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E.R. was the breakout hit of the 1994-95 television season. It finished number two in the Nielsen ratings for the entire season. Produced by author, director and physician Michael Crichton, it was the first medical show in years to become popular and restored much of the lost luster to television drama. Chicago Hope was produced by David Kelley, the Emmy Award-winning writer and producer of L.A. Law and the creative force behind Picket Fences.
Both series run at 10:00 (Chicago Hope moved to 9:00 for a short time) and raise interesting issues of definitions and contextual violence. Both are set in hospitals and E.R., of course, is specifically set in an emergency room. It is one of those odd coincidences that both also take place in Chicago. It is not surprising, in light of the producers' intent and approach, that both shows deal with and necessarily show very graphic portrayals of the consequences of violence.
Very early in the season, we had to deal with scenes of doctors using scalpels cutting into patients to begin an operation. We had to decide whether these were scenes of violence and, if so, how to classify them. This is where the soundness of the contextual analysis of violence became most apparent. We clearly felt that under no circumstances could a scene with a doctor using a scalpel to save someone's life ever be construed as a scene of violence. Early in the season we saw an episode of Chicago Hope in which a doctor performs a long incision on an abdomen before surgery. The camera zoomed in very close and, as the scalpel moved, the viewer could see blood rise to the surface of the skin. It was an extraordinary special effect likely to make many of those watching squirm. While it was an extremely graphic image, it cannot be categorized as violent. The context lets us know this is a beneficial act designed to save a life. The same scene of a scalpel cutting, however, would have been one of the most horrific scenes of violence possible if the knife had been held by a terrorist or a murderer. The difference between non-violent and horrific violence has nothing to do with the close-up itself. It is the surrounding context of whether it is a life-saving or a sadistic act that determines how it is interpreted.
Medical shows during the season frequently contained similar scenes which were not considered violent. Internally, we dealt with them as graphic, and sometimes excessively graphic, images. But they do not raise contextual concerns of violence. We expect to see scalpels and blood in medical shows as part of the context. In both shows, there was only one case in the entire season that raised some concerns, Chicago Hope on 10/20/94. A man walks into the hospital and opens fire with a gun. The scene depicts overly graphic and disturbing images of blood spurting and gushing from the victim. Although the show is based on realistic themes and wanted to demonstrate consequences, the extraordinary amount of gushing blood served more to illustrate special effects than to advance the story. Together the two shows were examined 33 times and raised some concerns only this one time: an impressive record.
Hardball was a baseball comedy on Fox that aired between The Simpsons and Married With Children. It had a short life on network television. In the first episode of the season (9/4/94), the team's mascot, Hardball, a man wearing a large baseball head, is replaced by a new mascot, the Pied Pioneer. At the end of the show, the team realizes its mistake and Hardball returns as mascot. In a comedic but glorified scene of violence, we hear exciting music as Hardball marches toward home plate from the bullpen. Suddenly, the crowd realizes "It's Hardball" and begins chanting. As Hardball reaches the plate, the crowd is in a frenzy and Hardball sees the mascot who took his job and whom he now replaces. He pushes him on the ground and begins punching him brutally as the team owner is smiling. The crowd is cheering as the show ends with Hardball restored to his rightful place. While comedic, everything from the music, to the crowd to the close-ups serve to glorify Hardball's vicious attack on the Pied Pioneer. It is portrayed as socially acceptable violence and is one of the best examples of its kind.
This is yet another of the new hits of the television season. It is based on the relationships of three men and three women who are friends now but with the possibility of romantic entanglements in the future. In the episode on 10/13/94, one of the characters was watching a hockey game when he got hit in the face with a puck. It is a scene played completely for comedy and is not intended to raise issues of violence. While it seemed out of context for the overall purpose of the show, it did not raise serious issues with regard to violence. The camera, however, takes the point of view of the puck and it is a jarring moment when the puck hits the face. Ten minutes later in the same show, the puck makes a reappearance with the same "puck point of view" when it hits a nurse in the face. While comedy does deserve (and gets) some latitude, somewhere a scriptwriter decided that there would be two instances in which someone is hit by a puck and that the audience would laugh. This incident raises the issue of laughing at people getting hurt. Of all the ways we can be made to laugh, this is the one the producers choose in this episode.
