Do You Know Your TV Ratings?

Welcome back to The Expressionist Magazine

If you watch television every now and then, there’s no doubt you’ve seen those annoying little black boxes with white letters on your screen covering up part of the show for a few seconds.  Most of the time, it completely draws your attention to the box making you miss the first few seconds of the show; but then you wonder, what are these boxes saying?

Those boxes are television ratings.  It’s sad to know that we have to rate programs because our morals and values as Americans have stooped so low that we allow anything and everything on television.  These ratings are there to help parents decipher what is appropriate for our children to watch. However, there is one small problem-where can you find out what those ratings mean?  It’s not like a movie where it’s rated G to X.  So let’s educate ourselves on these important ratings we all see but have no idea their meaning and maybe, we can effectively use them when it comes time to watch television.

TV Y -  This rating means it’s appropriate for all children (examples are PBS, Disney, Nick JR).

TV Y7 -  This is appropriate for older children, generally seven years and older.

TV Y7 FV – Same thing, execpt it’s fantasy violence, which means it’s graphic but it’s not real violence. It’s similar to what we see in some of our cartoons.

TV G – Rated clean for all audiences, any age.

TV PG – Parental guidance suggested.  Same as in movies, it may contain some lewd language, or have some sexual content without nudity or implied sex.  Violence, etc.

TV 14 – You should be at least fourteen years of age or older, and parents are STRONGLY cautioned.  This would be the equivalent of an R-rated movie.

TV MA – Mature audience only. These will have some nudity, graphic surgery scenes or mature situations, such as excessive swearing, intense violence, etc.

So, that’s the television rating system.  Now that you have a better grasp on what those letters mean we can now decide what is appropriate for our children, or even ourselves, to watch.  Some of us don’t want to see something rated TV MA; it may not be for the faint-hearted.  It’s a shame that someone came up with this system to protect us from what’s on television, yet there was never anything readily available to define it.  We hope this enhances your enjoyment of television, and we also hope it helps you create special time with your children by turning it into a fun-filled evening without any surprises you might have to explain. At least now you have some warning.  For more info see www.tvguidelines.org