Thursday, December 11, 2008

Now, *that* will wake you up. . .

Living in a house where there are only adults and dogs, you don't really have to worry much about what comes into the house via TV, radio, and so on. Every now and then it crosses my mind that something I'm watching would require sending kids out of the room-- or waiting until they were asleep-- but most of the time, it's just not something I think about.

Sad though it may be, I think most people have come to expect that there will be (lots of) things that aren't "child-appropriate" or "family-friendly" on broadcast TV at night. However, despite the changing mores of our society, I was still surprised (before 8 a.m. this morning) to see nearly nude photos of Jennifer Aniston blazoned across the TV as I ate my cereal. That's not what I expect or want to see on the morning news. I pictured my (theoretical) kids: One minute they're happily (or groggily?) munching their breakfasts while a weather map dominates the screen. (Ah, weather. My favorite thing to watch in the morning. So soothing. . .) The next, they're looking at photos of a woman wearing nothing but a tie. That scenario makes me mad, and I don't care if the tie was strategically placed.

Call me a prude, if you like, but it just seemed completely unnecessary. But then again, so does most of what's on those stupid national news programs. . .