TV NATION

While seemingly contradictory, the hope of American viewers that TV can set higher standards and reform itself without federal regulations is no mystery (“There’s a Moral to This,” by Brian Lowry, Jane Hall and Greg Braxton, Sept. 21). Most adults know that the best form of control is self-control. However, for this to happen, there must be a strong sense of responsibility along with a genuine willingness to change.

This is where the problem lies. I’m not sure that television’s powers that be even think there is a problem. They really have lost touch with mainstream tastes and yet, as sophisticated as they are, they cannot understand why they continue to lose viewers in large numbers.

If you cannot control yourself, someone will eventually step in and control you. As distasteful as that would be, it would be ironic indeed if the imposition of higher standards turned out to be the very thing that saved TV from its own foolishness.

ALEX LANDI

North Hills

*

Overall, it was a worthwhile Times Poll, but no one was asked about the sex and violence in commercials. I think I have some power over which shows my family and I watch, but I am powerless over which commercials we see.

These momentary visually descriptive images pop up unannounced, and then they are gone. They leave the residuals of questions and curiosity. That’s OK, I suppose, for the adult mind, but is it OK for a child’s mind? I think not.KAY LERUTH

Mission Viejo

*

Why are the words “sex” and “violence” always paired together? They are two entirely different things. The first can be lovely and beautiful, while the second is ugly in every form.

The two do not belong together--in print, in film or in real life.

TRINI MARQUEZ

Sky Forest

*

Yes, there are aliens among us but no, they are not E.T.s; they are called liberals! Please, God, deliver us from their oppressive and poisonous propaganda, delivered nightly and seductively through the medium of beautiful actors and actresses and slick production values!

MARK JAMES CHRISTIAN

Los Angeles

*

We have in Hollywood the worship of an unorthodox god, agenda-driven people who will not create children, and a political slant that has failed everywhere it’s been tried.

The products these people produce reflect the emptiness of their souls, but they will not admit their failings. The prayerful, the families filled with children, the folks who actually produce the bounty of this country, have learned to stay away.

PAUL PETERSEN

Gardena

*

If you don’t like what’s on, turn it off. And so what if 20 to 25 million people a week watch “Touched by an Angel”? That means 240 million people a week don’t.JIMI YORK

Hawthorne