The Parents Television Council is ruining quality cable. Not because their cause is bad, exactly — we like protecting kids too! — but because networks like The CW realized they could turn all those wagging fingers into little dollar signs. How? By incorporating all the negative soundbites the PTC handed out about Gossip Girl into marketing so clever, the spots themselves got press.

Sell the people sex and scandal, with a seal of disapproval from the "authority."

Which is how you get those ads on the sides of buses that say "Mind-blowingly Inappropriate" while promoting the series. Cute trick, but now the CBS-Time Warner network hopes indignant lighting will strike twice with their remake of 90210:

CW executives refused to release advanced screeners of the remake to advertisers or critics, prompting the PTC to encourage potential buyers to shy away from buying into the series until they can get a look at the content.

The network, helmed by the Dawn Ostroff (who looks a little more 90210 than Gossip Girl), pleads innocence over the incense-baiting tactic, stating they are merely "riding the curiosity and anticipation into premiere night, and letting all our constituents see it at the same time." And Ostroff doesn't even lead a spin class at her local gym!

Anticipation is a good word for it.

Media frenzy is another one. Even knowing most movies that get released without a press screening usually do so because they are terrible (see: Epic Movie, The Invasion), The CW can leverage it's previous history with the PTC to drum up buzz, viewers, and convince advertisers they should buy time because of the risqué content of the show. Attach your brand to this blogged-about phenom, and the tweens will love ya.

How funny then, if 90210 turns out not to be "every parent's worst nightmare," but just a blah-normous waste of time? Even better still, if the Parent Television Council finds absolutely nothing wrong with the new Brendas and Kellys.

Mark your TiVos; September 2nd marks the premiere where the network will either solidify its reputation or have to go back to the mind-blowingly inappropriate drawing board.