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TV is venturing into the political fray on other topics as well. The Simpsons chose the night of Bush's acceptance speech at the Republican Convention to make their reply to the President's gibe. "Hey, we're just like the Waltons," said Bart. "Both families spend a lot of time praying for the end of the Depression." The Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings were the subject of pointed comments on Designing Women last season. "The man does not belong on the Supreme Court," said one character. "He belongs in the national repertory theater." Even frivolous shows like Freshman Dorm, a CBS summer entry, reveal TV's heightened political consciousness. "Be careful what you wish for," said a black student. "I wanted a black Supreme Court Justice, and I got Clarence Thomas."
Prime time will draw even more heavily on the headlines this fall. The recession will be Topic A on Roseanne, as Dan Conner loses his job and the family must scramble to pay its bills. The Los Angeles riots will be the backdrop for episodes of several series, including A Different World and Doogie Howser, M.D. In Doogie's season opener, for example, the hospital staff spends a frantic shift caring for riot victims. Though the show takes no political stand on the riot or its causes, Doogie expresses his sympathetic sentiments at the end by paraphrasing Martin Luther King Jr. in his computer diary: "A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard."
Such topicality, of course, is not new for entertainment TV. More than 20 years ago, Norman Lear's All in the Family introduced the notion that situation comedies could provide social commentary while getting laughs. TV movies and drama shows like L.A. Law tackle virtually every headline-making issue that comes down the pike, from date rape to capital punishment. Nor has left-leaning political satire been unknown on network TV: The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the late 1960s and Saturday Night Live starting in the mid-'70s took on Establishment targets with irreverent glee.
But never have prime-time entertainment shows been so bold about commenting on current affairs -- or their creators been so willing to step outside their characters to engage in political debate. "I had no animosity toward Quayle," says Bergen, "but then this glint of a zealot appeared. With the recent poverty figures that have been released, and the highest levels of unemployment since 1984, making ((Murphy's motherhood)) a campaign issue is insane." Producer Diane English -- who even challenged Quayle to debate the < issue, to no avail -- draws a rather far-fetched parallel between the Administration's campaign against TV and the '50s blacklist: "I really feel like I'm entering a new era of McCarthyism, where one day somebody is going to come up to me and say, 'Are you now or have you ever been involved in the television business?' "