FOX's Teen Choice Awards: Rated 'R'

Last week, FOX aired its annual Teen Choice Awards. This is a show that allows the teen viewing audience to pick their favorites from the past year's music, movies, and television programs. It's also unique in that a majority of the people who attend the ceremony are those teens who voted for the awards. I know that the term 'teen' includes ages 13-19, but when I looked at the kids in the audience, I didn't see anyone who looked older than 14. Now in my opinion, there's nothing wrong with having an awards show for young people. The problem is that this particular program was not appropriate for kids. First of all, many of the films included in the various categories were 'R' rated (such as American Wedding, Gothika, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). There has been a growing concern about the need to card underage kids at the the theater, and it is sad to see a teen awards show promoting 'R' rated movies. When The Texas Chainsaw Massacre won for "Choice Movie Thriller," a guy dressed up as Leatherface came to the stage to accept the award. With chainsaw in hand, he slashed presenter Randy Jackson across the chest. Blood squirted everywhere, and Randy fell onto the stage dead. Obviously, this was all part of the show, but as cameras showed reaction shots from the audience, you could tell that some kids were terrified because they thought it was real. I didn't think it was the least bit funny. The awards even had a category called "Choice Movie Your Parents Didn't Want You to See." American Wedding won that one. Nice. I'm not even going to open up the Britney Spears can of worms -- I'll just say that she won "Choice Single" for her song Toxic. Another thing I'd like to point out -- there was a giant screen on stage where various random video clips played in the background during the show. One of the clips was a girl on the beach, in strip-tease fashion, taking her clothes off down to her bikini. Can anyone tell me why that is kid-appropriate? Lastly, when Adam Sandler accepted the "Choice Date Movie" award for 50 First Dates, he said that those kids in the audience who can't get dates should be glad because at least they won't get STD's. Youth has been a hot topic in America over the past couple of years. People have been wondering why kids today are having so many problems. Some have tried to place the blame solely on entertainment. I'm not going to go that far-- I am just going to say that FOX network should not be promoting adult entertainment to teenagers. In the end it is the parents responsibility to raise their kids, but if FOX did its job, it would make the parents' jobs a little easier.