The Anti-Bush Channel
The Anti-Bush Channel
Richard Bradley
May 27, 2005
Richard Bradley is the former executive editor of George magazine. He is author of American Son: A Portrait of John F. Kennedy, Jr., and Harvard Rules: The Struggle for the Soul of the World's Most Powerful University."
Sometime soon, the cable channel Showtime will air a short film about birth control that contradicts everything the Bush administration believes about sex ed. “Toothpaste,” which is apparently teen slang for condoms, focuses on two teenage girls considering sex with their boyfriends. The film was made by four high-school girls from Mission, Texas, a town where some 37 girls out of every ,1000 become pregnant by the age of 17—an unusually high rate. So, while the Bush administration’s official policy towards sex ed is abstinence—and some faith-based groups that receive federal funds for sex education actually discourage condom use—“Toothpaste” doesn’t hesitate to endorse condoms.
In an age when pop culture is obsessively scrutinized by right-wing crusaders looking for a political fight to pick, Showtime’s decision to air "Toothpaste" takes guts. That’s especially true because Showtime’s corporate parent, Viacom, also owns CBS, which famously tangled with the White House (and lost) over the Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident.
Not content with overseeing broadcast television, the FCC is now considering regulating cable. Conservative groups such as the American Family Association and the Parents Television Council have been pressuring members of Congress to extend the agency’s authority to monitor cable content, and Republicans such as Alaska senator Ted Stevens and Texas congressman Joe Barton, along with new FCC head Kevin Martin, like the idea. Meanwhile, over at the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, new head Kenneth Tomlinson is pushing public broadcasting to the right. There’s a chill in the airwaves.
But in recent years, Showtime has built a reputation for programming that rejects the White House’s vision of a blander America and occasionally challenges it directly. A couple of years ago, Showtime aired “The Reagans” miniseries after CBS caved to conservative pressure and dropped it. More recently, in this season's finale of “The L Word,” feminist icon Gloria Steinem explicitly blasted the Bushies. In a myriad of ways, Showtime has become the anti-Bush channel.
Probably the foremost example is Showtime’s explicit sex, and more particularly, its non-judgmental portrayal of homosexuality. Twenty years ago, Showtime aired “Brothers,” one of the first sitcoms with a gay lead; a few years back, it aired Armistead Maupin’s “More Tales of the City” and a drama about the assassination of San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk. Now Showtime features “Queer as Folk” and “The L Word,” both of which have been described as “the gay ‘Sex in the City’—meaning unabashedly sexually explicit.
When you look at Showtime’s lineup in its entirety, however, it becomes clear that it’s not just homosexuality or sex that that dominates the channel, but rather a portrait of an America more diverse, more complicated and more realistic that what you’ll read in, say, Lynne Cheney’s kids’ books. “Huff” deals with a psychiatrist whose life is devastated when a young patient commits suicide in his office. “Family Business” is about “an average guy trying to make a living in the adult film industry,” as Showtime’s website puts it. “Weeds” deals with a dysfunctional suburban California family; "Out of Order" was another portrayal of a heterosexual marriage that isn't all it's cracked up to be. Meanwhile, “Penn & Teller: Bullshit” watches as the two performers debunk “nonsense peddlers and how they operate.” In Showtime’s words, the show stands in opposition to “our increasingly anti-intellectual, anti-science culture.” Given its attitude towards Darwin, stem cells and global warming, the Bush White House may be the greatest manifestation and promoter of that culture.
I doubt that Showtime has become the anti-Bush channel on purpose. Every cable channel works diligently to build a brand, and Showtime has done so by pushing the cultural envelope—it just happens to have done so in a time of cultural repression. Let us hope not only that Showtime keeps up the good work—but that it is allowed to.
Richard Bradley
May 27, 2005
Richard Bradley is the former executive editor of George magazine. He is author of American Son: A Portrait of John F. Kennedy, Jr., and Harvard Rules: The Struggle for the Soul of the World's Most Powerful University."
Sometime soon, the cable channel Showtime will air a short film about birth control that contradicts everything the Bush administration believes about sex ed. “Toothpaste,” which is apparently teen slang for condoms, focuses on two teenage girls considering sex with their boyfriends. The film was made by four high-school girls from Mission, Texas, a town where some 37 girls out of every ,1000 become pregnant by the age of 17—an unusually high rate. So, while the Bush administration’s official policy towards sex ed is abstinence—and some faith-based groups that receive federal funds for sex education actually discourage condom use—“Toothpaste” doesn’t hesitate to endorse condoms.
In an age when pop culture is obsessively scrutinized by right-wing crusaders looking for a political fight to pick, Showtime’s decision to air "Toothpaste" takes guts. That’s especially true because Showtime’s corporate parent, Viacom, also owns CBS, which famously tangled with the White House (and lost) over the Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident.
Not content with overseeing broadcast television, the FCC is now considering regulating cable. Conservative groups such as the American Family Association and the Parents Television Council have been pressuring members of Congress to extend the agency’s authority to monitor cable content, and Republicans such as Alaska senator Ted Stevens and Texas congressman Joe Barton, along with new FCC head Kevin Martin, like the idea. Meanwhile, over at the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, new head Kenneth Tomlinson is pushing public broadcasting to the right. There’s a chill in the airwaves.
But in recent years, Showtime has built a reputation for programming that rejects the White House’s vision of a blander America and occasionally challenges it directly. A couple of years ago, Showtime aired “The Reagans” miniseries after CBS caved to conservative pressure and dropped it. More recently, in this season's finale of “The L Word,” feminist icon Gloria Steinem explicitly blasted the Bushies. In a myriad of ways, Showtime has become the anti-Bush channel.
Probably the foremost example is Showtime’s explicit sex, and more particularly, its non-judgmental portrayal of homosexuality. Twenty years ago, Showtime aired “Brothers,” one of the first sitcoms with a gay lead; a few years back, it aired Armistead Maupin’s “More Tales of the City” and a drama about the assassination of San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk. Now Showtime features “Queer as Folk” and “The L Word,” both of which have been described as “the gay ‘Sex in the City’—meaning unabashedly sexually explicit.
When you look at Showtime’s lineup in its entirety, however, it becomes clear that it’s not just homosexuality or sex that that dominates the channel, but rather a portrait of an America more diverse, more complicated and more realistic that what you’ll read in, say, Lynne Cheney’s kids’ books. “Huff” deals with a psychiatrist whose life is devastated when a young patient commits suicide in his office. “Family Business” is about “an average guy trying to make a living in the adult film industry,” as Showtime’s website puts it. “Weeds” deals with a dysfunctional suburban California family; "Out of Order" was another portrayal of a heterosexual marriage that isn't all it's cracked up to be. Meanwhile, “Penn & Teller: Bullshit” watches as the two performers debunk “nonsense peddlers and how they operate.” In Showtime’s words, the show stands in opposition to “our increasingly anti-intellectual, anti-science culture.” Given its attitude towards Darwin, stem cells and global warming, the Bush White House may be the greatest manifestation and promoter of that culture.
I doubt that Showtime has become the anti-Bush channel on purpose. Every cable channel works diligently to build a brand, and Showtime has done so by pushing the cultural envelope—it just happens to have done so in a time of cultural repression. Let us hope not only that Showtime keeps up the good work—but that it is allowed to.
posted by T. Scott Brineman at 7:53 AM
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