ABC’s Mistresses – Action Needed!

By: American Decency Staff

Take Action!  Click here to send a message to the advertisers empowering “Mistresses.”

With just a couple of episodes left in the summer TV season, ABC’s “Mistresses” will mercifully come to an end.  However, in spite of mediocre ratings, reports indicate that ABC is “seriously considering” renewing the tawdry show for a second season.

This is how ABC described the show on its own website:  “Mistresses is a provocative and thrilling drama about the scandalous lives of a sexy and sassy group of four girlfriends, each on her own path to self-discovery.”

That “self-discovery” includes infidelity, experimenting with lesbianism, and meaningless sexual flings. 

As Rachel Cantrell of Movie Guide writes: 

“In their world, one filled with lies and relative right and wrong, there is a sole value that is held above all things: Your friends come first. …

“In Mistresses, each woman acts as each other’s moral compass, and they look to each other to determine the correctness of an action. This is troubling when your friends are telling you to hide your infidelity from your husband, to get out of a committed relationship because it is going through hard times and to let go of your “traditional conservative values that never bring you any happiness”—all things that make situations worse instead of better.  …”

 “Mistresses” has been described by entertainment writers as a “guilty pleasure” – a term the show’s executive producer, Rina Mimoun, boasts of:  "I embrace the term because it is soapy …  Any time you take off your clothes a lot, you get a little guilty, so that's fine. We've got a lot of naked boys and girls running around, so it's a little guilty, but there's more to it than that."

The latest episode of “Mistresses” revealed plenty of ‘taking off of clothes’ as one of the mistresses was shown in a steamy sex scene with a college boy about 20 years her junior.  Another scene depicted a realtor taking clients for a “kinky” night out.  The characters are shown in an S&M bar where leather clad women perform on stage with whips.

With its poor ratings, I share Rachel Cantrell hopes that this degrading show will not be renewed:

“Hopefully this flop will show ABC and the other major TV stations that their viewers are looking for more out of their evening entertainment. How about a show that inspires us to live life well, that gives us a model for living excellently? How about a show that would connect generations and that a mother could watch with her daughter without feeling all sorts of awkwardness? How about something that would inspire femininity that isn’t reliant on how often or with how many different people you are currently sleeping, one that models a good marriage as a partnership that truly sticks together "for better and for worse"? Make that the standard again!

“Make infidelity as unfashionable as sandals with socks or a fanny pack worn without irony. Wouldn’t it be nice to not have to go into a primetime show with a bulletproof vest over your soul? Let’s support those types of shows and leave Mistresses and the like to the landfill.”

Millions of Americans long for wholesome television that they can watch with their family.  

The phenomenal ratings of the family-and-faith-friendly “Duck Dynasty” should be a wakeup call to the networks.  Last week’s fourth season premiere of “Duck Dynasty” was a ratings record-breaker, with 11.8 million viewers.  This, on a cable TV station – dwarfing ratings for many shows on network television – including ABC’s “Mistresses,” which typically draws less than half the viewers of A&E’s “Duck Dynasty.”

Sadly, I’m not holding my breath that the new fall television season will bring anything different that the same, tired salacious programming Hollywood in known for.  As “Mistresses” ends for the season, ABC is following in the same footsteps with the promotion of their new fall program, “Betrayal,” which ABC describes as a show about “sex, scandal, and revenge.”

One fed up Florida mother recently gained attention for speaking out after her 8-year-old son was exposed to an explicit nude sex scene during a promotion of “Betrayal” airing during “Good Morning America”  at 8:30 AM.

As the Christian Post reported, the mother said  “that she was absolutely stunned by the image that has seeped into her 8-year-old son's brain, courtesy of decision makers at ABC, who decided to attract viewers to the network's series premiere of "Betrayal" by showing a promotional ad that includes scenes depicting couples having sexual affairs.”

The mother went on to state:  "… This image makes sex a visual act, and it's not. That is not what sex was created to be. It's an incredible connection that you have with your spouse. And you don't use something that valuable in this way. Cheapening sex to get ratings. That's what he was taught that morning. He was shown that sex is a cheap thing, and I don't want him seeing that."

Help us send a message to ABC and its advertisers that millions of viewers are sick and tired of such trash – that, as “Duck Dynasty” has proven, sex doesn’t always sell!

Take Action!  Click here to send a message to the advertisers empowering “Mistresses.”

Sponsors include:

Sears
Secret – Procter & Gamble
Crest – Procter & Gamble
Swiffer – Procter & Gamble
K-Mart
McDonald’s
Chef Boyardee – ConAgra Foods
Home Depot
Old Navy
L’Oreal
Hellman’s mayo – Unilever
Bertolli foods – Unilever
Frutare – Unilever
Tresemme – Unilever
Neutrogena – Johnson & Johnson
Silk milk – Dean Foods
Microsoft
Sprint
Bank of America
T—Mobile

==========================================================

 To support our efforts please click here or mail your gift to American Decency Association (ADA), PO Box 202, Fremont, MI 49412.   

 American Decency Association is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

---