TV Gone Wild - Late Night On Spike TV

When I get home from work at night I often times watch “SpikeTV”. This channel was created for men and in my opinion their programming is right on target most of the time. However, I have noticed that late at night they show some pretty disgusting “infomercials” selling products like “Girls Gone Wild” videos. Sure, young guys are going to be into this kind of stuff, but to me it is really disgusting and there is little left to the imagination in these late night “infomercials”. I do understand the decency standards of late night television are much different than they are during the day, but in reality “SpikeTV” is still a regular cable channel and not some premium offering like HBO or Showtime.

Just from a lay persons standpoint what appears to be happening in cable television today is that during the daytime and early prime time hours decency standards are on the increase. However, the late night hours are starting to show more and more indecent programming in the form of these “infomercials”. I’m not trying to be a “do gooder” here, but the truth is that most young men have TV sets in their bedrooms and I can honestly say that if programming like this was available when I was a teenager. I would have set my alarm clock to make sure I was awake to watch these shows long after my parents had already gone to bed.

Someone at work told me that “Comedy Central” also shows these “infomercials” late at night on their cable channel as well. In most areas of life, I believe in the attitude of, “to each his own” when it comes to what people do in the privacy of their own homes. However, cable television today is just as available to young people as broadcast television was during my younger years. While parents have easy ways to control paid cable channel programming, it is much more difficult with channels like “SpikeTV” and “Comedy Central” when these channels are prefect ok for children during the day, but turn into something entirely different after midnight.

I’m usually “late to the party” on issues like this and more than likely this kind of programming has been going on for years after the sun goes down. However, I do understand young boys because I use to be one myself and if this kind of programming is available to them at 3am, they are going to wake up and watch it without their parents knowing anything about it. What surprised me is the lack of information in the news media about these “infomercials” or lack of communication from local cable TV systems warning parents.

If you are a parent, please be advised that “SpikeTV” and “Comedy Central” are running these very risqué “infomercials” on their channels late at night. I believe most parents would not want their young boys watching this kind of programming in the wee hours of the morning and if that is the case with you consider yourself warned.