Randall Murphree
AFA Journal editor
November-December 2001 – Network television’s best and brightest creative minds promised viewers some big changes for this fall season. In fact, they’ve long been boasting that they were preparing to push the envelope, to go farther than ever before in their use of profane language and nudity. It appears they’re working hard to deliver on the promise. Prime-time is doing more and more to assault moral values, a dilemma that may well be hazardous to the mental and spiritual health of its viewers.
Aaron Sorkin, executive director of NBC’s The West Wing, has plans to break a network taboo by having a character use God’s name in vain, according to the New York Times.
For the networks, the use of “God” or “Oh, God!” as an exclamatory profanity has long been standard fare, so Sorkin obviously means something more offensive than that. Last season, West Wing went far beyond good taste when President Bartlet, the main character, approached blasphemy by calling God a “feckless thug,” and a “son-of-a-bi - - h.”
At ABC, a new legal drama called Philly is expected to break new ground with the obscenity “sh- -.” The series stars a former NYPD Blue actress and is a product of Blue’s executive producer Steven Bochco. Philly has also promised to test the waters with more nudity, a hallmark of NYPD Blue.
Not to be outdone, CBS executives boasted they are considering scripts with every crude word imaginable, including the “F” word. CBS has already debuted Wolf Lake, set in a town where people can become wolves. A nudity warning was well earned by a sex scene in the very first episode.
The Fox network continues to pack its schedule with series that appeal to the basest level of human nature. Undeclared is a new sitcom about college freshmen. The debut episode featured the series star having sex with a girl he just met, on their first night in the dorm. Another Fox series, Pasadena, is a predictable prime-time soap with family intrigues, adultery and more.
Judging Amy: guilty as charged
Even shows that were formerly “family-friendly” – or at least sometimes so – have fallen to the politically correct principle of “Let’s see how much we can get away with.” CBS, for example, has used Judging Amy as a vehicle to introduce frontal male nudity.
Since its debut in 1999, Judging Amy had been among the less offensive series in prime-time. No longer! The third episode of the new season, October 9, boasted the most in-your-face male nudity of any network to date.
AFA President Don Wildmon said, “It’s a new low for network TV. CBS executives should hang their heads in shame for this offensive display.”
The lengthy scene featured Amy, series heroine, meeting her date at a swimming pool where he lay on his side, totally naked and facing the camera with only one hand covering his genitals. The camera focus returned to him several times, once close up. Amy accepted his invitation to join him naked in the pool. The camera showed her clothes dropping to the floor, but no female nudity occurred.
In an earlier scene, Amy had discussed with her mother whether or not she should have sex with Stuart, who was recovering from a near-fatal heart attack.
“You could kill him, you know,” observed her mother. “If you sleep together, it could be fatal.”
Amy smiled and responded, “The way I do it, Mother, no one has to die.”
“Then you’re not doing it right!” declared Mom. This conversation occurred in loud voices while the women were in line at a cafeteria where other diners gawked at their tasteless debate.
“There seems to be almost no redeeming value to prime-time TV,” said Wildmon. “But I still urge people who care about values in our society to contact advertisers and networks about offensive programs.
“One irony of this show is that Procter & Gamble and Sears advertised on it. Just a couple of years ago, they were among 11 advertisers who organized the Family-Friendly Forum, which they bragged was going to bring wholesome programs to prime-time.”
Educating Max: salute to political correctness
Judging by that episode of Amy and one other show in particular – The Education of Max Bickford – it appears CBS is trying to catch up with the other networks in its sleaze factor.
The radical homosexual agenda is boldly proclaimed in the initial episodes of Max Bickford. The hour-long drama stars Richard Dreyfuss, probably best known for his classy portrayal of a teacher in the poignant 1995 movie Mr. Holland’s Opus. In his new series, Dreyfuss plays Dr. Max Bickford, chairman of American Studies at the fictional all-girls’ Chadwick College.
In pre-season promotions, CBS led viewers to anticipate a family-friendly, updated Mr. Holland. In reality, Dreyfuss’ Dr. Bickford – and the series – sprint across the line of entertainment and long-jump without apology into advocacy.
The first two episodes, September 23 and 30, introduce Bickford’s supporting cast which includes Dr. Haskel, Bickford’s former sex partner (while he was married and she was his student); his daughter Nell, who thinks she’s pregnant and whose Chadwick roommate is a lesbian; and Steve/Erica, one of Bickford’s best friends, a professor who had sex-change surgery during a recent sabbatical.
Another male friend observes Steve/Erica working out at the gym and says, “Hey, look, there’s Steve. Wow! He’s looking great. Is Steve a lesbian now that he’s a woman? Or is he gonna be dating men?”
Later Bickford tells his young son about “Uncle Steve’s” sex change. “People are born different,” he explains, “and I guess in Uncle Steve’s case he felt like the wrapping didn’t quite match the package.”
Motivating parents: oblivious to war
TV Guide called Max Bickford ponderous and preachy. The sermon is certainly clear in these first episodes. Other new series by and large follow the same pattern down a path of crude and profane dialogue, sleazy story lines, and near-full nudity. In some of the adventure and action series, an unhealthy layer of violence is superimposed on the other elements.
Rabbi David Eidenshon says caring parents have to make a choice – put either their TV or their children in the trash. Rabbi Eidenshon, director of the National Non-Sectarian Council of Pro-Family Activists, says parents are oblivious to the fact that they are in a war for their families and they’re not even fighting.
Though most people understand that the airwaves are owned by the public, few take the time to complain to proper authorities when the airwaves are misused, according to John Edwards in a September 4 report from NewsMax.com.
Edwards says the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is charged with maintaining decency standards on the airwaves, yet the agency says the number of complaints involving TV is negligible. 
