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For Parents: TV’s Best & Worst New Shows

pitchThe nation’s premier watchdog group for families has released its list of best and worst new shows of 2016.

CNSNews.com is reporting on the report produced by the Parents Television Council (PTC) which lists the most family friendly - and unfriendly - shows airing on major cable and broadcast television stations this season.

The PTC’s top picks for best family viewing is Fox’s new show, Pitch, which tells the story of Ginny Baker, the first female pitcher in major league baseball. Having made her way through the ranks, she is now the starting pitcher for the San Diego Padres with millions of little girls looking up to her. But Ginny struggles to overcome both the sexism of her teammates and her own self-doubt.

“Pitch is an impressively well-thought-out program,” the PTC writes. “Girl viewers can draw inspiration from the character of Ginny and the way she overcomes through determination and the help of her friends; and boys, too, can root for the underdog lead character winning through.”

Pitch premiered on September 22 at 9:00 p.m. EST on Fox.

NBC’s drama This Is Us is another top pick for families. The PTC calls it “a touching, inspirational slice-of-life drama involving multiple characters: a plus-size woman seeking acceptance and love, a successful businessman who is confronted with the father who abandoned him at birth, a couple facing the birth of triplets, and an actor who has quit a successful sitcom out of a desire to be taken seriously. These diverse individuals will find their lives intertwining in unforeseen ways.”

this is usDespite occasional adult language, the PTC calls this a “solid pick” for families.

The show premiered on NBC on September 20 at 10:00 p.m. EST.

ABC’s Designated Survivor is another top pick for families and has been called one of the best shows to air this season. The plot involves the bombing of the Capitol during a State of the Union address when the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Tom Kirkman (played by Kiefer Sutherland), suddenly finds himself in the position of President of the United States.

“With only the help of his wife Alex, his teenage son Leo, and his chief of staff Emily, Kirkman must lead America through the crisis and deal with political rivals and enemies in the White House, all while learning the toughest job in the world,” the PTC describes.

This show premiered on Wednesday, September 21 at 10:00 p.m. EST.

The worst shows for family viewing include Son of Zorn, which is the story about an animated cartoon character and barbarian warrior who steps out of his cartoon and enters the real world.

Son of Zorn is drenched with cartoon gore, with animated characters and animals being killed in splats of blood, then dismembered. Sexual innuendo and dialogue also abounds, with Zorn calling a waitress ‘whore,’ as well as crudely joking with Edie about ‘that fivesome we had with the mountain trolls’ and suchlike,” the PTC describes.

designated survivorThis show premiered Sunday, September 11, on Fox at 8:00 p.m. EST

ABC’s American Housewife got a thumbs-down from the PTC for containing a large amount of inappropriate content for younger views such as crude language, and the depiction of a cruel mother who takes her frustrations out on her children.

“Viewers who do not share American Housewife’s smug elitism, profanity, and sexist toilet humor are urged to tune out this family-unfriendly show,” the PTC writes.

American Housewife premiered Tuesday, October 11 at 8:30 p.m. EST.

Another show not suitable for family viewing is CBS’s Bull which is about a psychologist who employs his skills at reading people to manipulate juries for defense attorneys.

Although not as bad as the others, “Bull’s use of adult themes and dialogue (including discussions of teenagers engaging in drug use, bondage, and anal sex), violence, and the lead character’s smug attitude and sleazy occupation – getting off accused criminals, whether they’re innocent or not, by manipulating jurors’ emotions – make it a program inadvisable for family consumption," the PTC writes.

Bull premiered on Tuesday, September 20 at 9:00 p.m. ET.

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