In 1975, national broadcasters tried to ward off possible government intervention by agreeing to reserve the early evening as the family hour for television. The time would be largely free of sex and violence.

The Parents Television Council, a conservative watchdog group, reports that nowadays the family hour is no place for children.

The group studied 208 shows during the 2006-07 TV season and found almost 90 percent contained objectionable material. The council concluded corporate interests have hijacked the family hour by pushing more and more adult-oriented programming to the early hours of the evening.

So is the answer to sanitize the family hour again?

The television screen is a much different place than it was in 1975. Traditional broadcasters compete with cable and satellite TV channels, plus a growing array of video games, podcasts and endless Internet attractions. The notion of a cherished hour of broadcast time sounds like a quaint relic of the days before DVRs allowed viewers to watch what they want when they want it.

The better answer is to arm parents with the tools to create their own standards for television fare. In fact, they have the tool: V-chip technology. The V-chip is there, but a Federal Communications Commission report released in April found only 15 percent of parents have used it.

It would be a mistake to try to reimpose restrictions on what everyone can watch in the early evening. The answer is available on most TVs. Parents can do a pretty decent job on their own of protecting their children, if they have the knowledge and desire to do so.