What do "Murphy Brown," "MacGyver" and "Captain Planet" have in common?
If we are to believe a self-proclaimed "conservative TV critic," they're three of the 10 most biased shows of the 1990-91 season.L. Brent Bozell is the chairman of the Virginia-based Media Research Center, a right-wing group committed to rooting out liberalism in the media.
And by "most biased," Bozell really means "most liberal" in his estimation. There's no attempt to look for conservative biases.
I'm unable to pass this on without expressing distaste for the entire process of rating TV programs by their political correctness. A true television critic is looking at entertainment value, not evaluating left- vs. right-wing.
With that disclaimer, here are Bozell's Top 10, a few of his comments - and a few comments from your local television editor.
1. Captain Planet and the Planeteers "is a Ted Turner creation seeking to indoctrinate children and scare them into leftist political activism. . . . Episodes have featured leftist slants to disproved theories such as overpopulation and acid rain as well as Mr. Turner's distorted, cob-webbed view on disarmament."
Excuse me? Acid rain has been disproved? Overpopulation is not a problem in many developing nations? Disarmament is bad?
There are a lot worse things kids could watch than a cartoon that encourages environmentalism.
2. A Different World "covered a variety of political issues during the year, always promoting a left-wing agenda. Episodes often took a militant, leftist look at racial matters."
What seems to bother Bozell is that "World" looks at racial matters from a black perspective.
3. L.A. Law "takes its plots from the headlines and applies a liberal spin. . . . Although a handful of conservative characters are written into the script, they are usually portrayed as personally and politically unappealing."
This is grossly unfair and misleading. "L.A. Law" is one of the very few shows on television that dares to present problems in which no side holds all the answers. In which there are many shades of gray and little is black and white.
4. The made-for-TV movie Absolute Strangers "dealt with a man's fight to abort the baby carried by his comatose wife. Facts about traumatic-coma pregnancies were twisted. Political ties to the pro-abortion movement were white-washed, and pro-lifers were depicted as cold-hearted zealots."
As a matter of fact, the movie went out of its way to confine its fight for abortion to this single, unusual case. And the husband fighting to allow his comatose wife to undergo an abortion resisted becoming involved with pro-choice groups.
However, like too much TV, the movie did paint its characters in black and white - pro-lifers were seen as zealots. But to dismiss this movie as an attempt to promote abortion is more simplistic still.
5. "Everything MacGyver does revolves around the left's agenda on the environment, gun control and foreign affairs. Moreover, the show's creators frequently turn to the liberal Center to Prevent Handgun Violence for consultation."
Imagine! Trying to prevent handgun violence!
Personally, I've always found the fact that MacGyver tries to carry out his missions without hurting anyone a refreshing change from the usual shoot-em-up problem solving employed by so many television heroes.
6. As for The Trials of Rosie O'Neill, "almost every episode has some liberal statement to make on feminism . . . The show often blames America's troubles with poverty, the criminal justice system and the treatment of the insane on Ronald Reagan."
Apparently, Bozell would prefer that no liberals be allowed to appear on television. Rosie is a liberal, no doubt about it. At least the show is up front about its biases.
7. Murphy Brown "and her co-workers are liberal journalists who regularly attack conservatives and their causes. Although biased, the series may be closer to the reality of current television news programs than its makers care to admit.
"All characters who are cast positively in the show are liberals; a conservative character who was brought on . . . to remedy complaints of liberal news bias is portrayed as an obnoxious loudmouth whose politics are maligned by the rest of the cast."
What Bozell fails to mention is that that Murphy ends up falling in love with that conservative character, Jerry Gold. And that Jerry turns out to be an extremely sympathetic and funny character.
As for obnoxious and loudmouthed, what character on television possesses more of those traits than Murphy Brown herself - a point her co-workers make frequently?
Bozell seems to note only the jabs made at conservatives, overlooking the dozens of jokes made at the expense of liberals. (One example: Murphy was once kidnapped by a bunch of bumbling radical environmentalists.)
9. Tagget, a movie about "an ex-CIA operative who joins forces with a likable KGB agent to thwart the evil designs of America's intelligence agency."
Wait a minute - you took this silly TV movie seriously?
10. E.A.R.T.H. Force "featured a group of radical environmentalists who were out to save the planet from evil polluters."
What Bozell fails to mention is the show's greatest failing - it was a poorly produced piece of junk. As a matter of fact, it was so bad it may have set the cause of environmentalism back by decades.