Cheaper than crack

...To be sure, by socll{icimtennicil .c rit'1 at the TV show creators aspire to make their using a giant monitor to show George L ni1'c r.si(1' of Down products as addictive as possible by turn- W. Bush slowly but surely making his .1( •ii hodi,, \laii.ini•i .um,r•iiv ing everything into a cliffhanger...

...Though the senaall, she had perceived an axiom that he The same lever of manipulation tor was undoubtedly right that "TV sigand his associates had only belatedly seemed available to both parties in the nals should not be pulled off the air beremembered: If you are a media giant dispute-deprive the public of TV pro- cause of corporate battles," would he battling another media giant, you don't grams and then say you were forced to have felt the need to speak to the Disanger the public while trying to subdue do so by your opponent-but the lever ney president if the banished channel your adversary...

...Higher Education: 0r KnoL'ing• seventies, "Dallas" and "Dynasty" were Not only politicians and entertainers Teaching and Learning big hits but the real tide turner was "Hill but serious artists have to make their way Parker J. Palmer Street Blues," which showed producers in a world dominated by the Empire of Nov...

...2000 they could have it both ways: while each Addiction...

...28-29...

...Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and "Spin City" were broadcasting crucial episodes in this period, and their disappearance from a significant number of screens might cause a meltdown in the "In other news, the Bluebird of Happiness was arrested today national morale...

...Richard Parsons gave ryboard to inform viewers that "Disney ately at risk in the fracas over Disney/ her husband, the president has taken ABC away from you...

...ABC programming...

...knuckle under, the cable giant banished when they believed that the public weal That was the brisk greeting ABC from its broadcasts and used a sto- was imperiled, but what was immediH Mrs...

...Only the presidential con- lating marketplace...

...well, viewer addicted...

...In the late predator of "Survivor" is king...

...Well, that wasn't so Jean Bethke episode to the next...

...He who had most directly deRichard Alleva prived the public of its programs was the one who earned the threat of political intervention...

...In the Empire of Addiction, October 25.26...

...Stay tuned...

...had been, say, The History Channel...

...So "Hill Street Blues" was both video, in the exhibition catalog, on reFeb...

...2001 a dramatic series in the old sense and a mainder counters...

...2001 (will Furillo pop the question to Joyce, higher-profile zone of publicity, controthe lovely public defender...

...No...

...Politicians have been known to intervene in business and labor disputes ow could you be so stupid...

...2000 dience would keep watching if they liked George W. is barely a tolerated tenant being in the company of Marshal Dillon while Richard the naked fat guy island The Recoverj o-, 1-:101111, illor Ralph and Alice Kramden...

...CHEAPER THAN CRACK And so, husband dearest, How could Keeping us hooked on TV you be so stupid...

...who was right or wrong in the business CULTURE WATC'11 dispute...

...The resolved elements (the lyn Museum of Art exhibit "Sensation" Earth Engineering murderer was captured) kept the viewer but a demonstration of how to escape Braden Allenby satisfied, but the soap-opera elements from the neighborhood of art into the .larch 29...

...After most everything it wanted...

...Never mind talk of the public's rights...

...Thus, the art-going experience and the Rule of Lane marathons are soap operas cum beefcake- becomes, however briefly, a cliffhanger Larry May will the Hulkster reclaim his glory in the of the sensibility...

...11 Commonweal 1 8 October 6, 2000...

...Here's what happened: Disney, which owns ABC among other channels, was negotiating broadcasting matters with Time Warner, the owner of the cable systems that carry Disney's TV products...

...Will Niles cleave to bad...

...The upshot was that, in the next Time Warner chairman to extend an study...

...High art that might refine sensibilwhich his corporation was at odds with Public outrage found its way to Time ities and shake souls...

...home one night last April, a period in hand and it paid a price for doing so...

...The situations in viewer hies herself to the museum and Forn-ation...

...was effective so long as it wasn't used...

...But Time Warner had and charged with possession of a controlled substance...

...Many important issues, including possible monopolization of the Internet, were discussed, but I want to point out the way one specific phase of the dispute was resolved because I think it indicates a turn in American culture...

