‘Good Omens’ TV Series: Age Rating & Parents Guide

The new Amazon series Good Omens is already a huge hit with an IMDB rating of 8.8 right out of the gate. But is the series appropriate for your children? Here’s a look at the age rating and parents guide.

According to IMDB, Good Omens has a rating of TV-MA. TV-MA means the series was designed for mature audiences only and may contain foul language, graphic violence, graphic sexual activity, or a combination of these. It essentially entails that some content in the series might not be suitable for children. Coarse dialogue can sometimes be enough for a series to get this rating.

IMDB’s parents guide goes into more detail about what you might want to watch out for in the series. According to the parents guide, everything is rated mild except for some frightening scenes that are rated moderate.

The sex and nudity category is rated “mild” on IMDB. A nude woman is shown briefly as she walks away from the camera, with her buttocks briefly visible. In Episode 2, a man’s bare buttocks are briefly shown in a flashback sequence.

Violence and gore is also rated “mild” without further details. Profanity has no rating.

“Alcohol, drugs and smoking” gets a rating of “mild” without further explanation.

“Frightening and Intense Scenes” gets a rating of “moderate,” but more details are not provided.

Amazon Prime rates Good Omens as suitable overall for Ages 13+. More specifically, Episodes 1, 4, 5, and 6 are rated for Ages 16+ and Episodes 2 and 3 are rated as suitable for Ages 13+. So you should probably stick to Ages 16+ if this rating is important to you.

There’s an interesting discussion on Reddit from two years ago here about whether the book is appropriate for a 14-year-old boy. The top-voted response says the book is appropriate, with no swear words (unless you count words like “bastard” as swear words.) However, others noted that the book had one sex scene, even though it was a “fade to black” type of scene. Another reader wrote: “Good Omens was the first book I bought for myself, aged 11.” Others noted that it depends on how you view religion, since some parts of the book seem to poke fun at Christianity. But many Christians won’t be bothered by that, others pointed out. 

Another person commented about the book: “Wife read it to the 12-year-old as bedtime reading not too long ago” 

If you’re really concerned about the TV series, remember that it’s only six episodes long. You could watch it yourself first and then decide.