Boob tube revieiv
Storefront Lawyers oldtime melodrama
A lawyer helps an Id con
man get off the hook, helps the
old man's daughter by nailing
the slumlord who is the object
of her rent strike, advises the
rent strikers, and all the old
man has to do is promise to go
straight and listen to a lecture
y the judge saying what a fine
young man the lawyer is:
"Storefront Lawyers." Tune in
next week as the three young
lawyers (financed in their
c ommunity-based storefront
operation by the benevolent
graces of a Los Angeles law
firm) battle for the rights of a
militant Black welfare mother,
free of charge.
Of course, the legal aid of the
"Storefront Lawyers" is not
free, any more than television
is free but the illusion of
both as freebies persists. The
viewers are the real clients of
the new show's heroes, not the
ethnic extras who get their
life's problems solved in sixty
minutes every Wednesday
and the price is high.
Teevee melodrama has
always included a Moral. These
days the Moral Is no longer the
mythologically simple one of
snperheroes and mysterious
riders of the plains, with good
guys and bad guys and frontier
virtues it's a more
sophisticated and insidious
Immoral that reduces any
context to a Hollywood studio,
dealing with contemporary
society as ' a means to
perpetuate not a culture (as the
socialization processes in
schools and churches used to
perform) but rather the non
culture of the dominant
economic, political and class
interests within that society.
UNION 60DK STORE
Mmm
University Bookstore
Tarn Convenient locations
Nebr. Unloa Mbr. Hall Et Campus
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6,
Television can not be
characterized as communica
tions medium rather, it
should be characterized as a
communications industry: the
corporation is the medium. It is
a particularly powerful
medium because it not only
sells products but, through its
entertainment creates a buying
environment and sets of buying
values that result in the growth
of its propaganditie nature. The
propaganda is not the liberal"
propaganda denounced by
Spiro (for they are part of the
same conspiracy he is), it is
the propaganda of the kind .
Spiro and the liberals endorse
in shows ranging from the
"Storefront Lawyers" to the
"FBI" where the show ex
plicitly is geared to instill faith
in the perfectibility of the
system.
"Storefront Lawyers" iden
tifies symptoms of social pro
blems, but uses only a veneer
of relevance to channel life
energies in the direction of the
tube. The increase of
"relevance" in television
prime-time programming is
noteworthy because it indicates
the networks' recognition of the
need for strong positive media
in a time of deterioration and
revolution, and the need to try
and co-opt a growing political
consciousness of the average
viewer by relevant program I
packaging.
The show is basically, despite
the veneer, content-less, and is
a terribly ahenatine ex
perience, filtering things like
rent strikes and protests and
pollution and welfare through a
Hollywood lens. The show's
non-plot had nothing to do with
social problems; they merely
1970
provide a convenient and con
temporary set of stereotypes
and a framework for the
melodrama and & vehicle for
the Immoralrstic punch-line at
the end. The main purpose of
the show, from last week's
viewing, is to sell cellophane
tape, automobiles, hair tonic,
toothpaste, eye makeup and a
belief in the system which pro
duces these wonder goods.
In terms of structure and
format, such television
melodrama has not changed in
twenty years. That fact is a
clue to the realization that its
function has likewise not
changed too much it's
merely In different packaging.
The 8 h o w ' s melodramatic
situation is only a slight varia
tion on Roy Rogers, Dale
Evans and Gabbv Haves, nr
Clark Kent and Lois Lane and
Jimmy Olsen, or Perry Mason
and Delia Street and Paul
Drake or, more recently, our
pals Line, Julie and Pete of the
Mod Squad.
Disregarding the titillating
(as well as unexpressed) sex
ual tensions of such triangles,
notice the consistency with The
Law. How many prime-time
teevee shows star police? Half?
How many are about rich,
earnest young teachers,
lawyers and journalists? What
if it has
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are they trying to tell us? What
are they trying to sell us?
OLD MAN (to young
lawyer): (after swindling a
slumlord) "He stepped on my
people and I hit him where it
hurts!'
JUDGE (to Old Man): (at
the end of the show, after the
young lawyer has saved him
with wit and wizardry) "You
are leaving this courtroom not
Geography dept.
The Geography Department
has published a booklet of
course description for all geo
graphy courses to be offered
during second semester. The
booklet includes statements by
Here's
OPEN 24 HOURS
EVERY DAY
For your convenience and appetite
Close to Campus 17 & M
You've never had a better reason. World Radio has ever
503 stereo headsets in stock, priced from $6.88 to $95.00.
So there's one to fit your head and your financial system.
At World Radio you'll find hundreds of headsets, the
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because of yourself, but
because an extremely compe
tent lawyer, without fear and
without profit motive, handled
your case. I remember the
days when I was
young ... but times have
chpnged. This country's pro
blems are too big and too many
now and we don't have time for
the likes of you
anymore ..."
has publication
the instructors on course re
quirements, formats, and gen
eral information.
Copies of the booklet are
available in the Geography De
partment, 204 Burnett Hall.
Radio has 1
!
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3356
9i$ai30Mi..Thfl.
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