Blue Skies portrays two men who run an L.L. Bean-type catalog company. One of the characters is constantly getting himself into accidental situations that raise some small issues of violence. This happened four times on 10/24/94. The first time, he is sharpening the blade of an axe when he accidentally cuts his thumb. Blood spurts like a gusher over everything. Rather than being shocked or worrying about his cut, the viewer, encouraged by the laugh track and the character's unrealistic reaction, laughs and thinks of the whole scene as funny. Then the same character falls into an elevator shaft and we laugh again. Several minutes later, he falls into the same shaft yet again. Finally, he intentionally jumps into the shaft. All of this is designed to be funny. Once again it raises the issue that, with all the things at which audiences can laugh, producers choose to have the viewer laugh at pain and misfortune.
At the end of the 5/24/95 episode of Muscle, in a scene reminiscent of a parody of an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, several characters were brutally shot in a gym during a wedding by a woman toting a machine gun. It is a fantasy scene allowing one of the characters to relieve much frustration. While it is a fantasy and "never really happens," the audience is supposed to laugh as characters are brutally murdered, recognizing in themselves the occasional urge to gun down everyone who drives them crazy. We see bullets enter the bodies and laugh because it is so extremely exaggerated and ridiculous that we know no one would actually resort to such actions. The context of the show is comedic, but the violence is excessive and is out of character for what is intended to be a light comedy.
Sometimes a show that rarely deals with issues of violence will air a program with a violent theme. This raises a very interesting question. The show develops a reputation as one that seldom, if ever, raises issues of violence. Viewers get used to this, rely on it and perhaps it is a major reason they like the show. When, because of violence, a particular episode is out of context with the entire series, is it inappropriate because it is not what viewers expect? Or because the show so seldom raises these issues, is it afforded a measure of latitude occasionally to expand its themes or move in a slightly different direction?
This issue was examined on a Beverly Hills 90210 episode aired 1/18/95. The show is about the interpersonal relationships of a group of college students attending California University in Los Angeles. Rarely does the show deal with issues of violence. In the past there have been occasional episodes dealing with timely subjects such as date rape. One of the themes of the show this season was the way in which Dylan McKay dealt with losing all his considerable wealth to swindlers. The viewer sees him return to alcohol and engage in very self-destructive behaviors. Toward the middle of the season, he learns that the couple who stole his money are in a Latin American country. He travels there for a confrontation to recover his wealth.
The entire episode is very much out of character for Beverly Hills 90210. Dylan hooks up with a somewhat shady investigator and the show more closely resembles a B-grade detective film than an episode of Beverly Hills 90210. The show culminates in a fight scene with fists flying, sword fighting and gun fire. A later episode in the season witnesses Dylan, in a hypnotic spell, reliving a past life in the Old West and there, too, there is gun play and shooting. Dylan himself is killed in the final scene.
Violence is out of character for these kinds of shows, but they deserve a measure of latitude, particularly as they search for new directions. While it is out of the show's context to engage in violence, the level of violence must still be fairly non-graphic and tame. It is held to the same standards of consequence and necessity to the plot. While the Beverly Hills 90210 episode in Latin America never came close to raising concerns, the show based on the 19th century West came much closer.
The Fresh Prince is about a likable Will Smith who lives with his relatives in Bel Air in a show reminiscent of the old Beverly Hillbillies. It is a comedy that draws heavily on the considerable talents of Smith who plays off of his rich and stuffy relatives and friends. Although it uses a fair amount of slapstick comedy, it never raises serious concerns about its use of violence.
In a two-part episode (2/6/95, 2/13/95) Will was shot. These episodes add a somber and scary note to an otherwise lighthearted show. Even though it was out of character for the show, in no sense does the violence of the shooting raise any concern. It might catch young viewers off guard and add an element of unpleasantness into an otherwise pleasant show. This is exactly the intent of the producers and they do it well. The violence is jarring. Viewers do not expect to see our favorite characters shot, just as they do not expect to see their friends or family members shot. The shooting is not sensationalized and the consequences of the act are seen. Will and his family learn first-hand about the devastating effects of violence. Everything in this "special" episode is an attempt to deal responsibly with violence in our everyday lives. While the intrusion of violence into comedies may disturb some viewers, responsibly portrayed violence is exactly the kind of thing television should do more often. M*A*S*H was extraordinarily effective at mixing comedy and the tragedy of violence in a thought-provoking way.
Other than the above, shows that raised concerns less than three times over the course of the season and the number of times they did so were:
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