen sex jokes in this family sitcom.
Advertisers: Gap,
Toys R Us, Yum! Brands
• King
of Queens P11 S SA • TVPG-DL
CBS, 10/22 — In the teaser,
Doug grows frustrated using a new orange juice squeezer, races to
the refrigerator and grabs a bottle of booze. The main story revolves
around Doug and wife Carrie’s approval of their friend having
a one-night stand with a woman. Doug and Carrie know — but
their friend doesn’t know — that his estranged wife is
coming to reconcile the next day.
Advertisers: General
Motors, Toys R Us, Yum! Brands
• Less
Than Perfect P1 SA • TVPG
ABC, 10/14 — Co-workers
reminisce fondly over past experiences of drunkenness. Owen says,
"Yeah, where everybody sips martinis and nobody gets so drunk
they eat a whole pizza and don’t remember it."
"That was some night, wasn’t it?"
Ramona responds.
"Probably," agrees Owen. Obviously,
he’d been so drunk he can’t recall.
Advertisers: Toys
R Us, Yum! Brands
•
Life With Bonnie P1 S • TVPG-D
ABC, 9/26 — Sex jokes
abound in this season premiere, including one in which series heroine
Bonnie does an exercise-peddling workout on her morning TV show
and giggles, "I forgot to wear panties!" In the closing
scene, there’s a joke about a sex threesome — with Bonnie,
her husband and David (a co-worker) in bed.
Advertisers: P&G,
Yum! Brands
• Two
and a Half Men H P10 S SA • TVPG-DL
CBS, 9/22 — The debut
episode includes sex jokes about sexual arousal, sadomasochism and
more. Charlie, series hero, uses his young nephew as "bait"
to start pick-up lines with women. Charlie tells the nephew he’s
lucky his parents are getting a divorce: "When I was your age,
I could only dream about my parents splittin’ up!" Another
scene elicits laughter from Charlie’s hangover.
Advertisers: P&G,
Yum! Brands
• Wanda
at Large P3 S SA • TVPG-L
Fox, 10/22 — The foul-mouthed, obnoxious Wanda Hawkins leads
the cast of this sitcom. The booze jokes are too numerous to count.
In one story line, Wanda sent her niece, 15, on a date with Joe,
a kid she’d just met. It turns out that when Joe was 14, he
had a sexual affair with a teacher.
Advertisers: P&G,
Toys R Us
•
Whoopi P16 S • TV14
NBC, 10/7 — This new show
is as vulgar as it gets for a sitcom, with an unusual amount of
profanity for a half-hour program. Jokes about sex abound, and viewers
are treated to filthy references to sex like "get some,"
"do the nasty," and "horny." There are also
jokes about rough sex, masturbation, and bestiality
Advertiser: P&G
• Will
& Grace H P11 S • TV14
NBC, 10/2 — When, Diane,
Leo’s old girlfriend shows up, sex talk flows freely, with
discussions of sexual arousal, condoms, masturbation, and public
sex. Grace talks about her hundreds of past sexual experiences.
Karen’s growing bisexual tendencies, which have been increasingly
played for laughs the last two seasons, are flaunted.
Advertisers: Gap,
General Motors, P&G
action
index
Use
this information to write or call advertisers cited in this issue’s
TV reviews.
Burger
King Corporation
Chrm. John Dasburg
P. O. Box 20783
Miami, FL 33102
Phone: 305-378-7011
www.burgerking.com
Products: Burger King
Gap
Inc.
Chrm. Donald G. Fisher
1 Harrison Street
San Francisco, CA
94105
Phone: 650-952-4400
Toll Free: 1-800-427-6397
www.gapinc.com
Products: Gap, Old
Navy stores
General Motors
Corporation
Chrm. John F. Smith
300 Renaissance Center
Detroit, MI 48265
Phone: 313-556-5000
www.gm.com
Products: Buick, Cadillac,
Chevrolet, Hummer, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn vehicles
The
Procter & Gamble Co.
Chrm. Alan Lafley
P. O. Box 599
Cincinnati, OH 45201
Phone: 513-983-1100
www.pg.com
Products: Charmin,
Cheer Folger’s, Head & Shoulders, Ivory, Mr. Clean
Toys
R Us, Inc.
Chrm. Richard L. Markee
461 From Road
Paramus, NJ 07652
Phone: 201-262-7800
www.toysrus.com
Products: Toys R Us
Yum! Brands,
Inc.
Chrm. David C. Novak
1441 Gardiner Lane
Louisville, KY 40213
Phone: 502-874-8300
Toll Free: 1-888-874-4986
www.yum.com
Products: Kentucky
Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell
OneMillionMoms/Dads
impact felt by advertisers
Many of the nation’s largest
companies are being influenced to carefully review their television
advertising policies when their ads show up on offensive television
shows. Orkin, Denny’s Restaurants, Jergens and Domino’s
Pizza are among companies that have directed their commercial
placements away from controversial programs.
"OneMillionMoms.com and OneMillionDads.com
(OMM/OMD) is the online campaign that allows parents to contact
corporate executives of Fortune 500 companies with a single mouse
click," says editor Randy Sharp. "There’s never
been a more effective tool for letting parents share their concern
over corporate sponsorship of nasty television content."
Each week, OMM/OMD sends an E-mail to online
members, describing an offensive show. Members can then send an
E-mail to a company chairman, politely asking him to pull his
company’s sponsorship from the show. Sharp says some companies
have received more than 100,000 in a single day, all from concerned
parents.
Television advertisers aren’t the only
projects taken on by OMM/OMD. Some campaigns target other issues.
For example, OMM/OMD campaigned against the Marriott Hotel chain
after two children were exposed to hard-core pornographic movies
in their hotel room. Another mailing asked members to contact
their elected officials and encourage them to vote for bills promoting
religious liberties.
Sharp says OMM/OMD is successful in about
80% of the issues they address. "Advertisers are reasonably
dumping support for program content that paints a negative image
of their company," he said.
For a complete list of companies influenced
by OMM/OMD, visit www.onemillionmoms.com or www.onemilliondads.com,
or call AFA at 662-844-5036 ext.240.
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