Back in the day, the only television show my mother did not let me watch was "Married with Children" - which, of course, only made me want to watch it more.

At the time, there were no options to block specific content through your cable box, so Mom had to hope I was dumb enough not to turn down the volume when the familiar "Love and Marriage" theme song wafted through the rec room. Usually I was, and Peg and Al Bundy were soon replaced with less offensive Nickelodeon fare.

These days, parents can program their TVs to block certain shows, prevent junior from accessing inappropriate Web sites, and track their whereabouts with cell phone GPS. But is that enough?

Apparently not, according to Sen. Mark Pryor, an Arkansas Democrat.

The House last week approved a bill from Pryor that calls on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to more thoroughly investigate the availability of parental monitoring technologies and produce a report within 270 days of the bill's enactment. The Senate already approved the measure, but must reconsider it with House-approved amendments.

"With over 500 channels and video streaming, parents could use a little help monitoring what their kids watch when they are not in the room," Pryor said in a statement. "Today's technology to protect children from indecency goes above and beyond the capabilities of the V-Chip. It's time for the FCC to take a fresh look at how the market can empower parents with more tools to choose appropriate programming for their children."

According to the 1996 Telecommunications Act, TV manufacturers must embed a V-Chip in all TVs that allows parents to filter out certain shows based on a rating system. The FCC is supposed to review and implement blocking technologies as they are developed, but according to Pryor, the agency has failed to do so.

All TVs with screens 13 inches or larger, produced after January 1, 2000 must have V-Chips. The FCC established a V-Chip task force in 1999, but the last major action on V-Chip technology at the FCC was in 2000, when the commission asked major networks to recommit themselves to V-Chip education, according to the commission's V-Chip Web site.