Cable TV more violent, offensive

“South Park,” MTV’s “Undergrads” and “Celebrity Deathmatch” were shown to be the most “offensive series” on prime time cable TV, according to a new study.

Comedy Central’s “South Park” ranked first in offensiveness with a per-hour combined average of 126 violent or raunchy moments, according to the study.

“Undergrads” followed with 73 references; “Celebrity Deathmatch” had 66.

“Undergrads” also had an average of 28.4 sexual references per hour, which was the highest of all programs surveyed.

Compared with network broadcast television, the rate of sexual references, profanity and violence in prime-time cable television was found to be double.

The study was sponsored by the nonprofit Parents Television Council. It analyzed 33 series for nearly 112 hours between last April and September.

The study included only basic cable, which does not include premium channels like HBO and Cinemax. Basic cable reaches about three-fourths of American homes.

`Sam’ makers to receive award

The Producers Guild of America will bestow the first-ever Stanley Kramer Award upon the makers of “I Am Sam,” the new film about a mentally retarded father (played by Sean Penn) who tries to retain custody of his young daughter with the help of an attorney (Michelle Pfeiffer).

The award is named after Stanley Kramer, a filmmaker who was famous for dealing with issues of racism, religious fundamentalism and war crimes.

He is responsible for films like “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “Inherit the Wind” and “Judgement at Nuremberg.”

Kramer died last year.

Jessie Nelson, Edward Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz and Richard Solomon are the producers of “I Am Sam,” and will receive the award on March 3.

Celebs help raise money for charity

Twenty-two celebrities, including Courteney Cox Arquette, Cameron Diaz, Jewel and Faith Hill collaborated with jewelry designers to create heart-shaped pendants for various charities.

The Women With Heart program and the Platinum Guild International USA organized an online auction to sell the pendants.

Some of the charities that will benefit from the sales, which are expected to bring in more than $250,000, are The Friends of The Breast Cancer Program at UCLA, Adopt-A-Classroom, ClearWater Project and Riverkeeper.

– News gathered by Bethany Kohoutek from the Associated Press and eonline.com