Television More Oversexed Than Ever, Study Finds

ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and WB shows also were included, though not UPN. Again, out of consideration for the top of our head, we'll think about that tomorrow.

"Given how high the stakes are, the messages TV sends teens about sex are important," Rideout said in the news release handed out yesterday and, in slightly different form, live to those attending the unveiling of the study at the Kaiser Family Foundation digs at 13th and G (which, by the way -- very plush).

Why, we wondered, given that, despite TV's best effort, teen pregnancy rates had plunged, fewer teens are having sex and more of those who are having intercourse are using protection.

University of Arizona at Tucson communications professor Dale Kunkel, who worked on the study, noted sourly that just because there has been a decline doesn't mean that all groups are working toward that end. He said he worries that the media are working against groups trying to remedy the problem.

He's comforted, no doubt, by the fact that teen pregnancy numbers are still higher in this country than elsewhere.

That's even though many of those countries with lower teen pregnancy rates don't regulate TV content nearly as much, noted Tony Vinciquerra, president and CEO of Fox Network Group, who, along with Kunkel, was part of a panel discussion during the unveiling ceremony. Also participating were FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy, "Law & Order: SVU" executive producer Neal Baer, National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy Executive Director Sarah Brown and Rand Corp. behavioral scientist Rebecca Collins.

Vinciquerra noted that his Fox Reality cable network can't rerun much reality programming from overseas because it's too risque for this market. Based on our observations yesterday, Vinciquerra has risen to great heights at Fox because of his almost superhuman ability to attend the Mad Hatter's tea party and not grab the Dormouse by the shoulders and shake it until its teeth rattle when it suggests that things are just different in this country because television has become our religion, in a way. The Dormouse in this case being FCC Commissioner Abernathy.

There was nobody on the panel to speak up for the 65 percent of the country's homes in which no one under 18 resides and some of whose favorite TV shows were under discussion, and not in a good way. Very little discussion also about the fact that nearly 70 percent of kids have TVs in their bedrooms, bought for them by parents -- 83 percent of whom, the Kaiser foundation says, firmly believe that exposure to sex on TV contributed to children becoming involved in sexual situations before they're ready.

Sen. Barack Obama, fresh from his brilliant overshadowing of Jon Stewart on Comedy Central's "Daily Show" earlier in the week, continued his "I'm So Over-Hyped" tour with an appearance at the debut of the "Sex on TV" study, addressing a conference room packed with what appeared to be a handful of reporters, some lobbyists from networks monitoring the situation and -- judging by the knicker-knottedness of the questions directed to the Illinois Democrat after his speech -- members of TV watchdog and other special-interest groups.

Obama killed. Yes, he quoted Newton Minow's famous "vast wasteland" speech. Politicians always do. But he had some other material. Like how, when he watches TV with his young daughters and they're in the middle of a family program and a commercial for Cialis comes on, "It's more than troubling to find yourself wondering how you'll explain certain medical conditions that last longer than three hours to a 4-year-old and a 7-year-old."

Not terribly original, but good stuff. More talk about how the adult content on "Schindler's List" is good while the adult content on "Desperate Housewives" is "far different." And "we don't teach our children that healthy relationships involve drunken naked parties in a hot tub with strangers -- but that's what they see when they turn on 'The Real World.' " Undeniable facts, all.

"What do we do when bad television becomes the enemy of good parenting?" Obama asked. We steeled ourselves for the worst.

"I think, as parents, we have an obligation to our children to turn off the TV," he suggested.

Revolutionary!