Back in the 1960s, when Hollywood began to up the ante on violence, sex, nudity, language and drugs, parents knew that Disney movies were still kid-friendly. In the mid-1980s, Disney adopted other labels for "adult" pictures — Touchstone, Hollywood and, later, Miramax — but the Disney name on a film was still a safe haven.

Now, however, the PG-13-rated "Pirates of the Caribbean" films, which are extremely violent and definitely not for small fry, are released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner. A dichotomy if ever there was one.

Similarly, in the 1970s, as adult material began to make inroads on TV, when a show was on in the early "family hour," parents knew it would be inoffensive. But that began to change in the 1980s and is now so much worse.

I'm not saying that everything should be squeaky clean. But when Hollywood labels a movie or TV show as "family entertainment" or targets youngsters in their ad campaigns, parents have a right to feel safe allowing their kids to watch.

Not anymore. Parents can't simply take Hollywood's word for it.

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E-mail: hicks@desnews.com