“Censor Me, I Need The Publicity”
Please launch an all out assault on FX’s new drama The Shield (airing Tuesday nights at 10pm, check your local listings)! It is the best thing to happen to television in years. Michael Chiklis is incredible; he can play a total ass and still have you cheering for him week after week. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and tune in. Trust me, you’ll have to keep reminding yourself Vic Mackey is the anti-hero, but you won’t be sorry you tuned in.
Unless, of course, you are a member of the notorious watchdog group the Parent’s Television Council. In their infinite wisdom, they have decided to target the advertisers of The Shield (airing Tuesday nights at 10pm) and try to get them to yank their ads from the “offensive” program. How about this for a solution, change the channel. If you don’t like a program, no one is going to make you watch it. This is America. I know, I know, you’re only doing this for the safety of your children. Well, take a parenting class, because if you don’t know what your children are doing at 10 o’clock on a school night, boycotting a television program is the least of your worries. Try watching tv together or better yet, read a book. This show doesn’t air at 4 in the afternoon or even at 7 in the evening, it isn’t on network television, YOU HAVE TO PAY TO GET STATION! If it offends you, don’t subscribe, or better yet keep your cable and delete the station from your television. It is really very simple.
As an American, I have a right to watch or not watch whatever I want. And, as a cable subscriber, I have a reasonable expectation that the programming I subscribe to will be of a different calibre than network television; otherwise, I wouldn’t have to pay to get it. Because I value the freedoms of this country, I also believe the Parent’s Television Council has a right to protest whatever they want whether they are right or not. In fact, I hope they do. Ratings are down this week and we could use a little free publicity (it worked for Married, With Children). Please don’t let us fade into obscurity, protest loudly and often, preferrably on Nightly News and Entertainment Tonight. We can use all the viewers you can bring us. I’ll even dedicate another rant to you when The Shield gets renewed…Until then, happy protesting, may your little ingrates thank you for it someday.