TV movies: One of the venues, in which Communists spread their tentacles

By RM

From TV GUIDE, 1974:

An article on made-for-TV movies calls the early efforts “potboiling trash” (and later equates them with B-movies, implying that B-movies are “trash”). But according to the author, they’ve “grown up” and become respectable-and why is that? Because they now incorporate LEFTIST sociological themes!

Of course the writer doesn’t describe it that way, but these are the examples given: The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (black woman survives “racism” and lives to be over 100); Brian’s Song (interracial friendship with homo-erotic undertones); That Certain Summer (outright depiction of a homo relationship); The Execution of Pvt. Slovik (anti-military story wherein a “foreigner” is chosen as a scapegoat); I Heard the Owl Call My Name (priest sent to 3rd-world country, learns life-lessons from the primitives, encounters White “exploiters”). Depiction of social ills like abortion, rape, and alcoholism also garners cheers from the critics (pure “escapist” entertainment is despised, as always).

The author even finds a non-existent “allegory” in Spielberg’s Duel. He doesn’t mention the highest rated of all TV movies, The Night Stalker, which he undoubtedly would classify as “trash.” The main point: at the end of the story, we’re promised an upcoming movie by Roy Huggins (best known for creating Maverick and The Fugitive) “...taking on the House Un-American Activities Committee”! It would seem that a Leftist social agenda, especially in the mass media, invariably leads to the justification and promotion of Communism.

-RM

N.S.: I have since read that the interracial friendship between black star Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers and White backup running back Brian Piccolo, the latter of whom died young of cancer, depicted in Brian’s Song, was entirely fraudulent. It seems that Sayers and Piccolo were never friends.

Note that the same leftist actor, Martin Sheen, who would later star in the sometimes brilliant, leftwing dramatic series, The West Wing, co-starred in That Certain Summer (with crypto-Communists Hope Lange and Hal Holbrook), and starred in The Execution of Pvt. Slovik.

For most of my adult life, I thought there was escapist TV and realistic TV. Now, I see that “realistic” TV has always been a myth. There’s TV shows and movies that appear to be realistic, and those which do not appear to be realistic.

Note that RM had to send this to my eddress at add1dda@aol.com, because google had blocked his two earlier attempts at posting it in the comments section. The first time, he submitted it straightforwardly; the second time, he chopped up words with “homo” in them, but each time the google Gauleiter killed them. I finally asked RM to send the essay to my email.

What’s next? Blocking me from posting such works as essays? I wouldn’t put it past them.