Neegan
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Parents Television Council Says The Walking Dead Too Violent, Shouldn’t Be Easily Accessible on Cable

Neegan

If you have somehow managed to navigate the internet while avoiding discussion of The Walking Dead’s season premiere, two things:  1. You have some serious internet ninja skills and I’d like you to teach me so I can use it to avoid election coverage, and 2. There are spoilers in the article below.

Those of us who watched Sunday night’s The Walking Dead season premiere have finally stopped sobbing and rocking ourselves in the corner. Or not. I’m not judging.

The Walking Dead’s season premiere was brutal on every level.

It was emotionally devastating, for one. We lost two of our most beloved characters: Glenn and that red-haired guy. We watched as uber-villain Negan pushed Rick and the gang to their mental breaking point. We curled into the fetal position as Negan pulled some biblical shit on Rick and Carl, staying Rick’s hatchet-wielding hand right before he chops off his son’s arm. (Negan is God! Get it? Seriously, I’m an atheist and even I heard that church bell loud and clear.)

The episode was also brutally, graphically violent and bloody. The gore was over the top, even for a show about undead zombies who feast on human flesh. We saw close-ups of Negan’s barbed-wire-covered bat bashing in skulls. We saw Glenn choke out a semi-coherent farewell to Maggie as one eye bulged. (For those of you posting those Sloth memes on Facebook: TOO SOON.)

I would argue that the show had to be that graphic in order to match the intensity of the emotional aspect. The Parents Television Council does not agree with me.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Parents Television Council denounced the season premiere of The Walking Dead, as well as violent programming in general: “Programs with violent content are proven to be harmful, especially to children; and most parents agree that having greater control over violent content coming into their homes is vital to protecting their family,” PTC president Tim Winter said.

No shit, Captain Obvious.

If it takes the Parents Television Council to tell you that your eight-year-old shouldn’t be watching The Walking Dead, then you probably have bigger parenting issues than just screen time. (Although, for the record, my parents used to let me watch horror movies all the time. I saw Nightmare on Elm Street when I was in third grade, and I obviously turned out just fine. Right?)

What’s most disturbing is the Parents Council isn’t satisfied with the current measures to prevent young viewers from watching. These measures include The Walking Dead’s 9 pm time slot, the TV MA rating, or the disclaimer at the beginning of the episode that warns viewers of the graphic content. The PTC wants that shit off their television altogether.

Winter said on Monday, “It’s not enough to ‘change the channel,’ as some people like to advocate…families should have greater control over the TV networks they purchase from their cable and satellite providers.”

Whoa there. Slow down. Just because children shouldn’t watch The Walking Dead doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have easy access to all of AMC’s inappropriate programming. What’s the alternative? A cable package comprised of only child-appropriate programming? A 24/7 network dedicated to episodes of Caillou?

Now there is something that would terrify every parent I know.