Jan. 27, 1970 : In an effort to keep pace with rapidly shifting social mores, the movie industry tweaks its ratings system. The new ratings – G, PG, R and X – were designed to convey more information about a film’s content and its propriety for different age groups. The G rating was given to movies so insipid that only inanimate objects could sit through them. PG was for features that contained enough violence to hold the attention of hormone-besotted teenagers. R was a signal to adults the film’s long segments of tedium would occasionally be interrupted by flashes of nudity. X was for the good stuff. The system has survived to this day, with some minor amendments. For example, NC-17 now denotes the good stuff, while X is for the Internet. And television has now adopted ratings that mirror the movie system, with Y, PG and MA corresponding to G, PG and R. The biggest difference is that TV shows considered to be totally devoid of any meaningful content are dubbed “Kudlow & Co. ” — Jeffrey Kanige
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