PTC Blasts ABC’s ‘The Real O’Neals’

The Parents Television Council says that the first three episodes of ABC’s new show, The Real O’Neals, “were so saturated with adult content that sexual content and bleeped profanities aired every 43 seconds,” adding that “despite that it was rated TV-PG and aired as early as 7:30 p.m. in half the country.”

Of the adult-themed content, 83% was sexual (including sexual references and innuendo), PTC said; 16% was bleeped profanities (f- and s-words). Most of the sexual dialogue involved the 16-year-old minor, Kenny, his older high-school-aged brother Jimmy and their parents, according to the watchdog group.

“ABC has essentially inserted explicit and adult-themed humor into a PG-rated primetime program that is about a family, created for families, and aired at a time when children are likely to be watching. Even worse, much of the sexual and expletive-laced dialogue is delivered by characters who are children. Simply put, the network is defrauding parents by rating this show as appropriate for young children,” said PTC President Tim Winter.

“We call on the network to reconsider its content rating for this program,” Winter added. “And we call on all corporate sponsors to reconsider whether their brands should be associated with a show that spews such explicit content without any real consideration for family viewers.”