Bring Back Family Television

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I have a radical proposal: Bring back family television. When I was young, the hours between 6 and 8 PM eastern time usually offered television programming that was appropriate for the entire family. Shows such as The Wonderful World of Disney, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Gilligan’s Island, and many others offset the evening news that dominated the major networks. While I don’t remember my parents watching with me during the week, they were comfortable just letting me hang out in front of the TV and do my homework, of course. Weekend evenings included more family viewing with network specials, baseball games, and holiday events as the main TV fare. Now, those days are gone, and family television is a faint memory.

In 1975, the FCC tried to institutionalize the “family viewing hour” by regulating that family-friendly programs be shown during the first hour of prime time – 8 to 9 PM ET. This didn’t last long and was thrown out by the courts in 1977. Organizations such as the Parents Television Council and Commonsense Media attempt to both encourage restrictions as well as provide guidance to parents. As a father, Commonsense Media became my go-to authority early in my daughter’s life advising me on what was appropriate content for her age. Regardless, with the widespread use of streaming content, very few restrictions exist that limit what can be watched and when — note: most cable systems and streaming services offer parental controls but the effectiveness and usability of those are a subject for another article.

Pet Peeves

Anyway, I have digressed from the point I was trying to make — that family-appropriate content should be made available at a viewing time when children and parents can comfortably sit together and enjoy it. I have two examples: First, recently, the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree special (Christmas in Rockefeller Center) was a 2-hour, music-filled program that concluded with the lighting of the tree at 10 PM ET. Growing up in NYC, I always looked forward to the lighting of the tree. Before 1997, the lighting was held before 8 PM ET. In 1997, it moved to 9 PM ET preceded by an NBC network special. In 2019, NBC added a second hour and now the tree is lit shortly before 10 PM ET. Honestly, I’m the only one in the family who stayed up to watch, and I barely made it. Sadly, this was a pretty good family show.

My second pet peeve is the dearth of daytime baseball games and I’ll include in here the late starting times of many major sporting events such as the Super Bowl. I want to be able to watch a baseball game with my daughter, especially the World Series, assuming my team is in it. More importantly, I want to be able to take my daughter to games (when that is allowed again), and cost aside, going to a 7 PM or later start time is a non-starter.

On Demand is Not a Substitute

Yeah, I know. This is what DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) and Video on Demand (VOD) are for — so you can watch what you want when you want. I get that and I use both regularly but that’s different and more difficult to schedule than knowing that there are times when I can comfortably have my family enjoy a show at a reasonable hour. Maybe I’m naive and just have to accept those days are gone, but I feel that recapturing some of those activities that may have contributed to the health and development of the “nuclear” family might return some civility to our society giving us all a reason to spend “quality” time together.

This may well be a heated topic, and I’m not even attempting to address the increasing amount of vulgarity, sex, and violence available on both broadcast and streaming providers. I’m simply asking for a weekly reason to bring the family together, pull out the tray tables, get the TV dinners out of the oven, and enjoy an hour of enjoyable television. Is that too much to ask? Oh, and if you’re interested – definitely Swanson Fried Chicken dinners and you have to mix the veggies in with the mashed potatoes.

So, what do you think? Am I just a dad out of his time or is there hope for the family? I’d love to hear from you!

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