TV Archives - Page 10 of 19 - Jonathan's Blog From The Source

They Don’t Know or Don’t Want to Know

Posted on: 08/22/11 10:56 AM | by Jonathan McKee

After dropping Alec off at college, Lori and I rolled into a hotel late Saturday night exhausted. We turned on the TV to see what was on and landed on MTV’s Jersey Shore.

Wow! It’s hard to believe that this is one of the most popular shows watched by young people today (as I’ve mentioned before).

I had only seen about 20 minutes of Jersey Shore, just to see what this reality show was that teens and tweens were so excited about. Lori had never seen any of it. We sat and watched about 7 minutes of it and were literally amazed that so many young people are actually allowed to watch it. I turned to Lori and said, “Either their parents don’t know what is actually on this show, or they don’t want to know.”

I see this phenomena in every parent workshop I teach, without exception. At the beginning of the workshop I simply ask parents if they feel like they are pretty aware of what their kids are watching. Most parents raise their hands. Then I spend about 45 minutes showing them snippets of the top shows, playing them excerpts of the top videos and songs… and parents’ jaws hit the floor. It happens every time. Parents walk up to me after the workshop and say, “I had no idea it was this bad!!!” (and that’s why I show it to parents)

If you’re a parent or youth worker and you’ve never taken a peek at Jersey Shore, I encourage you to watch just a couple minutes. You can watch entire episodes online– try a couple minutes right now. Here’s Season 4’s Episode #3, titled “Twinning.” (Take one guess what that’s about.) This show stoops so low even Abercrombie doesn’t approve.

In the 7 minutes that Lori and I watched of the episode, the Shore cast members went to a club where everyone was dancing like… well… how to put it into words… hmmmm… the way people dance today! (sex with clothes on). Then one of the guys picked up on a girl, brought her home, had sex with her (MTV actually shows part of the sex scene, but it was under a sheet, so it was “clean” by today’s standards- we’ve heard that before) and then Snookie started bad talking this girl in a jealous rant.

Lori and I were thinking about the morals we learned in that little 7 minute snippet. Basically, if you read any of those passages in the Bible that starts with the words “have nothing to do with” and then lists things like jealousy, gossip, adultery, sensuality… that pretty well describes it.

I just have one question: Why have parents given up?

When a show like Jersey Shore is one of the most popular shows in America watched by young people… there’s only one reason for that. Parents are allowing it.

We need to do two things:

1. Raise awareness about the kind of media content our kids are taking in. That is something I do at every parenting workshop, something I talk about in my videos to parents on our YouTube page and something I’ve written about in detail in my parenting book. Parents need to understand what kids are saturating in daily. Most parents “don’t know” or “don’t want to know.”

2. We need to equip parents to teach their kids lasting values. This weekend I’m teaching a parent workshop at a church in Mississippi; I’ll be spending this first half of the workshop “raising awareness,” and the second half equipping parents to build relationships with their kids and “teach them lasting values.” Parents need to be encouraged not to give up and just let their kids have free reign on all media. Even secular doctors are pleading with parents to set guidelines.

Are you aware what kind of content today’s young people watch? Watch the MTV VMA’s this Sunday night for one of the most eye-opening glimpses into youth culture each year (We’ll be chiming in with our article about the show Monday morning like we do every year).

Are you teaching lasting values to young people today? Feel free to use many of the resources I’ve linked in this blog (my parent workshops, my parenting book, our YouTube videos to parents).

Posted in Entertainment Media, Jonathan's Rant, Parenting, Sexuality, TV, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

Pre-Blessed Food

Posted on: 08/17/11 6:46 AM | by Jonathan McKee

It’s funny how this generation of young people actually will just sit around and watch You-Tube videos. My daughters will frequently just hang around the computer with their friends saying, “Oh wait, have you seen this one!” And then they click another video.

