Violence On TV

puffy · Feb 9, 2015

Is it just me or are there more and more violent shows coming on tv? Not only are they violent they're more graphic.Blood and guts seems to be the in thing these days.Even the news is about war,tragedy,and crime.I know I'm old and from a different time but,I just don't watch all this crap.

drwatson · Feb 9, 2015

It is starting to get alittle much. I'm not a huge zombie guy, but for some reason I like this walking dead show. That being said I almost stopped watching this season as I think they are starting to push it just too far.

beefeater33 · Feb 9, 2015

I hear ya Puffy- News is one thing, but the blood and guts thing is unnecessary. Too graphic for me too. I like a little old spaghetti western violence but we don't need the close-up graphics!

mortonbriar · Feb 9, 2015

My wife and I stopped watching game of thrones a season or so back, in my opinion it is the best tv show ever produced, amazing cast, set, plot, character development etc but it just left us feeling kind of gross afterwards, just so amoral and grotesque in its violence. I think i am better off without all the violence and try to choose shows that have a little more discretion...

newbroom · Feb 9, 2015

Yes, the content of many television programs is gratuitous, graphic, gruesome and gory, but the real violence is the commercials.

I'm glad to hear that some of us are questioning our tv experiences and making choices that don't support the portrayal of violence as some sort of inevitable chaotic bloodbath or some AARP endorsed insurance policy that "will even pay for someone to walk your dog!"

derfargin · Feb 9, 2015

If ya don't like it, dont watch it.

ssjones · Feb 9, 2015

I guess it depends on how you define "tv".
Cable channels: yes, violent acts are definitely more graphic than the regular network offerings. Last night on "The Walking Dead", numerous zombies had their heads cup off in full camera view. Two years ago, on Sons of Anarchy", a character had a fork stuck into her head.
Network: They haven't been quite as graphic but I don't watch many (any?) network shows these days.

condorlover1 · Feb 9, 2015

It all started going down hill when they stopped making Mr. Ed with Wilbur Post. In the UK we had the Herb Garden and the Clangers and Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men. Sadly some moralist got that banned as she felt that two men living together in a flower pot was a bit iffy! Most of the shows we had were pretty tame and the good guys always won in the end, think Bull Dog Drummond and such. Naturally over here in the US you had Scooby Doo with the famous ending to every story where the bad guy says 'If it hadn't have been for you pesky kids I would have got away with it' or something of that nature. I have never felt it necessary to have all this 'shock' violence on the screen as it encourages impressionable minds to try and replicate it. However we must look at the source of these films and realize why these things are made in the first place and the agenda that is behind them!

huntertrw · Feb 9, 2015

Violins on television? (Click to view).

griffonwing · Feb 9, 2015

I do not own a television, and therefore, no cable. Just internet. I am not a fan of gratuitous violence or sexuality. A lot of the modern television disgusts me. There are very few current shows that I watch.
I have a portable harddrive where I can enjoy any numerous series. Jonathan Creek, Cadfael, Absolutely Fabulous, Jeeves & Wooster, Black Books, Bottom, Young Ones, Red Dwarf, QI, Sherlock Holmes (Brett), Sherlock (Cumberbatch), Yes Minister, Rising Damp and dozens of other BBC series.
I also have a lot of American television as well, such as Archer, Brisco County Jr, Carol Burnett Show, Psyche, Perception, Mentalist, Chuck, and again, many more.

lordofthepiperings · Feb 9, 2015

I'd say it's more of society's obsession with t.v. and film being as close to real as possible. I think that's why you're seeing more graphic violence and a lot more racier scenes these days.

griffonwing · Feb 9, 2015

A lot of modern television just plainly does not interest me. A lot of the HBO/Netflix shows/Cable television. Orange is the New Black, Game of Thrones, Tudors, Rome, Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy. Ive never seen a single episode of any of these shows. I loved Criminal Minds because of Mandy. When he left, I stopped.
I want the old classic shows back. There has to be a market for wholesome, clean, feel-good television.

