Cleaning up TV - Jan. 11, 2002

Remember all of those efforts over the last 20 years to clean up TV? Here are the results.

NBC has announced it is ditching the concept of a "family hour." According to NBC entertainment president Jeff Zucker, the NBC audience is young and wants more shows with sex. The other networks are sticking with at least a few family-friendly shows, but whether they succeed depends on ratings. So don't complain about the bad shows if you don't watch the good shows.

And Viacom, the media conglomerate that owns CBS and MTV, is thinking about launching a gay TV cable channel that would be supported by advertising. Many companies already advertise in gay media. It is well known that homosexuals have a lot of disposable income.

So, after years of campaigns to clean up TV, this is what we get. I saw a bumper sticker that said "Turn off the TV and turn onto life.” Not a bad sentiment, but I would modify it to say "Support good TV and turn off the bad."

I'm Cal Thomas in Washington.