YouTube has created quite a few “celebrities” that are known… just for being funny YouTube video creators. One of these is a guy named Julian Smith. This guy, growing popular from his “Hot KoolAid” video, has become quite an internet sensation. My girls find him hilarious. And I gotta admit, he’s pretty funny (and has kept it clean as far as I have seen).

Here’s one of his videos that I’d actually show at youth group to kick off a talk on prayer. Funny stuff:

Side note: apparently he received a little negative feedback from some about this video. Here’s his personal response to that feedback– a little insight.

Posted in Entertainment Media, Faith, Humor, Prayer, TV | | Leave A Comment

During Shark Week!

Posted on: 08/2/11 4:26 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Has anyone else noticed the timely release of Soul Surfer this week… during Shark Week?

I don’t know about you, but Shark Week is always a fun time in my house each year. Maybe it’s because Alec and I both loved sharks as a kid, or maybe it’s because each of us has some deep dark fear of what’s beneath us in the ocean. Regardless, the TV in our house is tuned into The Discovery Channel this week to watch special after special about sharks, shark attacks, shark repellent… you name it. And what better week to release Soul Surfer, the incredible true story of shark attack survivor Bethany Hamilton.

Some of you might remember me blogging about my experience bringing my family to see Soul Surfer in the theatre. We’re a bunch of film nerds in my family (seriously- if you bring up a good film to my 13-year-old daughter Ashley, she’ll probably tell you who directed it), so we’re not easy to please. Soul Surfer did the trick.

If you haven’t seen this film yet, definitely rent it this week, have a bunch of kids over and watch it. We even provided some fun discussion questions in our official review of the film on our Movie Reviews and Quick Q’s page.

Posted in Entertainment Media, Family, Movies, TV | | Leave A Comment

Scotty McCreery or Gaga

Posted on: 05/26/11 9:31 AM | by Jonathan McKee

The stage featured Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Lil John, Judas Priest… and a humble, church-going teenager from Garner, North Carolina. America’s 10th American Idol winner Scotty McCreery has the opportunity to be a light in a very dark world.

One of Scotty’s youth pastor’s from Garner emailed me earlier this week. “This could not happen to a better young man.” (More from him in a minute)

Who is this kid Scotty?

If you missed it, most of America had their TV sets tuned to American Idol Wednesday night on the Fox Network. But at times, viewers probably wondered if they were watching the racy, no-holds-barred MTV network.

Parents across the world were forced to make a split second decision last night watching Idol as Gaga literally laid down, spread her legs and let one of her dancers climb up on top of her (no need to go further with that description). Just minutes before the announcement of this year’s winner, parents had to decide:
1. Cover our kids eyes?
2. Say nothing and wait for the moment to pass?
3. Fast forward- for those proactive enough to use a DVR for this show.
4. Lift the coffee table over our head and toss it into our 55 inch plasma flat screen.

Unfortunately, the article I wrote earlier this week about American Idol pushing the limits was spot on. (It will be interesting to see if the comments on that article might start changing in tone now that Idol pushed the envelope even further Wednesday night).

Now it’s time for the fallout. Forget about voting with a phone… who will kids across America choose to follow? Idol has provided them with a cornucopia of choices: Scotty McCreery, Lady Gaga, Lauren Alaina, Beyonce, Kirk Franklin, JLo… who will prove to have the biggest voice?

The Vote Isn’t Over
Idol’s season is done, Scotty has been crowned American Idol, and America is rushing to iTunes to vote once again… this time with their wallets.

Once again, we’re going to see the powerful influence of TV on America’s music. (I’ve talked about this before– the phenomena when someone performs on TV and their songs shoot to the top of the charts.– e.g., the Black Eyed Peas had a song at #13 on iTunes the day of the Super Bowl this year, and after they performed, their song was #1). Last night when Gaga performed her song The Edge of Glory on Idol, I quickly popped on iTunes to see where the song sat on the charts. It was #11 at that moment. As of this morning, it’s already #6 (I predict it to keep rising). On a positive note, Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina’s songs skyrocketed to #1 (Scotty) and #3 (Lauren) as of this morning.

