Just Because A Television Show Airs, Should We Watch It?
Mental Health and network television portrayals
I seldom watch network television, and I only watched Fox’s new show Accused last night because it was on after the San Francisco 49ers/Dallas Cowboys’ NFL playoff game.
This new anthology show, based on a 2010 UK series, was heavily advertised during the game. I saw that it starred good performers, so when the game ended, the marketers got their wish: I started watching.
I could make fun of Michael Chiklis’ portrayal, as was my first inclination, because he plays an accused father, Scott Corbett, in such a repressed way that the only moving parts in a closeup are his eyes and thin, pale lips. But Chiklis clearly delivered a performance to the best of his ability and is a great actor. And: he didn’t write the script. However, I have just seen: he is one of the credited directors, so dude … seriously …
I don’t want to talk badly about Hollywood screenwriters because I walked in the Writers’ Strike in 2007 and I know they’re far from all oatmeal-brained racist, misogynistic, hamfisted assholes. And I think the writers on Accused, whom I do not know and have not looked up, probably think they are very well-meaning present-day versions of socially-aware 50s screenwriters like Rod Serling, Billy…
