TV watchdog says networks mock marriage

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. television shows undermine marriage with negative references and by depicting sex between unmarried partners nearly four times more often than wedded couples, a TV watchdog group said on Tuesday.

The conservative Parents Television Council released a report titled "Happily Never After" that found the greatest frequency of references to sex outside marriage were during evening prime-time viewing hours, when children are most likely to be watching.

The council said it was not advocating for more depictions of married couples having sex, but it would like to see more positive depictions of matrimony.

"The anti-marriage bias in some of these programs is so transparent it's almost comical," said Melissa Henson, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit group.

Henson singled out a storyline in the ABC comedy "Desperate Housewives," in which a husband and wife get divorced and then reignite their relationship by having sex together as divorcees -- and enjoying it more.

The group examined all scripted prime-time TV shows on the major broadcast networks for four weeks in the fall.

It found ABC had the most references to marital sex of any network, but many of these were negative.

But TV Watch, a coalition that several broadcast networks participate in, discounted the study's methods and findings.

"What we're talking about is subjective, and it's subjective for parents depending on their values and their kids' age," said Jim Dyke, executive director of TV Watch.

The PTC study found that references to adultery outnumbered references to marital sex on the networks by a 2-1 ratio.

Reuters/Nielsen