User blog:Seventho7/But what is PG, anyways?

Every episode of Friends is officially classified as PG (no matter how much Nick@Nite wants to inflict their principles), yet there is controversy over specific words and their justification of PG.

The first, "bitch". This word is used constantly in Friends, sometimes more than once in a single episode. However, users like Chris still don't think it's fit for PG. The MPAA rating system page on Wikipedia even lists "bitch" as a PG-13 word. But regardless, Friends uses the word frequently, and is still given a PG rating.

The second, "porn", "pornography" and "pornographic". Chris seems to have his mind set that all of these words are definitely not PG, as they are referencing adult material. However, there are many episodes of Friends that use these words, and even a multiple episode scenario in which Chandler and Joey have gotten free porn on their cable TV. There are also many references to pornographic material in the show, an example being where Rachel filling out an evaluation sheet as a joke had a "pornographic sketch" at the bottom. This episode, like all other episodes, has gotten a PG rating.

The third, "shit". Now, this one is a bit tricky - you can't say it on television without a bleep, with certain exceptions (e.g. BBC America, or any content aired between 10pm - 6am). However, at least 2 episodes of Friends have used this word (being censored on TV of course), and still maintained a PG rating. The most notable example is of Joey's quick response, "Does a bear shit in the woods?" to Ross asking "You hungry?" The word has also been used in many other PG content, e.g. The Sandlot, which used the word twice.

In conclusion, I think Chris' and many other users' beliefs regarding PG content are very strict, and I do think that the Rating Guidelines should be changed for a more fitting PG - the PG right now, is a very hard G. We've all heard and seen these words before, and they're still being used in PG content today. So why don't we step up to an actual PG, instead of adding PG to petty things like one use of "hell" (let me remind you that most of the season 1 episodes of Full House had use of the word "hell" in profanity form, and every episode of Full House is G - this is toned down in the later seasons, however, but it is still used).