Nibbled News

Turning Viewers Into Entrenched Voyeurs

"I'm at the age where food has taken the place of sex in my life. In fact, I've just had a mirror put over my kitchen table." ~ Rodney Dangerfield

It seems these days that even  the most  dramatic, respected  and creative  television shows  eventually flaunt and promote unbridled, carefree and unprotected sex as the answer to their series flagging viewer rating.

This usually happens after the third or fourth episode when the viewer numbers have been compiled and the networks and advertisers are eager to boost exposure and sales. Network managers are willing to take a chance on new dramatic content and more receptive to innovative writing.

The Nielsen viewer ratings have been successfully compiled by this time and a television home viewing market selected within which a show's writing team can become "creative" oftentime using gratuitous sex to overcome writing lapses and lulls between commercials.

Two such shows that pop into mind are "King"and "Suits". Both shows are presented on the Showcase network.The plots and the writing  are first rate. Initially the sexual nature of the show's characters was downplayed and the legal angle highlighted. On the premium channel a viewer content warning is flashed between commercial segments indicating "adult content view discretion is advised."

"King" is a tough female cop who has been divorced a number of times and likes her sex hot and heavy. She is nearing forty, wears tight skirts and is desperately trying to get pregnant. She is the head of a crime division in a large metropolitan city. At times she lets her biological clock run her common sense. This aspect may make her appealling to all those female viewers in her particular life situation.

"Suits"  main characters are Harvey Specter" and  "Mike Ross". For Harvey a romp in the hay is an accepted pro bono aspect of the job.  Recently Ross has also been priming the pump for female companionship.  Specter is a talented, conniving, no holds barred successful attorney possessing street smarts and an over active libido. Ross is his protege with a photographic memory whom he is tutoring in the law firm.

Eventually though the main characters in both shows abandon their higher callings and are eager to tear off their clothing, hop into bed with  any available and consenting member of the opposite sex.  This allows three to five minutes of air time to successfully transpire. This on-screen action is supposed to turn the viewing audience into consenting adult voyeurs.

The popularity of both shows has attracted the attention of the non premium channels. The channels do flash the viewer warning adult content notice at the start of the show. So an at home viewer expects some adult content not out-and-out orgy action. What does a parent do when their children are in the same room with them while they are watching the juicier segments?

In this age of sexually transmitted diseases, herpes, genital warts, AIDs and the like dramatic televison shows should offer the viewing public richer content and more thought provoking themes and try not to merely pander the easily gratuitous side of life .

If this is an impossible task then at least have the main characters enage in protected sex before they dazzle the viewer with their bedroom prowess.

 

Invent A Patch To Save Some Marriages

If you made a list of the reasons why any couple got married, and another list of the reasons for their divorce, you'd have a hell of a lot of overlapping.  ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

This is an impassioned plea trying  to keep lawyers and divorce court costs out of the bedrooms and bank accounts of America.

Many marital conflicts are at times the result of conflicting emotional feelings and sentiments of confused and disgruntled couples and as such do not come under the direct purview of the judicial system. 

The time has finally arrived  for an enlightened populace to allow the  creative scientific community the opportunity to process and perfect a hormonal patch that disputing married couples can jointly use to save themselves from divorce and get their marriage back on track.

Scientific inventiveness , genius and creativity over innumerable decades has consistenly attempted to help man enjoy a carefree and productive lifestyle. The problems of female infertility, male erectile dysfunction, persistent indigestion and occasional bouts of embarassing flatulence have all been successfully handled.

If the problems listed above are hormone related then who is to say that emotional situations and tensions that eventually do arise between the most loving , compatible and closest of couples could not benefit from such a quick and inexpensive fix.

I appreciate the fact that many talented and well-known divorce court attorneys make their six figure salaries helping grieving spouses rectify an intolerable marital situation. Their efforts to comfort their clients is well documented and costly at the best of times.

The disputing couple would now make an appointment with a marriage counsellor who would take a proactive approach and recommend not only couple's therapy but also the marriage patch in the hopes of not only rectifying their current marital strife but also stave off the possibility of enlisting the services of a good family lawyer.

Members of the legal association, fearing loss of a substantial amount of income, would probably launch state by state class action lawsuits aimed at determing  the legality and the overall safety aspects of using the patch. Many lawyers do tend to get overly emotional and protective when their  lifestyles are threatened.

Human beings are ever changing vessels of emotions, sentiments and feelings. A patch designed to specifically help regulate or temporarily modify a couple's conflicting emotional levels would be a lot less costly and more effective than filing for a divorce and upsetting a couple's lifestyle and financial situation .

Jurisprudence can only go so far in affecting the way members of a society relate to one another as far as the law is concerned. Perhaps it's time that science lends a helping hand to couples trying to cope with the pressures and strifes of modern life.

Letting Her Steady Boy Friend Sleep Over?

As a parent would you lose any sleep if your teenage daughter innocently and somewhat matter of factly one day asked you if her steady boyfriend could sleep over?

Would this issue raise your emotional hackles , concerns and neurotic fears as to the safety and emotional well being of your daughter?

A representative number of present day authors have stated that an increasing number of parents in Holland have already crossed this highly charged emotional sea of concern and do allow their daughter's "steady" boyfriend to sleep over but with certain stipulations.

According to one published report Dutch parents have normalized such sexual liasons in the hope of indirectly maintaining an infleunce in their teens lives.

In the U.S. parents feel they lack the overall moral authority to sanction such actions because they engaged in sex at an early age.

Lines of communication between parents and teens are not seriously strained as they are in the United States where parents at times feel guilty for having themselves engaged in sex at an early age.

Parents feel that they are losing control of their teenagers. The want to protect them from harm not realizing that their "children" are maturing and not really abandoning the nest as much as seeking support , understanding and guidance from their parents.

The parental "not under my roof" attitude often leads to unprotected sexual activity, increased teen pregnancy and the transmission of sexually communicable diseases. Sex is entered into hastily and the back seat of a car or a seedy motel room is the birthplace for many years of bitterness and tensions.

The Dutch approach to sex is not a laid back attitude promoting sexual license. The boyfriend must be the daughter's steady and must also fit into the family scheme of things. This is not a one night stand situation. It is more of a preventative measure to ensure that parents and teens communicate in an honest and open manner.

Parents in the United States at times  are way too squeamish to have the necessary sex talk with their children. Boys are coerced into being sexual beings way before they are emotionally prepared to be.

Girls are often routinely treated by their loving and doting parents as asexual beings ... daddy's little girl waiting for the right Prince Charming to come into her life. Mr Right seldom does show up.

This current "sleep over dilemma" is a situation that can be easily managed if parents and teens be honest with one another, keep their lines of communication and trust open and seek guidance from school, church or health professionals willing to assist parents and teens with this emotionally charged situation.

Concerned parents can consult Amy Schalet's book, "Not Under My Roof: Parents, Teens and the Culture of Sex" published this coming November. It is an informative read.