I can remember those awkward moments when I was watching certain TV shows in mixed company. One time our church group went skiing in Indiana. Afterwards we stayed up watching SNL. They had sketch featuring feminine products. It wouldn’t have been as bad if they didn’t drag it out and make the main part of the sketch about it.
Another time at a youth devotional, we watched In Living Color’s “Men on Film” sketch during the Super Bowl halftime. This was at a church elder’s house. From experience, Men on Film was just one sexual innuendo after another. Somebody really should have changed the channel or just turned it off completely.
In both cases we sat, afraid to laugh, afraid to change the channel, feeling pretty awkward the entire time. In any case I do think there has been a gradual degrading of the quality of television. I could just be growing up and watching more adult oriented situations. Or maybe society has been softened toward what would have been outrageous in the 1980s. For example, I was watching “Saving Private Ryan” the other night. It the uncut version….swearing and all…on ABC. They did show a disclaimer in between each commerical break. Still, it seemed a little much for primetime Saturday night television, even if the story was patriotic.