The Parents Television Council is calling on its members to file indecency complaints against CBS over a recent episode of Reckless.
The episode was rated TV-14 (for sex, language and violence), so viewers were warned, but PTC says there was too much of that for a show that airs at 8 p.m. central/mountain and 9 p.m. ET.
PTC was concerned about scenes of sexual assault in a June 29 episode, scenes it called explicit and a violation of indecency rules.
The FCC has been operating under a policy of only pursuing egregious indecency violations. PTC is not fan of that standard, but suggests the episode fills the bill, citing "repeated graphic depictions of a woman ostensibly being sexually assaulted."
In a note to members, PTC included the Web address for filing those indecency complaints to the FCC.
It was PTC complaints that helped launch the indecency crackdown of the mid-2000s, fueled primarily by complaints against the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake Super Bowl halftime reveal on CBS.
The current "egregious case" policy was adopted, informally, by then FCC chairman Julius Genachowski and continues. Current chairman Tom Wheeler has indicated there is content on TV he doesn't much care for as a grandparent, but, citing speech protections, has primarily urged programmers to the listen to the angels of their better programming natures.
CBS declined comment.