It will be interesting to see who America chooses to follow.

Scotty has his work cut out for him if he hopes to become a role model for our nation, because right now America has their sites set on Lady Gaga. Many of you saw my tweet last week, Forbes Magazine just announced Lady Gaga as the #1 most powerful person in the entertainment business, topping Oprah in their list of the 100 most influential celebs. The world is showing up in masses to listen to the woman who claims that God sent her the lyrics, “I’m still in love with Judas.”

But a small, humble voice from Garner, North Carolina has spoken. In a world that lifts Gaga on a pedestal, a church-going teen has been voted “American Idol.” Will the innocent message of a young country boy be heard over the overwhelming shout of current celebritydom? (Did I just make up a word?)

Scotty
I received an email this week from one of Scotty’s youth pastors from his church. He read my article about American Idol and wanted to let me know a little more about Scotty. This video from his local TV station shows Scotty in concert in Garner, NC, performing and even talking about his faith (for example, listen at about 8 minutes 10 seconds).

Scotty’s youth pastor wrote:

Hey Jonathan.

Thanks for all the free stuff, encouragement, etc. Here is something that may actually make you smile. I agree with you about the junk that they show on American Idol. I am proud of Scotty and Lauren and want to tell you that when they showed the Lady Gaga performance and the Beyonce performance, at the viewing parties that took place at Scotty’s high school, Scotty McCreery’s fellow Blue Crew actually turned their backs to the screen during both. Many of these guys are not Christians but I believe they are following Scotty’s example and lead. When they did this, the adults present cheered them on in support.

I have known Scotty since he was born and I am proud of what he stands for. I was his middle school minister. He provided us a little testimony and we made a tract with it and passed out about 8,000 of them at his homecoming, May 14th. Been some cool stories that has come from that.

The Scotty you have seen is the real thing. Just a good boy. Not perfect, but he has lived out his testimony on a consistent basis. This could not happen to a better young man.

On that WRAL video you will see that he spent most of the day crying. He was overwhelmed with the support he received when he came home. he really misses home and friends.

He is very humble. You also may have heard that they did a coin toss between him and Lauren to pick when they would sing this week. It is always believed it is better to sing second. Scotty won the coin toss but let Lauren choose singing order and she chose second. He’s just a good boy.

The day of his concert they were calling for rain/storms all day that day the whole week leading up to it. It didn’t rain a drop but watching the weather when we got home later that night, storms were all around us but never on the event. I believe he is being honored for bringing glory to the One that deserves the honor.

Thanks and God bless you and your ministry!

It was a nice moment last night when Scotty won and chose to give honor to the Lord.

Who does your household follow?

Joshua 24:15
But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Posted in Entertainment Media, Music, TV | | Leave A Comment

American Idol Too Racy?

Posted on: 05/23/11 1:34 PM | by Jonathan McKee

American Idol will most likely be viewed in more homes than any other show this week with its highly anticipated season finale both Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

Historically this show has been deemed a show acceptable for the entire family, but recently some of the guest stars have been pushing the envelope with racy wardrobe and dancing. What are parents to do when Beyonce or Gaga reveal a little too much? How much is too much?

These are the questions I asked in this week’s timely Youth Culture Window article, American Idol the Family Show? How Much is Too Much? Here’s just a snippet of that article:

My family watches a few shows together each week, one being American Idol. But episodes like the ones we’ve seen the last few weeks have made media discernment a little more difficult.

A few nights ago we witnessed some heartfelt moments on the show as we watched “the top three” go back to their hometowns for a welcome that even brought a security guard to tears. This year’s top contestants, particularly the top two, Scotty and Lauren, are proving to be pretty wholesome kids (emphasis on “kids” –these two are the youngest final two in Idol history).

Cut to a commercial… and 5 minutes later the Pussycat Dolls’ Nicole Scherzinger is strutting around half-dressed, literally singing about being dirty while rapper 50 Cent is trying to grind up against her.

Did someone switch the channel?

