Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 18, 1993 TAG: 9309240371
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICK KOGAN CHICAGO TRIBUNE
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
She was talking - during an unsolicited phone call to me that began pleasantly enough with her wanting to know the name of the actress who played Chief Inspector Tennison in PBS' ``Prime Suspect'' - about ``NYPD Blue,'' the new Steven Bochco series that premieres at 10 p.m. Tuesday on ABC (WSET-Channel 13 in the Roanoke viewing area).
Like many others who have been railing - in print, in letters and on the phone to me - about the language, bare skin and bullet holes of the new series, this woman hasn't seen the show.
She has that in common with a woman named Mary Ellen Gabin of Sterling Heights, Mich.
``(`NYPD Blue') has explicit sex and violence,'' Gabin told a Detroit newspaper. ``They're going to have profanity and filthy language like never before.'' Gabin is a member of Right to Decency of Roseville, Mich. Recently she joined other decency activists and concerned citizens who picketed outside the studios of the ABC affiliate near Detroit. (WSET, this region's ABC affiliate, saw its share of protesters late last month at its Lynchburg and Roanoke offices.)
``This is not censorship, we're just opposing indecency,'' she said. ``It's actually soft-core porno. We don't want this on our regular prime-time television.''
Ironically, the outcries of Gabin and her ilk - including the always vociferous conservative religious/political activist Rev. Donald Wildmon and his American Family Association - help create publicity and interest in the show that no amount of network dollars could buy or generate.
That's terrific because I have seen the show and love it. It does contain a word or two not normally uttered in prime time but hardly unheard by contemporary American ears. It does contain a flash of skin not normally seen in prime time, but nothing shocking. It does end with a particularly bloody scene, but nothing any worse than in old ``Starsky & Hutch'' episodes.
Those minor items are far outweighed by the show's gritty realism, its erudite, snappy dialogue and its polished acting. Nothing in the show appears calculated as shock merely for shock's sake. It's a fine show, and the best of this new season.
That's my two cents. My advice: Watch the show and if you don't like it change the channel. It's that simple. But not to Gabin. She sees the battle to get ``NYPD Blue'' off the air as something of a holy cause.
``The integrity of our nation is at stake,'' she says.
This is perhaps the most outrageous example of how easily people can still be roused to passions by a new TV season.
Over the years, and due to the fact that I am paid to consume every new show, I have learned to approach a new season with skepticism and fear.
Should I have felt safer this year? The networks, responding to the outcry against primetime violence, are trying to police themselves by removing anything dangerous or offensive from prime time.
The networks policing themselves? That's quite a concept, and frightening too. It's somewhat like asking crack dealers to be careful not to sell to anyone who's name contains the letter ``C'': ``Hey, man, the dude never told me his name.''
It is little wonder that ``NYPD Blue'' is causing such a stir. It is perhaps the only new show of the season that will carry the violence warning.
Otherwise, the new-show landscape is shamefully staid. Instead of trying to confront the issue of violence (what is? what isn't?), the networks have taken the coward's way out and in so doing are offering a season as interesting as a bowl of oatmeal.
Depending on which way you count, there are about 35 new shows on the schedule. Of these, 20 are comedies and most of those are what might be called Family Comedies.
Television, eager to reflect real life as long as it doesn't have to do with such contemporary problems as AIDS, poverty, racial strife, guns, abortion or any of the other flash points, are catering to the aging baby boomers with babies of their own and have loaded the schedule with kids: Of the 20 new comedies, only four do not feature children and the rest are filled with wisecracking cutie-pies.
Believe me, listening to the spoiled yammerings of most of these kids can be more damaging to one's sensibilities than any ``NYPD Blue'' moment.
``NYPD Blue'' is serious drama and I worry that it has been cast as this season's fall guy, set up to take the rap for TV's long-time tendency toward violence. As people aim their letters, picketing and protest at that show, and as the executives point to all of the family fare, television takes a few steps into the past, giving us a sugar-coated, stand-up and kid-filled world.
While such a place may not fit conventional definitions of violence, it certainly meets every qualification necessary to be called objectionable.
by CNB