Cap’n Ken’s Homespun Wisdom

So Comcast has jumped on the “family-friendly” programming bandwagon. This trend (Time Warner cable announced a similar thing last week) bugs the crap out of me, but not because I think kids should watch more porn.

What bothers me is what this says about parental responsibility in the U.S. It”s very easy, of course, to lock out “offensive” channels, block programs by ratings and do the other tricks made possible by the V-Chip and parental controls. Or - believe it or not - it”s possible for parents to simply tell their children what they can and can”t watch.

But those options would require some sort of action on the part of the parents. It”s much easier to just tell the cable company “only send me things my kids can watch.”

Such as The National Geographic Channel - part of the “Family Tier” - which features one of our favorite shows: Seconds From Disaster. What could be more family-friendly than the episode about a gas explosion in Puerto Rico that killed a mother and buried her two young daughters under a huge pile of concrete while they were shopping for shoes?

Or “Killer Dogs”, which airs tonight and is described thusly:

Some of them live among us, lounging benignly on our hearths and couches. But deep in their genes lies a killing communion with both their wild and ancient cousins. The canines are among the earth”s ultimate survivors, honing their killing perfection over millions of year. While the cats are ambush hunters, the great canines are built for endurance; their easy long-legged strides eat up mile after mile as a hapless victim tires.

“Gee, honey. Little Johnny hasn”t been playing with Sparky much since we watched Killer Dogs. It can”t be because of that show - it”s Family Friendly, after all.”

This entry was posted on Friday, December 23rd, 2005 at 10:59 am and is filed under Big Brother, Culture, Media & Things. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.