TERENCE SMITH: This was television in the 1950's.
ANNOUNCER: The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, starring the entire nelson family. Here is Ozzie, who plays the part of Ozzie nelson and of course his lovely wife Harriet as Harriet Nelson.
TERENCE SMITH: This is television in the 1990's. "Beverly Hills 90210" and in "Dawson's Creek", and among the "Bold and the Beautiful." Over the years, entertainment programming has moved from the dining room to the bedroom. Today's steamier shows deal explicitly with the topic Ozzie and Harriet never even acknowledged: Sex. A new study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation analyzes the explosion of depicted or suggested sex on television. It found what it calls sexual messages in 56% of all entertainment television programs. In prime time, that number jumps to 65%. However, among these shows, the study found that only 9% make any mention of safe sex or the possible consequences of sexual activity. One example that does is this segment of the Fox network's "Party of Five".
ACTOR: Great, but, um, what about, you know, because I don't actually carry one in my wallet.
ACTRESS: I do, since our third date. Well, shoot me. I'm an optimist.
TERENCE SMITH: The Kaiser study concludes that: In the future debate about sex on television it may well be more important to consider how sex is shown rather than how much it is shown.
TERENCE SMITH: In another newly released study, the Parents Television Council identified what it says are the six most frequent corporate sponsors of prime-time programs it deems objectionable. The council has launched a campaign to pressure advertisers and producers to upgrade the program content. Here to discuss these issues are Steve Allen, the comedian, author, and composer, who is also spokesman for the Parents Television Council; Vicky Rideout, the director of the Kaiser Family Foundation study; J.J. Abrams, the executive producer of "Felicity," a popular new program on the WB network, whose central character is a college freshman; and Robert Thompson, a cultural historian who is director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University.
TERENCE SMITH: Professor Thompson, let me begin with you and ask you about the underlying notion of this report that television has a certain educative responsibility. Does it?
Television's educative responsibility.
ROBERT THOMPSON, Cultural Historian: Well, I mean, of course it does but it's so complicated. I mean, I think about -- I was watching the clips of "Ozzie and Harriet." The baby boom generation that grew up on television which had no sex in it, forget premarital, it didn't even have marital sex, husbands and wives slept in separate beds, if we became what we watched, if, in fact, we are taking these kinds of things as the cues to what we become, the baby boom generation should have become the most traditional family-oriented, family-values oriented generation of all time. It, in fact, started a sexual revolution. It, in fact, did the opposites of these things. So there certainly is an educative function going on in television, we wouldn't have an advertising industry if there wasn't, but I don't think it's nearly as close to this cause and effect that so many of these studies and Dan Quayle and Janet Reno and Paul Simon and all of the rest of them seem to suggest.
TERENCE SMITH: J.J. Abrams, let me ask you, as a producer of "Felicity", one of these broadcasts, does the idea of a substantive message get in the way of telling a story for you?
J.J. ABRAMS, Executive Producer, "Felicity:" I guess it can but the truth is, I mean, we actually have a lot of fun with it. I mean, we're really proud to be mentioned as one of the few shows that actually deal with the issue of sexuality responsibly and on "Felicity" we actually turn the challenge, you know, or the responsibility of dealing with the consequences of sexuality into a challenge and sort of try, at least, to rise to the occasion and deal with the issue of consequence and sexuality in an entertaining way. For example, this one episode where Felicity decides, "Okay, I'm going to have sex with someone." Though she didn't, in the episode; she goes to the health service department and she sort of obsesses over condoms, and we did a whole condom demonstration and it was a very funny scene. And I think in some ways you can take what is perceived as maybe a downer or burden and turn it into a challenge and make it entertaining and fun.
TERENCE SMITH: Vicky Rideout, I'm curious why you did this study and what you hope to accomplish.
VICKY RIDEOUT, Kaiser Family Foundation: Well, we did the study because we realized that what kids learn about sex is incredibly important. I mean, we live in an age when one out of every two new HIV infections in this country is among young people. And there are nearly four million instances of other sexually transmitted diseases a year among young people. We are not saying that young people are having sex because they're seeing sex on TV. What we're saying is that sex on TV is a great opportunity for helping to inform young people of what they need to do to protect themselves if they do choose to have sex. It comes at them through the characters that they love, like Felicity, through their favorite shows. It's a way they're very receptive to. And they've told us that television actually is one of the top sources of information for them about sex. <SNIP>
Michael Pugliese