Fox, Families and 'safe TV'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - They're out there, perched on family-room couches, trigger fingers poised to punch the "mute" buttons on their TV remotes.They have\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1997\/06\/fox-families-and-safe-tv\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fox, Families and 'safe TV'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - They're out there, perched on family-room couches, trigger fingers poised to punch the "mute" buttons on their TV remotes.They have\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1997\/06\/fox-families-and-safe-tv\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Terry Mattingly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"1997-06-18T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-30T18:15:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1997\/06\/fox-families-and-safe-tv\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1997\/06\/fox-families-and-safe-tv\/\",\"name\":\"Fox, Families and 'safe TV'\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"1997-06-18T12:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-30T18:15:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\"},\"description\":\"VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - They're out there, perched on family-room couches, trigger fingers poised to punch the \\\"mute\\\" buttons on their TV remotes.They have\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1997\/06\/fox-families-and-safe-tv\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1997\/06\/fox-families-and-safe-tv\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1997\/06\/fox-families-and-safe-tv\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fox, Families and ‘safe TV’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\",\"name\":\"Terry Mattingly\",\"description\":\"On Religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\",\"name\":\"tmatt\",\"description\":\"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Universal Syndicate.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/author\/tmatt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fox, Families and 'safe TV'","description":"VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - They're out there, perched on family-room couches, trigger fingers poised to punch the \"mute\" buttons on their TV remotes.They have","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1997\/06\/fox-families-and-safe-tv\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fox, Families and 'safe TV'","og_description":"VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - They're out there, perched on family-room couches, trigger fingers poised to punch the \"mute\" buttons on their TV remotes.They have","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1997\/06\/fox-families-and-safe-tv\/","og_site_name":"Terry Mattingly","article_published_time":"1997-06-18T12:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-30T18:15:30+00:00","author":"tmatt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tmatt","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1997\/06\/fox-families-and-safe-tv\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1997\/06\/fox-families-and-safe-tv\/","name":"Fox, Families and 'safe TV'","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website"},"datePublished":"1997-06-18T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-30T18:15:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1"},"description":"VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - They're out there, perched on family-room couches, trigger fingers poised to punch the \"mute\" buttons on their TV remotes.They have","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1997\/06\/fox-families-and-safe-tv\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1997\/06\/fox-families-and-safe-tv\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1997\/06\/fox-families-and-safe-tv\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fox, Families and ‘safe TV’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/","name":"Terry Mattingly","description":"On Religion","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1","name":"tmatt","description":"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Universal Syndicate.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/author\/tmatt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/979\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":979,"date":"1997-06-18T08:00:00","date_gmt":"1997-06-18T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tmatt\/1997\/06\/18\/fox-families-and-safe-tv\/"},"modified":"2013-01-30T13:15:30","modified_gmt":"2013-01-30T18:15:30","slug":"fox-families-and-safe-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1997\/06\/fox-families-and-safe-tv\/","title":{"rendered":"Fox, Families and ‘safe TV’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. \u2013 They\u2019re out there, perched on family-room couches, trigger fingers poised to punch the \u201cmute\u201d buttons on their TV remotes.<\/p>\n\n

They have TV listings nearby, marked with highlighter-pen slashes indicating the few shows that have been deemed worthy. They can program their VCRs while blindfolded and quote chapter and verse from media reviews in various sacred and secular publications.<\/p>\n\n

They are the few, the proud, the parents who try to monitor what their children watch on television. And last week many of them winced when they heard that Rupert Murdoch\u2019s Fox Kids Worldwide Inc., plans to spend $1.9 billion to buy half of the Family Channel, a cable TV network linked to the media empire of religious broadcaster Pat Robertson.<\/p>\n\n

Newspapers pounced on the differences between these media giants and their two brands of conservatism \u2013 contrasting video bimbos with biblical values, \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d with \u201cThe Waltons,\u201d \u201cThe X Files\u201d with the 10 Commandments, the capitalistic fervor of cable television\u2019s dark prince with the Pentecostal<\/a> convictions of the Religious Right\u2019s high priest. The big question: Will Murdoch\u2019s crew create what millions will see as a dysfunctional Family Channel?<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWhen we talk with our viewers, they say that the Family Channel is \u2018safe\u2019 \u2013 that we are \u2018safe TV,\u2019 \u201d said Douglas Symons, vice president for marketing at International Family Entertainment, Inc. \u201cThey tell us things like, \u2018We like the fact that we don\u2019t have to keep hitting the remote.\u2019 \u2026 It\u2019s right there in our name. We are what we are. We have to be one of the most clearly positioned channels in the modern TV market and that\u2019s worth something. That has market value, today. I assume that Rupert Murdoch wouldn\u2019t spend $1.9 billion to buy that identity and then wreck it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Another safe assumption is that Fox, after locking down a reputation for producing programs that define the edge of TV youth culture, wanted a partner on the other side of the cultural spectrum. After all, waves of worries about kids, sex and violence keep rolling over Capitol Hill. Also, there is some ratings evidence that an audience exists for family-oriented shows such as \u201cTouched By An Angel,\u201d \u201c7th Heaven,\u201d \u201cSoul Man\u201d and \u201cPromised Land.\u201d TV Guide recently reported that studios have \u201cat least four new shows about angels, spirits and ministers in the pipeline for next season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Earlier this year, the Family Channel hired the Yankelovich Partners to conduct a \u201cBarometer of the American Family\u201d media study. It found that almost all parents (94 percent) support the availability of some kind of TV-control devices. Most (86 percent) claim to be monitoring their kids\u2019 TV viewing and 40 percent said they increased such efforts last year. On the hot issue of TV ratings, 69 percent said they preferred a content-based system. And almost everyone \u2013 97 percent of parents, 91 percent of singles \u2013 said they wanted more \u201cfamily-oriented\u201d programs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

The problem, of course, is that \u201cfamily-oriented\u201d means different things to different people and it does not necessarily mean programs that address the role that religion plays in American life. After all, the Family Channel itself \u2013 with the exception of Robertson\u2019s \u201c700 Club\u201d \u2013 is better known for its comedy and detective show reruns than for new programs about faith and spirituality.<\/p>\n\n

But the Yankelovich team found that Americans do have some characteristics in mind when they say \u201cfamily-oriented.\u201d The top three criteria were that programs should \u201cbe compelling and interesting,\u201d \u201cteach and encourage positive values\u201d and \u201cstimulate the imagination.\u201d As always, the problem will be finding shows that are \u201ccompelling,\u201d yet \u201csafe;\u201d that teach common \u201cvalues\u201d in a schizophrenic age; that \u201cstimulate\u201d plugged-in kids, without shocking cautious parents.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI am convinced the Family Channel can keep its identity, but that Fox will have some room to maneuver,\u201d said Symons. \u201cSometimes, to show what positive values are, you need contrast that with the negative. You need real, believable bad guys, so that the good guys become more compelling. You can\u2019t serve up milquetoast. You may not always have a happy ending.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"