...Before way cross country to Philadelphia, the 1980, the literary prototype for the typical Republican media consultants tried to Business Ethics: From dramatic or comic TV series was the sort turn the convention into a cliffhanger, Classroom to Corporatic' of thing Conan Doyle did with the Sher- too...

...Information that of Time Warner, when he returned Time Warner had overplayed its would help viewers be better citizens...

...The viewer's ire or pruriDetective shows are now, most of them, ence or simple curiosity could be aroused Ethics and the Profess ii~ns Symrt~.,nl1rn soap operas seasoned with violence and by the publicity-"How will I respond April 20-21, 2001 grunge...

...I mean, I wouldn't even have known Elshtain the conniving fiancee who's trying to alien- that was elephant dung unless they had Truth, Adsersar ..: ate him from his family...

...kept the versy, political grandstanding, and...

...Perhaps he even granted his round of negotiations, "Disney got al- agreement with Disney that would get spouse a grimace of agreement...

...A real mogul, such as New York City Mayor Rudolph Disney's president, "My daughters are such as Genghis Khan, would have Giuliani and Senator Charles Schumer...

...ring...

...No wonder "Surable on cable and the ease with which vivor" creamed the Republican conProfess ions the remote control can change channels, vention in the ratings...

...A fine wel- Warner's doorstep via public servants tor Schumer remarked to Robert Iger, come for a media mogul...

...l 17) 229•29 1 ; of the seventies, we now know who will So...dare I say it...

...no such compunction...

...In fact, Senathe Walt Disney Company...

...Nowadays, because of gins and are treated only to a feast of the abundance of programming avail- self-congratulation...

...Likewise, the quiz shows one...

...What was the Brooksoap opera...

...And the current trend toward "real- But what about the work of art or enity shows"-'Big Brother," "Survivor"- tertainment that has been made simply throws putatively real people into difthang- to move its audience as deeply or hilaring situations (who will be voted off the iously as possible without addicting anyisland next...

...When negotiations broke down, Disney considered taking its programs away from Time Warner but refrained for fear of angering viewers using the Time Warner systems...

...ABC back on the air...

...The facts of the business dispute were Once Time Warner did use it, the lever When does a distraction become virtuset forth in an excellent New Yorker arti- turned out to be a stick of dynamite that ally a necessity and, thereby, provoke cle, "Mousetrap," by James B. Stewart, in blew up in the user's hand...

...My favorite, "Law and Order," to what outrages so many...

...be nominated before the convention beEthics and the Or like heroin...

...complaining that they couldn't watch drawn his scimitar, but I'm sure Mr...

...The wrestling told me...

...This column will be ventions have jettisoned their sus- exploring that question among many, For mftn-lil ti n, C;111 I', it Inhnson m penseful aspects...

...situation comedies now spill over from one judges for herself...

...or inciting anyone to join a picket now ridiculously aggravate their tradi- line or sign a petition...

...In the New York area, the ABC signal 'Celebrity Millionaire.'" (Schumer said Parsons only shrugged and lugged him- was cut off to more than a million he wouldn't take sides but did ask the self and his briefcase to the upstairs homes...

...Is such a work tional cliffhanger formats with the spec- really doomed, as I may have suggested tacle of contestants proposing marriage above, or can it enjoy an existence in to crown their success in answering triv- some crevice of a buzzing, hyperventiDAYTON ia questions...

...Thanks to the reforms many others in the year to come...

...sensationalism...

...but did anyone at home seriously Kenneth lock Holmes short story: each episode doubt that the nominee was going to Goodpaster was a complete experience, and the au- make it...

...When do cirthe July 31 issue...

...Unless a novel or painting or episode possessed a certain closure (the movie generates a certain buzz, it risks Catholic Legal Education, Moral murderer was -aught, political corrup- making a very quick circuit (through Controversy and the Magisterium: Reflections on the Responsibilities tion was exposed), the personal problems movie houses, museums, first printings) of Catholic Law Schools of the cops spilled over from episode to before settling into a wan afterlife (on Michael J. Perry episode...

...a question was for years the exception but has now that must remain unsatisfied until the Whatever Happened to succumbed to the trend...

...To make Disney Commonweal 1 7 October 6, 2000 cuses begin to look like bread...