Oh please!In 1993, m…

Oh please!

In 1993, many ABC network affiliates and conservative watchdogs told Steven Bochco that an adult-themed drama like “NYPD Blue” had no place on network television.

Bochco, the man behind such hits as “Hill Street Blues” and “L.A. Law,” prevailed and got his gritty cop show on the air, but he thinks that wouldn’t be possible in today’s politically charged media landscape.

“The medium has become increasingly conservative,” he told reporters who visited the “Blue” set on the 20th Century Fox lot Thursday as part of the Television Critics Assn. winter press tour.

And “Desperate Housewives” is, what, all about a neighborhood of June Cleavers? “Increasingly conservative” indeed.

He had hoped the series would pave the way for more sophisticated drama, but said the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction in the past five years. After the controversy generated in large part by Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” during last year’s Super Bowl halftime show telecast on CBS, “NYPD Blue” has had to fight with ABC over content issues that never were questioned in the past, Bochco said.

“So you stop doing them,” he said. “It’s a setback.”

People wake up to what’s been going on in the TV world and speak out over it, and to Bochco this is a setback? For all the chants of “We’re giving the people what they want”, you’d think he would want to know what the people want. Turns out the people don’t figure into their equation at all. They’re just a convenient plot device.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!