European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 16, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Abc the plot thickens alter egos Analyse to scripts by Edward Silver. New York times n the opulent by appointed Beverly Hills offices of the Larry Thompson organization a Story meeting is in Progress. Thompson As developing producer of to movies is developing an idea about a woman in trouble. Robert Kosberg a Thompson protege is doing most of the talking while or. Carole Lieberman a psychiatrist listens notepad in hand. The presentation is Long convoluted and rapid fire wound around a housewife whose mounting frustrations summon an unlikely disorder called psychogenic fugue. The producers first encountered the concept of fugue a mental state Akin to amnesia in which victims flee their lives by assuming new personalities in a Book about psychological casualties of War. Setting up the heroine s crisis Kosberg describes a lacklustre marriage mortgage pressures disciplinary problems with the kids. He is interrupted by Lieberman who says Quot i think you have to make the conflict More substantial. People s strongest motivations Are their sexual and aggressive drives. When a person dissociates As in a fugue she is trying to avoid losing control to avoid either becoming terribly sexual or killing the producers Are rapt. The doctor a Petite freckled woman in her mid-30s, continues Quot the problems Between the couple would have to be More severe. She would have to be feeling rage. She might be having fantasies of violence that would to Thompson responds by proposing that infidelity be factored into the plot which sounds reasonable to Lieberman in the course of the meeting the three discuss the limits of the alter ego s behaviour and write in a hypnotherapist to facilitate the housewife s return to her original personality. Most important All Are satisfied that the character s predicament is both believable and sympathetic. Thompson concludes the session by suggesting that Lieberman Confer with the writer assigned to the script and that she accompany them to the lets make a Deal network meetings. A physician with an Active private practice with offices in Beverly Hills and Malibu and an appointment at the University of californians Neur psychiatric Institute Lieberman spun off a High profile sideline about a decade ago she Calls it a psychiatric script consultation Quot and it has become her specially. Writers and producers regularly Contact her in the Early stages of production either to help develop an idea or look Over a script. Myriad purposes Are served by a consultation. As a connoisseur of character the doctor functions like a one woman focus group Lieberman is outspoken about television s de Facto status As a third Parent criticizing everything from primetime violence to what she Calls the Quot Vanna White syndrome Quot the glut of glamorous facades posing As real people. In her activist Mode she has joined a coterie of mental health professionals concerned about the Impact of television characters As Rote models. Like Lieberman other practitioners including or Alvin Poussaint of Carsey Werner productions and or. Gordon Berry the Quot House doctor Quot for lbs s programming for younger viewers pursue the classic Liberal Agenda a attempting to minimize violence and racism for instance a in their consulting arrangements with the Industry. What sets Lieberman apart however is an Affinity for the dramatic process. She is a member of both the american federation of television and radio artists and the writers Guild of America. She has acted off Broadway and Sung in european cabarets. Hollywood has provided an ample Market for Lieberman s services. She has logged More than 100 television consultations and has appeared on numerous talk shows to offer expertise on such subjects As compulsive shopping and War toys. Images meant for the consumption of children Are a special concern for the doctor who herself has a 9-year-old daughter Tiffany. The Abc sitcom diff rent strokes was a frequent client. On one occasion Lieberman plotted the Healing of Gary Coleman s character after a mugging for another script she specified the feelings aroused by an 0-year-old s close encounter with a lapsed Tomboy. An episode of Abc s Quincy. . Presented Lieberman with the Challenge of caring for and using a writers emotional investment in his Story. A teenage compulsive Gambler commits suicide. What had made him break How would the parents Cope More than just another disease of the week script it was written by a Man whose father s gambling had brought his family grief most recently consulting on a lbs school break special dealing with the battering of a teenager Lieberman told the producers using the vernacular of her profession that the girls Mother was the key Quot she had probably modelled taking Subtle abuse for this Spring the doctor advised on my baby boy a to movie script shunned by the networks As too grim. Here an articulate nihilistic teenager fails to commit suicide by burning himself to death after the boy s nightmarish year in a Burn unit his father is moved to perform a daring and ultimately sex operative mercy killing for their $150 per hour Ted Landon and James Grant Goldin the creators of the to film received therapeutic Sanction with the help or e Harvard professor who checks Over the scripts a the Cosby show Quot Here a scene has been turned into something of a televised mental health Center. For a character Many might consider too extreme a a Young Man whose death wish is fuelled by weary disinterest. Recalls Gowdin Quot Carole has sympathy for Young people who feel that it just Isnit Worth it. She thinks it would be better for kids mental health if they weren t taught to have unrealistic expectations of their there Are some who say that television is reflecting a climate of concern an Era of worrying about drug abuse about the family and about ourselves psychiatric consultants have become a part of this landscape. But there Are consultants and there Are consultants. Or. Irwin Ruben a Beverly Hills psychiatrist who is now retired from consulting advised solely on depictions of his profession and its clients. Peter Tanguy of the University of California at los Angeles was one of the psychiatrists who met with Dustin Hoffman and the writers of the 1908 feature film rain main to Lay out the characteristics of adult autism. Like a police officer who trains an actor to hold a gun most psychiatrists Are called on to provide technical information about such conditions As addiction or agoraphobia Quot technical consulting is interesting Quot says or. Winston Alt also with . S Neur psychiatric Institute Quot but in a much More interested in the characters and the writing Quot Alt has been working with John Mankiewicz executive producer on a forthcoming lbs series the human Factor consultants like Alt and Lieberman Are considered most valuable when developing plot Points based on character motivation. As Mankiewicz puts it Quot Winston helps me figure out what the show is Poussaint an associate professor at Harvard medical school has read every Quot Cosby Quot script since the show s inception As Well As those of its offshoot a different world. The Cosby show has proved that a series can be both entertaining and Quot healthy Quot in this Case both to the extreme. With Cosby a Blessing Poussaint has made the program into something of a televised mental health Center. On Quot Cosby Quot Hurt feelings Are aired rather than left to fester and punishment always fits the transgression. If every program on television Lieberman believes had a Poussaint or an Alt or someone like herself the world would be a better place. Quot television is not just something to be gobbled Down every Day after work Quot she says. Quot for Many Many people it s the strongest influence on their lives. A psychological consultant should be part of the Crew for each show like the Gaffer or cameraman. Creatives in the Industry tend to say that what they do is purely entertainment but inside i think they Are concerned about the Power of the medium Quot monday july 16, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 13
