ABC apologizes for raunchy football opener
They better look like apologizing! (Warning: the article contains a picture of Nicollette Sheridan in her towel in the Philadelphia Eagles' locker room--and for that matter, the Eagles' site has a link to a bit of merchandise that they definitely would have done better not to commission. PJADAA.)
Let's have a closer look--or, as Janeann Garofalo likes to say, break it down.
Why should this episode surprise us? To begin with, that skit was a take-off on a TV series which, forty years ago, would never have been allowed on the air. And if you put this into a movie and tried to show that movie in the air, the network and the station would have felt the need to issue separate PJADAA warnings. (For those of you too young to remember, PJADAA is an acronym: "Parental Judgment And Discretion Are Advised.") But today, such TV shows as Desperate Housewives are available on just about any network, with the possible exception of PAX. You don't even need a CATV ("cable") subscription; we're talking about broadcast, must-carry channels.
And before you ask, "But how could the Philadelphia Eagles get involved in something like this?", you might want to ask yourselves why the Eagles would market a picture calendar of their cheerleaders posing in their underwear. Every team in the NFL, or most of them, fields a squad of cheerleaders--all of them scantily clad. From that it was but a small step for the Eagles to ask their star wide receiver to appear with a woman in her towel--which woman drops the towel before the skit is over. Will Baseball be next? The mind boggles.
Or maybe it doesn't. Athletics used to be a public demonstration of a warrior's prowess, the equivalent of those parades of missile trucks along Red Square during the days of the Soviet Union. But now, organized sport is taking on all the wretched excesses of Roman games. Even the Olympics is more sex show than physical contest these days.
On the other hand, ABC pulled this stunt to boost their sagging ratings. Well, this last election might have given ABC a clue that their ratings are sagging because sixty million people voted against their kind of programming. Sadly, fifty-seven million voted for it--but evidently, out of those fifty-seven million voters, ABC can't find enough regular viewers. On the other hand, PAX's Sunday evening line-up is doing quite well, thank you. (Hat Tip: Pebblehut Productions.)
Now we can argue endlessly as to whether television, cinema, or any visual medium could ever be appropriate for Christian viewing. ("Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image...") But few--other than hopeless addicts, inveterate apologists, and, of course, typical Hollywood producers and directors and actors--would disagree that the typical fare on movies and TV today is totally inappropriate, and has gotten less appropriate ever since the studios threw away the Motion Picture Production Code. Only one thing will stop the slide (other than the Second Coming of Christ), and that would be for enough people simply to stop watching, stop buying tickets, stop rending videos or DVD's, and in general stop patronizing the whole industry, until that industry cleans up its act. Now if you believe, as some for whom I have the greatest respect happen to do, that movies and TV, being fiction and akin to forbidden "graven images," are ipso facto unsuitable for a God-fearing person to view, fine. Junk the TV, cancel the season ticket passes, and never darken the door of a cinema house or play house or sports arena again. Of course, if no Christian ever patronizes such entertainments, then organized sports, movies and TV will eventually sink to the sewer, become the propaganda arms of the Beast and the False Prophet when they arise [Revelation 13], and then become "military targets" during the Second Coming.
But even if you believe that movies and TV could ever have a wholesome purpose, you can no longer afford to keep on patronizing most TV and movie fare and sporting events just because it's typical and hence "all there is." If what I suggest means giving up Monday Night Football, so be it--and both ABC and the NFL have brought this on themselves. For an excellent perspective on just what's wrong with popular entertainments today, and how to fight the "all the other kids get to go" battle, see here.
(Movies and TV will still sink to the sewer after one earth-shaking event: the Rapture, which will be God's Mass Recall of all of His followers before the onset of the Seven Years' Bad Luck [Daniel 9:24-27]. Until then, however, we have a choice to make: redeem those entertainment media, or let them slide now and simply refuse to play along.)
Let's have a closer look--or, as Janeann Garofalo likes to say, break it down.
Why should this episode surprise us? To begin with, that skit was a take-off on a TV series which, forty years ago, would never have been allowed on the air. And if you put this into a movie and tried to show that movie in the air, the network and the station would have felt the need to issue separate PJADAA warnings. (For those of you too young to remember, PJADAA is an acronym: "Parental Judgment And Discretion Are Advised.") But today, such TV shows as Desperate Housewives are available on just about any network, with the possible exception of PAX. You don't even need a CATV ("cable") subscription; we're talking about broadcast, must-carry channels.
And before you ask, "But how could the Philadelphia Eagles get involved in something like this?", you might want to ask yourselves why the Eagles would market a picture calendar of their cheerleaders posing in their underwear. Every team in the NFL, or most of them, fields a squad of cheerleaders--all of them scantily clad. From that it was but a small step for the Eagles to ask their star wide receiver to appear with a woman in her towel--which woman drops the towel before the skit is over. Will Baseball be next? The mind boggles.
Or maybe it doesn't. Athletics used to be a public demonstration of a warrior's prowess, the equivalent of those parades of missile trucks along Red Square during the days of the Soviet Union. But now, organized sport is taking on all the wretched excesses of Roman games. Even the Olympics is more sex show than physical contest these days.
On the other hand, ABC pulled this stunt to boost their sagging ratings. Well, this last election might have given ABC a clue that their ratings are sagging because sixty million people voted against their kind of programming. Sadly, fifty-seven million voted for it--but evidently, out of those fifty-seven million voters, ABC can't find enough regular viewers. On the other hand, PAX's Sunday evening line-up is doing quite well, thank you. (Hat Tip: Pebblehut Productions.)
Now we can argue endlessly as to whether television, cinema, or any visual medium could ever be appropriate for Christian viewing. ("Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image...") But few--other than hopeless addicts, inveterate apologists, and, of course, typical Hollywood producers and directors and actors--would disagree that the typical fare on movies and TV today is totally inappropriate, and has gotten less appropriate ever since the studios threw away the Motion Picture Production Code. Only one thing will stop the slide (other than the Second Coming of Christ), and that would be for enough people simply to stop watching, stop buying tickets, stop rending videos or DVD's, and in general stop patronizing the whole industry, until that industry cleans up its act. Now if you believe, as some for whom I have the greatest respect happen to do, that movies and TV, being fiction and akin to forbidden "graven images," are ipso facto unsuitable for a God-fearing person to view, fine. Junk the TV, cancel the season ticket passes, and never darken the door of a cinema house or play house or sports arena again. Of course, if no Christian ever patronizes such entertainments, then organized sports, movies and TV will eventually sink to the sewer, become the propaganda arms of the Beast and the False Prophet when they arise [Revelation 13], and then become "military targets" during the Second Coming.
But even if you believe that movies and TV could ever have a wholesome purpose, you can no longer afford to keep on patronizing most TV and movie fare and sporting events just because it's typical and hence "all there is." If what I suggest means giving up Monday Night Football, so be it--and both ABC and the NFL have brought this on themselves. For an excellent perspective on just what's wrong with popular entertainments today, and how to fight the "all the other kids get to go" battle, see here.
(Movies and TV will still sink to the sewer after one earth-shaking event: the Rapture, which will be God's Mass Recall of all of His followers before the onset of the Seven Years' Bad Luck [Daniel 9:24-27]. Until then, however, we have a choice to make: redeem those entertainment media, or let them slide now and simply refuse to play along.)
posted by Temlakos at 9:48 AM
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