Actually, I'd be perfectly happy if they didn't advertise horror movies on television at all. I do not consider such movies to be such shining cultural contributions that they need to be widely advertised: they add nothing to the social good; indeed, they add to the general coarsening of the culture, and of society itself, that has been proceeding at breakneck speed ever since the 1960's. (The real cultural contributions aren't advertised at all. If Itzhak Perlman or Yo-Yo Ma comes to the average American city for a performance, how much television advertising does the performance receive, compared to "Sex in the City" or the latest comic book movie?) In any case, the FCC has nothing to do with it: although the various administrative agencies (which are considered by lawyers to be "the fourth branch of government") are horribly powerful in the United States, the FCC does not usually get involved in movie advertisements. This is handled by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the private group that assigns ratings to new movies; theater owners and television stations tend to go along with the MPAA recommendations. There was even a popular documentary about the shortcomings and hypocrisies of the MPAA system, but I will not name it, because then
I'd be plugging a movie that contains many unsuitable elements.
Because they're impressionable, and because (as you say) their tastes are not fully developed. I can remember images from films I saw as a teenager, in the 1960s, which did me no good at all, and only stoked the fires of my youthful lusts and lack of inhibitions. (I'm not blaming the movies for my wickedness; I'm merely saying that they didn't help!) Christian parents, who are the kind of parents you find in this forum, are rightfully concerned about such things. If they
weren't concerned about it, they'd be derelict in their God-given responsibilities.
Real life can be a very ugly thing, and does not always deserve cultural depiction. (I'm not talking about separate beds for married couples!) However, somebody has sold you a bill of goods about the 1950's. That's when I was a child (I was born in 1949), and it was one of the richest cultural periods in American history: writers as diverse as T. S. Eliot, Norman Mailer, and Jack Kerouac were in their prime; the movies featured such actors as Laurence Oliver, James Dean, and the young Marlon Brando; Alfred Hitchcock and Elia Kazan were in their heyday as directors; Van Cliburn was winning the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow; and, of course, rock music was born, if that's a contribution. There was nothing "Puritanical" about it; and, anyway, when did "Puritanical" become a pejorative word among Christians? Yes, the spouses had to sleep in separate beds on television comedies; was that worse than the unmitigated filth in today's comedies, such as "Friends" or "Will and Grace?" Was the unrealistic innocence of "I Love Lucy" or "Leave It to Beaver" somehow more offensive than "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy?"
You're joking, aren't you? "Cursing," both four-letter words and actual profanity, is so widespread on television, particularly cable, as to be absolutely ubiquitous. As for sex, you're simply mistaken. Cable television features
exhaustive nudity in such programs as "Nip/Tuck" and others, and the offerings on the premium channels are even worse. No, these programs do not depict "graphic sex acts" in the same way that hard-core pornography does; but they are, most definitely, "soft-core" pornography. I don't think there's a producer or writer in Hollywood who would dispute this.
See above. I agree that the daytime soaps don't contain soft-core porn: they merely contain as much "mild" sex and alcoholism (and worse) as they can. And in this case, you are probably correct to thank the FCC, even if you do it sarcastically.
However, I will emphatically agree with you that it's not primarily a "teen" problem, or, more accurately, a problem affecting only teenagers. I know men in their 40s and 50s who would never watch porn on the Internet, but who watch the most salacious stuff (like "Nip/Tuck") and the most outrageous horror (like "Hostel") with an almost religious dedication. (It isn't primarily teenagers who buy the boxed sets of DVDs for this stuff.) And these are
Christian men that I'm talking about.
America is about as "Puritanical" as ancient Rome or Babylon. C. S. Lewis said it best: Everyone says that we've "hushed up" sex, when in reality we've simply talked it to death. American culture, indeed all Western culture, has become so foul that it's a grief for any serious Christianto deal with.
If this post sounds preachy or "Puritanical," I can only say that I've been called much worse, on many occasions!
Originally Posted by moonglow
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and changed channels..that was certainly enough for me!
I thought they were talking about a TV station...its a satellite? 
But I do like watching educational shows...the history channel (yes I know some are really far fetched but there is alot good).. I watched half a day on there about President Lincoln one time (while in and out the room doing other things), and learned things I never knew about him. I have always admired Lincoln...
I also like watching their war stories of how different groups in history conducted wars (don't ask me why that would interest me cause I have no idea...
I was watching a show called the 'half ton teenager' the other day and I don't image too many would feel that was good to watch...
I just like medical type shows for some reason too. Last year I was really into watching Medical Mysteries...but my son was a little disturbed by those so I quit watching them unless he was out playing. 
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