The WWE: does it get any worse than this garbage?

[sarah_yzma]

hmmm my favorite word is monotonous, but whatever floats your boat.....or.......nevermind it ain't child friendly!

Sarah

 

[beaker]

Re: Cory & The Frogboy

Originally posted by Luke
Once again Cory, you need to understand things before assuming them. The WWE definitely does not target the 12-17 demograph anymore - that was back in the late 80's/early 90's when the shows were more suitable for kids. As their viewing figures began to drop as kids got older and turned into teens, then adults they changed the shows to be more suited to their age groups. Thats why the pace changed in the 90's with the whole Stone Cold/Rock 'Attitude' era

Luke, I know ya worked briefly for the WWF in 1997...but I think you are assuming things. Look at the audience at the WWF shows on tv, go to Toys R US and any toy store and notice the endless amounts of watsed plastic, video games, etc on the WWF. Your living in a fantasy world thinking the WWF doesnt cater to kids.

The fact is, on all levels, the WWF has NOTHING to offer fans. There are no more big drawers anymore(Hulk, Stone Cold, the Rock, etc...all gone) the plotlines are weaker than tepid tea.
I mean it truly has gone beyond downhill.

As for the UK, it is well known how they censor beyond the imagination. I recall virtually every Nintendo game was altered in some way to fit the 'proper upstanding UK market' during a time when UK was ruled by the almighty rule of censorship(and I guess still is) I know in Holland, Poland, most everywhere in Europe...nudity is readily seen on tv(even non cable), yet violence is shunner. Wherein in America ultra violence on tv is everywhere, yet even a breast exam is considered taboo XXX on tv here. Weird. So yeah, there is no balance anymore on TV.

Bottom line, WWE sucks...MTV is still the poster child for whats wrong with entertainment/media, and kids should be outdoors doing stuff, reading, or doing something creative instead of watching either of this garbage.

 

[frogboy4]

I agree. WWF seems to have as many toys in the stores as the latest Disney offering. Without kids the WWF or WWE or whatever the heck it's called now - wouldn't exist. Without the adult crowd it could still live on from what I see.

I also agree with your claim about the difference between the US and UK taboos. The US runs from sex on television, but doesn't mind violent images while it is the opposite in Europe. I think a little sex and violence has its place as long as it's not targeted at younger age groups and has some sort of artistic purpose.

Just how I see it. But I don't think MTV is terribly wrong. I feel it is a reflection of the younger culture and not a creation of it. Execs need to offer more than an average-looking girl with a boob job who has no real charisma and lip-syncs her music. Fill in the blank - that really describes a lot of people. LOL!

 

[Luke]

Re: Re: Cory & The Frogboy

Originally posted by beaker
Luke, I know ya worked briefly for the WWF in 1997...but I think you are assuming things. Look at the audience at the WWF shows on tv, go to Toys R US and any toy store and notice the endless amounts of watsed plastic, video games, etc on the WWF. Your living in a fantasy world thinking the WWF doesnt cater to kids.

I didn't say they don't cater to kids in some ways - i just meant it is a 'filler' market for them. I've got a lot of friends still working there and the main market they aim at really does seem to be a little older now - you only have to look at the plot lines for that and the introduction of the violence and scantily clad girls. Yes, i did some live shows for them and at least 70% of the audience were over 16, and if you look at the crowds on TV there seems to be a lot less kids than say back in the early 90's. I'm not sure of the percentages but a large proportion of video games players are late teens/early adults now so i think the WWE are clever to target it as yes, they can draw sales from their child audience too. However from all i've seen and heard, over the last few years the merchandise aimed at children hasn't been selling all that well as it used to - most of the time i go to the shops i see WWE figures and playsets just sitting there. I just think as they are starting to target slightly away from the kids without excluding them totally they are also getting bored with the new elements being introduced.

As for censoring, yeah in the UK when they show it at weekends you don't even see chair shots, they pull away to a shot of the crowd, cut out the sex and violence bits, so they very much edit it into a kid friendly programme and thus i think are justfied to put out products and magazines for children. The adults watch the uncensored version on a subscription only channel at night. I was under the impression that even in the USA, the compilation shows (y'know the highlights ones) are also edited like that, and Raw & Smackdown were shown late evening on cable but maybe i'm wrong. I think the UK has pretty much the same hang-up's over sex and violence as the USA does - its when you move further into Europe that they don't. We do have strict broadcasting guidelines though as to what can and can't be shown and when.

Actually best thing about the UK is that we get a show called 'WWF Classics' which re-airs the 'WWF Superstars' and 'WWF Wrestling Challenge' weekly shows from the 80's - it's better than the current stuff.

 

[Jackie]

I agree with most of what Luke said.

What child is supposed to be watching television 9-11pm at night?

The shows on MTV are toned down a lot compared to the shows that are on later at night.

I don't know about you but there are other shows on TV that are a lot worse than the WWE.

