Tantalizing promos that tease a possible sexual threesome during the Nov. 9 episode of Gossip Girl may have ticked off the Parents Television Council but it seems unlikely the CW will give the advocacy group anything to complain about to the FCC. Though the CW wouldn’t comment on next week’s episode, those familiar with the network’s standards and practices procedures say the infamous Without a Trace teen orgy scene on CBS had a big impact on how the CW depicts sexual intercourse between teen characters, especially on Gossip Girl.
In 2006, the FCC fined 111 CBS affiliates a record $3.6 million for airing what it viewed was an indecent depiction of teenage sex in December 2004. The scene, which CBS said appeared in the final half-hour of primetime and offered a socially relevant storyline for parents, involved teenage boys and girls engaged in a bacchanal. Since then, the CW has attempted to refrain from showing any sexual act between two characters if they are not over the age 18. In simpler terms: there’s always lots of talk but zero visuals. So even if most of the lead characters on Gossip Girl are out of high school, it’s likely the show will play it safe. “They’ll infer stuff but not get real explicit,” according to an industry observer with key knowledge of the CW’s standards. “I’d be surprised if there’s anything real explicit in the Gossip Girl episode.”
As for advertisers, there’s always the chance that action taken by the Parents Television Council could prevent some companies from airing commercials during shows like Gossip Girl. But the broadcast networks — unlike most, if not all, of the cable nets — allow their clients to screen any episode that may be deemed inappropriate before they buy the commercial time. That’s what happened when Microsoft decided to pull its sponsorship of “Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show” that will air Nov. 8 on Fox; representatives of the company actually attended the show’s taping and saw what was in store. Even then, Microsoft’s decision seemed odd when Family Guy has a long and well-documented history of pushing the envelope (the show, no surprise, has been targeted by the Parents Television Council, as well). The special has since lured a new sponsor: Warner Bros’ upcoming movie Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr.
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parents just shouldn’t let their kids watch if they have a problem with it.
I love this show but they need to get it out of the gutter. There is no need for all the sex hype. Its a good show but suddenly I don’t think Moms of Teens want their kids watching this. I will not let them watch anymore I’m not going to incourage this behavior. Too bad it was a cute show at first!
Sydney, I would have to disagree that GG was “a cute show at first.” The very first episode featured the whole best-friend-sleeping-with-boyfriend drama, and pretty clearly at that (sure, it was all light and sparkly and over-exposed, but serena was still obviously straddling blair’s boyfriend on a barstool!) Gossip Girl is ABOUT decadence, and bad decisions, and insane wealth, and taking ridiculous sexual risks. If you want “a cute show,” go watch yo gabba gabba.
I’m with Ella on this one. Sydney, this show was never “cute”. It’s not about happy go lucky teens who go around being mama’s little helpers. It never has been. It’s always been about sex, and deceit, and booze, and drugs… it’s always been a steamy show. And chances are, if you have teens, they’re already doing the same stuff… you just don’t know about it.
cute? are you delusional? GG has always been about racy, inappropriate behavior of the young manhattan crowd. im bothered that as a mom (as your post implies) you will not let your kids watch because of the “sex hype”. what about the drugs and the constant boozing? did that fly over your head?
“There’s always lots of talk but zero visuals”, that’s what CW is. Parents are making a fuss out of nothing, they should rather worry about how embarassed they will be after this hoax.
Many kids today have STD’s HIV yeah even the girl next door! Let’s not encourage this behavior Teen are confused enough.We need to stand up to these people and say NO! Its NOT OK!
Um…so don’t encourage it. It’s not the CW’s responsibility to parent your children. How much of it could be avoided if parents would just encourage their children to view things like this with a critical eye, instead of just absorbing them? This sort of scene used to be a catalyst for discussions between parents and teens–now it’s just assumed that they’ll do anything they see and there’s nothing parents can do about it.
If your teens are using this as a role model, then it’s your own fault for not teaching them the difference between fiction and reality and right and wrong. I watch whatever I wanted as a teen, and I never followed what I saw on the screen, because I had parents that taught me otherwise.
