What Happened to the Family Viewing Hour?
In the mid 90s, our family was a participant in a study done by the Los Angeles Times. We, along with 3 other families, were to watch one particular network every night from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. (the family viewing hour). The reporter would call us after the hour was up and ask what we found positive or negative about the shows and whether they were appropriate for children. One particular night during the week-long study, the reporter came and watched with us. After reading up on the shows we would be watching (our network was CBS), there was only one night out of the seven that we allowed our daughters to watch with us. The rest of the shows had too much sexual innuendo, violence or bad language. The show they were allowed to watch during the study was Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
Fast forward to 2010 - where television has progressed to a more promiscuous, cavalier attitude in subject matter - is it possible to find anything on television between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. that is suitable for younger viewers? With an influx of cable television channels, many of which are geared to families or children, parents have more choices than in the past. But if you look at the major networks: CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox and the CW, it is hard to find suitable shows for families.
In evaluating the 2009-2010 television season, networks were offering just a handful of shows suitable for family viewing.
ABC offers the following shows: America's Funniest Videos and Extreme Home Makeover could be considered appropriate for all age levels. Dancing with the Stars which has the possibility of being appropriate has become much more suggestive in the past few years deeming it not acceptable for younger children.
NBC offered only one show during the family viewing hour that I would consider appropriate for children: Minute to Win It.
On CBS, the show that comes the closest to being suitable for children would be The Amazing Race. But this show could get foul-mouthed at times depending on the cast, and bickering often occurs.
Fox network has American Idol. And though the network has the most offerings of animated shows during this time slot, not one is appropriate for the family viewing hour.
And the CW - geared more towards teens and twenty-somethings - had nothing that would be acceptable during the 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. family viewing hour for children.
Growing up, I remember watching Wild Kingdom and the Sunday night Disney series. What happened to shows like that? Fortunately, families with cable have the Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, ABC Family, Nickelodeon, to name a few. Though it's not the networks responsibility to be teaching moral values - that's the parents job - many of the networks make it difficult to sit with your child and watch acceptable television programming during the family viewing hour. But wait, in my opinion, the family viewing hour no longer exists. Thank goodness for DVDs.
Sources:
www.latimes.com
www.museum.tv
www.abc.com
www.nbc.com
www.cbs.com
www.fox.com
www.cwtv.com
Published by C.A. Jacobs
C.A. Jacobs is a freelance writer who enjoys writing, traveling, reading and shopping in her spare time. View profile
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16 Comments
Post a CommentThe family viewing hour never really existed, just insisted heavily upon. Great article and I love the points, but the family viewing hour was an idea and a suggestion to the networks in order to keep the 7-8 hour family friendly. However, since the 70's, family viewing has dwindled, which I find a shame since I still go home every now and then to watch TV with the whole family. Gotta admit, though. Outside of the kiddy networks (Nick, Disney, Cartoon Network), there isn't much on the weekends for families, is there?
Bring it back!
As a full-grown adult, I find little reason to watch network tv these days - and goodness forbid if I had children I was trying to find good viewing for! Thanks for bringing this issue up, there really is little left that could actually count as family viewing these days.
Friday night was "our" night, back in the day we watched the Brady Bunch & Partridge Family, Daddy was out and it was Mommy and kids! Loved it!
i watch discovery, history, news, -when the oklahoma bombing occurred my daughter and I sat down and talked about it, she knew the difference between real and television and I didn't try ato censor what she watched, if she had questions I answered them - I'm more liberal than most parents but it worked in my favor
I too remember this ruling and the FCC has failed miserable in this. Instead of calling it Cinematogrophy, it has ended up being "sin-ametography". We watch little TV for this reason. Garbage in, garbage out. Good points in this article my friend. Well done.
I, too, remember many shows when I was a kid. Even the "grown up" shows were tamer then. My kids watch very little that is not on the Disney Channel, PBS or Nickelodian (and even those I monitor as my kids are still young -- 3 and 6 -- I don't necessarily feel that everything on Disney or Nick is appropriate for them.) We have found a few Discovery Channel shows that are appropriate, but as far as network TV -- it's pretty much America's Funniest Videos.
I think this is why I don't watch much T.V.
You're asking a great question!
what ever happened to it...it should be resurrected again.