Television Programming -

[Barbkw]

What can you find for children to watch on television?

Discover Science even makes it their agenda to show every animal on earth having sex. Thanks to them, I now know the size and shape of every male animals private parts. Am I supposed to know that, do I need to know that? Do children need to know that? Why does Discover Science feel that we need to know that?

I DVR a lot of programs. I get interested in new series, and then it’s a waiting game to see how quickly they turn to unchastity, fornication, and homosexual acts to boost ratings.

I started watching “The Good Guys” with Bradley Whitford, Colin Hanks (Tom’s son).
Last week the show was hilarious - very child friendly. This week, they showed one of the main characters having sex with a women he had met 4 hours earlier.

I was sitting next to a Catholic family at a Chinese restarant last week. (They said Grace before they ate ). A Mom had her children and her children’s friends with her. Six all together. And the oldest was a young boy probably in the 3rd or 4th grade. The table was a riot of activity and talk. They were at the age where they all talk at once, with “He said” and then “She said” and then “He said back”.

I don’t have children and it was fun to listen to them.

I choked on my wonton, when the 4th grade boy said, “I was watching Glee last night and the girl said she didn’t want to be pregnant.”

I watch Glee - and I knew he was talking about a rerun.

Last weeks’ episode of Glee had the two bisexual cheerleaders in bed together talking about having sex with some guy so that they could advance some agenda.

 

[mommamaree]

My husband and I are very restrictive in what we allow our children to watch. We do not watch live TV with them, period, because the commercials are often worse than the shows we choose to watch. We DVR everything that might be family friendly, and then preview it, and fast forward through all of the commercials. We watch things like “Wipe-Out” and “Wheel of Fortune”, or PBS Kids’ shows (Thomas & Friends, Super Why), or we will watch movies that we have previewed and know to be acceptable. Our children are only 5 and almost 3, so it is still possible to find something they can enjoy. But we are aware of how slim the pickings will be as they get a few years older. I am sure that many parents will see our choices as being too controlling or over-sheltering, but we are not willing to take any chances with our precious littles, and we are frankly repulsed by much of what we see on TV. My husband and I do not watch much on broadcast network TV. Luckily for us, as a couple, we enjoy science fiction, so we watch a few series on SYFY. They tend to be more light-hearted and fun, and have less emphasis upon violence and sexuality, although some episodes end up being a bit objectionable.
I also like the History Channel series called “How the Earth was Made” and “The Universe”, and watch them quite often with my DD5, who has quite a scientific mind already.
It is very challenging finding a balance where we can find programming that is educational or family-friendly, or even just entertaining without being depraved or violent or hypersexual. Many times, I feel like throwing out the TV out of sheer frustration when yet another series is ruined by a change in plot that reduces its quality. And if push came to shove, I would gladly give it up all together in order to keep our home focused upon Godly things and things which are beneficial and uplifting.

 

[PatriceA]

My daughter is 11. She is allowed to watch the Disney Channel and a few shows on Nickelodean.but not when their one channel has Degrassi High on it. We watched an episode of that show together and she was even a bit freaked out about the content let alone me finding it very inappropriate. She watches the History Channel, she’s very much interested in WW II stuff. She loves TVLand, especially the Cosby Show. She lives for the old Full House episodes.

For current TV shows, we watch NCIS as a family, Funniest Videos and Extreme Makeover Home Edition on Sundays. We watch a lot of the Food Network together. We have a few favorites on the PBS channel, especially the locally produced shows. We watch The Middle on ABC, but not the stuff afterwards. A lot of sports also.

 

[greenmoira]

First of all, I want to say that I do not ascribe to the position that TV is intrinsically evil. However it appears that the most of the offerings on TV are not good for our psyche or soul. We used to limit our watching to shows that presented an intelligent aspect; such as the various CSI programs. We began to notice that it was similar to an addiction - we just had to watch! After discussing this we decided that a predonderance of themes based on gruesome murders, rapes, etc were not healthy for us. It happened to coincide with the conversion to digital programming. I did obtain a converter box and it is hooked up to the TV but the only times we have used it was to check on severe weather notices. Instead we subscribed to online dvd rental and get 2 rentals a month - one for the adults and one for the kids. These may be viewed several times before they are returned. We also decided to make a greater effort to say the family rosary and to make time for reading - spiritual and secular. We always said that we just didn’t have the time! It’s like having a car - just because we have one (or more) doesn’t mean that we have to be constantly going somewhere. So it is with the TV. It doesn’t have to be on all the time. While it can be enjoyable, it is an awful time waster!

Hope that this consideration will prompt some thought and discussion.

 

[AHapka]

I let my 6 year old and 4 year old watch The Simpsons. Some people really don’t like that show, but consider the following:

In two seperate episodes Marge and Homer are tempted to extramarital affairs and decide not to go through with them. Others in the show who give into them have consequences as a result of them.

The family is shown in church every Sunday, along with nearly all of the rest of the town.

Large families (such as Apu and Manjula with nine) are portrayed in a positive light.

Marge finds out she was pregnant with Maggie by mistake, meaning Homer had to give up his dream job to get a better paying one. Never is abortion discussed as an option, and he also gives up his dream job without question to support the family.

When Homer decides to steal cable, Lisa sets a very Christian way to protest a parent’s action by sitting outside and not watching it. That motivates Homer to disconnect it.

When Bart prays for a snow day from school, and it’s answered. He then goes out to play when Lisa reminds him that his prayer was answered…and he owes Him big time. Bart then goes on to study and passes the test.

One of the funniest was when Homer had his snowplow and decided to team up with Barney in a snowplowing business. He then said “when two friends come together, not even God Himself can come between them.” A voice from Heaven then says “Oh, yeah” and the sun comes out and melts all of the snow on the ground.

When push comes to shove, the family sticks together.

Generally, whenever anyone does anything bad there are consequences.

Compared to most other TV out there, I think it’s a great show.

 

[puzzleannie]

some of the posters have answered their own questions
as long as people continue watching these programs and supporting their advertisers, networks have no incentive to change their programming.

if you tuned in once, call it a learning experience
tune in twice, you are enabling
tune in a third time and you have endorsed the problematic contact
support the advertisers and you are an accessory after the fact to the crime of destroying innocence.

 

[mommamaree]

some of the posters have answered their own questions
as long as people continue watching these programs and supporting their advertisers, networks have no incentive to change their programming.
if you tuned in once, call it a learning experience
tune in twice, you are enabling
tune in a third time and you have endorsed the problematic contact
support the advertisers and you are an accessory after the fact to the crime of destroying innocence.

(emphasis mine)
Which posters and programs are you objecting to with this remark? There are only a few posters replying so far, so for you to say some, it must mean that at least 2 or 3 of the posters have said something to which you object. Why not just respond specifically to the things that you have concern about, so that an actual dialogue can occur? With the way your post reads now, it seems as if you are just not wanting to call anyone out. But with regards to TV influences, shouldn’t we engage each other in direct communication? And I ask this sincerely, because I was very appreciative when I saw the OP had created this thread, as I was hoping to learn more about how, as a new Catholic, I can better judge programs and refine my habits in order to have my actions reflect what I profess and what I teach my children.