What about the naked people on Blind Date? Airs at like 7pm. What about the worlds wildest police videos that teaches kids to steal cars and run from the cops? Has anyone noticed that R rated films are now shown on network TV without much editing? Society is changing and parents need to research what their children are watching.

If you did some research the WWE's main audience are between the ages of 18 and 45. That doesn't mean they aren't going to take advantage of the 15% of kids who watch by selling them toys! If you have the audience you market to them. I've watched wrestling most of my life and i've seen it evolve. It went from being all kids in the audience to all adults. Or parents with their children. Sometimes I see parents who take their children and they freak out because they had no idea that what their children were watching was that violent. I can't understand why they didn't know this sooner?

I think we have to stop focusing on how Television is ruining our childrens lives and start focusing on how parents ruin their childrens lives by not being responsible parents. If a parent can't take the time to monitor what their child is watching, what's the point? There is an explosion of quality kids television out there. Block out the bad channels and allow your kids to watch the good stuff. It's not hard to do, but parents just seem to not care.

 

[beaker]

Originally posted by Jackie
I think we have to stop focusing on how Television is ruining our childrens lives and start focusing on how parents ruin their childrens lives by not being responsible parents. If a parent can't take the time to monitor what their child is watching, what's the point? There is an explosion of quality kids television out there. Block out the bad channels and allow your kids to watch the good stuff. It's not hard to do, but parents just seem to not care.

Aw, now that is the real point! I think if parents gave their kids lots of hugs and attention, and instilled a sense of wonder with their child's viewing habits(thank gosh for shows and movies I had back in my day) it would be much better than using the tv as a babysitter.

 

[frogboy4]

I agree with that statement. My folks were busy people, but they monitored what I watched. I remember when I was seven; we weren't allowed to watch Three's Company. Seems funny now, but it was considered rather racy twenty some-odd years ago. We'd flip it on and my folks would catch us in less than 90 seconds - and that was in a four-story house! Ahhh, back in the days where parents had that weird kind of magic.

 

[Jackie]

Originally posted by frogboy4
I agree with that statement. My folks were busy people, but they monitored what I watched. I remember when I was seven; we weren't allowed to watch Three's Company. Seems funny now, but it was considered rather racy twenty some-odd years ago. We'd flip it on and my folks would catch us in less than 90 seconds - and that was in a four-story house! Ahhh, back in the days where parents had that weird kind of magic.

Yeah I miss that. I still remember when the HBO music would play and my mom would come running in and saying to me "WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING ON HBO???" I would say.."Fraggle Rock!" and she'd be like "Oh okay." and wait until it started before she left the room. LOL!

 

[frogboy4]

Ah, the music. Yeah, they still play that intro sometimes. Very rarely, but they do.

 

[Movies205]

Time to pitch in the wisdom of a naive 15 year old which will proberly be passed over...

Note if you don't want know where my opinion is coming from don't bothering reading the paragraph below:

Let me explain where I'm coming from, I use to watch wrestling back when I was in the late 4th grade, 5th grade.... watch it for a couple of years... then around 6th grade stop watching it... B4 7th grade I was pretty much mainstream, I wasn't that popular kid, but I just watch what was the new thing, listen to rap, watch TRL and MTV, and what not... I was always a bit wierd cuz I knew about computer and play video games... Then seventh grade I started listening to rock music, started to hate rap, started watching cult favorites(UHF, EVIL DEAD), watch stuff other people didn't, read adn like stuff people didn't...

So that is my background so now you know where I'm coming from. WWE has deteriorated like Beaker has said the plot are pretty dumb but the reason I watched it b4 was because I didn't care about the violence, I watch it cuz of the drama. I thought it was hilarious and great how everyone wanted to get revenge and all these mysteries... I remember when Undertaker kidnapped Stephnie and Vince Macman, needed to call upon his most hated enenmy Stone Cold Steve Austin, then vince backstab him and actually kidnapped his own daughter to get revenge on stonecold and made the merger of the two groups Vince Machman group and undertaker group... Good stuff it was fun to watch but now it stupid... the greats are gone plus it just got to the point of repetiviness... So Frogboy you fail to see the reason that WWE was great it was like something oyu could watch, and it was fun to watch and you could chill to cuz there was no thinking involved....

WWE has gone downhill from there... As for Jacka$$ i think that a terrible show... I don't watch much TV anymroe like I use too, I'm obsessed wiht movies! I watch tons of movies and want become a movie director...

But the Shows I do watch

Sunday-Nothing
Monday- Boston Public and then Joe Millionare(just cuz I need to watch the whole thing to fully appreciate the ending, I liek some reality shows I don't like Fear FActor or Survivor)
Tuesday- 24
Wed.- West Wing I watch now use to watch Enterprise
Thurs.- nothing
Friday-Mr. Sterling, Farscape, and Fastlane
Saturday- nothing

Shows I used to watch
Family Guy-Canceled
Simpsons-B4 it became lame and no longer a satire but something to please 10 years olds
Greg the Bunny-Canceled
Futurama-Canceled