It’s not TVs responsibility. These things happen, they are just being realistic. I watched programmes like this when I was 16 and I’m only 19 now. I didnt do anything I saw on TV and I wouldn’t do it now and no one i knew would. If I ever did do stuff like this it wouldnt be because of TV. Those kids that get STDs and do stupid things isn’t because of TV it’s because their parents don’t teach them and it’s their responsibility to look after them not TVs. Plus Gossip Girl characters are 18 / 19 so it’s not like they are teenagers they are normally adults. If your kids just follow TV its your own fault.
remember when the PTC got pissed at Buffy. I believe the response was ‘we’ve made it’
the group is a joke in many ways. they are the most extreme of advocacy groups and they really do believe that what they think is good for the little children should be law.
but parents should be parents. not some third party group. you have the right to say what your kids listen to, watch and read. and so do I. and yeah, I let my 15 year old sister (I’m her legal guardian) watch the Tudors. JRM’s naked arse and all.
Seth McFarlane said it best about the Parent Trash Cult: “It’s like getting hate mail from Hitler.”
most of the characters are over 18.
But I am 16 and Im watching it and going whoa…is this really what its like to be rich and beautiful. I like to watch because of the clothes and style also I like to see how rich people live. I really dont like all the sex and shock going on. Why do they do that to us?
Your 16. You are a big girl who can make decisions for herself. No one is doing anything to you. It’s a TV show. There is this thing called a remote. If you pick it up and press a button the channel changes. If you like to watch because of the clothes and style, you can watch Project Runway or various other fashion shows instead.
“I like to see how rich people live”
This is a tv show. It’s not real life. Television is NOT real. Television writers write everything way over the top because it makes for good tv.
Doesn’t surprise me all these people including a “parent” are defending the act of showing a 3some to a mostly young teenage girl fanbase. Society is offically down the shitter. Crime rates up, teen preggio up dispite all that great sex ed that was suppose to improve things. Just gonna get shitter from here.
Yes teen pregnancy is on the rise- perhaps because of gov’t policies that reward schools that teach abstinence only program by giving them access to funding that is denied to schools that choose to teach about contraception! Also, many parents rely on groups like the PTC to provide them with info so thet can choose to have their children not watch, so they can provide a valuable service.
Sorry to burst your little bubble, Jish, but according to the FBI, crime rates have actually fallen to their lowest recorded levels. And while teen pregnancy went slightly up, it’s still lower than it was in 1980. So, no, moron, society still has a long way to go before getting in front of the toilet, let alone down it.
Jish, you’ve got it all wrong. Teen pregnancy in the US was higher in the 1950s. Why? No education or access to birth control. Kids did what kids have always done, and they did it without protection. They’re doing the same now because schools that preach abstinence (yes, I said preach instead of teach, because teaching, to me, at least involves some degree of responsibility) are rewarded monetarily. Look no further than Bristol Palin–preached abstinence, it failed, she’s a teen mother. It’s really as simple as 1+1=2.
hahaha i totally agree. society is total shit these days. its the media thats responsible for this.
Read my above post, moron. Society today is actually pretty damn good compared to yesteryear. Besides that, which media? The “If it bleeds, it leads” tabloid trash mainstream news media like MSNBC and Fox News?
I am sick to death of people blaming the media for everything. You know how media is consumed right? BY CHOICE OF THE CONSUMER. If you don’t like what the media has to say, then don’t consume it. Take some personal repsonsibility, or try to see that people have free choice when it comes to media. If you want to say society is awful it is the people’s fault then, NOT THE MEDIA.
Really, you haven’t seen anything until you watch the British TV show Skins. This is child’s play.
So right! People in up in arms over nothing comparatively. Skins is awesome.
You guys are right about ‘Skins’ that Parents Council would have a collective stroke if that show was on in the US. I don’t have kids but it must be hard to imagine your kid growing up and having a threesome or drinking..so terrifying that you join a group to try and ruin watching threesomes for everyone else.
Skins is not only the best teen drama in years, it’s one of the best dramas currently on TV. It actually has the guts to be realistic and go all the way with controversial material. Only in Britain could they do a show like Skins!
I’m going to check that show out!
So true. Gossip Girl is mild compared to skins. Im 19 now and watched skins when I was 16 but I didnt go round doing what they did, having sex with everyone I saw and doing E. I know it’s fiction and just entertainment and it will be the same with Gossip Girl.
