European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 23, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 20jesse Jackson attacks the wrong to network Fox lathering life into television with soap operas by Howard Rosenberg los Angeles times. The Rev. Jesse Jackson last month publicly excoriated television for its Lack of cultural diversity threatening the networks with viewer Boycotts if they did not end their a institutional  us did he say Boycotts although most minority group leaders have difficulty denting televisions thick corporate curtain Jackson a rhetoric appears to have a penetrating resonance. Especially when he deploys the feared a a by word warning of punitive measures to be organized by the newly formed Rainbow coalition commission on fairness in the Media. And especially when his words Are followed up by a personal Chat. For example is Jackson the super hero who came to the Rescue of .t.i.s.1 two weeks ago Fox announced it was ordering nine additional episodes of .t.i.s., its new Black super hero series whose ratings Are a tiny Blip near the Bottom of prime time. The announcement came Only three Days after Jackson met privately with Fox executives. A Fox spokesman denied that pressure from Jackson influenced its decision to keep . T.i.s., which earlier had been faulted in some circles for cutting Back on its Black characters after the airing of its Pilot. Despite Overall dismal ratings  Has still outdraw its Friday night competitors in male viewers Fox insisted and that demographic oddity was its reason for commissioning More episodes. A creatively this is a show the net. Work believes in a a Fox spokesman added. If so the proximity of Jackson a meeting with Fox is a striking coincidence. You a get the impression from All of this that Fox is the network most responsible for barring Black. Programs from prime time. In fact just the opposite is True. Yet it Wasny tabs that Jackson and other Black leaders a including the congressional Black caucus a earlier jumped on for dropping four series with predominantly Black casts after last season. You can to cancel what you done to have and lbs had no african american series excluding in thereat Ofa the night a drama with a Black co Star. It still does no to have any although one is scheduled to be created for possible debut in Early 1995, and the network says it has other Black series in development. At the moment however the closest thing to a prime time Black Star on lbs is de Bradley of 60 minutes. It also Wasny to Abc that Jackson and the others slammed for those Black series cancellations. It had Only one Black series last season not counting getting by whose co Star was Black. With this seasons addition of the Cosby mysteries Abc now has two. Excluding the new Sweet Justice whose Black co protagonist exists mostly amid Whites. It also Wasny to Abc which last season had three series with predominantly Black casts. It still does alter replacing two it cancelled with another pair of Black comedies one of them on our own with ratings so Low that death appears unavoidable barring a visit to Abc from Jackson. No although other networks have also Felt the sting of his criticism the network that Jackson singled out for its cancellations was Fox the network that has gone  its Way to design programs attractive to african american viewers. Fox began last season with six Black series plus the since cancelled a Bakersfield ., whose Central character was Black. After dropping four of those series because of Low ratings Fox is left with two a Martin and Liv Fox Giancarlo Esposito starred on Bakersfield  Before the Fox show was cancelled last season. Ing single a plus a couple of series with Black costars in new York undercover and  The irony a and injustice a of Fox being criticized in this instance is that the Only reason it was Able to cancel so Many Black series was that it had them in the first place a including the risk taking South Central a series that lbs developed but de Cidad not to air. The applicable baseball analogy is a wide ranging fielder who gets an error for hobbling a Ball that lesser fielders would not even have reached. Hence they get no errors. Its curious that a network gets Good . For putting on Black shows bad . For removing them a As if their racial makeup alone should guarantee them immortality even though every series ultimately leaves the air. In fact Quantity should be less an Issue Here than the character and texture of Black series with none of the present group being dramas that deploy Afri can americans in the kind of conventional family settings in which Whites Are routinely depicted. That a hardly headline news. One of tvs biggest disgraces is that White programmers rarely extend the airwaves to Black drama series and apparently because no one As persuasive As Jackson has lobbied to specifically on behalf of other minority populations a even less rarely to latino or asian series of any Stripe. Asian americans Are currently represented Only a a a a in abcs All american girl. The situation with regard to latinos May improve at least in terms of comedy with the arrival later this season of House of bugging a Fox series being touted As a sort of lat Ino in living color. Abc lbs and Fox say they Are developing comedies and dramas with predominantly african american or latino casts. The Road from development to actual production is full of potholes however and few such ventures Ever become series. A better bet is under one roof a worthy Black family drama that has received a six episode order from lbs with a possible premiere Date in March according to executive producer Thomas Carter. Carter is also creating a two hour Pilot for divas a possible Black drama series for Fox. Divas traces the activities of four african american entertainers and their manager. But if it does get on the air and is subsequently cancelled because of Low ratings Fox May get an earful from Jesse Jackson. By Colin Campbell Atlanta journal Constitution. Question Colin talk to me. Why Are you watch ing this dreadful soap opera a one Day to live a answer smiling because its interesting. And its one life to live. Q her voice cracking Don t i have a life to live ? a of course my dear but in a working. I just met the chief writer for this show Michael Malone a very smart and funny novelist from North Carolina. Done to you think that a curious an acclaimed Southern novelist doing a soap opera i guess he needed the Money. They pay him a Fortune. He says its fun too like writing a 19th-Century novel. Q but its another world Colin. Its escapism trash unreal. Is there. Something you re not telling me a its not escapism. Or not entirely. As a matter of fact there a a news Peg. Malone says the fear and loathing now ripping new York imagine him and his writers pounding out an hour Long show every Day is that the . Trial will go live and Knock the fictional soaps off the air. Q but . Is real. Done you see that a real i suppose but its also a soap opera. I mean . And Nicole and Lance and the prosecutor with the bulging eyes and Robert Shapiro and his $2,000 suits. Q Stop at least its real staring at the tube who a that a that Sandrew the minister. Look at him flinging Down his history of the Church. Dozing off on the Couch. Suddenly naked with Marty. Its Only a dream. Marty Isnit his wife q does anybody take this stuff seriously a Well apart from the fans a there was an article on the seriousness of the soaps in a recent sunday new York times. Academics and feminists write about them All the time of course sometimes they re critical. One study said the soaps heroines give birth eight times As often As real women in the United states. Another complained that the Only unsexed characters Are Black. Actually that a no longer True. See that Guy that a . He san sex con possibly reformed and he has the hots for that Chick there and for her Mother others say the soaps portray a specifically female Point of View and a reality of multiple perspectives in a world of waiting intimacy and powerlessness. I Colin in a worried. Closeup alarm in her face you re acting like. You re about to have a theory. Remember wha t the doctor said Tell me Are you having a theory ? a grasping her shoulders yes. Q of god Why a gazing into distance in a not sure. But the theory is this. There a a War going on my dear and its bigger than the rivalry Between All my children and Days of our lives. Its a War for that portion of our souls that needs soap. Here comes ., struggling and maybe prevailing against the other soaps. Meanwhile a what about our soap opera what about the soap opera at the office what about Bill and Hillary his terrible weakness her tragic seclusion. _ what about Michael and Lisa Marie what about Esefa Ras and his wife a could she really die with the kids what about James Carville and Mary Matalin now that their ratings have collapsed q her eyes misting what about me a. Sighs takes both her hands we need to be Strong. The War of the soaps will last All the Days of our lives. The terror and pity will be awesome and multiple and we just can to watch them All. Q shall we Pray. Cox nows Sori cd a sunday october 23. 1994