Parents Television Council misleads about ABC's broadcast of "Scandal" after "You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown"

For an organization that claims to "promote and restore responsibility and decency to the entertainment industry in answer to America's demand for positive, family-oriented television programming," maybe a little bit of something called honesty should come with that mission. And heck, maybe the PTC themselves ought to exercise "responsibility" as well.

Why? It turns out...the PTC lied about ABC. H/T: Kristin Dos Santos of E! Online:

"Shame on ABC for putting a peep show next to a playground. In less than 26 seconds we were taken from the Peanuts pumpkin patch to a steamy Scandal sex scene," PTC president Tim Winter said.

Along with their statement, the PTC included a link to this video, which shows a quick flash of a Marvel commercial and then the start of Scandal, with a little bit of swimming in a pool and then Kerry Washington and Scott Foley in bed together... [video embedded in link]

Well, we checked back on to our own DVR's, and oddly enough, we had a distinctively different transition than the PTC's clip, with a longer transition from the end of Charlie Brown to Scandal. Our transition was about 30 seconds longer. Check it out…[video also embedded in link]

Wow.  So those who watched the PTC's video (which now has become the outrage-of-the-day on sites like The Blaze that aren't exactly known for journalistic integrity) get a misleading impression. The PTC's video, which is embedded on the Dos Santos article, edited out most of the split-screen end credits so that the viewer sees the last scene of You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown, then a sequence "an all-new Scandal starts now" (with the copyright boilerplate for Charlie Brown underneath). But the unedited network recording provided by Dos Santos shows two network promos between the last Charlie Brown scene and first Scandal scene superimposed over the Charlie Brown end credits: first a promo for an upcoming Marvel Comics special then a trailer promoting the new Scandal episode.

(Edit 11/6) Just realized that ABC had another Charlie Brown show between It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (8pm) and Scandal at 9pm. At 8:30 was You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown. Which makes Winter's statement about being "taken from the Peanuts pumpkin patch to a steamy Scandal sex scene" even less accurate.

Given these facts, do you really buy into PTC president Tim Winter's statement: "Unless parents had the remote control in their hand, thumb on the button and aimed directly at the TV screen, they didn't have a chance [to change the channel]"? So far, the PTC has been getting some flak over their poutrage on Facebook such as:

"New Scandal Next" shows for at LEAST 4 seconds, bottom left. These adverts are usually at least 10-15 seconds long, if not longer. You should know Scandal is not a children's show, therefore they should have been removed before the preview even began. Swimming starts at 11.8 seconds, in this video, meaning you knew scandal was starting for at least ~30 seconds.. Scene begins at 31.6 seconds. So almost an entire minute after you know scandal is coming on, and a preview has started, you failed to stop your children from watching the TV.

To me, this says you weren't watching your children and let them sit in front of the TV without you around, then you heard the noise from the show, were like wtf, and got mad you suck at parenting when your kids watched a mature scene on the tube. Or, you don't care what your children watch 

with/without you as long as it doesn't involve this kind of mature setting.

 And:

PTC must running low on funds, they're plucking this chicken for all its worth. I guess they missed the TV rating in the first frame of a show that's in its third season.

Also:

I see all the complaints and have read only one offered solution. I would like to know what should ABC have done? What would have satisfied the PTC? What would have been considered the "right" thing to do?

My opinion, ABC did what it was suppose to do. They warned Scandal was coming up next, they posted the TV rating, and they aired the show at its normal and appropriate time. I know the PTC parents are fully aware of what show content is like during the 8 pm - 10 pm hours so, in my opinion, the parents should have been present to shut off the tv once Charlie Brown ended and yes you had plenty of time if you were in the same room with your children when it ended.

And:

If you watch the video just after Charlie Brown ends a commercial starts and it then appears as though it was fast forwarded because it jumps from "Tuesday" and showing Iron Man to the Scandal slate screen and "New Scandal starts now on ABC" and there was more than enough time to change the channel or turn the tv off. I know I had plenty of time between the time the show I was watching, on another channel, ended and the time Scandal started to change the channel and not miss any of Scandal and even saw the slate screen. ABC shows Charlie Brown every year in a prime time slot and then goes straight back to their normal programming so parents should have known that and made sure to be in the room and ready to change the channel or turn off the tv after Charlie Brown ended. Quit complaining and take responsibility for yourself, your children, and both of your actions.

And:

I just watched the transition. You can't be serious. ABC has an AD for Scandal in the bottom right hand corner, so it is not any sort of surprise AND Scandal has a clearly marked TV-14 rating box in the top corner. It was clear as day what was coming up. If you don't want your kids seeing that, CHANGE THE CHANNEL. You're the Parents Television Council. Do some parenting before you complain about TV.

I wonder who has more relevance in this era, the PTC or (to dig in '90s nostalgia memories, since the PTC was founded in 1995) - Deep Blue Something? It's OK for the PTC to criticize Scandal and recommend against parents letting their children watch it. But to mislead its members of how ABC showed a risque show right after Charlie Brown? No wonder the PTC isn't relevant anymore (besides Netflix and Hulu presenting a market threat to traditional broadcast/cable nowadays).