Switched at Birth – Artist Episode. 07/29/2014.
Switched at Birth has been a very big deal ever since it was launched. The drama between families and watching Bay and Emmett’s romance unwrap has been among viewers’ favorite parts. The show is now in it’s third season and seems to have turned off many of their viewers. Some people have come to believe that Switched at Birth has become too much of a soap opera.
It was a family friendly television show when it first came out but has started to fall from favor in some people’s eyes. This might have something to do with sex and drugs being continuously portrayed the way they are in the show; which means it is no longer matching the initial age appropriate ratings. People initially said it would be good for somebody over the age of twelve and now people are saying they would only allow their child to watch it after the age of fourteen with their parents present and a open discussion period.
Bay and Daphne.
Some examples of sexual and drug references in the show:
Bay (a minor) decides to go ahead and pursue her encounter in the bedroom of her new boyfriend who just returned from Afghanistan. Legally, he would be charged as a sexual predator.
The Carlton basketball team ends up not qualifying for a tournament because Daphne missed a shot… but the team that beat them gets disqualified for drinking alcohol, so Carlton will get to play after all
Bay drinks underage, but Regina is trying to always get her out of it.
The first day of the rest of Daphne’s life consisted of scoring some cocaine and corrupting a med student at Northwestern. She almost killed a few people while Med (I never did catch the poor guy’s name) felt like he was having a heart attack.
While these are probably very minor examples compared to what happens in many other television shows, some viewers are disgusted by the idea that this one television show is becoming about drugs. The community is extremely small and only one show is about the community, ABC Family couldn’t keep this one show clean? Some actual feedback from people that have watched the show:
ASL and Deaf Culture being a huge part of the show were the bait that intrigued me enough to begin watching “Switched at Birth.” The acting was decent and it generally had a compelling story line. However, I was appalled by the frequency of sexual promiscuity and other immoral behavior being touted as normal and appropriate (light of truth)
And then everyone finally stopped bashing Bay. First Daphne was the good girl that can do no wrong, but I have never seen Bay get drunk, or snort cocaine, or go looking for drugs. Daphne needs to be slapped in the face. (Brenda)
I’m not feeling this show anymore…It’s not realistic with the way Daphne is behaving, having the dad die tragically, there son going to Iceland, getting a divorce, its all just too much and the story lines is all over the place (Ruthie)
There is such thing as too much of a good thing. Perhaps this show needs to be killed off, or not? What do people that watch this show think? Is it time to move on to a different kind of show that portrays this community or is switched at birth an adequate reflection?
Written by Mary Pat Withem
Follow her on Twitter @mpwithem
