Family TV? Not in 2008

August 15, 2008

By John W. Kennedy

I don’t watch much television, but recently I subjected myself to watching all sorts of current fare for the sake of research. In a TPE feature story running Aug. 17, I write about how television in the past 50 years has changed in its depiction of the American family. Lately, it’s not a flattering portrait.

There are few family-themed shows on the broadcast networks anymore, and those that exist are hardly testaments to the traditional family. Dysfunction seems to be a prerequisite for a TV household these days.

“Two and a Half Men” again finished as the highest-rated sitcom last season. A large portion of the show follows hedonistic womanizing by one of the brothers. The highest-rated scripted series, “Desperate Housewives,” focuses on the sexual frustrations and desires of four women in one tony neighborhood. And of course there’s “Brothers and Sisters,” which in May gave us TV’s first primetime same-sex commitment ceremony. The “Family Guy” episode I screened featured repeated gratuitous use of crude humor at random intervals.

The tour of today’s TV comedies made me long for the days when series actually relied on good writing. Andy Griffith, Dick Van Dyke and Bob Newhart didn’t resort to crudeness in an effort to be funny. The hour-long family dramas of today also are a far cry from “The Waltons” or “Little House on the Prairie.” “Desperate Housewives” became a cultural phenomenon in 2004 and has been a top 10 show each of its first four seasons. For the most part, the four female lead characters are smarmy, catty, narcissistic, sex-obsessed gossips.

Instead of being filled with cultural pollution via subtle indoctrination, it would be wiser to spend that time reading what the Bible says about sex and morality. Psalm 101:3 says, “I will set before my eyes no vile thing” (NIV). Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”

The current depictions of family on TV should also remind us that God’s Word, in contrast, wonderfully supports marriage and family. From Genesis’ story of creation to Revelation’s depiction of the Church as the bride of Christ, we see the incredible value God places on family.

Yes, it can be pretty gloomy on the family front as depicted on the networks. But if you’re facing challenges in your home, catch a higher vision of what family is meant to be. God wants your home to bypass Wysteria Lane and find renewed hope and fulfillment on the narrow road that leads to life (Matthew 7:13,14).

— John W. Kennedy is news editor of Today’s Pentecostal Evangel and blogs at Midlife Musings (jkennedy.agblogger.org).