Comments on: Episode 040 – Ryan McPartlin Video Interview

By: Ken Mars

Ken Mars — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:42:32 +0000

Gray-
As usual, you express yourself with great aplomb and do us fans credit with your continued fine work. It is indeed difficult to safe guard children against the terrible nastiness that is in the world and on TV. Luckily, CHUCK is pretty darn low on the offensive scale compared to say “Family Guy” which on occasion runs at 8pm. I don’t recall any criticism over the 3-D episode which I felt was far more racey with the Sarah dream sequence and Chuck’s pants getting ripped off by what looked like High Schoolers. And let’s not forget Jill’s not-so-subtle-at-all “oral” references, Big Mike’s plumbing speech, or any time Jeff and Lester are on screen for more than 5 seconds. Family accessible- yes, definitely. Family show- no, not really.
Viva Buymoria! -Ken from Baltimore
P.S. Been listening since episode 3 or 4 and could not be more proud of the work you have done and the continued commitment you have to producing professional quality Podcasts. I salute you all.

By: Gray Jones

Gray Jones — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:58:52 +0000

Hi Ken,

Thanks for your very astute comment! Yes, we had some time to discuss further after we recorded our podcast, and you are absolutely right.

I have always maintained that Chuck is not intended for younger kids (I will not let my almost-7-year-old watch it, for instance), but since you could watch most of the episodes with your teenage son and your 70-year old grandfather, I improperly applied the term “family” to it.

Part of where it comes from is our own experiences… for me, I have a 26-year old stepson, so when I speak about watching with my family, I have that particular image in my mind. Mel does watch many of the episodes with her nieces, but she carefully screens what they see, and I’m sure she has her finger poised on the remote, both to skip some scenes and pause to explain others.

I know that there are many families who let their 8 & under kids watch Chuck. I know the same families might have no problems letting their kids of that age watch Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings (or Spiderman, or Transformers… you get the picture), which I venture to say are a lot more scary than Chuck. I don’t judge them — they know their kids. Some grow up watching their older siblings and get desensitized to this stuff. Others, like my 6-year old, are more sheltered, and can’t even watch most Disney movies.

All this is to say that we will indeed change our messaging on this issue. Chuck is at the very least “Parental Guidance,” and probably is not appropriate for most kids 10 & under, especially if they watch without their parents holding a good remote control. It might indeed be a show that crosses many age boundaries — like a mature 12 to 80 — and it may be a show you can watch with family members, but it is not a “family” show as most people would understand that term.

We were going to clarify this on our upcoming episode, but I appreciate you bringing this issue up now.

Thanks for listening, and keep up the comments!

Thanks,
Gray.

By: Ken Mars

Ken Mars — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:53:20 +0000

Mel-
I think you are trying to skew the under 18 demographic a bit too much. When CHUCK becomes “more accessible” to 8 year olds, I will stop watching and so will most everybody else. This show was not made to be for kids, despite it’s 8pm time slot. It’s the Buy More NOT Barney. Any watering down of this show would ruin it for the adults for who it was intended. Otherwise- loving the videocasts and keep up the nerdtastic work everybody.