lordofthepiperings · Feb 9, 2015

Wholesome isn't very realistic and I think that's why it's faded away.
You can always buy the DVDs of the old classic wholesome clean feel-good television shows, but I doubt anyone will be producing a modern version of Leave it to Beaver, I Love Lucy, or Lassie any time soon though.
Personally I very much enjoy Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, Peaky Blinders, House of Cards etc.

agnosticpipe · Feb 9, 2015

My parents didn't get a TV until about 1962, so any TV I saw was at friends or my grandparents. My folks didn't trust the programming on TV to be worth the purchase. In fact after we finally got a TV I wasn't allowed to even watch Gunsmoke, as they thought it was too violent! (I was about 15 at the time, not a little kid) Maybe this caused me to be more sensitive to violence, as even today I don't like violent movies, or TV. I don't even like suspenseful things at times as it just makes me stressed or uncomfortable. I guess some would call me a wussy, but I will still watch what I like, not what people say is good. I don't mind action movies sometimes, like the James Bond, or super hero stuff, but personal violence I don't care to see. Everyone is different, and likes and dislikes vary from individual to individual, so I'm not judgemental of what others watch. To each their own.

Kinda like a version of the smoking motto: watch what you like, like what you watch.

griffonwing · Feb 9, 2015

I'm not sure its a person's desire for more realistic violence or death scenes.

I think it's more a statement of how unrealistic and disconnected people have become.

I do believe you hit the nail on the head. The modern stuff is not "gritty realism". Leave it to Beaver was more realistic than CSI.
Reality Television is not anywhere close to reality. Things are staged, actions are faked. They care more about conflict and ratings than they do real honest interaction. Even kids television are more violent and overtly sexual. Granted, Bugs Bunny and the 60s cartoons had violence and subtle sexual overtones that went over most kids heads, however, kids today are more keen on these as they see more of it on TV.

anthonyrosenthal74 · Feb 9, 2015

On television there is definitely more violence than there was when I was a kid, and definitely more graphic. Movie violence hasn't really changed much other than more realistic special effects. Sons of Anarchy or Walking Dead NEVER would have seen the light of day on any television network. Personally, I watch both shows, and enjoy them. But shows like that should definitely be saved for cable networks and at later hours. If I had children, there's no way they'd be watching shows like them.

delro · Feb 9, 2015

Violence is the least of my worries, look at the crap on THE LEARNING CHANNEL, it is a joke.

sablebrush52 · Feb 9, 2015

TV is a contest to make money. Violence on TV makes money. If it didn't it would not aired. Because TV is a contest content, providers consistently up the ante to attract an audience. Increased audience share equals more money.
Content providers really care less about why violence or other content makes money than that it does make money. And they also rarely care about consequences.
Violence is on TV because it makes money. Graphic violence makes more money.

lochinvar · Feb 9, 2015

I can handle the violence, in its place. What really bothers me about TV is the puerile level it has fallen to. I sometimes catch things like Barney Miller, Cheers, the Odd Couple, Columbo, Night Gallery and the quality of writing compared to today's shows is astounding. There is actual wordplay, clever turns of phrase, repartee, a breadth of vocabulary...and these shows are by no means high brow, its just apparent that writers then took their craft a little more seriously. Today whether its comedy or drama, the writers seem to just be going through the motions. Dialog is stilted and dry, vocabulary is about 100 words, emotion is tepid melodrama and ,if its a comedy, the level of maturity and intellect rarely rises above the equivalent of the fart joke.....and most of the time it is just fart jokes.

griffonwing · Feb 9, 2015

My mother LOVES Big Bang Theory. However, when it starts getting too sexual/dirty, she turns it off. There are lots of people just like her that would love a smart, funny, intelligent, CLEAN comedy to watch. Unfortunately, we as a society have apparently moved on.

Violence On TV

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