Gore and Order

I was watching Law and Order SVU on tv last night, and came across a particularly disturbing scene.
A woman, who had accused her ex-husband of raping her, had been attacked in the street by this ex, who poured gasoline all over her and set her alight.
While viewers were (fortunately) not shown this scene itself, the camera followed the two cops into the hospital so they could talk to the lady - bear in mind this must have been moments after the attack.
The scene showed the woman lying face down on a hospital bed with about four or five doctors hovering over her. She was seriously burnt - and as the cops asked her who did it, she looked up, with half of her face melted off, and rasped the man's name.
Now - at the risk of sounding old - exactly when did prime time television become so full on?
If an episode of that calibre had been shown on television in the 8.30 slot when I was a young child, I'm certain there would have been outrage.
But Law and Order is far from the worst show in and around that timeslot - CSI, NCIS and all thos other cop/thriller/action shows on seem to compete against each other for the most full-on episode.
Personally, I don't have a problem with it. I'm a big fan of horror movies that push people's boundaries (the Saw movies come to mind, as well as the recent remake of The Hills Have Eyes and of course Wolf Creek) but I find it fascinating that, over the years, there has been a gradual encroachment on what the Family First party would call "values."
Yet no one seems to notice.