Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2.fluke 9/24/84; site colossus.fluke.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!fluke!moriarty From: moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) Newsgroups: net.tv,net.sf-lovers Subject: Re: Harlan Ellison quits TWILIGHT ZONE Message-ID: <2520@colossus.fluke.UUCP> Date: Thu, 19-Dec-85 12:22:51 EST Article-I.D.: colossus.2520 Posted: Thu Dec 19 12:22:51 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 21-Dec-85 00:45:56 EST References: <783@rtech.UUCP> <674@hou2b.UUCP> <1797@utcsri.UUCP> Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA Lines: 81 Xref: watmath net.tv:3756 net.sf-lovers:11615 In article <1797@utcsri.UUCP> tom@utcsri.UUCP (Tom Nadas) writes: > >As a professional writer, I abhorcensorship. However, there is a great difference between >censorship and maintaining some level of good taste, >especially in a collaborative medium like television. True, >Harlan was the writer in question, but producer De Guere, actor >Asner, whoever they selected as director, and the programming >mavens at CBS all would have had to live with the fact that >the terrifying thought that Santa did not like black and >hispanic children would have been put in some children's minds. >Even if the resolution of the episode had proved otherwise, the >mere asking of the question may have been inappropriate to ask >in prime time. I don't buy this one bit. I'm sure Ellison's episode would have ended with a clear and emphatic point that Santa Claus comes to all children. I'm getting very tired of the idea that even the suggestion of a bigotted or predjudiced idea, no matter how quickly refuted, will damage children irrevocably. I believe I saw an episode or two dealing with injustice done to Jews (especially with Holocaust overtones) -- why were these allowed? From the summaries of the episode, it sounded extrememly interesting, and I suspect that it would have done much more against predjudice than for it. >Consider, for instance, an episode from actor/director/child star >Jackie Cooper's autobiography. A director wanting boy-actor >Jackie to cry his heart out on camera told Cooper that his pet >dog had just been killed. Cooper did indeed cry to the director's >satisfaction. Afterwards, the director revealed it had all been >a "harmless" joke and Jackie's dog was fine. The question: was >it (either Ellison's raising the question of whether St. Nick >likes visible minorities or the director's suggesting the dog was >dead) justifiable? Or are some ideas, especially those relating >to and (given TZ's timeslot) targetted at children, best left >unspoken? I don't think your example relates to the TZ episode at all. Ellison was writing a *STORY* which would show the stupidity and invalidity of racial predjudice -- but for even mentioning the subject, the thing gets canned. Cooper is recounting a story where he was (viciously, I think) tricked into beliving his dog was dead by someone he knew. Do you believe that kids believe every single thing that someone says on TV? I don't think so -- they watch the story, see what happens to (and with) the characters, and make judgements from there; the story usually directs them in their conclusions, and I'm sure Ellison would have utterly decimated the predjudice angle. Besides, I've seen many, many prime-time episodes that more-or-less reveal that Santa Claus is a mythical creation (OK, maybe this is open to debate :-) ). Should these also be eliminated from prime-time? Perhaps the question is whether TZ deserves a later time period; even though I don't agree on the fragility of kid's psyche, I think a later time would suit it well. >Ellsion has walked off virtually every long-term commitment he >has ever had and bitched about virtually every short-term media >project that has ever come to fruition. It was predictable >that he would leave TZ in a huff. It was only a matter of time. >I, too, think he has a wonderful way with the English language, >but he is hardly irreplacable. C'est la vie. No arguments that Ellison is a pain-in-the-ass, strident, and (in my mind) one of the worst critics ever put on this earth; I'd *like* to dislike him. But he writes so very well, and he attracts a lot of talent. I'll miss his stories and his touches very much on TZ, though I think more credit for the show's success should be directed at Phillip DeGuerre, a man who has consistently brought high quality to his productions. "Ah, you know the type. They like to blame it all on the Jews or the Blacks, 'cause if they couldn't, they'd have to wake up to the fact that life's one big, scary, glorious, complex and ultimately unfathomable crapshoot -- and the only reason THEY can't seem to keep up is they're a bunch of misfits and losers." Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer ARPA: fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!moriarty <*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want with me, but leave my employers alone! <*>