As parents, many of us are highly vigilant about the types of movies and television we allow our children to see. The use of foul language I don’t want my children repeating, is the first major deterrent for me, when looking for programming suitable for my family. And to be honest, it’s not only my kids I’m thinking of when searching for entertainment without obscenities. I myself hate sitting down to watch a good movie or TV program and then being accosted for 30 minutes or more by verbal profanity and the misuse of God’s name.

When I was a teen in the 90’s, the word “B_ _ ch” was not heard on TV in any of the programs I watched. I remember how shocking it seemed to start hearing that word at 8 o’clock at night on regular basic cable television shows. I’m not sure teens today even realize that word was ever considered “foul language” due to it’s casual and constant usage in virtually all teen and adult programming and movies. It seems teen shows in particular splash that word around like the networks or producers will score some kind of points, the more times the “B” word is said.

There are so many good movies out there that are made miserable to sit through simply because of the barrage of unnecessary expletives included in them. And, being a Christian, the extra element of hearing God’s name stepped on, spat about, abused, and misused in films and television programs, is enough to get me to change the channel and avoid heading to the theaters to see a movie that, were it not for the language, could have been a great film.

Don’t even get me started on how often and casually God’s name is taken in vain! There’s a texting acronym for it, for crying out loud! I told you… don’t get me started!

But does this mean I’ve abandoned Movies and Television entirely?

No. Not at all. Jesus Himself taught us the power of story telling, and I love seeing human drama played out on screen. I’ve learned, laughed, cried, been amused, forewarned, and inspired by all kinds of movies and Television, and I love sharing those same kinds of experiences with my husband and children.

Thankfully I’ve found TWO fantastic tools that help myself and my family determine when and where to see what types of movies and TV shows.

And stay tuned, because I’m giving one away!

The first tool I love is the TV Guardian. We’ve had one in our home for the past 8 years and we love it. In fact we love what it does so much, that we even gave one to Nana and Papa for their TV.  The TV Guardian is a box that you connect to your television, which filters out profanity and misuses of God’s name, by reading a programs subtitles (not visible onscreen). While silence covers the profanity, a subtitle with a replacement sentence is briefly shown on screen so you still know what’s being said, but in a less offensive way.

TV Guardian is now taking orders for their brand new model, being released this June.  A great feature to the new model is that it comes with a remote you can use to:

- switch between three different levels of profanity blocking – Strict, Moderate, and Tolerant

- turn ON and OFF the religious filter – When it’s set to ON, TVG will filter out the offensive ways Hollywood tends to use Jesus and God. When turned OFF religious programming can be viewed without the use of Jesus and God being filtered out.

- the Hell/Damn filter may be turned ON and OFF – also useful when watching religious programming

- Sexual references may be turned ON and OFF

(At the bottom of this post I’ll be giving specifics about how you can enter here to win a brand new TV Guardian (value $120) simply by leaving a specific comment .)

The other tool that helps our family immensely in making decisions about what we will go to see in the theater, what we will wait to watch at home with the use of our TV Guardian, and what isn’t worth watching at all because of other content issues, is the website, PluggedIn.com.

Plugged In is a ministry created by Focus on the Family, a ministry founded by Dr. James Dobson, author of the books “Bringing Up Boys” and “Dare to Discipline.” The focus of the Plugged In ministry is to “Shine a light on the world of entertainment” particularly for the purpose of  helping parents understand the entertainment vying for their children’s attention every minute of every day. They offer reviews of popular music, video games, movies, and television shows, and we NEVER go to the theater without first checking it’s review on Pluggedin.com. NEVER!!!

Plugged In breaks down the content of movies for parents, so we can make our own decisions about what films are right for our family. Their reviews do include some personal opinion like a typical movie critic would do, but more importantly they provide the exact content in the film within categories such as: Spiritual Content, Violent Content, Crude or Profane Language, Sexual Content, and Drug and Alcohol Content.

It’s so helpful to hop on Plugged In, click on the review for a movie we’re interested in going to see, scrolling down to the “Crude or Profane Language” section, and immediately being able to determine if I should even consider taking my kids to see it.

I’ve copied the following “Crude or Profane Language” sections from the Plugged In website, for films rated G – R, to show how helpful their reviews can be, and to also show what movies might be better watched at home with a  TV Guardian.

Herbie Fully Loaded (G) : Misuses of God’s name are used a handful of times. “Jeez” is said once. Mild putdowns include “jerk.” “Crap” gets tossed around a few times.

The Rookie (G) : While on the field, one player misuses the name of God (it’s the second time God’s name is used as an exclamation). Four mild profanities (one of which is sung in a song) include the words “h–l” and “d–n.”

