Look Back In Angst

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Already Dreams' Prince is chafing at critics' "trying to make a big deal of the trend. 'In the shadow of 9/11,'" he says, "'are people looking back for comfort?' Well, yes. Shouldn't they be? That's what [TV] is supposed to do." (Yes, NBC promoted Dreams heavily during its Sept. 11-anniversary coverage.) These shows aren't alone. Besides the Twilight Zone, this season offers remakes of such cold-war fare as Family Affair, Dragnet and The Time Tunnel. Hairspray has brought a campier take on the early '60s to Broadway. And, as Littlefield notes, "Who was the big winner at the box office? Spider-Man."

If it's true, though if we really are backtracking culturally out of anxiety that's not necessarily something to be proud of. America's defiantly edgy, offensive, on-to-the-next-new-thing pop culture is part of what defines us in the world (and, often, what enrages our enemies). Is running into the warm skirts of the past what a vital, confident nation does? The networks, of course, have smaller concerns, namely that television trend chasing often ends up several months behind the national mood. Even Littlefield predicts, "There will be a show that cuts against the [nostalgia] grain and will be a huge success." In other words, the networks may so exhaust the retro trend du jour that viewers look for something completely different and new. And that really is the oldest story on TV.