Imagine being able to sit down in front of the television and watch a program that not only isn't embarrassing but also sends positive messages. Unfortunately, this has become a rarity.
Therefore it's highly appropriate that leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives gave a special award Tuesday to two shows filmed in Utah, "Touched by an Angel" and "Promised Land."House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, gave his Freedom Works Award to the two programs for having "proven that values and principles are good for TV ratings." Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., joined Armey to show that the praise is bipartisan, congratulating CBS for having the courage to produce the two shows.
More networks need to show that same kind of courage. Too often programs, particularly the sitcoms, take the easy way out by going for bathroom "humor" and other jokes of poor taste to carry the show instead of good, creative, solid comedy.
Part of the problem is Hollywood producers have a hard time relating to their viewers. Their lives tend to distort reality. As Martha Williamson, executive producer of the shows, noted in a recent interview in Time Magazine, "There are a lot more people in this country who believe in God than the guys in Hollywood and New York want to believe."
As such, Williamson makes no apologies for having a show, "Touched by an Angel," centered around deity.
One of its goals, she says is to show "that God exists. God loves you and wants to be part of your life."
What a refreshing change from the normal cesspools associated with Hollywood where vice, not virtue, is too often a common theme.
"Promised Land," a spinoff of "Touched by an Angel," carries a similar positive values theme.
It's about a family that has been visited by angels and asked to help redefine what it means to be a good neighbor and to recapture the American dream. Or, as the lead in the show, Gerald McRaney, describes it, it's about a family down on its luck who hangs together and has faith. His character, Russell Greene, would rather be part of the solution than part of the problem.
Hollywood should make a greater commitment to being part of society's solution to moral ills, rather than being part of the problem.