The Parents Television Council, a media watchdog organization that aims to “promote and restore responsibility and decency to the entertainment industry,” recently examined the Fox network’s hatred of mothers:
In 1987, TV’s respectful treatment of mothers began to be replaced by an attitude of mockery and contempt – and unsurprisingly, it was the Fox network that began the trend. Married with Children‘s Peg Bundy was portrayed as shallow, vapid, incompetent at domestic chores (and everything else) and obsessed with sex. Dressed to resemble a prostitute, the Peg Bundy character also seemed to act and think like one. The constant put-downs directed at Peg by her crude and moronic husband character were echoed by equally intense contempt from her children.
And in the two decades since Married with Children‘s premiere nothing has changed, except that the mockery, contempt and even hatred shown towards mothers on Fox has become even more vicious and sadistic.
The May 11th episode of The Simpsons focused on the death of Homer’s mother, a former radical who abandoned him as a child. The now-deceased mother leaves her daughter-in-law Marge a purse made of hemp, as Bart informs his father that Grandma said “you don’t suck…THAT much.”
Yet The Simpsons‘ depiction of motherhood was as nothing compared to that seen on Seth MacFarlane’s animated “comedy” Family Guy. In celebration of Mother’s Day, Fox chose to rerun an episode in which Baby Stewie murders his own mother – after plotting to torture her…
For shame, Fox. [Parents Television Council]
Fox-owned IGN steps in to settle the fight nobody cares about anymore, Simpsons vs. Family Guy! I didn’t read any of it, but if you want to look at a bunch of pictures of nerds and read their analyses of the two cartoon shows, then be my guest. [