hide what's really being said. Television is swearing as loud as it can to get people's attention. TV writers argue that using adult language is merely being faithful to the way people talk. Prime TV broke the obscenity barrier with words with a "Sh*t Happens" episode of "Chicago Hope" on CBS. TV writers feel that viewers would not have even noticed if the Associated Press hadn’t run an article in advance pointing it out. (Pennington). The "f" word, for the Smith 5 time being, remains off-limits, although lip readers can see it everywhere. Even of sporting events, when a golfer misses a putt, you know what he’s saying. Network TV recently purposefully ventured far into the dirty-word territory in an entertainment show. The response was, according to CBS, that the station received three phone calls, no faxes or email messages from viewers. (McGuire). If public opinion is that indifferent, profanity on network TV could become as commonplace as it is in the movies. Rather than thinking TV has reached new lows in sexual content, some think that it is simply just catching up with a new cultural sexual permissiveness. On an NBC hit show, a gay lead is portrayed as normal. In a Fox TV episode, a lead character videotapes himself having sex, and sells it on the Internet. Ratings show that viewers don't seem to mind the growing permissiveness. (Levin). Words like "penis" are used freely (especially after the focus on the president's oral sex issue). A new prime-time show this season is UPN’s "Shasta McNasty" about a young, sex-obsessed hip-hop group. Although groups like the Parents Television council speak out against the absence of a "family viewing hour" on network TV, networks have generally discovered that there is not much outcry from the majority of their viewers when sexual content increases. The ratings sho...
