• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, November 30, 2007

Family-friendly programming is a place where all families can get together watching the same TV show -- even if it means someone's head gets ripped off.  Isn't that a comforting thought?

In the NBC show "Heroes," peoples' heads do get ripped off -- characters in this comic book show come to life and death. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not above the challenge of explaining this to my two-year-old.  There is pure evil in the world; even fictional pure evil in the world.

For all those happy family moments, "Heroes" has just been given an award for best drama from the Family Friendly Programming Forum.  I don't quite see it yet -- but I'm working on it.

Better still, I'm wondering how our tough-minded friends who look to protect our family's viewing -- the Parents Television Council -- didn't get wind of this fact, some of whom were in the audience for the TV taping of the Family Television awards show to be aired on CW on Dec. 27.

Surely some of the other Family TV awards make sense: America Ferrera as best actress for "Ugly Betty;" Zachery Levi for NBC's "Chuck" as favorite newcomer; Fox's "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?" for best reality show; and a special award for Disney's "High School Musical 2."

In some ways it's honorable that the Family Friendly Forum recognizes many different families. But how many of the major 40 advertisers who comprise the group fully support all these family shows with media commitments and the like? (One note: "High School Musical," on the Disney channel, doesn't take advertising.)

For several years, more than a number of actors and producers have come on the stage of the Family Television Awards to say thanks for supporting families that may be a little "unusual" or "different."

Jack Coleman, who plays the questionably evil, horn-rimmed-spectacled Noah Bennet on "Heroes," said as much. I guess one could applaud that at his core, Bennet is always about protecting his family --even if he is a little ruthless, dangerous, and, yes, a killer.

But by those credentials, there's probably no better father than Tony Soprano -- and to my knowledge "The Sopranos" was never honored in this regard.