Like I said the other day in the original story, the Parent Trash Cult should just shut up as they’re out of their element. It really shows how low the PTC’s I.Q.’s really are, since they’re just promoting the show for the CW, one of the lowest rated networks. There’s a huge difference between being genuinely offended and looking to be “offended”, and the PTC’s in the latter.
And the PTC has no credibility whatsoever, considering that these people have had to pay Vince McMahon and WWE $3.5 million and publicly apologize to him to settle WWE’s $30 million defamation lawsuit against the PTC for the group publicly lying about WWE Smackdown! “causing” Lionel Tate to cold-bloodedly murder a five-year-old girl half his size and age and lying that 40 companies had pulled ads from WWE programming when either they didn’t or had never advertised on WWE programming to begin with, and considering that they haven’t learned their lesson since they lie about the video game industry(see GamePolitics.com about their lies there).
Tim Winter and the rest of this group of lazy parents should grow up and get a life instead of trying to run everybody else’s.
The showrunners and networks should consider doing like Vince McMahon did in 2000 and sue the PTC.
they’re always targeting gossip girl for some reason, there’s more sex on vampire diaries, and secret life of a teenage girl which gets all praise and all they do is have sex on that show. back off gossip girl they are officially adults now!
Not to mention Secret Life is utter CRAP. Worst writing and acting on television!
This is the stuff the Americans get educated for.
What they show clearly isn’t the point. It’s the fact that three characters young teens emulate will be having a threesome. No matter what they show, it is going to tell teens that this is normal, expected behavior for people their age.
So very true
Highly unlikely that’s going to happen. Teens are smarter than any of these anti-American “parent advocacy” groups or apparently even you give them credit for. Keep in mind, most of the characters on the show are in college for the most part. So your point, if you actually had one, is very weak.
I still say that if a parent is concerned about it, they shuld insist on watching with their teens. Then when the show is over, they can discuss it together. Then the parent can actually explain to the teenager that this is not normal acceptable behavior for teenagers, or whatever the agenda is. Imagine that–talking about the effects of media instead of just assuming they must be toxic.
I’m not saying that if they watch this, they will automatically go have a threesome. I’m saying that overtime, reservations about this behavior get worn down through these messages. Eventually, when they are faced with the situation, this episode might influence the decision they make, because it planted the idea that it is glamourous and a way to take control years ago. This is how it works. You become used to things, and they are common to you.
Um. No. It’s only that way if they’re PARENTS don’t teach them otherwise.
I just wanna know who is gonna have the 3-some, any ideas anybody?
The CW is playing the moronic PTC like a fiddle. Lots of free publicity for what? Something that won’t even be shown only alluded to.
I am outraged that CW would allow this type of subject matter to air. I came home and found my daughter in a threesome with two of her male friends. I was shocked to see her sucking a wang and taking another one from behind. When I confronted her and asked her how she could do such a mortifying thing she responded, “They’re doing it on Gossip Girl”. Teens are very impressionable and CW has a responsibility to not air this kind of smut.
Well, clearly this is fake, haha
Can I ask, why does it even matter? Threesomes happen. It’s not that disturbing or anything. Why the big deal?
This is exactly the sort of response that the “concerned parents” want to avoid in their kids. This is NOT commonplace, it can be disturbing, and you have been desensitized to it by the media and this culture. This episode will add to that noise. If you think they are good for teens to be desensitized to, then there is no convincing you against this.
So what if people (including myself) find threesomes not a big deal? Just because I recognize that they occur doesn’t mean I’m gonna run off and do it. Threesomes are always alluded to in plenty of TV shows. Teens aren’t stupid, they do make the choice. I was educated about sex by my parents at 10 years old, and have watched all these types of teen dramas. My parents trusted me, and trusted I would make good choices. I’m saving myself for marriage. Give teenagers some credit. Less of us have sex than you think.
Dear Concerned Parent,
that’s your fault for being a bad parent. Either that or your child is dumb as crap. The episode hasn’t even aired yet, I bet you don’t even have a child.
I think this “concerned parent” was making a joke post.