One of the writers at Pam’s House Blend suggests that Glenn Beck’s show on Fox News Channel has dwindled to just 4:30 of revenue-producing ads per hour, compared to an industry standard of 22 minutes per hour. If that were true, cancellation would seem imminent.

For those who wish to see Beck’s paranoid rants exiled to local public-access channels, the revenue-ad claim may prove to be overly optimistic.

A look at the cable TV shows for sale on iTunes suggests that many hour-long cable TV shows run 42-47 minutes with ads omitted — leaving just 13-18 minutes for a mix of revenue-producing ads and free plugs for the network’s own programming. Here are some examples:

• Bravo’s shows such as Top Chef tend to run 44 minutes. Much of the remaining 16 minutes consists of relentless Bravo ads for other network shows, mostly the obnoxious Housewives.
• Battlestar Galactica’s episodes on SyFy tended to run 43:30 in the final season. The remaining 16:30 included numerous ads for other network movies and shows such as Stargate.
• Mad Men on AMC runs 47:30 without commercials.
• Project Runway on Lifetime — available via torrents or the network’s web site — runs 42:40 with the remaining 17:20 occupied in part by ads for Lifetime’s admittedly frightful roster of shows.

So I suspect that industry standards vary — partly due to recession, and partly due to different standards on the different networks as well as the popularity of each show.

Glenn Beck may be crazy, but his show probably is not in imminent danger.

Truth Wins Out reported earlier this week on Manifested Glory Ministries, a “church” in Connecticut that performs ex-gay exorcisms.

We immediately called upon Exodus’ member church in Connecticut, New Life Church in Meriden, to comment on the exorcism. The church did not respond. Today, however, MSNBC quotes Exodus International in Orlando stating that it does not support exorcism — but does not oppose exorcism, either.

And a fringe group called the “Christian Anti-Defamation Commission” has declared the abuse of gay youths and young adults by so-called churches to be an exercise in “religious liberty” and, strangely, a response to white racism. (Perhaps the demons of homosexuality are white?) Hat tip: Ex-Gay Watch.

Here’s MSNBC’s video report and related article:

(Read More)

Focus on the Family this week warned conservative Christians not to watch the upcoming Lifetime TV movie, “Prayers For Bobby.” (Previous TWO coverage.)

The movie truthfully recalls the suffering of a Christian mother after her attempt to make her son turn ex-gay resulted in the son’s suicide.

The mother remains Christian, but today encourages parents to persue reconciliation rather than warfare against their gay teen-agers and adult offspring. The movie and a related book were produced with the assistance and support of the mother.

Focus on the Family does not explicitly tell would-be viewers not to watch; instead, Focus creates a climate of fear which is intended to scare conservative Christian readers away from media that are deemed to be ideologically damaging to Focus ideology.

First, Focus lies about the movie, claiming that it “casts Christians in (an) ugly role.” Then, Focus:

• falsely describes the son as “gay-identified,”
• falsely blames the son’s homosexuality — and the absence of a father — for the suicide,
• falsely implies that the mother is victimized by an anti-Christian movie, and
• falsely states that the movie does not respect a “redemptive” view of Christianity.

Instead of encouraging parents to make peace with their children, Focus idolizes antigay mother Terri Brown, who for 17 years has demanded in vain that her son pray-away-the-gay while she does the same.

Focus antigay activist Jeff Johnston says that the movie’s message against ex-gay falsehoods, parental ignorance, rejection, and untreated depression “runs contrary to God’ [message].”

TV Guide has uploaded video clips of Prayers For Bobby, a dramatization of a real-life story about a mother coming to terms with suicide of her gay son after she tried to cure him with ex-gay therapy. The movie stars Sigourney Weaver as the mother. Airtime: Jan. 24, 2009, 9-11 p.m. Eastern, 8 p.m. Central.

Prayers For Bobby is based on the 1995 book by Leroy Aarons, “Prayers for Bobby: A Mother’s Coming to Terms with the Suicide of Her Gay Son.”

For more information about the book and movie, visit www.prayersforbobby.com.

Hat tip: Thomas Kraemer

Truth Wins Out executive director Wayne Besen appeared on CNN Headline News today to defend a British TV ad which featured gay men in parental roles, serving Heinz mayonnaise.

Besen criticized U.S. foodmaker H.J. Heinz for succumbing to homophobia and withdrawing the ad under pressure from the right-wing American Family Association. About 200 viewer complaints were received by British regulators.

Here’s the ad:

Truth Wins Out defended the ad:

The Headline News segment included Randy Sharp of the AFA, who claimed that the ad promoted a homosexual lifestyle: “What does mayonnaise have to do with homosexuals and their lifestyle?” Sharp claimed that 70,000 AFA supporters in the United States disagreed with the ad.

Business marketing analyst Dan Hill said Heinz was right to pull the ad. Hill said:

“In business you can never afford to forget that the bottom line is that ‘family values’ means ‘my family, not your family,’ and I think in the UK most households have traditional family structures.”

Besen responded that gay couples are well-accepted in the United Kingdom and that gay soldiers have been allowed to serve in British armed forces with great success.