The Astronaut Farmer (PG) :  Three s-words, a half-dozen uses each of “a–” and “h—,” and two uses of “b–ch” vie for attention. “Jeez” pops up and God’s name is coupled with “d–n.”

Inkheart (PG) : One use each of “d–n” and “jacka–.” Several times, characters misuse God’s name.

Elf (PG) : A dozen mild profanities (“h—,” “d–n”) join such expressions as “friggin,” “pi–ed,” “sucked,” “son of a nutcracker,” “up yours” and “oh my g–.”

E.T. (PG) : Several crude expressions, five profanities (including two s-words) and a half-dozen exclamations of “oh my g–.”

Holes (shown on the Disney Channel) (PG) : Unfortunately, God’s name is abused almost 10 times. About half a dozen mild profanities (”d–n” and “h—”) crop up. Crudities and put-downs such as “schmuck,” “jacka–,” “cow turd,” “fart” and “Neanderthal” turn up, “crap” being the most common.

The Water Horse (PG) : Jesus’ name is abused a couple of times. God’s name is exclaimed six or eight times. There are also a half-dozen exclamations of “bloody,” two of “h—,” and one each of “d–n” and the Scottish version of “a–.” “Crikey,” “blimey,” “what the devil?” “my sainted mother!” “mother of God,” “holy mackerel” and the Scottish interjection “jings” punctuate moments of surprise.

Indiana Jones, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (PG – 13) : Mutt uses the s-word twice. God’s name is exclaimed a half-dozen times. Other swear words, such as “d–n,” “h—,” “b–ch” and “bloody” are sprinkled in between.

The Blindside (PG-13) : Leigh Anne does not approve of swearing. “Don’t use the a-word,” she tells her husband. But she didn’t edit the screenplay for The Blind Side. Onscreen, we still hear “a‑‑” a half-dozen times, “b‑‑ch” and “h‑‑‑” four or five times each, “p‑‑‑” once and “d‑‑n” two or three times. God’s name is misused a handful of times. “T‑t” is said a couple of times. The racial slur “n-gger” is vocalized once by one of the thugs.

Erin Brockovich (R) : Nearly 50 f- and s-words make the film’s otherwise clever dialogue intolerable. Erin’s fondness for the f-word becomes central to her character. Additionally, Jesus’ name is abused and other, milder, profanities intrude, some of them spoken in front of the children.

The Last Samurai (R) : An s-word and a handful of milder profanities. God’s name is abused a half-dozen times (once it is combined with “d–n”); Christ’s one time.

3:10 to Yuma (R) : Two or three f-words; more than twice that many s-words. “D–n” is used in excess of a dozen times—and most often in conjunction with God’s name. Christ’s name is foully exclaimed at least twice. Milder profanities pop up a handful of times (”h—,” “a–”), as do the crude words “p-ss” and “b–tard.”

And remember, the TV Guardian filters out language on cable and network television programming, DVDs, videos, Blue Ray, and On Demand movies. As long as what you’re watching is available in closed caption, it will automatically be filtered, without you needing to have the subtitles on and viewable.

So now for the BIG GIVEAWAY!!!

TV Guardian is giving away one of their brand new TV Guardians with remote, to one of my randomly selected readers. The Winner will have their choice between a standard or HD compatible unit ($120 /$160 value).

All you have to do to enter is:

- leave a comment on this post telling me one of your favorite movies of all time. That’s it! (Comments that do not include a favorite movie will be deleted and disqualified)

- Please only one entry per person

- Open to U.S. residents only

- entries will be accepted NOW through Wednesday, May 19, 2010, at 10pm PST.

- one WINNER will be randomly chosen and announced on Friday, May 21, 2010.

- the WINNER will have a new TV Guardian unit reserved for them and will receive it in June, 2010 when the units are released for shipping.

Enter now, and in the mean time, head on over to TV Guardian.com and get more familiar with all of it’s features and benefits. It you’d like to see a demo of the TV Guardian working in action, click here.

Also, be sure to check out PluggedIn.com… there’s all kinds of fun stuff to discover!

Thanks for visiting and in the famous words of Siskel and Ebert… “We’ll see you at the movi…” er… uh… well, maybe not. Maybe you’ll be in your living rooms more often now. Hey… it’s cheaper. The screen is smaller, but the snacks are better and they wont break the bank. Your living room has really comfortable seating and soft warm blankets. True… you probably don’t have 3-D capabilities or IMAX, but look on the brightside… you probably also wont get MRSA from the seats.

I’m gonna go now.

Just leave a comment.

Bye.

UPDATE: Now through Monday, May 17th, 2010 as a Mother’s Day Special you can purchase a TV Guardian for $20 OFF! What a deal!!! Buy Now HERE.

Also linked to Frugalicious Friday

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