NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Feeling overwhelmed by the sex, violence and inappropriate content on prime-time television? Fear not, squeaky-clean entertainment is on its way to your living room.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT, +2.02% said Thursday it was working with Procter & Gamble Co. PG, +1.26% to produce "family-friendly TV programming."

The first production, which will run April 16 on NBC, is a made-for-TV movie called "Secrets of the Mountain," about the adventures of a single mother and her kids in a mountain cabin they've inherited from an eccentric uncle.

While the entertainment may be devoid of sexual innuendo and graphic violence, there will be plenty of subliminal advertising via product placement by both Wal-Mart and P&G, as well as regular ads from the companies during the commercial breaks.

Of course, product placement is already rampant in programming, and corporate underwriting of television is nothing new. (Soap operas got their name from being sponsored by soap makers.) P&G Productions says it's produced nearly 50 movies of the week, 35 years of "People's Choice Awards," 20 soap operas and a number of beauty pageants and variety shows.

But a tag team of the world's largest retailer and the No. 1 consumer-products maker is a significant way for these businesses to target consumers and reinforce their images as wholesome and family-friendly, while getting their goods in front of this desirable demographic in a DVR-proof way.

In a time when companies are trying to figure out how to become players in new media and on social-networking sites, creating a TV movie with virtuous themes seems almost quaint. If families are even watching TV together, kids are usually the ones controlling the remote. Will this brand of programming appeal to them?

Also, as we saw during the recent writers' strike, lots of consumers have defected from traditional TV-watching, and now spend time on other pursuits, such as playing video games and consuming their media via the Internet.

With more profanity and racy themes sneaking into prime-time programs, rolling out G-rated TV options that families can enjoy together isn't a bad idea, but it's not clear whether anyone will be watching.

-- Angela Moore, commentary editor