What do you do when the majority of television programming today contains an abundance of violence, sex and profanity? The entertainment industry offered to help parents by creating the V-Chip, a "solution" that puts the responsibility for the industry's product solely onto parents. Dubbed as parental TV control technology, it should allow users to set criteria based on TV ratings and block unwanted content. Unfortunately, this "solution" doesn't work as planned.

A new Parents Television Council study on the accuracy of TV ratings system reveals that the V-Chip is useless because content descriptors aren't remotely reliable and the V-Chip requires accurate ratings and descriptors to work. Two-thirds of network programming that contains potentially offensive content lacks one or more of the appropriate content descriptors.

The results are not entirely surprising, considering the ratings are applied by the same people who produce and distribute programming, and have to sell it to sponsors. That's right, like children grading their own homework the networks rate their own programs making the parental TV controls useless. An accurate rating of a program loaded with sex and violence will have the effect of chasing away sponsors, which is what the networks fear most.

Parents should rightly be concerned. Violence on prime time broadcast television has increased 75% since 1998. Not only was there more on-screen violence than ever before, but the discussions of violent crimes were more explicit and the violence depicted was far more graphic.

A recent program on CBS, NCIS, showed a horrifically violent drug scene during the 8 pm hour when children are most often found in the viewing audience. Not only did this air at the earliest hour of primetime, but the episode did not carry the proper television rating descriptors to warn parents about the gruesome material or to allow them to block the program using V-chip technology.

This episode was rated TV-14, with no content descriptors. Based on the graphic violence, the "V" descriptor should have been used, and due to the foul language, the "L" descriptor should have been employed as well making for better parental tv controls. 

So much for the industry's own "solution."

A March Zogby poll found that 88% of adults did not possess the parental tv control technology or had not used it within the previous week. At the same time, 79% told Zogby that there was too much sex, violence, and coarse language on television. So everyone thinks this is a problem, yet no one is using the cure-all solution? Even in Hollywood this wouldn't fly as a believable plot line.

While parents are trying their best to protect their children from harmful television messages, the industry is dead set on providing bottom of the bucket programming that is swallowing up the public airwaves and voiding parents of family-friendly fare.

And it's not enough for parents to hit the off button on their television. Because of television's pervasiveness and persuasiveness, opting out is an entirely inadequate response. When the networks, which have been the primary source of family entertainment, produce increasingly violent and sexually-graphic shows, parents are left with few places to turn for family viewing.

So what can you watch on television with your family? Typically, the best and cleanest shows we've found are reality shows like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, American Inventor, or Deal or No Deal, and Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader.

Some scripted shows are fairly family-friendly, including Friday Night Lights, which has some positive themes and messages. The characters face realistic trials with real-world consequences and resolutions which make the series stand out among other dramas. The plot lines addressed are always presented in a responsible manner, highlighting negative consequences and better decisions. On Everybody Hates Chris, episodes have emphasized the importance of education, responsible behavior, thrift, hard work and marital fidelity.

These positive programs show that responsibility on television is possible. We encourage the industry to create more shows that families can enjoy together.

Melissa Henson is the senior director of programs for the Parents Television Council (www.parentstv.org), a non-profit, non-partisan organization committed to restoring responsibility and decency to the entertainment industry, helping with parental tv control.  

Here are some of the Parents Television Council's top picks for family-friendly primetime television shows:

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC)
American Inventor (ABC)
Deal or No Deal (NBC)
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader (Fox)
NBC Sunday Night Football (NBC)
*American Idol (Fox)
*Dancing With the Stars (ABC)
*So You Think You Can Dance (Fox)
*Everybody Hates Chris (CW)

Note: For additional descriptions and reviews of other television shows, please visit www.parentstv.org.
*As with any television show, the best parental tv control is when parents watch these shows in particular with their children due to some adult themes.