This seems to be the template for most the shows of recent…

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

What do you think? Where do parents need to draw the line? Post your comments on the bottom of that YCW article or here in my blog?

Posted in Entertainment Media, Music, Sexuality, TV | | Leave A Comment

The Intersection of TV and Music

Posted on: 05/13/11 11:25 AM | by Jonathan McKee

It’s always interesting to see what songs kids are listening to, and what TV they’re watching. But sometimes it’s even more intriguing to see the intersection of the two.

This week on American Idol (most recently the second most watched show on TV on any given week), Lady Gaga came on as the “mentor” to the top four (which actually created some pretty funny moments with Scotty, the church-going country boy who ended up kissing his cross necklace a few times after interacting with Gaga). Then Enrique Eglesias came on and sang his song, Dirty Dancer.

The question is, does this TV exposure boost these artists’ popularity? Do kids actually buy their music after seeing them perform on Idol?

The answer is a big “yes.” Take a look at one of the best indicators- iTunes. iTunes always provides a minute by minute glance at what people are buying. Look at iTunes right now: (which will probably change a bit even if you were to pop on right now)

Adele is still #1 with Rolling in the Deep, and Gaga sits in second with her song The Edge of Glory.

But notice #4. Enrique’s Dirty Dancer is quickly rising ever since his performance on Idol.

But Idol isn’t the only TV kids are watching. On the same network (Fox), Glee continues to draw a young audience, who every week rushes to iTunes to buy their newest songs. Take a peek for yourself. As of this moment, Glee songs take the 8th and 10th slots on the iTunes charts.

iTunes isn’t the only place kids download music. That’s why Neilson’s numbers give us a good look at the top songs that kids are buying over all. Here’s this week’s chart:

(a lot of similarities to the iTunes chart, huh?)

As parents and youth workers, when it comes to our kids, I encourage you to occasionally “take a look at their many idols” (Acts 17) and familiarize yourself with them. Simply check the charts, then quickly Google the lyrics and peek for yourselves what these kids are simmering in for an average of over 2 and a half hours per day. (More on exploring the effects of media on our kids here)

Then… like the Paul did in Acts 17… respond by reasoning with them in healthy dialogue, and steering those conversations toward the Gospel.

We try to help you do this with free resources on our parent and youth worker web sites like our MUSIC DISCUSSIONS page and MOVIE REVIEWS & QUICK Q’s. Use these resources to steer toward the Gospel day to day!

Posted in Entertainment Media, Music, TV, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

Jersey Shore

Posted on: 04/11/11 6:00 PM | by Jonathan McKee

I’m doing some pop culture research today, a typical ritual before I teach about youth culture at my workshops, to make sure I have current data (I’m teaching my parent workshop to a women’s group in my hometown this Wednesday, then teaching my CONNECT workshop this weekend in KS). Interesting TV news today.

Let me back up a second. A few weeks ago I blogged about the media source that still holds the title monopolizing most of our kids’ entertainment viewing– I’m referring to television (See here if you want to see my blog with Nielson’s breakdown of hours). And anyone who hangs out with kids knows that one of the most popular TV show’s of choice is MTV’s Jersey Shore.

MTV knows the huge draw that Jersey Shore brings… and apparently the cast know this as well, because they just finished their salary negotiations and each member of the core group is going to be making about $100,000 per episode. That’s no Charlie Sheen salary… but hey this is cable! And this show is beating out most broadcast shows.

EW comments about Jersey Shore’s draw:

Regardless of what you might think of Snooki, Sitch and Co., they’re not pulling a robbery — on the balance sheet, they’re worth the money. Jersey Shore is like the American Idol of basic cable, delivering huge adult demo numbers that are higher than many, if not most, broadcast shows.

Hmmmmmm. I don’t know about phrasing that “worth the money.” But yes… they somehow are indeed drawing audiences.

