But sometimes it's necessary due to the moral deterioration of the characters and/or show plot points. I'll start with Downtown Abby - I stuck with it until Anna was raped in the last season - and there were many other plot points that should have deterred me but somehow the rape was the final straw because it was just so unnecessary and horrific.
Needing to feed my craving for British historical drama I turned to Cranford and I can honestly say it did not disappoint morally. And just because it was good morally does not mean it was boring because someone dies in every episode but one! It's packed full of drama, set in the 1840's so it's a good 100 years older than Downtown Abby but it's got Judi Dench and who doesn't love her!
So feeling like I was on a roll, I moved onto Upstairs Downstairs and the first season was great! The sister was a little tramp but aside from her shenanigans, the story mostly focused on the rest of the family and the downstairs group. The stern grandmother was wonderful but then she disappeared in the 2nd season with a dismal explanation that she'd died and her sister had come to stay in her place to cause disruption. The show progresses into the early stages of World War II with trampy sister disappearing into Germany to live as a consort to a married man but you barely see her until episode 3 when she returns pregnant and then the entire episode is about her abortion and the grandmother's sister who is suddenly a lesbian sleeping with the new king's wife! The entire show was dedicated to abortion and a lesbian relationship.
I have to be honest here and say that's not the kind of entertainment I'm interested in watching so I'm stopping mid-season. The icky feeling I had while watching that last episode, you know that feeling you get when something is very wrong and you shouldn't be doing it kind of feeling? I don't need that in my life. I've learned from past shows that to continue with a morally declining show is never a wise move because it's not like it gets any better! It's not like it suddenly corrects it's moral compass, no a downward spiral usually continues in the same direction.
There is a good reason our parents from the Church of God Universal didn't want us watching TV and the reason is that once it gets stuck in your head, it's very hard to un-see and un-hear things. They get stuck in your head and it takes a very strong will to walk away and say I'm not going to put up with that. I'd like to think we've evolved into making decisions as adults about what content to watch and what to not watch. I don't want to go back to the days when everything is forbidden, but I do want to have a filter.
