Study: Vulgar talk increases on reality shows

The amount of crude language and sexual references on unscripted “reality” TV shows has increased markedly over the past few years, surpassing the levels on traditional comedies and dramas, according to a new study.

The Parents Television Council, a conservative media watchdog group, logged an average of 14.5 examples of bad language or sexual content an hour on unscripted shows. That’s 53 percent more than three years ago and beats the average of 10.7 examples an hour on scripted shows.

“I suspect most parents don’t know how offensive they’ve become, just in the same way that most parents were shocked by the MTV-produced Super Bowl halftime show,” said Brent Bozell, Parents Television Council president.

The two most offensive shows, according to the PTC, were CBS’ “Big Brother 4” and the WB’s “The Surreal Life.” Both share the same premise: forcing a group of strangers to live together under a camera’s eye.

Other major culprits are such relationship-based shows as “The Bachelor” and “Average Joe,” the PTC study said.

“You can pixel (blur) something, but the viewers know exactly what is going on,” Bozell said, “and you can bleep something, but people know exactly what is being said.”