Posted in Entertainment Media, TV, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

TV Still Rules

Posted on: 03/24/11 4:06 PM | by Jonathan McKee

I’m preparing to teach two training workshops this weekend, a “Discipleship” workshop to the teachers/faculty at a Christian school tomorrow, and then my parenting workshop in Eastern PA on Sunday. Doing a little research, I thought I’d check in on the ongoing battle between internet and TV, both media channels vying for our kids’ attention.

This is always an interesting study. Common perception is that kids spend much more time on the internet each day. But time and time again, to most people’s surprise, TV proves to be the primary media “time sponge” for young people.

In Kaiser’s huge media consumption report last year, kids averaged about 90 minutes per day on the internet, where they soaked up a good 4.5 hours on the TV immersed in American Idol, Jersey Shore, Family Guy, etc. (MTV is often the most watched network by young people)

Nielson’s brand new State of the Media report (free registration required to view whole report) reveals just how much TV kids were absorbing each day in quarter four. Check out this chart– the monthly hours of each age group in the last quarter of 2010: (notice that my age group watches waaaaaaay more TV than our kids)

If you combine the top two rows, 12-17 year-olds are averaging almost 3 hours and 44 minutes per day of TV. About 6 months ago Nielson was reporting 12-17 year olds average about of 3 hours 46 minutes per day. Not much of a shift.

Wondering what people are watching? This past week American Idol still ruled broadcast TV, and Jersey Shore still reigned supreme on Cable.

Sigh.

Posted in Parenting, Speaking/Training, TV | | Leave A Comment

Fox Rejects John 3:16 Ad

Posted on: 02/4/11 9:19 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Wow… that’s too bad.

Fox just rejected a Super Bowl commercial that shows a guy looking up the meaning of John 3:16– good commercial by the way. Check it out:

(If you don’t see the embedded video, jump on my blog to see it)

Hmmmmm. How do you feel about this?

According to the Hollywood reporter, the network rejected the spot because it advanced specific beliefs. I guess there are several ways to look at this. First- we might think that’s really unfair. But on the other hand… how would you feel if there were commercials for Buddhism or Hinduism? (Funny side note: I had to ask my son Alec how to spell Buddhism. He spelled it right the first time. I asked him, “How did you know that?” He said, “Well, after seeing that in our school textbooks a million times, I know how to spell Buddhism, Islam, Hindu, etc… but I’ve forgotten how to spell Christianity!” LOL)

(ht to Todd Pearage)

Posted in Discussion Ideas, Entertainment Media, Faith, TV | | Leave A Comment

Super Bowl Party Confusion

Posted on: 01/31/11 2:43 PM | by Jonathan McKee

The Super Bowl is this Sunday. (My son and I will be at the Chicago Ohare airport waiting for our flight home- we’ll only catch the first half of the big game. DOH!!)

For years churches in the U.S. have loved to use the “Big Game” as a tool for connecting with people. Whether youth ministries, men’s ministries or church-wide events… we’ve seen them… Super Bowl parties.

A few things you should know about these parties.

Years ago some churches got into some trouble with the NFL. The short of it was this– the NFL wasn’t allowing live showings of the game on anything over a 55 inch screen. People threw a tizzy fit. So in 2009, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell changed that.

Some people are still confused about the rules and restrictions. No worries! Here’s a law abiding Texan with a mullet who will make things crystal clear for you:

CLICK HERE IF YOU CAN’T SEE THE IMBEDDED YOUTUBE VIDEO.

For those of you looking for some fun resources for the “Big Game” (see… I listened!), we provide a quiz with some fun “Big Game” party ideas every year (Here’s last year’s BIG GAME QUIZ and ideas).

This year we’ll be sending out the BIG GAME QUIZ to our EZINE LIST Tuesday morning (if you aren’t a subscriber to our free youth ministry EZINE, you can jump on TheSource4YM.com and easily subscribe at the top of any page). We’ll probably also post a link for the quiz on the WHAT’S NEW section on the front page of our site as well.

Enjoy the “Big Game!”

Posted in Church, Entertainment Media, Humor, TV | | Leave A Comment

Joshua 24:15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Joshua 24:15
But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”