The World According to Oatney

Monday Night Desperate Housewives

In case anyone reading this weblog may be completely void of knowledge about what is happening in the world today, it should be noted that this morning's papers were filled with official reaction, nearly all of it negative, to the opening sketch of this week's Monday Night Football telecast, which involved a locker room incident with a member of the cast of the controversial new show Desperate Housewives. Needless to say, many viewers were not amused, and neither, it appears, was the Federal Communications Commission.

A dear friend, who I normally agree with on most matters, and myself, debated this new issue this morning. He argued that it was after 9:00pm, and most small children should be in bed anyway. Parents, he said, who let their kids stay up that late to begin with are not being very responsible.

Normally, I might agree with that assertion. What was forgotten in the course of the discussion however, was that in over half the country, Monday Night Football, which essentially serves to function as the NFL's version of the old Major League Baseball Game of the Week, begins each week between 6:00 and 8:00pm. It is only after 9:00 for those of us who live in the Eastern time zone. Perhaps most important, however, is that many kids do watch MNF. I know I was allowed to stay up for select Monday Night games, especially on those rare occasions when the Bengals were playing, or when the game was deemed to be an exceptional matchup. The NFL is right to say that broadcasts and telecasts of their games should be family friendly at all hours of the day or night. Sports is an outlet that can be used to teach children the value of competition and fair play. There was a time when all television networks were concerned with family friendliness and the quality of their programming, not just keeping sporting events clean. Has our culture become so beholden to the whims of Hollywood that decency is a secondary thought, reserved only for televised sports?

posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 4:45 PM